We have another excellent weekend of action in the books with golden point and close games headlining the action. Welcome to The Roar‘s NRL talking points for Round 13.

If Cameron Smith is injured, Jake Friend is the man for Queensland
I’ll preface this one by saying that in the same way Anthony Milford isn’t Johnathan Thurston, Jake Friend isn’t the player Cameron Smith is.

In saying that, if the reported sternum injury to Smith is serious, or he is forced to miss the deciding Game 2 in Sydney for the Maroons, Friend is the best option the Maroons have.

He proved as much on Saturday against the Broncos as, not for the first time he managed to dig the Roosters out of a hole.

Granted, it wasn’t just Friend – New South Wales captain Boyd Cordner was superb in the victory, but Friend was the star of the show finishing with a try assist and a ridiculous 58 tackles.

The tackles, for those who follow Friend’s stats on a regular basis, are not all that much of a surprise. With Mitchell Pearce out though, he took the onus on himself to carry a workload in kicking, something Smith excels at.

Friend is the closest backup Queensland have to Smith, and it’s difficult to remember a time in the last few seasons’ when he has let someone down.

Regardless of whether Smith is injured for Game 2 or not, there’s going to come a time when Smith hands away his coveted Queensland No.9 jersey. Friend is 27 years old, in the prime of his career and at some point in the next few years, will become the Maroons’ hooker.

Is there room at the Broncos for Benji Marshall when they return to full strength?
Unfortunately, Benji’s game against the Roosters might be remembered for the grubber kick that went dead in the dying stages.

Still, if Marshall wasn’t on the field, there is every chance Wayne Bennett’s men would never have been in the position where they could have pulled off a miraculous comeback victory. A try, a heavy hand in another and a running game that screamed dangerous were hallmarks of Marshall’s game on Saturday.

You have to remember that in 2015, playing for the Dragons, Marshall finished equal second on Dally M. He was taken out by Greg Eastwood in the ensuing finals match just as he looked to be bringing his side back into the contest and has never been the same player.

Yet, on Saturday we saw some of his best. It was almost vintage Marshall. The question stands though – is there room?

Ben Hunt and Anthony Milford seem to have the Broncos halves spots locked down, and given they guided the side to the top of the table, it would be difficult to deny either man a spot.

With Hunt off to the Dragons next year though, he will be under immense pressure from fans and coach Bennett to perform, which, since his return from injury last week against the Warriors he hasn’t done consistently.

At any rate, the Broncos have some time to work it out with Milford injured – although for how long we aren’t sure, but if Hunt’s form doesn’t remain strong, Marshall could partner Milford in the halves at the back end of 2017 – and we haven’t even taken in the chances of Kodi Nikorima yet.

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Gareth Widdop’s form dictates the Dragons season
Look, I’m not saying he had a fantastic performance against the Tigers or anything like that, but the difference was a notable one for the Dragons as he made his return to the side after three weeks out due to injury.

Before he was injured, Widdop had six tries and eight try assists from eight games, which are some seriously good numbers. The argument could have been made then that Widdop was the competition’s form player, and based on the way he ripped the Tigers in half during the first half on Saturday, not much can be done to change the general opinion.

For Dragons’ management, it’s probably lucky they have Widdop’s contract signed and sorted – his market value would be increasing with every passing week.

Gareth Widdop isn’t the only reason the Dragons are running third on the table, but he is a large chunk of it and his form could well control the Dragons destiny in 2017.

The Cowboys attack is a concern, but the Titans defence is not
“Thurston was still out,” I can hear you all complaining, and I’m happy to acknowledge that as any fair and balanced person would.

But – and it’s a damn big but – Michael Morgan, Lachlan Coote and Jake Granville, who are the future of the Cowboys when Thurston moves on – should be able to get their team scoring more than three tries with 65 per cent possession for the game.

Try as they might, it was an impossible task to crack the Titans line. Plenty of teams have had the same problems, but few have had 100 tackles in the opposition 20 or as much possession.

It wasn’t a poor performance from the Cowboys – they dominated the game from the outset – but even without Thurston, they need to find ways of scoring more points in situations like that.

The Tigers will come good – give them some time though
This isn’t the year for the Tigers to win the premiership, but even with a number of noticeable faces there this year who won’t be next year – looking at you Aaron Woods and James Tedesco – it’s a year that can set the building blocks and foundations for a promising looking 2018 season.

Tuimoala Lolohea made a somewhat rusty debut for the club against the Dragons, while their forwards stood up for the most part, especially in goalline defence.

The Tigers really came to play, and while they are lacking polish, it’s a side who, with a vastly different looking side in 2018, plus the cornerstones of this year will be challenging.

Lolohea could hold the key, playing alongside Luke Brooks in the halves both later this year, and then combining from fullback next year. The former Warriors utility has great value for the club, and while it’s tough to see them making the eight this year, next year will be a very different story.

The Raiders must find more attacking weapons
The lethal ‘Leipana’ combination just isn’t getting it done for the Raiders. I’ve talked about this before, but it needs more attention after the game against Manly on Sunday.

They might have got it to golden point, but it was a pretty ordinary first half from the Green Machine, with every attacking raid seemingly down the right edge of the park.

Teams have figured them out and with the halves Aidan Sezer and Blake Austin very rarely chancing their arm on anything else or giving them any other sort of direction, it’s a serious worry for them going forward.

Nick Cotric is almost a passenger on the left wing, yet, judging by some of his runs out of their own end, he could be just as dangerous playing outside Jarrod Croker, who has form that never seems to drop away.

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Billy Slater is a match-winner and he will be the reason Melbourne win the premiership
The big three still reign supreme in Melbourne. Behind a solid forward pack which is full of players who are realistically over performing – playing under Craig Bellamy seems to do that to you though – they are sitting at the top of the table.

I’m almost certain we would be sitting here calling the Storm reigning premiers if Slater plays in the 2016 grand final though. He is the match-winner in the big three – Cronk and Slater control things beautifully, but it’s Slater’s brilliance which has sparked the Storm time and time again.

He tore shreds off the Knights on Friday, scoring a double and proving dangerous with every run of the ball. This is a man who was out injured for a season, yet he looks like he hasn’t missed a beat.

His averages for the season are right up and the fact he was overlooked for Queensland is baffling.

As long as Slater stays healthy, don’t be shocked when Melbourne are standing with the trophy aloft on grand final day and sending their thanks to the ‘Billy the kid’.

The Warriors are a basket case – how do they fix it in 2018?
I haven’t had much positive to say about the Warriors this season – and nor has anyone. And why would they? This is a side with the New Zealand international team’s spine who can’t produce performances on a week-to-week basis.

They lost to an Eels side who were down a few players on Friday – and I mean they finished the match with one on the bench. It was a gutsy effort from the Blue and Gold, but the Warriors are struggling.

They beat Brisbane last week and the sentiment was ‘here we go again. Origin period and the Warriors are winning.’ It lasted all of one week though.

Their defence was like a leaky ship against the Eels, and while they ran up some points, they still struggled at that end of the park.

So, is it a major clean out in 2018? The problem is, it wouldn’t be the first time that’s happened. Mass player turnover might be the option, as could a change of coach and management at the club. An attitude problem clearly exists, rather than a talent one, and it’s not an easy fix.

This is going to take a number of years, but 2017 is a writeoff, so the Warriors might as well start planning for the future.

Manly are dangerous
Manlys first half against the Raiders was brilliant. They attacked, attacked and attacked again, grinding the Raiders into the dirt with constant pressure, before they struck brilliantly at the back end of the first half with three tries in 11 minutes.

The man with his name in lights was Daly Cherry-Evans. He scored one, set up others and played a hand in seemingly all of them.

If his first half wasn’t good enough, he then followed it up with a consistent second half, where he constantly bailed his team out of trouble with a long-range kicking game second to none. He was constantly able to have Canberra running out of their in goal area, forcing some dropouts and doing everything in his power.

It’s not just DCE though. Apisai Koroisau is dynamic out of dummy half, Blake Green is a good foil for Cherry Evans and Martin Taupau is one of the toughest props in the competition to tackle. With Jake Trbojevic weaving some magic through the middle and brother Tom injured, this is a Manly side who will cause headaches for opposition if they make it to September.

Are the Panthers back?
Matt Moylan in the halves, Mitch Rein in at hooker, Dylan Edwards at the back and Nathan Cleary in the halves. All of a sudden, the Panthers team looked like a million dollars as they put the Bulldogs to the sword in the final game of Round 13.

Moylan was strong, their attack fired, their forwards won the battle against a big Bulldogs pack. It was as close to a perfect performance the Panthers have served up this season.

Now the battle will be making it consistent. That’s generally a difficult thing to do during Origin, but they didn’t have a single player in Game 1, with only Josh Mansour any real chance at playing Game 2, but even this was his first game – just quietly – how good was Mansour? 150 metres on return.

The next six weeks are hugely important for Panthers, and they have to make winning a habit. I’ve got a funny feeling they will.

Just one more note out of that game – not the best punch from Craig Garvey really, was it?

Roarers, what did you make of Round 13? Drop a comment below and let us know.