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Wasn’t Round 1 fun for tipping? No, seriously, it was like all the air was sucked out of the opening weekend when scores were tallied on Sunday night. Round 2 promises more belting games though and The Roar‘s NRL expert tipping panel are here to take you through all eight games.
While the first round of the season was a disaster when it came to tipping, the action on the field was at the complete opposite.
For a change, I actually won something. I take the lead out of Round 1 with five points after foolishly – well, it seemed foolish – tipping the Warriors to beat the Rabbitohs.
That happened, as did a slew of other upsets, with the Tigers getting over the Roosters, the Panthers smacking the Eels around in the second 40, and the Titans beating a more fancied Raiders outfit – coming from 16-0 down after a matter of minutes.
While they were the upsets, the other games played during Round 1 weren’t devoid of excitement either. The Dragons belted Brisbane in the opener, the Knights beat Manly in front of 23,000-plus and the Cowboys scrapped their way to a season-opening victory over the Sharks.
From there, the other result is the supposedly obvious one. Ready? You might need to sit down for this one. It’s a shocker.
The Melbourne Storm won.
There, I said it. They beat the Bulldogs and got off to a good start attempting to defend the premiership.
A local derby kicks off Round 2, with the Sharks set to host the Dragons in the Shire. Don’t you just love going to watch the footy in the Shire? On a Thursday night? Anyone?
Another big rivalry will be played on Sunday, with the Sea Eagles and Eels looking to turn around sloppy starts, while the Broncos and Cowboys meet in their not-so-local derby on Friday.
Two surprise first-round winners in the Warriors and Titans will square off on Saturday, while the early Friday game will see one of the Bulldogs or Roosters get off the mark.
Also on show this weekend are the Panthers and Rabbitohs, Storm and Tigers, and the Raiders taking on the Knights in the Sunday night game.
(Photo by Ashley Feder/Getty Images)
As mentioned, I take the lead with five out of the first round. Tim and Tom both had four, while The Crowd already has some ground to catch up, sitting on three after taking the Dragons, Cowboys and Storm.
Don’t forget to submit your tips on the form below by 5pm (AEDT) to be part of The Crowd as you take on the experts.
We played a virtual game of scissors, paper, rock to decide who would go first this week. It’s going to be Tom.
Tips: Sharks, Roosters, Cowboys, Titans, Panthers, Storm, Sea Eagles, Raiders
As good as the Dragons were in their season opener, I can’t see the Sharks kicking off their campaign with two straight losses. They’re too good a team for that. This will be a bloody battle between a pair of rugged packs, but Cronulla will sneak home by less than a converted try.
The Roosters will rebound with the strength of Karl Malone and deliver a devastating defeat to the Doggies. Canterbury’s defence looked vulnerable against the Storm last weekend, and if the Roosters can get their attack to click, they could run easily run up a score.
Joining Canterbury in starting their season 0-2 will be the Brisbane Broncos, who despite returning to the comforts of Friday night football at Suncorp Stadium, simply don’t have the personnel to match it with the Cowboys. Comparing the line-ups, North Queensland have a stronger pack, a more potent backline and a more productive bench. I can’t see how Brisbane wins this game.
I’m predicting the Warriors to go back to being the Warriors, and follow up their exhilarating season opener by crashing back to earth against the Gold Coast. South Sydney will continue their lacklustre start to the season with a big loss to the Panthers, Canberra’s attack will be too much for the still-evolving Newcastle defence, while the Storm will burst the Tigers’ bubble by handing them an absolute drubbing at AAMI Park.
(Photo by Scott Barbour/Getty Images)
And in Tom’s ‘Rock Solid’ tip of the week, I’m banking on the Sea Eagles to recover from their flat performance against the Knights and pulverise Parramatta. I thought Manly got caught up in the emotion of Newcastle’s coming out party last weekend, while the Eels looked about as unpredictable as a Peter Beattie press conference. This will be a Turbo-charged victory for the Sea Eagles.
Tips: Dragons, Roosters, Cowboys, Warriors, Panthers, Storm, Sea Eagles, Raiders
Wow. Alex Corvo goes to the Warriors and all of a sudden they looked strong and fit. The boy from my Alma Martas – Belconnen High and Hawker College – may only have been a reserve grade player but he’s the first-grade trainer. Warriors to bring the Titans back to Earth.
Thought Souths got a few rough calls against them against the Warriors but they looked pretty good. However, the Panthers – once they started to roll – looked fearsome. At home, they’ll roll the Rabbits.
Back to the start of the week. I reckon the boys from the shire weren’t too bad against the Cowboys, and will give a good account of themselves against the Dragons – but I loved how that Dragons pack went forward last week. The Roosters will be stinging. They are – for the first of many times – playing a team returning from a long away trip. They’ll account for the Dogs.
The Broncos will be hurting but I didn’t see enough potential to believe they can overcome a settled and talented team like the Cowboys.
Tigers, eh? Look, I’m a huge Ivan Cleary fan, but he’s not a miracle worker. Well, he was last week, but there are some miracles that are too big even for Nathan’s dad.
Sea Eagles to win at Brooky and to deeply trouble the Eels faithful. Still, even given Parra’s lofty ambitions, there isn’t anyone hurting more than the Raiders. The Green Machine will grind out a win here. It might be ugly but it’ll be a win to close Round 2.
Tips: Dragons, Bulldogs, Cowboys, Warriors, Panthers, Storm, Eels, Raiders
I’m probably going a little bit left of field with my tipping this weekend, but that’s okay. After the first week of action, you have to, or you’ll be left behind very quickly.
There are plenty of games which I reckon will see almost 50-50 splits this weekend in Crowd tipping, but let’s deal with what I’d consider certainties first, shall we?
The Storm. Yeah, the Storm are certainties. No one else though.
I’ll take the Dragons to stay at the top of the table with a second straight win to start the season, this time over the Sharks. Sure, comments will be about being the March premiers, but the Dragons showed plenty in Round 1, with Ben Hunt leading the way, and I expect them to go from strength to strength against Shane Flanagan’s men, who are in urgent need of improvement.
(Photo by Matt King/Getty Images)
On the subject of local derbies, I’m going to make a complaint: 8pm on a Thursday. Why?
The other game I’m reasonably confident on is the Eels. Manly weren’t all back in Newcastle last week, but the Eels will need to fire up if they are going to prove their worth in 2018.
Speaking of Newcastle, I expect Canberra to bounce back on Sunday. They were up 16-0 against the Titans and the Knights got a fair chunk of assistance against the Sea Eagles, with countless piggyback penalties getting them out of their own end.
How about the rest?
It’s impossible to go past the Cowboys, given what the Broncos showed away from home last Thursday, while the Panthers should make it two from two against Souths.
The Warriors will defeat the Titans in a high-scoring game, while the Bulldogs should find their mojo, which started flowing in Perth, to beat the Roosters, who are going to take a long time to gel.
Don’t tell me I’m crazy either – last week I tipped the Warriors to win in Perth of all places and they got the job done.
But yeah, I’m probably crazy for tipping the Bulldogs to beat a team containing Cooper Cronk and James Tedesco.
| Round 2 | Tim | Tom | Scott | The Crowd |
| SHA v DRA | DRA | SHA | DRA | DRA |
| ROO v BUL | ROO | ROO | BUL | ROO |
| BRO v COW | COW | COW | COW | COW |
| WAR v TIT | WAR | TIT | WAR | WAR |
| PAN v RAB | PAN | PAN | PAN | PAN |
| STO v TIG | STO | STO | STO | STO |
| SEA v EEL | SEA | SEA | EEL | EEL |
| RAI v KNI | RAI | RAI | RAI | RAI |
| Last week | 4 | 4 | 5 | 3 |
| Total | 4 | 4 | 5 | 3 |
Crowd tipping will close at 5pm (AEDT) on Thursday evening. Be sure to submit your tips on the form below before then to make your opinion count as part of The Crowd.