- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
Despite stating I was done with tipping in my talking points on Sunday, the choice isn’t mine to make. This is The Roar‘s NRL expert tipping panel for Round 5, where we try to make sense of a crazy start to the season.
There isn’t a time in recent memory where every single game is up in the air after a month of the season.
Even the bottom two sides – the Raiders and Eels – feel like they could turn things around at any given moment. There are no certainties and in this strange world, everyone is struggling.
AJ showed us all up last week with four, keeping things respectable against The Crowd who also got four. The less said about the rest of the scores, the better.
It means AJ is equal at the top with The Crowd on 17, but even that is just four tips per round.
Anyone averaging six or more per round – please pass on your secrets. It’s impossible, that much I do know. Most will agree.
Round 5 is shaping up as another belter. Must-win clashes are already the order of the day for the Raiders and Eels when they open and close the round against the Bulldogs and Panthers respectively – both teams looking in much better touch.
Friday sees the Sydney Roosters and Cronulla Sharks play their blockbuster at 6pm, before the Dragons finally host the Rabbitohs away from Homebush, inviting them to the cauldron that is Kogarah.
From there, it’s a double-header in Auckland with the two grand finalists struggling and set to take on two of the wooden spoon favourites pre-season who are both high flying in the Tigers and Warriors.
The Knights play the Broncos to wrap up Saturday, with the only other game being the Titans against Manly, for which I can assure you there are some interesting tips.
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.
AJ to lead us off again.
Tips: Raiders, Sharks, Dragons, Storm, Warriors, Knights, Titans, Panthers
It’s the last chance saloon for the Raiders in more ways than one. Ricky would have told a few of the squad that their careers are hanging on their next few weeks. Canterbury are starting to show green shoots of regrowth, but when it’s your meal ticket on the line…
(AAP Image/Dan Himbrechts)
Cronulla and the Roosters should be a beauty for fans of #RefsFault. The Chooks are annoyed after getting touched up by the Warriors and will love a penaltython against one of the NRL’s top offenders. Sharks by four penalty goals to three.
Without Sam Burgess after his ridiculous suspension, I can’t see the Bunnies knocking off St George. The Dragons have another week or two of winning scheduled before their annual collapse, anyway.
For some reason, Wests are playing the Storm for the second time this year, actually for the second time in four weeks. Tell me how that works again? And why is this game in New Zealand? So many questions. Storm to win, cos they’re angry.
I was wrong about both the Warriors and the Cowboys this year. One of them is good (so far) while the other is not (so far). A Cowboys win over in NZ would be very out of character for what they’ve produced in 2018.
At the home comforts of Newcastle, I like the Knights in a mild upset of an increasingly hapless Broncos.
Speaking of the northern teams, I’ll admit it – I’ve been rubbishing the Titans a bit this year. Let’s be honest though, we all have. But in news that will excite their supporter, I actually think they win at home against a Manly side on a bit of an emotional comedown.
To wrap things up, Parramatta will get belted by Penrith. I thought they still had something and I like Brad Arthur, but the Eels are staggeringly poor. That’s pretty much all I’ll say about that.
Tips: Raiders, Sharks, Dragons, Storm, Warriors, Knights, Titans, Panthers
I said it last week and I’ll say it again. I bleed green, so forget giving up on my Raiders. Ricky is starting to make the hard calls and things will turn.
Measuring out the Raiders though, I’ll take the Dragons. They are the only side I’ve got 100 per cent right. Staying in that. The Bunnies without big Sam will struggle.
In the other Friday encounter, the Roosters will be stinging badly. Really bad. But the Sharks won’t care and will beat them anyway.
The Storm will not be happy and there will have been a Bellamy spray delivered. They’ll want revenge, so will beat the Tigers.
How can you tip the Cowboys right now? I reckon they’ll only win when I don’t back them but the Warriors are due a loss.
The Knights will want to beat Darius Boyd and Wayne Bennett. They are at home. The Broncos aren’t looking flash either, so I’ll take the boys from the Hunter.
Moving right along to Sunday and with no Tommy Turbo against a buoyant Titans who are starting to believe they can win. Why not a Titans win?
Why will the Panthers beat the Eels? Mitchell Moses reckons it’s because the $&@$s won’t get up. The NRL are regretting ever being able to hear anything on the field after the cameras got more than they bargained for, but just ask Mitch whether he thinks the Eels should be moving faster.
Also, have I told you how I love Jimmy Maloney? I do. He wins. The Panthers win.
(AAP Image/Michael Chambers)
Tips: Bulldogs, Roosters, Rabbitohs, Storm, Cowboys, Knights, Titans, Eels
The 2018 season has been harder to pick than a broken nose. I trusted my gut and intuition last week, and it got me nowhere. So this week I’m going to take a leaf out of the book of Costanza and tip the exact opposite of everything my instincts are telling me.
The madness begins tonight when the Bulldogs roll into Canberra to take on Ricky’s Raiders. Stuart blasted his side after last week’s fourth consecutive defeat, calling his side soft. That sort of smack talk is enough to fire up even the meekest of squads, so I’m expecting big things from the Green Machine. So naturally, I’m tipping Canterbury.
Friday night football sees a pair of preseason favourites do battle at Shark Park. Both Cronulla and the Roosters have been well below their best thus far in 2018, but the home field advantage should tip the scales in favour of the Sharks. So I’ll tip the Roosters.
On form the Dragons should smash the Rabbitohs and the Warriors should be far too good for the Cowboys, meaning I’ll go with South Sydney and North Queensland. Likewise the resurgent Tigers are likely to topple the struggling Storm, so lock me in for a Melbourne victory.
Despite an inconsistent start to the season, Brisbane should have too much class for Newcastle. And even with the loss of Tommy Turbo, Manly’s performances this year suggest that they should knock off the Gold Coast. So I’ll tip the Knights and Titans.
Finally, in Tom’s “Rock Solid” tip of the week, I’d put the house on Penrith to destroy the winless Eels, meaning you should load up on Parramatta. Confused? Me too.
Tips: Bulldogs, Roosters, Dragons, Storm, Warriors, Broncos, Sea Eagles, Panthers
I quite literally don’t know where to start this week. Looking at the games, it’s almost like the Warriors would be a team you’d consider as the biggest certainties of the week.
That sentence didn’t feel right, especially when they are playing the grand finalists, but it works, so let’s take the Warriors as the first one this week.
That one, of course, forms part of a double-header in Auckland, with the Tigers looking to make it two in five weeks against the Storm (sorry, who came up with that scheduling again?) Anyway, Storm for mine. They won’t lose twice, although the question still remains as to whether they can get over the Great Wall of Ivan.
The Dragons will beat South Sydney, but there were enough defensive problems against the Knights to suggest it won’t be easy. The Rabbitohs got out of jail for nothing against the Bulldogs and have plenty of their own problems to work out.
(Photo by Mark Nolan/Getty Images)
I’m not remotely comfortable with any other games this week.
With the way the Raiders are playing and the alleged off-field incident involving Jack Wighton to go with their lack of a plan in the halves, it’s impossible to tip them against Canterbury, even at home.
Cronulla have been solid, but not impressive, so the Roosters should pip them in the Shire without much in it. That’ll come down to how the combination of Luke Keary and Cooper Cronk flows against the blue wall though.
The Manly game on Sunday will be an intriguing one, but even with their injuries, I’ll take them to beat the Titans who were very impressive against Brisbane last week. I can’t see them stringing together two efforts like that one.
Brisbane should beat a Newcastle side who have had their bubble burst away from home, while it’s bordering on impossible to take the Parramatta Eels are their slow start to the year.
Brad Arthur’s side were blown off the park in the first half on Easter Monday and with a shorter turnaround, it’s hard to see them picking up their first win in Round 5 against a Penrith outfit coming off their best game of the year so far and a monster ten-day turnaround.
| Round 5 | Tim | Tom | AJ | Scott | The Crowd |
| RAI v BUL | RAI | BUL | RAI | BUL | RAI |
| SHA v ROO | SHA | ROO | SHA | ROO | SHA |
| DRA v RAB | DRA | RAB | DRA | DRA | DRA |
| TIG v STO | STO | STO | STO | STO | STO |
| WAR v COW | WAR | COW | WAR | WAR | WAR |
| KNI v BRO | KNI | KNI | KNI | BRO | KNI |
| TIT v SEA | TIT | TIT | TIT | SEA | TIT |
| EEL v PAN | PAN | EEL | PAN | PAN | PAN |
| Last week | 3 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 4 |
| Total | 15 | 15 | 17 | 13 | 17 |
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.