The Roar's NRL expert tips and predictions: Round 19

It’s taken the best part of five months, but we have a perfect round! Stuart McLennan became the first tipster to pick eight out of eight for 2019 in what was an intriguing round of footy. Can anyone repeat the dose in Round 19? Find out with The Roar’s NRL expert tipping panel.

Stuart’s perfect round moves him to 79 tips for the season, but it was a fairly strong weekend across the board, so there are no changes to the overall leaderboard.

The Crowd and myself both had seven and sit on 85 and 81 respectively, while The Barry (who submitted his tips a week early) got six in an impressive effort. He sits on 80 overall.

AJ continues to round out the tail, a distant seven points behind Stuart after only converting five tips last weekend.

This weekend promises some cracking matches, but none more so than the Panthers and Raiders on Sunday afternoon, and the Storm and Sea Eagles in Victoria on Saturday evening.

On top of that, the Sharks will take on the Cowboys in a desperate, high-stakes game, the Knights play the Tigers, and the Rabbitohs play the Dragons, who have to win seven from seven to have any chance of making the finals.

Parramatta open up on Saturday against the Warriors in a game which could go any which way, before the struggling, but not without hope for the future, Gold Coast Titans take on the Brisbane Broncos on the sunshine strip just over the border in a big rivalry clash.

The final match of the weekend is also one of an arch-rival, but unfortunately, could fizzle as the strength of the Roosters clash with the struggling Bulldogs.

Don’t forget to join in with your tips at the bottom of the article to try and beat the experts in 2019 as The Crowd and try your luck in our Roar NRL tipping comp. Crowd tips will close at approximately 6pm (AEST) on Thursday evening.

AJ Mithen

Tips: Sharks, Knights, Souths, Eels, Titans, Manly, Roosters, Raiders

I know it’s only Round 19 and there are seven actual games left to be played, but I’m confidently predicting season over for a few teams this week. I’m so confident I’ll use italics too.

It’s season over for North Queensland, who will be put out of their misery by the Sharks, who are also on the borderline of cooked.

(AAP Image/Craig Golding)

It’s season over for the Tigers, if it wasn’t already. Newcastle desperately need a win and they’ll get it. Don’t expect a classic…

It’s season over for the Dragons, but they were gone already. Souths are ramping up for September and they’ll take care of business.

It’s season over for the Warriors when the Eels squeak an unconvincing win out at their new digs.

It’s season over for the Broncos when the Titans cause a massive upset. I know the Gold Coast are on my ‘do not tip’ list, but I’m so far behind I have to shoot for the moon.

I’ll take Manly over the Storm in another big upset. Des Hasler is one of the only coaches in the game with a winning record against Craig Bellamy – he’s Lex Luthor to Bellamy’s Superman.

The Roosters will rout the Bulldogs, they’re getting serious about things too as we approach the finals.

My beautiful Raiders will win a classic against a Kikau-free Panthers. That’ll put Penrith on the cusp of cooked… They’re medium rare at the moment.

Stuart McLennan

Tips: Sharks, Tigers, Rabbitohs, Eels, Broncos, Storm, Roosters, Raiders

I finally cracked it! The full Monty. After recent pathetic performances, I have found my tipping form as we head into the finals. Now to find some consistency…

There are a couple of tough tipping matches this round. None more so than the last game of the weekend at Penrith.

I like the look of the Raiders. They put the Tigers away in the first half at GIO and Maguire’s men didn’t recover despite a late surge. They have tougher opposition this week with the Panthers who are in rare form but Canberra will get them in a close one.

(Photo by Brendon Thorne/Getty Images)

The Sharks were pipped in Wellington last week against the Warriors but the Cowboys just don’t look threatening in Sydney. Greek international Billy Magoulias makes his debut off the bench for the Sharks who will win despite the loss of Fifita.

Madge finally got angry enough to say what he thought about the Wests Tigers effort against Canberra. He has made changes. I’m taking a gamble and saying the Tigers will give a renewed performance against the Knights who have been a bit ordinary of late.

Widdop returns for the Dragons and a teenage winger is given his debut, but will the attitude change against the Rabbitohs? Souths.

The Eels capitulated to Manly last week. Waqa Blake will play his first match in the blue and gold. The Eels at home against the Warriors.

The lower Queensland derby should see the Broncos win over troubled neighbours the Gold Coast Titans.

The Turbo driven Manly were very good against the Eels on Sunday but it’s just too hard to tip against the Storm at home.

The Roosters have Manu and their mojo back and should win well against the Bulldogs at ANZ

The Barry

Tips: Sharks, Knights, Rabbitohs, Warriors, Broncos, Storm, Roosters, Panthers

We’ve all been waiting for the Sharks to come good and prove they’re a threat to the big three contenders but surely time is getting thin. John Morris has gone for backline iteration 19 this season. I’m tipping them but only because they’re at home.

The Knights have had a roller-coaster season. They lost five on the trot early, before going on a six-game winning streak. They’ve now lost four of their last five including the Dogs and Warriors and thumpings from the Storm and Roosters. This could be their chance to turn their season around again.

The Dragons have now lost nine of eleven and it’s hard to see them getting the points against the resurgent Rabbitohs.

(Photo by Matt King/Getty Images)

The Eels had a good first and last ten against Manly but looked lost for much of the time between. When you look at their results with and without Ferguson and Radradra, has there ever been a team as reliant on a winger to get them going? I’m breaking a couple of rules here… Tipping the Warriors away and against the Eels at BankWest.

Come on Broncos… Let’s keep the Titans in 16th for another week.

I really like Manly’s game and Melbourne away will be a yardstick of where they are at the moment. Are they genuine contenders or a tier down from the teams most likely? I think they’ll give it a shake but Melbourne too good.

Robbo, I think it’s time to rest your Origin players… And your regular first-graders, fringe players, and maybe a couple of your u20s. If that happens, I’ll maybe tip the Bulldogs, but otherwise Roosters.

Really looking forward to the last game this week. When they’re in form, these are arguably the two best teams to watch. Like Blake Lawrie, James Fisher-Harris and John Bateman, I’m installing myself as number one ticket holder in the Brian To’o fan club. Love the way he throws himself 100 per cent at everything he does. Panthers.

Scott Pryde

Tips: Sharks, Knights, Dragons, Eels, Broncos, Storm, Roosters, Raiders

Round 19 looks like the week of losing streaks being broken to me, and as I’ve been on a bit of a roll to move to the top of the experts leaderboard in the last month, you have no other option but to trust me.

And yeah, yeah, I know. “Why has this joker tipped the Dragons?” will be the first question you ask.

And look, I’ve given up on them as much as everyone else. But, Gareth Widdop is back, and they need to win seven from seven. Aside from that, there is nothing better than to string the fans along for a week or two with some victories.

Outside of that, the Sharks and Knights will both get back on the winner’s list.

Cronulla have lost five straight, but surely will rediscover their touch at home against the much-improved Cowboys – they simply have to, or finals starts to become a difficult prospect.

Newcastle too, must regain some momentum. They are still in the eight, but after three straight losses and a mauling at the hands of the Roosters last week, they simply must blast past the Tigers.

Paramatta to beat the Warriors at home because tipping the Auckland-based club is dangerous enough at home, let alone on the road, and the Broncos to get the better of the Titans who have lost just about all hope of making anything in 2019.

Besides, Brisbane have really improved their performance and output, so I’m looking forward to seeing if their attack will click or not against an ordinary defensive line.

The Roosters should power past Canterbury as well, which leaves the two games of the week.

(Photo by Jason McCawley/Getty Images)

Melbourne and Manly is one of the NRL’s biggest rivalries, and for non-supporters, a game where you just want to see them all go to town on each other with big hits and flying fists.

The Sea Eagles have been the big surprise packet of 2019, but it’s hard to see them winning against a back at full strength Melbourne on the road.

There isn’t much in Penrith and Canberra either. At the foot of the mountains, Penrith will chase their eighth straight win against the red-hot green machine, however, with distractions of James Maloney leaving and being overdue for a loss, I’ll take Ricky Stuart’s men to continue their charge to the top four.

Be sure to get your tips in on the form below by 6pm (AEST) on Thursday, and we will have the results in the table and comments section below.

Make watching NRL this season scary good with Kayo. Sign up now.

var request = new XMLHttpRequest();

request.open('POST', '/wp-admin/admin-ajax.php', true); request.setRequestHeader('Content-Type', 'application/x-www-form-urlencoded;'); request.onload = function () { if (this.status >= 200 && this.status