The Roar’s NRL expert tips and predictions: Round 8

Hey Roarers!

Another jam-packed long weekend filled with five days of sensational footy! Round 7 had it all!

Let’s recap…..

Thursday night was ‘The Siosifa Talakai Show’ during the Cronulla v Manly game.

Sifa put on an absolute masterclass that consisted of two tries, three try assists, he ran for 262 metres and will be the cause of Morgan Harper’s nightmares for a very long time. The Sharks went to the break 32-0 up, and despite Manly putting on a great fightback in the second half, the hill was too high to climb, and the Sharks held on 34-22.

The only Friday night match of the round saw a depleted Bulldogs side travel to Brisbane to take on the Broncos. Canterbury had 12 players unavailable due to injury and Covid and put together a side as best they could. They started the game off well, but Adam Reynolds took the reins and guided the home side to a 34-14 victory. 

The Cowboys put on a beautiful performance in front of their home crowd on Saturday night, against a Titans side that just couldn’t keep up.  Outscoring the visitors five tries to one, the Cowboys outplayed them right across the park, and continue to silence their critics. The Titans big man David Fifita was shifted to the centres with Phillip Sami out injured, and just like the rest of the Titans night it was disastrous right from the get-go. Cowboys taking the two points with a 30-4 win.

And can you believe it?! The Tigers did it again! They won their second match in a row after another solid outing and last-minute field goal, this time off the boot of Luke Brooks, to win 23-22. The Tigers were close to perfect and proved too good for the Bunnies. Brooks and his new BFF Jackson Hastings both had great games, and Madge is starting to walk with a bit of swagger.  

Someone not walking with swagger is Knights coach Adam O’Brien, who had to watch his Knights put on a pathetic attempt at pretending to be NRL players on Sunday. They went down 39-2 against an Eels side who hardly put a foot wrong, and Newcastle are lucky the score wasn’t higher. Absolutely disgraceful. (Just breathe Danielle, just breathe).

Moving on, the second Sunday game saw the Panthers keep their undefeated record intact, beating the Raiders 36-6 in front of a Penrith crowd that has surely forgotten what it’s like to lose. Canberra was no match for the premiers, and we are now all left wondering if anyone will be. And apparently something happened with the Viking clap? It wasn’t really discussed that much so I missed it…….

On Monday we watched the traditional ANZAC day clashes, first one between the Roosters and the Dragon at the SCG. The Red V were great in the first half, taking a 14-0 half time lead. It ended up being an exciting finish with the Roosters coming back to 14-12, throwing everything they could at the Dragons, but in the end, they couldn’t overcome the two-point deficit. Tell me Roarers – do you think Daniel Tupou should have been sin binned for that coat hanger on Mikaele Ravalawa?

Then we headed down to Melbourne for the final ANZAC day clash between the Storm and the Warriors. Um, what is there to say? 70-10 in favour of the men in purple – complete annihilation.  

So, from round 7 Mary, Paul, all of you champions out there in The Crowd and I tipped 6/8, with Mike and AJ just behind with 5/8. Overall, Paul and The Crowd are still out in front on 39, with Mary close on their tails with 38. AJ has slipped back to third on 37, Mike is still fourth on 36, and I am of course coming last on 35. 

Ok, onto round 8!

(Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)

The Sharks play on Thursday night again, this time heading up to Suncorp to face the Broncos. Both sides are coming off last round wins and will be wanting to keep that momentum going. 

The first Friday game sees the Titans host the Panthers at 6pm. The Gold Coast will need to put on a much better performance than last week if they have any chance against the reining premiers. At 8pm the Souths and Manly clash at Central Coast Stadium, with both teams wanting to get back into the winner’s circle. 

The Warriors and the Raiders kick of Super Saturday from Moreton Daily Stadium at 3pm. The Warriors are coming off an embarrassing loss and the Green Machine are just, well, very sad at the moment. 

The Bulldogs face off with the Roosters at 5.30pm at Accor Stadium. The Tricolours put in a poor first half and a great second half against the Dragons last round – the Dogs will be hoping the first half Roosters turn up for this match.

The final game of the night should be an absolute cracker, with two inform teams the Eels and the Cowboys battling it out in Darwin at the earlier time of 7.05pm. 

Sunday afternoon sees… (oh for the love of God) … the Knights host the Storm at 2pm. After that public slaughtering, we head down to Wollongong at 4pm to see the Tigers and the Dragons try to make it three wins in a row. 

If you would like to see how you go up against the Experts this round, just remember to get your tips in below by 5pm tonight to be counted in The Crowd’s tips.

To try and cheer him up because he is a Raiders fan, I’m going to let AJ lead us off this week.

Good luck with your tipping everyone!

AJ Mithen

Sharks, Panthers, Sea Eagles, Raiders, Roosters, Cowboys, Storm, Dragons

My tipping charge continues as I consolidate a meritorious position before State of Origin rolls in. Here’s the sure-fire winners for this week.

Cronulla will beat Brisbane in a reasonably close (less than 12) affair. Penrith will squeeze the Titans to a low score and stay unchallenged so far.

Manly will get over Souths in a close one, not sure why this is at the Central Coast but whatever.

Your presumptive champions, the people’s team, the Canberra Raiders, will top Melbourne’s record winning margin against New Zealand, who are showing distinct signs of dud coach and dud signings. Don’t worry Warriors fans – Mitch Barnett is on the way!

Roosters over Bulldogs in a bludger, Storm over Knights in a bludger, Dragons over Tigers in a true bludger and I reckon the ‘upset’ of the round will be the Cowboys using the Darwin conditions to their advantage and beating an ever so slightly off-balance Eels side this week.

(Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)

Paul Suttor

Sharks, Panthers, Rabbitohs, Raiders, Roosters, Eels, Storm, Dragons 

If Siosifa Talakai runs amok again and the Sharks play two halves like last Thursday’s first half, they could beat Brisbane by plenty.

Gold Coast should be renamed Silver Coast as they’re gonna come second in most matches this year and that’ll be the case against Penrith.

Souths can bounce back to beat Manly, but it should be close.

The Warriors and Raiders are the two least inspiring teams in the NRL at the moment and after a coin flip, Canberra to not lose.

The Roosters need their attack to click so they’ll get an 80-minute field session against Canterbury.

Parramatta should have too much for North Queensland, but strange things tend to happen in Darwin.

Melbourne should rack up another half-century in Newcastle.

The Dragons will have too much mongrel for the Tigers with the Wollongong advantage getting them home in a tight one.

Mary Konstantopoulos

Sharks, Panthers, Rabbitohs, Raiders, Roosters, Eels, Storm, Dragons

The Sharks have been extremely exciting to watch so far and I’m still talking about that first half effort from Siosifa Talaki. The Broncos are still challenged and are struggling to work out who their best spine is. I can’t see them beating the Sharks.

The Panthers will run rings around a Titans team that continues to be disappointing and I’m tipping the Bunnies to beat the Sea Eagles. Given the defensive efforts by the Sea Eagles on the edge last week, it’s an area I expect the Rabbitohs to target.

The Warriors and Raiders is a tough one to pick as both teams have been extremely disappointing.  I’m tipping the Raiders because the Warriors looked completely disinterested last week and I’m wondering how that will change in the space of a week. I also question whether all that time away from home is having a bigger impact.

The Roosters will beat the Bulldogs and if the Eels consider themselves contenders, they will need to beat teams like the Cowboys, even though they are low on troops right now.

The Storm will beat the Knights and I’m tipping the Dragons to beat the Tigers. I’m still not quite brave enough to tip the Tigers despite two exciting finishes in the last fortnight.

(Photo by Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images)

Mike Meehall Wood

Sharks, Panthers, Rabbitohs, Raiders, Roosters, Eels, Storm, Tigers

You can’t go against the Sharks after last week, even though I think Brisbane will make it closer than many think. You can’t say the same about the Titans: The Panthers by a thousand in that one. 

Bunnies v Manly is tight, but I thought South Sydney were unlucky against the Tigers and win that game nine times out of ten, whereas Manly are starting to show serious structural problems.

Warriors v Raiders is an early Spoonbowl but made easy by my cast iron rule of never tipping the Warriors. Canberra to win.

The Dogs have turned up better and better of late: they put in 20 minutes against the Bunnies, then 40 against the Broncos…they might get a full hour against the Roosters. They’ll still lose, but that luck will change soon enough if they keep up the standards.

Eels v Cowboys is tough because both have been good. My gut says Eels have more quality. The Storm v Knights is not tough at all, Storm by a million. 

The biggest clash of the round for me is the Dragons – Tigers…both are resurgent, both playing with more confidence. Last year this was the Zac Cini game and the Tigers got the points. I’m tipping them to repeat the trick.

Danielle Smith 

Sharks, Panthers, Rabbitohs, Warriors, Roosters, Cowboys, Knights, Tigers

This will be a great game, and I think the Broncos will give it a red-hot crack, but I’m going the Sharks. And if Sifa has another performance like last week, we are in for a real treat. 

This game will be like a training day for the premiers. Sorry Titans fans, it may get ugly. 

I have switched my tip on this one a few times today, but I think the Bunnies are in better form than Manly so it’s Souths for me. 

Oh wow. Um…I’m going with if you don’t have anything nice to say don’t say anything at all. Warriors.

The Bulldogs are really trying hard but are just not quite there yet. And I don’t think this is the round that they will get there. The Roosters can when they are not even trying their best, and I’m expecting a much better performance from them than last round.

I am still on the Cowboy train! This will be a brilliant match, and the local fans of Darwin will in for a thriller with a last-minute Cowboys victory. 

Can anyone believe how excited they are for the Dragons v Tigers game?! They didn’t let me down last week so I’m sticking with the Tigers. 

I don’t want to talk about it. I don’t even want to think about it. But like always, I’m tipping my Knights. 

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Multi tip from PlayUp: 

Tough betting condition so far this year, some recent poor form and blow outs have provided us with some huge lines that I think we could take advantage of:

Leg 1. $1.95 – Titans +19.5 head start –  We like the Titans to bounce back from a poor performance and cover the start

Leg 2. $1.90 – Cowboys +10.5 line – Parramatta are red hot but Nth Qld are also in form and 10.5 points is generous.

Leg 3. $1.90 – Tigers +4.5 line – They can win, so getting 4.5 start is decent. 

Total = $7.04

Good luck this weekend. Be sure to check out the great odds and the same game Multi-feature at PlayUp. Please gamble responsibly.