Round 24 Preview Questions: Why would Latrell want to join Dolphins? Tamou lucky? Why rush Luai back? Pangai overvalued?

As much as he formed a tight bond with Wayne Bennett during their time together at Souths, star fullback Latrell Mitchell would have to have rocks in his head to consider a move to the Dolphins.

The Redcliffe expansionists are pretty much writing off any chance of getting a marquee name for year one and are focusing on Cameron Munster or Mitchell as a potential face of the franchise from 2024 onwards.

Mitchell has found a home at South Sydney after his turbulent exit from the Roosters a few off-seasons ago. He’s fit and firing, part of the community and has the chance to become an Indigenous icon at a club renowned for its long history of promoting Aboriginal players.

If he were to take up a multimillion-dollar offer from the Dolphins, he’d only be playing under Bennett for one year anyway with Kristian Woolf taking over as head coach in 2025.

(Photo by Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images)

Unless they enjoy a sharp change of fortunes in the recruitment stakes, the Dolphins will be on a slow trajectory towards success in their formative years and at 25, Mitchell should want to spend his prime years at a club that’s contending for the title like Souths can and should be for at least a few more years.

Munster’s agent, Braith Anasta, is correct to assume Bennett is using his client and Mitchell to create a bit of havoc in the player market – driving up their asking price so if they do stay with their current club, it will hamper their ability to retain other players.

Here are the burning questions for all 16 teams leading into Round 24.

Round 24 Questions

Thursday

Broncos vs Eels, 7.50pm at Suncorp Stadium

How much have the Broncos missed Pat Carrigan? They’ve gone 8-5 with him in the team this year but 5-4 when he’s been sidelined. The Wally Lewis Medallist has one more match to serve for his hip-drop suspension for his terrible tackle on Jackson Hastings and will again be sorely missed for this blockbuster against the Eels.  

Do Eels fans expect too much of Dylan Brown? Probably not. He still has too many ineffective games mixed in among plenty of red-hot ones. It’s easy to forget Brown is only 22 but he’s coming to the end of his fourth season in the NRL with 74 matches under his belt. The Kiwi five-eighth could be one of those players like Shaun Johnson who constantly threatens to become the game’s best playmaker but never manages to find the consistency to deserve that status.

Friday

Panthers vs Warriors, 6pm at BlueBet Stadium

Panthers rushing Luai back why now? So apparently his knee is good to go but they still might rest him next week. Far be it for anyone outside the Penrith camp to tell them what to do – their medical experts are the ones who know Luai’s knee and the risks involved. But surely in a nothing game like this one against a busted Warriors side, the safe option is the wise one – give him another week to recuperate and then he can have a run in the final round to warm up for the playoffs.

Jarome Luai of the Panthers (Photo by Matt King/Getty Images)

Is DWZ at end of the road? He’s only just turned 27 but Dallin Watene-Zelezniak’s impact has fallen off a cliff. After nine seasons in the NRL he still has the pace to match it with the best wingers in the game but doesn’t seem to do much with it. His average running metres of 107 is the worst of his career, a whopping 60 less than what he was carving out just two years ago. The former Kiwis captain wasn’t selected for the mid-year Test against Tonga and it’d be a surprise if he made the World Cup squad.

Storm vs Roosters, 7.55pm at AAMI Park

Should Storm be such overwhelming favourites? Melbourne are listed at $1.57 with the Roosters at $2.40 in head to head markets for this game. Not that anyone cries crocodile tears when bookies lose money with their markets but this has the hallmarks of a potential extra-time nail-biter. Melbourne, two spots higher on the ladder with home-ground advantage, deserve to be favourites but only just.

Drew Hutchison (Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)

Should clubs be chasing Drew Hutchison? The versatile utility finds himself listed in the No.18 jersey for Friday (pro tip, he will play – Trent Robinson loves ducks and drakes as much as he loves Roosters). He’s played centre, hooker, halfback and bench utility and is one of only four Roosters who have played every game this season. A few of the struggling clubs who need to bolster their spine could do worse than try to pry him away from the final year of his contract with a long-term offer.

Saturday 

Raiders vs Sea Eagles, 3pm at GIO Stadium

Does anyone trust the Raiders to sneak into the eight? It’s definitely do-able if other teams lose and they beat the struggling Sea Eagles and Tigers to finish the year. They nearly botched the assignment before they escaped late with the two points in Newcastle last Sunday. They also may need to improve their for and against, which is 46 points behind the next-worst finals contender in Brisbane. There seems to be too many what-ifs for the inconsistent team from the nation’s capital to capitalise.

Martin Taupau (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)

Is Martin Taupau worth another contract? Taupau will be 33 before the start of next season and after 13 years in the NRL, his output this year is at its lowest since he was at the Wests Tigers in 2014 – just 104 running metres and 22 tackles per game. But he’s still durable, playing 19 of 22 fixtures this year and one of those three was when he was held out of the infamous “pride jersey” game because a switch with the Eels was supposedly imminent. That deal would have given him a contract for next year but if Parra don’t have the funds to land him for 2023, it’d be a surprise if another team doesn’t snap him up.

Sharks vs Bulldogs, 5.30pm at PointsBet Stadium

Sharks’ soft draw a help or hindrance? Cronulla have clearly benefited from “the luck of the draw” in 2022 – newsflash, it happens every season, some teams get what turns out to be a favourable run and others get harder schedules. It is impossible for all 16 teams to get an equal mix in the quality of opponents unless you have a full home-and-away season, and that’s never going to happen again. After a lengthy year in which a few injuries have taken a toll in recent weeks – Sione Katoa, Will Kennedy and Toby Rudolf – it would be hard to think their soft run into the finals (five also-rans in the last five rounds) would be a disadvantage. After all, they did play Penrith, North Queensland, Souths and Melbourne the previous month so it’s not like they won’t be battle hardened from those clashes.

pangai

(Photo by Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images)

Has Tevita Pangai jnr ever played more than three or four good games in a row? The theory of what Pangai could be has always outweighed the reality. He has never been consistently elite during his time at the Broncos, his brief stint at Penrith and certainly not this year at the Bulldogs. Kudos to his manager for being able to hoodwink dopey CEOs over the years into giving him big-dollar deals because he has never been in calculations for Origin, never managed to deliver on his enormous potential over a decent stretch and never been worth the lucrative contracts.

Rabbitohs vs Cowboys, 7.35pm at Accor Stadium

Should Jaxson Paulo have been dropped? Based solely on his fumbling performance last week against Penrith, absolutely. But the young winger is not only a player of the future but a player for the now – he’s played 13, 12 and 17 games for Souths over three seasons so he’s established his place and if Jason Demetriou had stuck by him for this Saturday’s clash, it could have been the shot of confidence needed to get him back into form. Or his confidence may already be shot and benching him is the right thing to do.

Scott Drinkwater. (Photo by Matt King/Getty Images)

Will spine switch unsettle Cowboys? Unlike the first few seasons in the post-Johnathan Thurston era, North Queensland have had a settled spine of Scott Drinkwater-Tom Dearden-Chad Townsend-Reece Robson for most of 2022. Dearden’s absence until the finals due to a ruptured testicle means Todd Payten has switched Drinkwater to five-eighth and promoted Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow to fullback off the bench. As he showed last year when he was the club’s best player, Drinkwater can shine in the halves and The Hammer is wasted on the bench but two weeks out from the finals when they’re trying to hang onto second spot, the changes have come at an inopportune time for a game that should be a real ball-tearer. Poor choice of words. Apologies, Mr Dearden.

Sunday 

Tigers vs Dragons, 2pm at CommBank Stadium

Was James Tamou lucky to get his downgrade? Of course he was. Players who call refs “f—ing incompetent should be getting a three-week ban at a minimum so Tamou was extremely fortunate to escape with one. But when Jared Waerea-Hargreaves abused Gerard Sutton in Round 11, twice swearing at the referee and accusing him of bias, he only got a grade-one charge so it’s tough to argue Tamou’s offence was a grade-three offence. If the match review committee had punished JWH properly the first time around, Tamou would not have been able to get his ban halved.

(Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)

Do Dragons know the difference between playing tough and being ill disciplined? The past couple of years has been a cavalcade of high shots, shoulder charges, hip drops and dangerous play from the Dragons, from Josh McGuire, Mikaele Ravalawa and Tyrell Fuimaono to Tariq Sims and now Moses Mbye (two games) and Francis Molo (four games), who won’t play again this season after being suspended for high tackles. At some stage the club has to realise the problem is coming from within.

Titans vs Knights, 4.05pm at Cbus Super Stadium

Why would Titans be in Hunt for Ben? The Gold Coast used to be seen as a place to retire for rugby league players in the Seagulls/Giants/Chargers dark days. They have already signed Kieran Foran for next year to add experience to the halves and Sam Verrills’ arrival gives them the hooker they’ve craved. It’d make no sense for them to pursue Ben Hunt as well as Foran given they’ve also got Toby Sexton, AJ Brimson and Jayden Campbell looking to fill jerseys one, six and seven. Gold Coast have paid the price for investing in a young spine too quickly so surely they don’t want to go to the other extreme and roll out a 30-something halves pairing of Hunt and Foran.

Tyson Gamble. (Photo by Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images)

Tyson worth Gamble for Knights? The latest name to be linked to Newcastle is Brisbane’s fiery five-eighth. If the answer at Newcastle is Tyson Gamble, there’s something seriously wrong with the question. They should be throwing big dollars on a long-term deal at a player like Scott Drinkwater, who has proven point-scoring capabilities and despite stellar back-to-back seasons is not even guaranteed a starting spot at the Cowboys.

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