Round 14 Preview Talking Points: Yes, the regular season is still on!

Like a flower growing from a crack in the pavement, the NRL regular season continues to thrive while everyone else walks on by this State of Origin season. Here come your preview talking points.

The ladder doesn’t matter

If State of Origin’s impact on team selection wasn’t enough, we’ve got byes scattered across the joint for the next few weeks which combined with regular 17th team byes mean the ladder is almost indecipherable.

Want a sample of this mess? Penrith sit top right now, they’ve won seven games. Brisbane are third, they’ve won nine. South Sydney are fifth, they’ve won one more game than three of the four teams above them. Parramatta have won six games but sit 13th, even though the 8th placed Warriors have also won six.

North Queensland have won two more games than the 15th-placed Wests Tigers, but sit one spot below them. Some teams have played 13 games, some 12, some 11.

It’s odd teams have had two byes before others have had their first, but this 2023 NRL schedule didn’t make sense to begin with. We’ll need to wait until State of Origin clears out and the dust settles before we can start taking the ladder seriously.

Canberra’s Croker call is great

Raiders co-captain Jarrod Croker was supposed to be playing his 300th NRL game on Friday against the Wests Tigers, but the club has held him out until next week so he can play the milestone game in front of the local fans.

For the Wests Tigers fans complaining about disrespect and other perceived slights against your club – this isn’t about you. Ricky Stuart made it clear the opponent was irrelevant, it’s all about getting Croker to the milestone at Bruce Stadium. The Tigers don’t matter.

So save the harrumphing and sledges – I think its a great move. The club gets to pay respect to a club champion with an adoring home crowd. Oh, and that sweet sweet cash from ticket sales, corporate hospitality packages, merchandise and food and beverage too.

Jarrod Croker. (Photo by Mark Nolan/Getty Images)

Ignore the noise and look honestly into your own football supporter’s heart – If your club had a player approaching their 300th game, you know you’d want this for them too.

Good games this week

Seven games in Round 14 and assuming the majority of Origin players can back up, there’s some to definitely hold our interest. We begin Friday when Canberra head to Campbelltown for the rested and excited Wests Tigers.

The Tigers have won three of their last four, Canberra six of their last seven. Both teams are starting to open their shoulders on the attacking side of the ball but both can be caught out in defence, so let’s get ready for a stack of points.

Saturday’s slate of games starts in Auckland as the Warriors tackle the Dolphins. New Zealand left their run far too late against Brisbane last week, losing a game they would have fancied themselves to win.

The Dolphins have already said they’ll sit Queensland duo Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow and Tom Gilbert. It’s a pretty important four-point game for these clubs, with teams around them on the ladder having games in hand.

Gold Coast host South Sydney in Saturday’s twilight game, with the Bunnies ever so wobbly after two losses on the hop. An Origin period swoon is par for the course for clubs who have a lot of players out, so we won’t light the panic fires just yet for the cardinal and myrtle.

The Titans come off the bye and a diabolical fortnight prior, with too shocking losses pretty much dissolving the goodwill they’d built with NRL tippers. A maddening team, the Gold Coast. The talent is there, the glimpses of consistency are there, but the only real consistency they have is how inconsistent they are.

Jayden Campbell. (Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images)

A ripper on Saturday night with Cronulla and Brisbane a real top four battle. Brisbane were great against the Warriors without their Origin stars while Cronulla had the bye.

While the Broncos have had the publicised peaks and troughs, the Sharks have been quietly going about their business, based on 2023’s second best defence (conceding 19.2 points each game).

With no Thursday night game there’s three on Sunday, starting with the flailing Roosters and Canterbury and do the chooks need this one. Both teams are coming off a bye and there’s real potential for fun in this one.

Sunday afternoon’s second matchup is in Townsville and home comforts for the Cowboys, who’ll meet Melbourne. North Queensland gave their all against Parramatta, but still came up short, Melbourne had the bye and will be looking for the win to stay in tune with the top four.

The round ends with Penrith and the Dragons at Penrith. Ultimately this game depends on which of Penrith’s Origin crew of Isaah Yeo, Jarome Luai, Brian To’o, Nathan Cleary, Liam Martin and Stephen Crichton can back up.  

Off for the week are Parramatta, Newcastle and Manly.

Week 14 random observations

– Cross your fingers, your legs, your arms, your eyebrows, anything to bring you enough luck that your team’s State of Origin players come through Wednesday night unscathed.

– In order of probability, players most likely to be sinbinned during Origin game one: Hudson Young, Tevita Pangai Junior and Lindsay Collins.

– Wests Tigers’ next month is Canberra, the Gold Coast, Melbourne and North Queensland. Win two of those, they’ll be on the doorstep of the eight (ladder chaos notwithstanding). How about that?

– Lots of rousing and complaining about the late call to disallow New Zealand’s miracle late try against Brisbane, but there was no doubt it was the right decision. Don’t let what you want to have happened colour what actually happened…

Anything got you talking ahead of Round 14, Roarers?