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We arrive at the final round of the regular season. Some clubs will fight tooth and nail to stay alive, other clubs are mentally on a plane to Ibiza, some are so ill at ease with how the year has gone they’re leaking all sorts of junk to the press to smear their own club or shame players into getting their act together.
Here come your NRL midweek talking points.
A lot of hand wringing and teeth gnashing this week with Brisbane, Penrith, New Zealand, Melbourne and Newcastle resting what feels like dozens of players to prepare for the finals.
If you’re mad at this – why? Without a week off between the final round and finals week one like the AFL has, you’d be negligent not to rest your best and banged up players to prepare for the games that matter.
It’ll likely land us with a set of bludgers this weekend, but week one of the finals will be full tilt and fantastic.
Spencer Leniu. (Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)
Aforementioned resting aside, there’s a few interesting contests this week with a bit on the line.
We commence Thursday with Brisbane looking for their first win over Melbourne since the 2020 Nines Tournament. Brisbane haven’t beaten the Storm since 2017 in a real game and haven’t beaten them in Brisbane since 2009! Madness. With a bunch of players out, who’s to say they’ll get them this time?
It’s all bigger picture for Kevin Walters. Beating Canberra last week secured a top two finish so they’ll have a home final no matter what in Finals week one, it’s almost as though the minor premiership doesn’t matter anymore unless you want to find a way to mount the comically oversized JJ Giltinan Shield in the leagues club.
Friday early game farewells Manly and Wests Tigers, who try as they may couldn’t get out of their own way this year. Let us just hope there’s no big time injuries in this one.
Friday primetime gives us the Rabbitohs and the Roosters, with plenty to play for. It’ll be a seething pit of rivalry, hate and feuds because for the loser, it might well be season over.
Saturday looks to be a relatively bruise-free triple header with the Dolphins rounding off a pretty good first season against the Warriors. New Zealand can’t go second, they can’t go fifth, so they just need to get a good tune up in before they head to Brisbane or Penrith.
The game with most eyes on it will be Penrith hosting the Cowboys, who will be desperate to win to secure a finals place. North Queensland must win or it’s all over, and even then they rely on Canberra or Souths losing. Penrith can still finish top but their focus is winning the premiership, hence the changes to this week’s team.
Saturday night it’s St George Illawarra and Newcastle, with the now Ponga-less Knights win securing a home final which would be a fantastic outcome for the league. The Knights are one of the league’s most exciting and a packed home park is a sensational thing.
Knights celebrate the try of Kalyn Ponga. (Photo by Jenny Evans/Getty Images)
Sunday’s games start with the Titans and beleaguered Bulldogs playing out the string at Robina. It has been a disaster of a week for Canterbury as bitter leaks flood the papers and a poor club culture is exposed to all.
The game that might mean the most is at Cronulla Sunday arvo when Canberra and the Sharks do battle. Depending on results from the day before this might be the most important game of the round, or it might be a touch football exercise if both teams are secure after earlier results.
Canberra have beaten Cronulla nine times in a row but the Raiders are in all sorts. They’re riddled by injury and suspension, their captain is benched and unexpected team selections are throwing players all over the board, but what have we had? Another week with the focus on coach Ricky Stuart instead of all that other business. It’s canny by Rick – he knows what he’s doing.
Parramatta have the bye, which if they’ve got any sense means they’ve been on the cans since they dusted Penrith last Thursday.
What’s got you talking ahead of our last regular season round, Roarers?