They've been doing it all day sir!
Two Englishmen in Australia, talking sports and life in a new country
They've been doing it all day sir!
Turmoil
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One week you’re celebrating a birthday and talking up a team on top of the league. The next, you’re watching the NRL remind you how quickly everything falls apart. We start with the good stuff, then swing hard into the chaos that’s swallowing the Wests Tigers, from selection drama to the Adam Doueihi situation and the bigger question it points to: why does instability keep repeating at the same clubs, season after season?
From there we turn the spotlight on Manly’s roller coaster campaign. We break down how in-game injuries wreck rotations, why key combinations matter more than fans admit, and how one or two missing “glue” players can make an attack stall and a defensive line crumble. We also get into recruitment, salary cap reality, and what Manly actually needs in the forwards to stop getting rolled through the middle and picked apart out wide.
Then it’s the run home: the packed ladder, the teams we trust on form, the impact of major injuries, and who can still sneak into the top eight. We finish with full Round 22 tipping, including Cowboys vs Roosters, Storm vs Bulldogs, Sharks vs Rabbitohs, and more, with our best arguments for underdogs and favourites alike.
If you enjoy honest footy chat that’s equal parts analysis and therapy, subscribe, share this with a mate, and leave a quick review. Who are you backing to surge into 8th, and which club do you think is one bad week away from a total blow-up?
Hello and welcome to another episode of David Dood It All Data. Thank you, Manley, for ruining my birthday. Let's get stuck in.
SPEAKER_00What a great birthday it was on Saturday as well.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it was. It was great celebrations. Day before my actual birthday, you know, you you've gotta you've gotta work around these things as an adult. Uh you can't have your parties on your birthday anymore. Um no, you can't.
SPEAKER_00Life gets in the way.
SPEAKER_02It does, it does. We had a great time at the new Freshie Brewery, and then bowled over to Seventh Day to join in one of the other lads' birthday celebrations. Yes. Beers were had.
SPEAKER_00Beers, beers were had.
SPEAKER_02I thank everyone who bought me a beer that that day. I was thinking I was I think I was quadruple parked at one point, which I can't complain about. Um but yeah, and then Sunday rolled around up to up to about midday. It was it was going really well. The girls went away to Kellyville. I wasn't there this week. Um, I I had a birthday, birthday breakfast thing that uh attended instead. Um, and they they won 42-4, absolutely stomped it away. Can't argue with that. Top of the league, still, rocking of the league. We're now top of the week, and masks got lost. So uh we're definitely in the top four, so we're definitely going through to the finals. It's just wearing that four, I think there's like four points that separate fourth from first at the moment. So uh can't argue with that. And then um it went downhill after that, to be honest.
SPEAKER_00He got ruined. Do you know what? We're we're fortunate um as Manly fans in the fact that we're not West Tigers fans. I'm I'm gonna I'm gonna say that because it just seems like the absolute circus of merry-go-round that happens year after year. Last year it was Locky Galvin, the three years before that it was the wooden spoon, and now Adam, this Adam Dewey saga, like I don't know what's your thoughts on like a mark one of their one of their veteran players, one of their big players deciding to not play it a weekend.
SPEAKER_02Well, this is the whole thing. Uh I I didn't really read too much into it, but until we had the conversation at the game on Sunday, and I was like, What's this all about? And you were like, Oh, it's because he was asked to play lock. Yeah. Which then a year previously, he's seen saying in an interview, going, I don't, I yeah, I got moved to lock halfway through the game. Um Benji must trust me in these positions. I'm happy where the team needs me. I'm happy to continuously play there if that's what the the coach and the team need. And um, and then a year later he's like, Yeah, no, I'm I'm not playing there, and through his toys at the prompt.
SPEAKER_00It's fallout from the drone Louai thing, I reckon. Like, um he's I don't know, he feels like maybe the club's a bit of a merry-go-round when it comes to attracting talent or having talent coming through, like Galvin looked promising, then some kind of falling out, or whether it's agents or anything like that, and then Lou I looks like he's there for the long term, so they're gonna create a long-term halves partnership and then disappears. Um, but he still plays, like he he still got picked, even though you think ah, yeah, they might prepare for time after Lu I by bringing that uh young geezer through, but then Dewey's the one that gets sacrificed, not Lou I. So I can understand it, but it just seems like what I don't know, what's going on with the club? Like, why is there so much instability within the club?
SPEAKER_02Uh yeah, I don't like it's just it just happens, like you say, the the past couple of seasons, it's they seem to get themselves to a really good point, and they seem to be like, you know what, we could actually push and do something this season, and then it all comes out and everything just unravels so quickly. And and and when you've got a dysfunctional unit at uh at when it occurs, things can go downhill quickly. They did, and it and it seems to have happened with them.
SPEAKER_00Misery compiler as well, and the fact that you turn up to the raiders and then get pumped, what is it, 5610 that they got turned over, and they just look like a shambles. Like there's uh Benji must be sitting there on the sideline thinking, what is going on?
SPEAKER_02Like Drecking, his role, Dreck and he's under threat with everything, or yeah, because you've gotta you you sometimes look at the captain to as of the ship, and if the if there's a mutiny, like there's there's obviously something that the the captain's done wrong, and it it looks like that's what's happened from a coaching point of view. Is is yeah, there's that there's there's a reason why there's unrest, and and players don't just drop drop tools straight away, it's gotta be a thing of of being uh build momentum. Um, so it could be a case of just one one too many things, has the the the straw has broken the camel's back in the sense of how uh people are being treated behind the scenes could be the deciding factor in in how this is sort of snowballed.
SPEAKER_00I know this is gonna sound mad, but like the start of the season might have actually done them a disservice. Like, what were they after eight games? They're I think it we got down here that they won five drawn one by or a couple of buys, but it's like their expectations were then set significantly high for a team that like last few seasons has struggled massively, and they've all of a sudden suddenly gone into this space where they think they're gonna finish in the top eight. Maybe a few people, a few egos start getting getting up, and then it starts to go downhill, and then Louai gets announced, it goes downhill even more. And yeah, you never know what goes on behind closed doors. But the interesting thing is the old uh CEO comes out and says, Ah, whatever happens in this meeting is gonna stay in these meetings. And next thing you know, reporters are reporting on this, reporters are reporting on that. I just don't get it, it's absolutely crazy. But it um it seems like all of their like they're just gonna want the season to end. I I think they're I mean, I don't know how many points they are off the bottom, but it's gonna be very close as to whether they they finish outside what I mean by that is outside the bottom three because I think they're in the they're in them now in the bottom two.
SPEAKER_02It's the the Titans, Broncos, Eels, and Tigers have all got 18 points.
SPEAKER_00Really? What how much are the dragons behind them? Uh eight.
SPEAKER_02Oh they've still they've still got a long away.
SPEAKER_00But but that does that mean actually have they mathematically cemented the wooden spoon or are they like two weeks away from that? A couple of weeks away, I reckon.
SPEAKER_02Oh, we're not gonna get a spoon bowl this year, which is no, I don't I don't think we're but you you look at the there's eight points that separate eight to sixteenth. So anything could happen. That's a bit silly.
SPEAKER_00And look, let's move on to Manly as well, because if you want to talk about a season that's been an absolute roller coaster, right? Let's summarize how it's gone. Start the season weren't feeling too confident, confident. Like we both said Manly, I reckon. I think in our preseason predictions, we said they'd finish eighth, tenth. Yeah, something like between eight and tenth, ninth. Um, and then we start the season with three losses at home, and you're like, oh, this is gonna be some see like genuinely. Are we the worst team in the league? I think it was at one point, but then sax seabold buzzing on this absolute bounce of four and but now what is it? We've lost four of the last or five of the last six. Um, last four on the bounce. I actually think we could be down there with us being poor, if not worse, than the dragons at the moment.
SPEAKER_02Oh um, that's a bold like back to where we were, back to where we were, like as bad as we were at the start of the season. You look at it, but do you know what? I'll I'll go back to again. It's it's not the whole deciding factor, but it isn't it is an element, it's the in-game injuries that are killing us. We're we're losing, we lost Ben Ben Divorovic again, again, so the rotations then completely shift. Bully Moore has to go to the second row, it completely shifts the dynamic. Um, I was really surprised at how poorly Hoppawati played at fullback as well.
SPEAKER_00Um, oh, there was one that right in front of us that you dropped, yeah, it dropped an absolute dolly. And it led to that try on the far sideline.
SPEAKER_02Then the try that was chipped through and he just let it run. Yeah, look, what I don't know what you do, I don't know whether like Hoppawati is normally golden boy under the high ball. Like he he's he's normally brilliant. I don't know whether there's an element of switching where you've got a short attack of S events, a deep attack, and you put goal as a fullback to do coverage. I I don't know, but you then look at the amount of players that we've got out, and they're all influential players. We've lost some very big, big names, yeah, like game-changing names in in the sense of for Manly, anyway.
SPEAKER_00Um, you've got Brooksy, who I think we've been preaching this for the what, the four or five weeks that he's been out, and even before, like saying he's within an origin shout, all right, might be a bit far-fetched, but the influence that he has on Manly and I think I think I talked about it last week is how he I think he must be the real sort of um playmaker in in that team, or the general like is Jamal Foggetty commanding them about how as much as he should be, or is it is it is it coming from Brooks?
SPEAKER_02Because you look how Brooks and Walsh play together, they play brilliantly together uh when when Fogerty was injured. Yeah, and then Walsh hasn't had the same impact as when he's been playing alongside Foggerty. So there's there's something definitely there. You look you lose Brandon Wacum, who everyone's got their opinion on, but from the base of a rook and a and a middle forward, he's he's very good. Like he he can whip the ball out, like he's got pace on it, he can hit, he can, his line speed's good. Again, you lose that that in the middle. Uh, you've lost Takihaho, he's a big body that comes off the off the bench. Yeah, you lost he's lost Clayton.
SPEAKER_00No contracts, is he next year, I don't think, or is he signed, he's got what I think.
SPEAKER_02I think he uh did I read somewhere he was extended for a year? I don't know.
SPEAKER_00Maybe I may at the moment I just see him on the focusing on his concrete in business.
SPEAKER_02Well, so fair too, life outside of football, can't argue that. And then you've got Clayton Falalo, who was arguably one of the rising stars of the of the of the of the team. Hamstrings before his hamstrings, and then it's more hamstrings. Look, so you look, you look at their do though if those four are playing, is this a completely different game? And I completely agree.
SPEAKER_00We've got we've got a week off, we've got a bye week now, but my concern, and uh we can't judge it too much. Maybe it's because we're scarred so much by football, Premier League, division one, championship, whatever you want to call it, whatever league we're in back in the UK of like just that managerial merry-go-round, that new manager bounce. I think the biggest one that we ever saw was Oli Gunnar Solskjaer at Man United, and they signed him on a long-term deal, and it didn't work out. Like did Manly jump the gun?
SPEAKER_02No, you've you've got to look at recruitment as well. Um you look at your two seabold fucked us in more ways than one. Well, you to be fair, I I reckon it's not all him. Like, there's there's a committee that talk about recruitment and and bring in players, yeah.
SPEAKER_00But that's also that was Tony Mashtrov as well, and he's now gone.
SPEAKER_02So so so you've got that look, you've got Liafi and Poseca who looks-wise, size-wise, those are what you want from two starting props.
SPEAKER_00Yep.
SPEAKER_02And then you've got Nathan Brown coming on to replace them, just on them, though.
SPEAKER_00Like over the past few weeks, they haven't been playing. Like Laafy, his first few games, but when he runs the ball, he runs hard, but he's not on the field for long enough.
SPEAKER_02But Poseca's not putting in the who knows what it is.
SPEAKER_00Like, maybe it's the extended minutes that he's having to play because we haven't got much size on the bench because of the likes of Takiaho being out, and maybe the lack of recruitment and sign in. Like, obviously, Aloye was a big body that could come on and do a job, could take carries off the back field.
SPEAKER_02Caleb Navala as well, he's out, he's been out all season. He's another big body, or or do you know what? A decent second row replacement, yeah. Um, and and and and you you're working for it, and and to be fair to that young lad who who started at hooker, I can't remember his name. Um, he again comes on for 20 minutes, and then that's it.
SPEAKER_00100% of tackles, yeah.
SPEAKER_02Attack and efficiency, he was hitting people, it was drop. Which is mad actually.
SPEAKER_00Did you see how many tackles we missed? It was like in 50 odd tackles we missed or something like that. So for the 20 minutes is on the field to make every tackle that you come up against like fair play. Um, look, I think it didn't jump the gun. It'll be interesting to see. Well, we've got no one really lined up to be signed next year. David Muale coming from the storm via rabbit hose via the storm, which look doesn't it's not an impact signing. You never know he could improve our front line. Nathan Brown's off, like what what can be done between now and next year?
SPEAKER_02Oh, nothing you you can only you can only play with what you got, but uh I saw I think Sami Fine who's on his uh look it looking looking out and that'd be nice.
SPEAKER_00We've surely got to have money, right? Like Turbo's extension drop down in cash. Garrick's 700 grand is gonna be gone. Garrick's gonna be gone. I know it's little things like Nathan Brown's gonna be gone, that's gotta be what, like 300 grand, something like that.
SPEAKER_02There's a mil.
SPEAKER_00There's got to be and DCE's money surely is still knocking about.
SPEAKER_02But are we still uh paying off old uh Schuster's contract?
SPEAKER_00Uh I read that, yeah. There might be one more one more year left on that, I think, to run. But surely there's got to be money to go in and go after some big bodies that that will make a difference, but it's a pre-season as well, like foreign will get the preseason next year.
SPEAKER_02Um look, I I think what with with the attack going forward, I think we've lost key players in key positions who help an attack hum. Um I reckon there needs to be a lot of that in preseason, is if we don't have X in in a Y position, we need we need to be able to run the same and with the same fluidity. Yeah. Um defensively, we've just fallen apart, we've crumbled. Yeah, it's it's just so easy for everyone. Every team that I saw it happen right in front of us. I was like, they're gonna just come over to all the way over this side, they're gonna whip it out, and they're just gonna stroll in, and that's exactly what they did. And it's not the they're not the only team to have done it, it's happened game after game after game.
SPEAKER_00You you and the worrying thing is, right, think about who we've got coming up. We've got the Dolphins coming up, who are one of those free-flowing attacking teams in the league. We've got the storm, okay. They've lost a few um few players, but we've got the Warriors as well. Last game of the season, dragons could even like you.
SPEAKER_02Look, I'm I'm not too worried about the storm as I as I could have been. Like watching them um against the the Rabbit O's, I think they've got as many holes in the defensive line as we do, and we've got players that hopefully are gonna be back who are able to exploit that. Um you then look at the the the dragons, yeah. That's a massive banana skin. We only just beat them away. Uh Warriors. I feel like they're doing what Warriors do, and they've they've taped the start, they are better than us, but they're starting to take it.
SPEAKER_00In New Zealand, they're gonna be probably fighting out for either a top four spot or the resting players, or the resting players, but it's gonna be like if I'm honest, where is it? It's the Dolphins won that one. We're sitting in 10th at that sit brookie as well. And last year we pumped 60 on them or something last year, which was phenomenal. But where do you see us making the eight?
SPEAKER_02No, I don't I don't think I see us making the eight. I don't think we deserve to make the eight. Um, if you'd have said to if we finish ninth, if you'd have said to me at the start of the season after those three win, like for three losses. This is a very valid point. You're gonna finish ninth, I would have been like, right, okay. So we've we've been there or thereabouts.
SPEAKER_00Exactly what I said about the tigers earlier, right? Like our expectations immediately shut up when everyone's talking about us finishing top four dark horses for the Prem, all that sort of stuff, and then now bought back down to earth with a with a big thud. Um, if we scrape in, we're out first round. If we don't make it, then well you've got to be in it to win it, don't you? You've got to be in it to win it. But let's talk about the kind of run-in, the the who will make the top eight then, because there's 14 teams that are currently looking hot in order to make the eight. Like, I think let's look at the top four Panthers, Roosters, Warriors, and Sharks. Panthers scrape a win together last week against the Eels. What was that Thursday night? That feels like an absolute eternity ago. Um, 18-24.
SPEAKER_02Uh there were some interesting refereeing decisions in this game as well. Um, there was I'm sure there was a knock on that they can go get called, and there was a forward pass all in the same uh sequence of play, I think. Um but yeah, again, they're starting to these these teams that have been absolutely killing it all season are really starting to to limp to the end of the season. Yeah. Um do I do I see the Panthers slowing down? Probably not.
SPEAKER_00It's tight at the top. Like there's only I think there's only two points in it going into from the top three. Um, but I think if I we had to go on form at the moment as for the two teams that are kind of looking like they're gonna make a charge for it. I think it's the roosters and the sharks. Like, yeah, all right, Manly were bad.
SPEAKER_02I would throw the bunnies in there as well.
SPEAKER_00Nah, come on. You can't look at this, let's have a look at their their run-in. So they have the sharks, eels, bulldogs, warriors, titans, roosters. So sharks we'll tip that later. Eels, yep, they could win that. Bulldogs, yep, I can see them winning that. Warriors, Titans, Roosters, maybe, you know. Imagine that. Last game of the season, whether they whether they potentially a top four clash to see who goes in against the roosters.
SPEAKER_02Look, and they've been winning games at the you'd normally see them not winning. So again, I'll refer back to that game against the storm. The amount of times that lead changed, but the the the they just didn't stop churning, they just attacked again. Their defence is is as I think the commentator said at one point, it says holier than Swiss cheese. But it's it's again that it's that dogging them, they're not gonna they're not gonna give up, and they're they're they're playing to the end of games, yeah.
SPEAKER_00They are, and another team that I think could potentially get on a bit of a run, and everyone's written them off, is the is the cowboys. Like, yeah, they're just grinding out wins, and the I think the Broncos were sloppy. Like this this was we were a fair few beers deep on Saturday watching this one, but I did watch the highlights of it, and there was a dubious decision when like the opening try that the Broncos scored was I don't know if you remember, was a kick through, and I can't remember who put it down, but there was apparently interference in the back, and he was never getting like it he was able to get off the interference. So a few questionable referee indecisions, but um fundamentally, like, are we counting the Broncos out? I suppose after that loss, mathematically, they still can, but I think they need to be perfect. They got a fairly difficult run.
SPEAKER_02Knights, dolphins, warriors, raiders, storm, bulldogs.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, they're they're done for, they're done for. Um, and then who else is in the mix around that? That kind of like five to eight knights, devastating loss to them. That's the big not just the loss to the roosters, which if we want to talk about clutch players that manly are missing, uh like it's frustrating because I hate him, I suppose, because he plays for the roosters, but DCE just in those moments, yeah.
SPEAKER_02Uh like you look at the couple of games that we lost by a point. Um would DC V slotted it, probably. Bulldogs, yeah. Cowboys would but the the issue against the cowboys, we were never in a position to to go for a goal, and that and that that's been the and I even think back to earlier in the season, right?
SPEAKER_00Like, if we had beaten the Raiders when we lost, what was it, 28-27 or 27-26, something like that. Yeah, if DCE was there to slot that, would Seabold still be our coach? So I don't know, it's like swings and roundabouts, but by big losses for the Knights, I mean Dylan Brown, like just he had the strapping around the knee, and then one jump tries to cut, gone, gone. ACL out for the season, then Dylan Lucas, like just an innocuous tackle to the ground, chest fell on his ankle, and then immediately you saw it, like you saw the replay, like your ankle is not facing the right way. And they're two huge consider Lucas gets called up for New South Wales, like that's just a power second rower, just just missing it.
SPEAKER_02Like a try almost a try game for him. Like uh he went, I don't know how many tries he scores from this season, but whenever I've watched, he's always seems to be tumbling over, and it's it's a another scoring opportunity that they they they lose, it's another scoring threat. Um so I'll take back that he's nearly scored a try again because I don't know how he scored. I don't want to look that daft, but you know it's it's it's a it's a threat of another threat scoring, it is, but a team that I think that could replace the knights in that top eight.
SPEAKER_00And look, I've written them off for a long time, but they seem to just be grinding out wins, and the Bulldogs got a like decent win over the Warriors at the at the weekend. Um this is the thing about the Warriors, they weren't on like there were moments in the game where Wateni Zelezniak gets the ball out wide, and you're like, right, he's gonna finish this, slips over like before the try line, and there was another one that he got pushed out just before foot touches the the line. Like dogs have got a bit of luck at the moment, and the only way that the Warriors scored, to be fair, to like their defence is kind of like solidifying a bit, was Mitchie Barnett with a little kick through, little chip over the top, and then uh I don't even know who ran onto it, but it was um a bit of magic from from the front row forward. But yeah, can the can the bulldogs they've got just stumble in storm, roosters, rabbit o's, dragons, panthers, broncos? It's a tough run in, but it's not impossible. So let's say beat the storm, yeah. Roosters, probably not rabbit O's will be a tight one, dragons probably, Panthers depends if they're resting players.
SPEAKER_02They might be a sneaky they do a couple of rounds out, don't they?
SPEAKER_00They do it. Well, last year, didn't they rest him in round 26 and then 27 they played because they wanted to get them in, they didn't want them taken a week off before a game, so you never know, and then the Broncos. I mean, look, it could be Payne Hasse's last well, it will be Payne Hars' last game for the and I wouldn't want to come up against a man that wants to go out on a on a uh on a high. So yeah, but Raiders obviously absolutely turned over the the Tigers. Can we see them making it?
SPEAKER_02Look, you it's so it's so close between like the Raiders in 11th at the moment and the Rabbit O's, you'd probably say the Rabbit O's at sixth. So you've got Rabbit O's on 26 points, and then you've got the Raiders in 11th on 22, and it all depends on how results go in your way and then how people do with the teams around them. So you're talking about that Bulldogs Rabbit O's game, that is that is huge. Um, like and and even even you could say the the Bulldogs rooster. game because then it's a team in and around where they're they're not likely to get points on them and other teams may drop points. So look I don't I don't think you can hand on heart say anyone from it take and say no to anyone from probably the Raiders.
SPEAKER_00The storm I think they're if they lose this weekend I think they're done yeah and because we we have a buy which puts us up to 24 yeah and then they're stuck down on 20 they've got to find something hope for other teams to mess up so I think if the Bulldogs win that that's the storm out of the run in which then Titans like mathematically they can do it but they're not gonna they're not gonna do it. So it seems like from 11th upwards a serious contenders to making it I don't I don't I so take us out of that. Yeah that realistically then is between the Raiders Bulldogs Cowboys Knights and rabbit O's if you had to put your money where your mouth is now out of those so oh well hang on let's flip it are we saying that the Panthers roosters warriors sharks and dolphins are almost yeah locks yeah so then out of rabbit o's knights cowboys bulldogs and raiders which three of those make it I reckon it goes Bunnies cowboys and I I want to say knights but it's all the I would need to see how they're gonna play this weekend. I think seeing how they play this this week would be a be a big factor because you've got Fletcher Sharp replacing probably um Dylan Brown yeah in the in the halves there we who's not a bad not bad but then if Calen Pong is not back like who goes at fullback um well actually yeah the teamless surround we can probably look at that in a second but I was gonna say do you know what I wouldn't I reckon the the Raiders could sneak in but I look at their run in right listen to this Panthers Knights Sharks Broncos Cowboys they are playing all of the teams around them so I mean look yeah if they want to back it up and if they want to put themselves back where they were last year then that they need to do which especially after this season like you you you're looking they've you we'd have written them off like virtually at the start of the season so um look you've got you've got in the halves from the Knights against the the Broncos you've got Fletcher Sharp and Sandon Smith who aren't just not not the worst halves pairing um and then you've got uh I'm not too sure who's replacing has Ponga been named at the back or he has yeah so look I don't think you can I I I think the knight if they were there to do were to do it I think the knights sneak in in in in eighth um and then it's sort of bulldogs bulldogs seagulls and and raiders I just can't see us doing it no I I I I can't either like I say I don't think we deserve to be in that I think Brandon Smith might have said today that you can see Caesars finishing eighth potentially but there's just too much turmoil there's too much disruption of like you say well you never know a week off a couple of a couple of days off this is this is a very valid point Falalo at full back if he's fit for wake and wake him potentially back turbo dropping into the centres he's come out and said if once we've played in the centres which I I think needs not Adam Dewey listen up. Yeah well look I'd I'd take Dewey again it's like sometimes you want to take the the the poison apple out of the out of the tree sort of thing and it's sort of laying laying with the fleas well or laying the dogs and expecting to get fleas sort of thing but you know it's I I reckon he would he's a good great utility yeah but if he's not gonna play 13 at the bloody at the tigers he ain't gonna yeah he's gonna play centre he'll play centre yeah he'll and he'll love it um so yeah look it's gonna be time interesting interesting run in um but let's get on to tipping round 22 kicks off on Thursday kicks off with a huge game actually up in Queens there at the country bank stadium we've got the Cowboys at $2.54 against the Roosters at $1.52 have lost Billy Smith and Daniel Tupot who are two very influential difficult one this is difficult it is difficult do you know what I'm not gonna win our comp so I want to see some I want to see some results I'm gonna go Cowboys I have been thinking about this a fair bit since you've been speaking and I was going to go for the Cowboys but I don't know I just feel like the Reason weren't that great against the Knights and the Knights were injured for like they were down a few players for a long period of time yeah I'm gonna join you I'm gonna go Cowboys going to go Cowboys love it.
SPEAKER_02And then the first kickoff on the Friday we've got the six o'clock down in the wind stadium down in the gong we've got the dragons at $4.45 against the Dolphins at $1.21 Dragons were terrible against the the Titans they didn't turn they like it was close for about 10 minutes then Titans just ran away with it. It's got to be the Dolphins like they've got to slap them in this one they've had a week off as well so they're coming so Pato may be back with a um an arm guard on I was listening to earlier he's he's in the reserves the 20 22nd man so that could be fitness that could be a late edition absolutely carve him up and then we go to Melbourne Amy Park we've got the storm at $2.50 against the Bulldogs $1.53 big fixture this oh jeez they've lost Harry Grant he's out for a while yeah hamstring and and watching that game against the rabbit o's when Harry Grant came on they were they looked a different team and as soon as he came back off they they just fell back into it Bulldogs are they gonna grind out something they're a they're a team that just can be difficult to beat if they put their mind to it so I'm gonna go the Bulldogs yeah I hate like this is the annoying thing I hate just constantly picking favourites yeah even though we picked the Cowboys in the first one they weren't favourites but um I can see Storm are at home yeah Storm do alright at home but they've been shit this season so I'm gonna go the Bulldogs as well and then we've got the first kickoff on the Saturday three o'clock at the C Bus Super Stadium we've got the Titans at $2.53 against the Wars at $1.52.
SPEAKER_00I reckon these odds have shortened significantly in recent weeks I reckon if you looked at this a couple of weeks ago it'd have been like $4 something against a dollar ten or something or something ridiculous like that. I think the Titans cause them trouble. I think the Titans caused the Warriors a bit of trouble but they bounced back.
SPEAKER_02Yeah I go Warriors Wars are winning this week I'm gonna whoop the wires I think there they need to bounce back from last week and they've got a pretty pretty strong team to do that.
SPEAKER_00And then the 5.30pm kickoff in Mudgy we're in wine country we got the $1303 Panthers against the $3.35 Canberra Raiders this is the one last year that um did it go to golden point nah it might have gone to golden point or it was very close but where KO Weeks ran the whole length of the field. Yeah it was against the Raiders in Mudgy I'm pretty sure last year it was a miracle in Mudgy uh but could this be the could could this be the game that kicks off the super run of the Raiders oh this is difficult this is these these these are so tough um I'm gonna go Panthers yeah I think I don't think the Raiders Raiders win this they the Panthers have got a good f following in Mudgy as well um so Penrith Panthers and then we've got the 735 kickoff at the Songcorp Stadium in Brisbane we've got the Broncos at $1.50 against the Knights at $2.61 I reckon the Broncos win this like I know we talk about going favourites but the losses of Lucas and Brown are huge. Like Ponger yes he's back but I don't know I reckon the the Broncos are picking up a bit of momentum and they win it I think the reintroduction of Dane Gagai Kalen Ponger is going to be very influential in the uh in that back and that attack um and I'm gonna I'm gonna back the Knights fair play then we go to the Ocean Protect Stadium on Sunday 2pm we've got the Cornell Sharks at $1.28 against the South Sydney Rabbit Hoes at $3.73.
SPEAKER_02Look I know I said the Rabbit O's may make a late charge but if the sharks play like the sharks have been playing and Nico Hines has one of his incredible performances he hasn't he made 27 out of 27 kicks in a row or something like that.
SPEAKER_00This could be a big score considering how the Rabbit O's defence is very leaky at the moment I'm going for the Sharks and I'm going the Sharks 13 plus yeah sharks and sharks win this massive and then finally we're at the comeback stadium for the West Tigers at $2.93 against the Eels at $1.41 last week I said Dragons against the Titans is one for the purest this might be a struggle at a 405 on a Sunday you know like no disrespect to the West Tigers fans or the Paramount Eels fans but this one ain't got much going for it and Dewey's been named hasn't he's I think he's yeah named at seven I'm gonna go for the Tigers to win this after the absolute turmoil that's happened over the last week I reckon Louai and Dewey are going to play like prime cleary than just the Panthers what Cleary and Louai yeah yeah I was trying to think I was like this is an absolute unreal partner that he's at oh yeah Jerome Louai as well um yeah so I'm gonna go West Tigers I'm gonna go different I'm gonna go the Paramount I think um the Eels enjoy Combank and then oh I bloody hate the Combank and I I I don't think that I think the unrest is gonna mess up the tigers. Yeah fair play and then look I think it will leave us uh with a better position of knowing where teams are next week definitely mainly on the buy can't argue with that at least for guarantee the two points but if you're listening up till this point hit that subscribe button we're marching towards 200 subscribers so greatly appreciate it if you do and um yeah we'll wrap it up there so we'll actually done we'll catch you in the next one see you later