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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!
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Round 27 is done, the final eight is set, and the chat instantly turns from “how was your weekend?” to “who actually survives September?” We start with the emotion of a milestone night and how that kind of moment can lift a side, then get into the brutal reality of finals footy where one reckless play, one mistimed hit, or one targeted defender can swing an entire campaign.
From there we pull apart the contenders and the pretenders across the NRL finals picture. We talk South Sydney Rabbitohs as the unpredictable wildcard with star power and confidence, the Sydney Roosters juggling rotation and cohesion, and why it still feels like the Penrith Panthers are the standard everyone else is chasing. We also cover the teams sitting on the edge of the bracket, including the Cowboys’ defensive issues, the Warriors’ edge defence concerns despite their home advantage, and the Dolphins’ ability to score from anywhere when their forward pack wins the middle.
Then we go where every fan ends up sooner or later: the refereeing. Forward passes, bunker decisions, and the six again rule keep coming up, and we dig into what needs to be clearer before the games get tighter and the margins get thinner. We finish by reopening our preseason NRL ladder predictions, keeping score, debating a possible wildcard weekend, and locking in our Week 1 finals tips for Rabbitohs vs Knights, Warriors vs Dolphins, Sharks vs Cowboys, and Panthers vs Roosters. Subscribe, share the show with your footy group chat, and leave a quick review. Who are you tipping to win it all?
Hello and welcome to this week's episode. They've been doing it all day. It's uh 27 rounds done and the final eight are locked in. Let's get stuck in. Get up 20 interesting over the last week?
SPEAKER_01Ah, I had quite a busy weekend actually. Um there was the Asia Pacifica flag tournament. Um I was I just helped out a little bit there. Uh bit of bit of coaching, um nothing to write home home about. It was a great tournament, well organised down at Rat Park. Um, some like proper, really good teams from like really good players, international players were there, so it was really good. Had drinks at the the diggers on Saturday, um, and then had a uh Father's Day um thing with my my partner's family, um, which was absolutely delightful. So very chocker block. I was in bed for I think it was like quarter to eight, uh eight o'clock on on Sunday evening. I was uh fast asleep. Um and missed an absolute cracker of a derby match between Blues and Wolves as well. What was the score? 2-2. 2-2. Yeah. Jay Stansfield scored an absolute worldie.
SPEAKER_00Um did Raul Himenez score for Wolves. I don't know. I don't know how he was doing it. I don't think he did. I don't know how he was doing. But um about yourself. What did I get up to this weekend? Father's Day, Sunday. Uh I went to see Paul Patrol the movie. Oh, delightful. With the two boys, which was uh good. It's my middle child's first experience of of the cinema, uh, which is hilarious to see. Like he didn't expect how big the cinema screen was gonna be. He did, his legs were constantly like bouncing because he was just so excited to watch watch a movie. Um, then went down to DY on on Sunday and had a little bit of dinner down on the beach. Lovely evening, nice evening. What a little bit of a picnic or yeah, a little bit of a picnic, just went to some burger joint. It was uh great deal, actually. Burger and chips, 18 bucks, probably the cheapest around here.
SPEAKER_01Was it JB and Sons? Nah, it wasn't. No.
SPEAKER_00Uh JB and Sons just too expensive nowadays. Um, and then Saturday went to the forest pub, had a few beers, a few beers, um, few, a few beers, and uh yeah, watch Manley lose to the Wars. But let's cover some interesting events over the weekend. Although it was an uneventful fixture list, there were some key things that happened, and kicking it off with Giant Arrows, hundredth appearance on the Friday night, the eight o'clock kickoff, the Allianz was absolutely rammed. Um the rabbit hose had a bit to play for, yeah, the roosters didn't have much to play for, but the start of the game was just mental.
SPEAKER_01Uh just just lean leaning into that, I I what from this game as well as the the one before when he's walking out, I it's it's it very much brings a tear to you. It's been such an emotional last last couple of weeks for him.
SPEAKER_00Um I think he held it together better this like last week. I think the emotion of 99 first time, the recognition of like what the club had done, he played for the Titans, that sort of thing. Um, and this week I think he held it together walking out. It was that I think it was that coming off for that last time. Like that's when the realization of things set in, he's never gonna do it again. Like him just seeing Wayne Bennett, who respect to the man, like a lot like coming up with the idea of doing it, coming down on the sideline, handing him over that hundredth, the the substitute card, the interchange card that had the hundredth on it, but walking off the field for the last time, yeah. You can't even imagine what he's him and his family are experiencing in the kind of battle that they've got coming up. But yeah, it was it was I think that set the tone for the game, really. The opening kickoff was pretty enormous. Was it uh Spencer Lenou threw himself into Kaloma Tungian? It kind of and what are your thoughts on um kind of roosters fielding a weakened side?
SPEAKER_01I I understand it. I understand the point of view. Get players uh minutes that may not necessarily had them getting blooded in. It was a bit of a nothing game for them. Yeah, I think they were they were always gonna be um they're always gonna finish fourth, weren't they? So I don't think they could have really really pushed it into into third. But yeah, they've now hit the hoodoo of uh conceding 50 points. 50 points, and their team's gone on to win it after conceding 50 points. So it's can can that have come back and uh and bit them bit them in the arse. But uh one of the one of the things from this game, one of the biggest hits of the season, I think, as well, from Latrell Mitchell.
SPEAKER_00Enormous, but this is this is kind of the reason why I asked the question, right? I think Trent Robinson, all right, you can get people used to first grade, that's fair enough. But in a such an emotional high game with a lot on the line, you have one rooster in Spencer Lenue who just completely lost it. Like he's he's but just whatever it was, Kalower Matungian throws the ball back. Like, that's absolutely stupid. And if that happens in finals, like are Penrith gonna target that? Are they gonna go yeah, we're gonna go straight at him, especially being an ex-teammate as well? But it was meant, it was almost men against boys out there. They had one of the young guys, I can't remember who it was, went off with his second head knock from um playing in first grade, and then they're number seven, like you said, lit up. But if Latrell like Latrell's got to play like Lattrell, but if he's one millimeter off, his final series is done. Yeah, but what a hit! Like you saw it coming a mile, and he's the half's face in the wrong way, and he goes to turn, he's just turned straight in it. Absolutely blind side, hit by a brick wall, yeah.
SPEAKER_01I think we've I've I've definitely been there and taken those hits previously, and and and especially from a blind side, you you just don't expect it and you're flattened.
SPEAKER_00The whiplash, the whiplash on it was was incredible. Um, but what do we think? What do we make of the rabbit hose? Obviously, they've got Latrell back for Feetas, humming.
SPEAKER_01They're just it it it's one of those they're just one of those teams at the moment that it's it's really it's really hard to describe because they don't look like a team that would would cause damage, right? They've got some.
SPEAKER_00Alex Johnson scored 30 tries this season.
SPEAKER_01They look like a good team, don't get me wrong, but the way they play, the way they shift the ball, they've just got this team of misfits, I think, is is a good way to describe it. Yeah, and and they've just come together, and and like you say, you've got you've got Cody Walker who's who's uh who's a bit of a deviant, you've got David Fafita, who's again we've got people out the wrong way, Mattel Mitchell, like, but they've just as you say come together, they're humming as a team, and they they're rather enjoyable to watch as well.
SPEAKER_00They are. I if I looked at any of the teams outside the top eight, top four, sorry, um they're the ones that I believe on their day can cause the biggest upset. The only thing that I think is I don't think anyone outside the top three are gonna win it, but and the reason why, sorry, is because I don't think anyone can string a run of four results together or three results for some in some cases against elite sides week after week. Like the rabbit hose, yes, they can beat anyone on their day. I think anyone in the eight can beat anyone on their day, yeah. But be able to put it together week after week after week.
SPEAKER_01They're gonna have to play four finals essentially.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and that's gonna be a challenge, and we're looking a bit and we're trying to break down who's playing who and who's going where, but um I think it's a spicy game coming up for for the Roosters against against the the Panthers week one. Yeah, I do think the reason why the Panthers went strong and the Warriors went strong against Manly was to try and play the Roosters. I think they s they sense a bit of uh vulnerability, vulnerability about Sam Walker, a bit of an injured, an injured animal, but you can as I've said before, you can never an animal backed into the corner is all is always dangerous. Yeah, um, but looking at kind of the other half that half of the eight, the the cowboys who came in came in eight, like that I my opinion, they're just there to make up the numbers. I feel as a Manley fan, as a Manly supporter, yes, our season was massively up and down, but thoroughly disappointed that we're not in the eight over the cowboys.
SPEAKER_01100%. And look, it it's the cowboys deserve to be there because they've they they they pulled together the performance together. Do they? They got 82 points stuck on them. They they they put the they're they got 50 stuck on them this week. Yeah, but they put the performances to get there, they scored enough points to finish eighth. So they they in right deserve to be there. Um but in saying that I completely agree. Manly were just idiotic at times and and and let it slip four games. We lost by one point, and and the way we've ended the season as well, you you wouldn't have bet against us not doing quite well in the in the finals as well. So again, it's it's one of those infuriating things that if if decisions went our way a little bit, again, it's it's going back to the start of the season and and the tight games and being able to see out the tight games, which has really really killed us. Uh, it goes we we talked about last week, the Cowboys game at home. Like it was incredibly infuriating. I think we were two tries up with ten to go or something, something like that, and we couldn't ice it, we couldn't get our and half.
SPEAKER_00I'm a bit concerned that Foggerty has not been able to like he had a shot at goal at the weekend.
SPEAKER_01It was two meters away from the rockets like that's what I was gonna say.
SPEAKER_00Like the ability to set up those places. Everyone knows on fifth tackle you're gonna be going for it, right? Like, at least spring a surprise, at least do something different, give yourself some depth. Like, yeah he's got a big boot on him. Try and take like Tyrell Sloan did against the Hills, just take the shot from wherever and just give it a go. Um, but I mean, let's talk about the Canberra Raiders. First off, touch on the Brisbane Broncos getting rid of Kobe Black, who had an incredible debut, record-breaking debut. He's kicking a game, he was running about all over the place. Um, he's certainly got a promising future for him. But I was a bit concerned for the man whose farewell game it was, yeah Josh Papaliti, getting smashed by Ruben Cotta on the chin opening kickoff when he went down. You're like, uh oh. This geezer doesn't go down often, and he's dropped like a sack of potatoes. I just saw actually before we started recording that Ruben Cotta's pleaded not guilty. How can you plead not guilty to that? You've got look, it's a it's a lose-lose situation. Because I I think they know that they're likely one and done in the finals.
SPEAKER_01So they're gonna just try and get him in.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, they've gone to try and get him in, pleaded not guilty. He's gonna be suspended.
SPEAKER_01You're gonna have to get mitigating surpassing stances that they're gonna be.
SPEAKER_00I'm pretty sure Papalini ran in bolt up right. So there's there's no way that that's gonna happen. But the Cowboys, they've like without Cotta, they're gonna be even worse. They've conceded 652 points. They've got one of the worst records, defensive records in the NRL. Um, I just can't see them going further further than round one.
SPEAKER_01No, and and the sharks have just got Brendan Trindle back as well. Brendan Trindle back in they're gonna they're gonna be humming, I think. That they you we're gonna see a better sharks team than we have over the last few weeks.
SPEAKER_00I reckon the sharks sticks 50 on them. That's already the prediction for going to skipping ahead to the later bit of the episode. Yeah, I think they but on the on the sharks, um, bit of controversy around surrounding their game against a storm. Yeah, and this is a it's been a theme for the last couple of weeks in the season. There's got to be something that's can be done about forward passing.
SPEAKER_01Right, it's doing my head in. It's doing my head in.
SPEAKER_00It's it's I'm pretty sure some of the Warriors passes for uh their tries were forward.
SPEAKER_01But then the one that I think was it Turbo to Garrett or Garrett to Turbo, I can't remember. On the inside, and it was called forward. It was like it was as as flat as they come. Again, didn't never went ahead of ahead of Garrett or Turbo got tackled. And like you say, the need there needs to be stuff done because there's there's obvious ones that are missed quite blatantly, but then there's the tight ones that are nowhere near.
SPEAKER_00I can't remember what game it was this weekend. It might have been the the Thursday night game, Bulldogs, Broncos. The light the touchy was was in line with the ball, like directly in line with where the pass was taken. You could clearly see it's gone forward, like out of the hand forward, carry on.
SPEAKER_01Do we resort to having four touches and having one running with the attacking line the whole time and then one with the defensive line? I I I I don't I can't see any other way of doing it.
SPEAKER_00We've had I suppose the other argument that we've had, and I mentioned we might have mentioned this a couple of weeks ago is if you do bring in something for forward passes, you're then like the game's determined by technology, and I there is an element of like that human error with stuff like that that adds to the talking points. But the one that gets me in this is the Sua Far Longo try. That you can see green. You can see it's what what's your opinion on it? You think it's a try?
SPEAKER_01No, no, no. No, no, no. I I I uh from the stills, it's it's it's on the white line, it's touching the white line.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I don't I don't get it, but but but I I I think in the still as well, you can just see a little bit of green underneath it, but then again, it's it's how much of a the the paint does it need to touch for it to but my my thinking behind it is if you put downward pressure on the ball, it's when the full force of that downward pressure is applied. If there's a bit of ball touching the line, it's out, and that angle from the back where you can see where the one that apparently where they called where you can see clear green between the ball. I'm like so the human error of the forward pass on the field, fine, don't mind that, it causes controversy, like it is frustrating, but the human error of when it goes to the bunker as a no-try and gets turned overturned, I think that's absolutely bonkers. And then obviously, Harry Grant comes out after the game and says it's like feels like a game of touch. And I also noticed as well, reading a few things before this, Cam McInnes has come out and said the same thing that no one really knows what the six again rules are. Tom Deerden's come out, and so there's a few people revolting, but old Peter Valandz has said stats are exactly the same as last year, like ruck speed, everything.
SPEAKER_01But I I do get I do get where they're where they're coming from.
SPEAKER_00Um we don't know in the crowd what's going on, and look at that Warriors manly game at the weekend. That first half, the penalty count or the six again count was ridiculous. You can put that down to Warriors forwards dominating manly a bit, but it was ridiculous. Like there was no consistency, it didn't feel like we were getting the same.
SPEAKER_01No, and and and and and that's the that's the biggest thing. Gerald Sutton can do one. Is is you you you what you watch the game and you you guess from the tempo of when things are called from the referee that oh six again should be called here, but then nothing comes, but then on the when you that you then your team then is defending, there's a lot there's a shorter playing on the rook or what interfering with the rook, and and then it gets pinged straight away. And it's like, well, where's the where's the consistency and the timing here? And and what are you seeing or what are you you judging it off? And it's just incre it's just incredibly frustrating.
SPEAKER_00I was listening to the by run podcast earlier, and I can't remember who bought it up or what referee it was, sorry, but they were talking about the average player of the ball being 3.5 seconds and that be uh for this referee and that being like a measurement of success that the average player of the ball is 3.5 seconds. Like, well, what's what does that mean then? At least if that's a measure of success, then it's a poor measure because one could be 2.8 seconds, one could be 4.2 seconds, neither of them get pinged, but an average is 3.5. So, like it's it's difficult. Um, but I think it should just be clear and obvious. If someone's clear and obviously pinning someone down to get their defensive line back and set, then it should be pinged. But yeah, um sharks on a bit of a losing streak, like you say, they do get Braden Trindle back this week, but are they going to be able to? Yeah, they've got the weakest team in the tournament in the comp first round, but I don't know whether they're gonna be able to do much more beyond that.
SPEAKER_01Well again, we'll we'll see what sort of form they're hitting this week because they could end up being the the team that turned up like four or five weeks ago. So I you just don't again we've said it all you just don't know where the shots are four to six six weeks ago.
SPEAKER_00They were one of the favourites to win a comp. Now and now they've absolutely fallen off cliff. But that does coincide with losing Trindle. Trindle to a dislocated shoulder. Um but talking of players playing injured, Penrith, minor premiers, Isaiah Yo's peck is actually ruptured. Yeah, it's not even like it's partially torn and it's rehabbed, it's it's fully ruptured, and he's wearing that like um sling that stops you being able to extend it. If he makes it to through the next game, which will be a physical game against the Roosters, Tedesco's clearly going to be running at him to try and get his arm out from his body to get rid of him. Um yeah, fair play to him. That's some that's some pure toughness, man.
SPEAKER_01Absolutely mana steel.
SPEAKER_00It is Mitch Kenny returns as well. Heard that he's only played like 55 minutes total or something this season, but what a great addition to to have back. Uh Tigers limp home at the end of the season, Penrith minor premiers, which we'll get to our season predictions in a minute, I think, which wasn't wasn't hard. Um but Dolphins, Dolphins finishing the season strong. Yeah, where do you reckon they sit?
SPEAKER_01I they're again they're one of these teams that can just attack and kill you from anywhere, any side of the field. Um, but I think we're gonna just see the professionalism of the the the Panthers turn up now. I think we're we're just they're they'll end up going through. I'd I would like to see the wires win it, even though I don't know, you know. The weekend was a bit controversial.
SPEAKER_00I don't know, you know. I've seen something from the Warriors over the last couple of weeks. I don't I actually think there's only their edge defence is is dreadful at the moment. Like they've got some strike weapons, like Lekka Halasima is an absolute joke. Um, their forward pack is a joke, but they can't defend for Toffee on the outside, and the teams that they're coming up against or will come up against, coming up against the Dolphins this week, yeah, their strength is the outside again. Um, but I I personally can't see it's Penriff than everyone else. Yeah. Um, but I say uh good place to leave round 27 and go on to go back to week one or prior to week one. Here we go. And we decided to do some preseason tips. Um, back in March, we thought we knew what was gonna happen. Um, so yeah, let's see how badly or well we got it wrong. You you won last year. I think you outscored me by a zillion points last year. So, what we're gonna do, same as what we did, the amount of positions you get it wrong is the amount of points you get, lowest points wins. So what would I go through my tips? We'll say where they actually finished, and then you say where you think they finished, and we'll add it up and see who wins from there. So in 17th, I this is the one that I got horrendously wrong. Yes, so did I. The Newcastle Knights I said would finish bottom of the ladder. I had the exact same, and they actually finished seventh. So fair play to the Newcastle Knights. I think that's one of the ones that surprised a lot of people. Uh, I said the dragons would have finished 16th and they actually finished 17th. You put them in 15th. Not bad. Not bad.
SPEAKER_01I had I had two points and you had the one, so you're just just nicking it a little bit.
SPEAKER_00Just the head. Uh interesting one here. I actually reckon I put Cowboys in 15th, and I reckon they could have had a stinker this year. Yeah. But they somehow didn't. They actually finished eighth.
SPEAKER_01Okay. Uh I had them in uh 14th. Ah. So this is where we had very interchangeable. We did.
SPEAKER_00But this is the thing about the Cowboys. Their defensive record says they should have been finishing 15th. Exactly. Exactly. Which is crazy. I had the Titans finish in 14th, and you had them 16th? Slap bang where they finished 16th. I was quite happy with that one. Zero points for that one. I said the rabbitos would finish 13th, and they actually finished in sixth. I had them in seventh. Did well with that one. Yeah. Did very well with that one. I had the Tigers in 12th, actually finished 15th, so three away. I had them 13th. Two away. Two away. About the same. This is the one that I think I'm actually the most proud of tipping. Last year, I tipped this team to win the wooden spoon. They won the minor premiership. Got it completely wrong. This year, tipped them to finish 11th, and they finished 11th. So I got it completely right. So I've actually done the complete opposite with the Raiders as to what I did last year. Where did you have them? I had them 10th. That's not bad. No. It's one off. And then the Mighty Man Sea Eagles. Look, we were I was apprehensive. I think we were both apprehensive before the season started. Um at one point it did look like we were going to finish in the top four and absolutely cruise our way to a premiership. I had them finish in 10th and they finished ninth.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I had them finish in 11th. So I got a plus two on that one. So again, around those around the same areas.
SPEAKER_00This is the one that I think killed me a little bit. Yeah. The Warriors. I had them finishing ninth and they finished runners up behind the Panthers. I had them finishing 12th. Oh yeah, that was that was a big, big one for me. There we go. Bulldogs, I had them on the slide from last year. I had them finish in eighth, but they slid even further and finished twelfth. So that's four off. Yeah, I had them in fifth. So you thought they were gonna back it up. Next one, I'm not too mad at how on point I kind of got this one. Stormer had finished in seventh and they finished tenth. I had them third. I mean, it's logical. Logical, I can see it, but they had a fair few injuries before the season started. Dreadful. This one as well isn't great for me, but it lured into that false sense of security at the end of last season. Paramount Eels finishing sixth and they finished thirteenth.
SPEAKER_01I had them in ninth. I had them just in and around there. So not bad.
SPEAKER_00Not around four off. Another one that I got right, sharks finishing fifth and they did finish fifth. So one off. Oh, this one. Dolphins, I had finishing fourth and they finished in third. That was close. I had them just in the eight at eighth. This is the one that most people got wrong. I had the Broncos Broncos finishing third. They finished 14th. You had them were going, you had them winning the minor premiership. 13 points you got for that one. Roosters, we both had finishing second. Yep. And they finished fourth. And then finally, my third correct prediction, the Panthers finishing first.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I had them at fourth.
SPEAKER_00Not bad. So totting those scores up. You've taken the year again. You're two nil to back to back. So I finished on 66 points and you finished on 63. Although I got three correct. Yeah. It was the consistency, I think. So the ones that let me down, Rabbit O's 13th, 6th. Yeah. Uh I had some big ones in there. What was the other one? The 7-1 Warriors 9th, and then finishing second. And there was another set, the Eels. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Three of them. You see, I had the I had the Bron Broncos, which got me 13 points. Warriors got me 10, and Newcastle got me 10. Everything else was not too bad. Not too bad.
SPEAKER_00If I had to pick one, I think it's the Eels that absolutely screwed me over. I thought they were going to be alright this year.
SPEAKER_01Mine's the Broncos. That was dreadful picking.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I think everyone, everyone uh got that one wrong. Uh, but the final eight, we got the Penriff Warriors, Dolphins, Roosters, Sharks, Rabettos, Knights, and Cowboys. Um what do we see happening? Who can actually win it? So who do you think um who do you think's the in the best form leading into the finals?
SPEAKER_01Uh you'd have to say Penrith, I think. It's gotta be Penrith. You look you look at the top three. Uh uh Penrith uh have just strolling, winning games, starting to that professionalism starting to kick their warriors, as you said, looking defensively frail. Uh Dolphins are good in attack, but again, there's a question mark to be around a few teams. So I reckon the the Panthers are that team that are looking the best at the moment.
SPEAKER_00Do you reckon it's Penriff versus the rest? Or you reckon it's theirs to lose? Yeah, it's Parrish's to lose. Interesting thing coming up. Peter Volandis uh mentioned earlier that he saw the success of the AFL wildcard weekend last weekend, and it's like massively drawn attention to the crowds it can draw in. So let's hypothetically think it would be Newcastle, who finished seventh, against who finished in 10th, Melbourne. Yeah. And then it would be Manley versus who finished 10th. Hang on, I've got it up here. It would be us versus the Cowboys. Oh, us eight, sorry, eighth versus ninth, us versus the Cowboys. Okay, so it's down to ten.
SPEAKER_01Well, with uh I suppose with the with the league expanding just the lead might not be a bad idea.
SPEAKER_00I reckon Melbourne, current form, would be would be a real good game against the Knights. Yeah. And I think we turn over the Cowboys.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, comfortably, I reckon we stick another 50 past them.
SPEAKER_00So that means it'd be a potential switch.
SPEAKER_01Then you've got to win five games from there to get to win it. Like that's that's a lot.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, but it's good though. Yeah, it's yeah, I suppose. Imagine, although we wouldn't be playing it, Brookie, would we? Because they would have moved us.
SPEAKER_01Uh it would be up here in Teens Townsville.
SPEAKER_00Oh, yeah, it would be. Fuck, we'd have to travel up there. That'd be class. That'd be absolutely class. Um, but let's get into the the tips for for week one of the final. I can't believe it. Like, what is it? Four, two, two, one. Nine games left. Had to do some maps there. Nine games left of the season. I also hate having to wait ages in between games, you know, because it's usually eight o'clock kickoff, six, eight, two, whatever it is. Now it's like you actually have to waste time in between to try and figure out what to do. But Friday night at the Allianz, we got the South Sydney Rabbitoes against the Newcastle Knights. Oh, this is gonna be a good game. There's some attacking weapons on the outside for both teams.
SPEAKER_01Oh, they've brought back Dufty back in. That's interesting.
SPEAKER_00I don't think Jaiara did enough last week.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, um, I th I was I think I was listening to levels and they were saying how I think um Grey's the more defenses where Dufty can win where it can win you points, but then you look at him compared to the Newcastle fullback in Ponga, like Pong has been on some form and and bringing this attack into absolute but what I reckon's what I reckon's happened is you know Luttrell's hit so I could I heard them the by rand analysing it earlier that when Manley crashed in against Ponger, he was making mistakes, yeah.
SPEAKER_00And with Luttrell on the outside, and Latrell's just absolutely wallop someone, like nearly taking their head clean off. Calen Pong's gonna be having his like head on a swivel going, is he coming? Is he coming? And not knowing kind of what's going on. And then you look at as well, like Jack Whiteon ain't gonna be scared to crash in off the outside either.
SPEAKER_01I think I'm gonna I think I'm going bunnies in this. I think a little bit of emotional will carry them, carrying them through, especially at home as well.
SPEAKER_00I reckon the place is gonna be rocking. Yeah, uh what I mean, what what does it hold out of the Allianz 45? Yeah, I reckon it's gonna be a sellout again. Um, so yeah, we're both tipping the rabbit hose in that one.
SPEAKER_01And then we've got the first kick off, not kickoff on the Saturday, it's five past four. We've got the Warriors at a dollar sixty one against the Dolphins at two dollars thirty-three at the Go Media Stadium in Auckland.
SPEAKER_00It's gonna be pumping, it's gonna be rocking. Um, finals footy over in New Zealand. Kurt Cape Well comes back, Jackson 4 comes back. Yep, Halasima, Egan, Lualiti, um far out. Far out. This is this is a contest. Who have see the Dolphins forward pack can mix it as well. They've got some animals in there. Dog, Max Plath, Morgan Knowles obviously representing England. I I've I've just got this feeling. I've just got this feeling that the Dolphins are gonna beat the Warriors in New Zealand.
SPEAKER_01I would like to join you, but I'm not gonna. I I I just think the Warriors at home are a different beast. And I'm I'm gonna go with the I'm gonna go with the Wars.
SPEAKER_00Fair play. Gonna make a prediction here that the Warriors actually go back to back done. Um then we go a 750 kickoff at the Allianz. We got the Crenella Sharks, the home team at the Allianz against the North Queensland Cowboys.
SPEAKER_01We've talked about this the whole way through. Uh, they've got some absolute hitters coming back in into it. Um, I think Blake Burley's come back in as well. I think he's he's gonna be huge at hooker. Um, I think the sharks win, and the sharks win massively.
SPEAKER_00The only thing that I will say is the cowboys do have a one-off performance in them, like they defended for their lives against the Roosters. I do think they're gonna have to defend for their lives in this one. Um I think the Sharks, and I think I think this could be the most one-sided of finals fixtures. I think this could be like 40 or 12 or something.
SPEAKER_01That's fair. That's a fair prediction to be fair. Um, and then finally, the big one at the Combank Stadium, it's a Sunday kickoff, five past four. We've got the Panthers at $1.32 against the Roosters at $3.42. And if I am correct in saying that is the highest odds of any team in the finals.
SPEAKER_00It is, but what's really interesting is it's I say it's only Sam Walker missing. Like they bought they've got this is the reason why they brought Daily Cherry Evans in for instances where they need support. It's more Hugo Savala moving from where he's played at centre most of the season into the halves and not playing last week. Yeah, like them two not playing last week. The first time they're gonna be playing together is against the tournament favourites in Penrith. Um interesting that well, I suppose it suits the game that uh Spencer Lenny will be coming off the bench. I think that'd be raucous when he comes off the bench. I think he'll run that. That'll be a spectacle to watch him running the ball when he when he comes off full of energy. Really interested to see how Isaiah Yo goes, um, Jack Cole as well, like a six that's not got that finals experience like everyone else. But Panthers, yeah, finals Panthers are something else. And I'm a well-oiled machine, they're gonna get it, they're gonna get it done. So, are you gonna go who are you gonna go with?
SPEAKER_01I'm gonna go for the Panthers as well. I think I think, like I said, it's it's theirs to lose.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely theirs to lose, but that's it. Um I am looking forward to finals. It'll be a good weekend. It will be so finishing it off. If we think about these fixtures now, quick fire, premiership winners, who's winning it? I'm gonna go with the Panthers. Even bigger question though, who they who who are the losing finalists?
SPEAKER_01I'd have to I I need to figure that out. I actually think because I wanted to go Waz, but then I don't do they they know they can, so if they if they win, I wanna I I wouldn't mind a pan Panthers Waz final.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I've gone for the Waz to go back to back, so I'd actually have to figure this out. But I think it could be if because I'm pretty sure if Penrith beat the Roosters in the first week, they'd play each other again in the final. I actually reckon it could be Penrith Roosters in the final. I don't know, they're just gonna find a way to do it. Like that experience of one week, then playing together, they then go into the next round. Okay. Um, but yeah, we'll see how it goes. Um, yeah, let's see. 27 rounds done, only a few to go. Let's get stuck in. If you're listening, still listening, hit that subscribe button. Um, and join us next week when hopefully we've tipped some fairly decent results to see how it goes. We might have egg on our face as we have many a time in the past. More than likely. Indeed, but we'll catch you in the next one. See ya later.