One round in, and my tips went as well as Justin Olam’s attempt to play the ball on Thursday night:

Sure I could’ve pulled off at least 7/8 if I’d backed all the favourites, but like the average idiot in a tipping competition, I did want to try and pluck a few upsets, and all I learned from trying to pull that off was that in the very young 6-again era of First Grade, there are 4 good teams, 8 average teams, and 4 utterly crap teams.

I picked 2 utterly crap teams to give myself 5/8.

Melbourne 26 defeated Souths 18 at AAMI Park – CORRECT

Souths did at least show some signs of life in the 2nd Half, but even with Cameron Smith promoted to rugby league glory, it’s the Storm in Round 1, so the Rabbits had no chance in hell, which they confirmed by going missing in the 1st Half.

Newcastle 32 defeated Canterbury 18 – WRONG

If you stop counting after the 20th minute, I was CORRECT.

Parramatta 24 defeated Brisbane Broncos 16 at Suncorp Stadium – CORRECT

The Eels got the 2 points with 24 unanswered points in the 2nd Half, but I can’t help but think what could’ve been for Kevvie and the Broncos without those injuries in the 1st Half that left them down to 14 players (Xavier Coates was the big absence), because they genuinely had the Eels by the tails at half time, and that was including the Broncs throwing a forward pass in their own in-goal on the opening kickoff.

Still, the Eels did exactly what they had to do, and that’s all it’ll say on the scoresheet.

New Zealand Warriors 19 defeated Gold Coast 6 at Central Coast Stadium – WRONG

Yet another reminder to me that the Warriors are a damn good bunch of mentally tough bastards, a lesson I’ll keep forgetting every time I pick against them, and it turned out I was right about one thing….

“No sporting team that bases themselves on the Gold Coast can be considered a super team.“

Sydney Roosters 46 defeated Manly Sea Eagles 4 at the SCG – CORRECT

The only thing that went wrong for Easts on Saturday evening, if you forget Jake Friend potentially having his career ended by a serious concussion, was James Tedesco’s first career attempt at goal.

15m in from touch should be a bread and butter kick for the average NRL kicker….

The key part in that sentence being AVERAGE NRL Kicker.

Penrith Panthers 24 defeated North Queensland Cowboys 0 at Panthers Stadium – CORRECT

“The Cowboys are worse on interstate trips than Burke & Wills.“

Canberra Raiders 30 defeated Wests Tigers 12 at GIO Stadium – CORRECT

Ah, good on Ryan James – It was a full 693 days since he tore his ACL on Easter Sunday 2019 (April 21), in which time he’s awkwardly buggered up a Welcome To Country on the biggest stage in club rugby league, torn his ACL again in pre-season training on January 31, 2020, leaving him on the verge of pulling the pin on his professional career.

But, in a story of perseverance and hard work for the kiddies of Australia to inspire themselves, Ryan ‘Two Names’ James got back on the horse, signed a 2-year deal with Canberra, and kickstarting the 2nd Half he went through 2 Tigers defenders like a blunt cheese knife to score his first try since Round 22 of 2018, kick-starting the Green Machine avalanche.

Better celebrate with an ice cool glass of Canberra Milk.

Cronulla Sharks 32 defeated St George-Illawarra 18 at Kogarah – INCORRECT

I imagine Hook Griffin will be blaming Cancel Culture for the Dragons confirming what pretty much everyone thought they’d be in the pre-season.

Outside of that 6 minute burst in the 2nd Half that got them back into the game, the Red V just plain sucked – Dropped balls, slow movement, crap defence, a slow start, you name it, they did it..

I mean, I’ve seen teams suck before, but they were the suckiest bunch of sucks that ever sucked.

In short, I can see this iconic banner being locked in the storage shed at Kogarah for a few years: