In the space of 2 years, Mitchell Moses went from this:

To this:

So after a down couple of weeks scoring 4s and 5s, I’ve somehow pulled the finger out and delivered an almighty response with a 7 out of 8, thanks mainly to hitting a home run by picking a fully-fit Cowboys against a depleted Storm team, and the Cowboys didn’t disappoint as the underdogs, winning in a landslide on Election Night…

So after going into Sunday on 6/6, the only thing stopping me from a perfect round was Souths not bothering to show up in Dubbo, probably because they were still out celebrating Anthony Albanese’s victory.

Brisbane Broncos 36 defeated Newcastle Knights 12 = Correct

I was tossing up whether to change my tip to the Knights with the sheer weight of support coming their way after it was revealed that Adam Reynolds wouldn’t play for the Broncos, but I figured I’d stick to supporting the Kevolution, and despite the Knights having the run of play in the opening 20 minutes, the Broncos, with Ezra Mam embodying the spirit of Reynolds on debut, got away and led 14-6, while The Bunker was at it’s ticky tack best to rob the Knights at two crucial points, firstly when Dane Gagai lost a try due to apparent seperation from his fingertips to the ball, and the second of which was an apparent missed obstruction call when the score was 14-12 with 11 minutes to go that led to the start of the Selwyn Cobbo Slaughterfest that was the final 10 minutes, when the Broncos scored 4 tries.

Fair bump, play on!

Wests Tigers 36 defeated Canterbury Bulldogs 22 = Correct

An entertaining game between two teams with similar skill sets, albeit below standard skill sets, but the end result was pretty much what we all expected, and the Tigers didn’t miss the chance to grab a rare victory in 2022, and Brent Naden started his Tigers tenure by getting to experience the sweetest sentence in the game of rugba leeg….

YEAH NAH YEAH, JUST HAPPY TO GET THE 2 POINTS.

Parramatta Eels 22 defeated Manly Sea Eagles 20 = Correct

A devastating night for Manly, and to an extent the New South Wales State of Origin setup, because for what feels like the umpteenth time in the last 5 seasons, Tom Trbojevic’s season has been brought to a premature end because of injury, this time thanks to a major shoulder dislocation while diving for the ball in the in-goal with 16 minutes to go, necessitating surgery.

And that was just the tip of the iceberg for Manly, as they went from controlling the game when Tom was on the field, to defending grimly after going down to 12 players in the last couple of minutes thanks to a dump tackle, and the sheer weight of possession won out as the Eels got the game-tying try out wide with 2 minutes to go, and with the game on his boot, Mitch Moses was subsequently possessed by the spirit of Michael O’Connor in that Origin game many years ago, and proceeded to absolutely nail his conversion to get the Eels off the canvas after trailing 20-10 in the 2nd Half, keeping up their weird trend of alternating wins and losses that now stretches back to Round 4.

The great flaw of Manly under Hasler – Tommy Turbo is a god amongst men, but he’s the very definition of a glass cannon.

St George-Illawarra Dragons 24 defeated New Zealand Warriors 18 = Correct

Apparently this latest defeat was so bad for the Warriors that playmaker Chanel Harris-Tavita subsequently announced he’s going to retire from the sport at the age of just 23….

Nothing to do with mental health or burnout, he’s just going to spend 2023 travelling and writing, and if you had to play with a busted testicle when your team was down 70-10, I’d want to be doing something else as well.

North Queensland Cowboys 36 defeated Melbourne Storm 6 = Correct

Nothing to see here, just another blowout between a good team and a shit team.

On that note, here’s a video of the Cowboys’ post-game celebrations:

Actually, that had nothing to do with the result of the game, they were just celebrating Bob Katter retaining Kennedy.

Penrith Panthers 32 defeated Sydney Roosters 12 = Correct

In a theme of the night, the rich pricks were smacked by the working class yobbos, as Jared Waerea-Hargreaves swore at referee Gerard Sutton and gave away an 8-point try, and a pissed off Sutton subsequently told one of Australia’s most notorious wage-stealing Kiwis to go back to where he came from….

The change room, of course, as he got sent to the sin bin for 10 out of the last 11 minutes!

Canberra Raiders 32 defeated South Sydney Rabbitohs 12 = Incorrect

When the LNP claimed in their election ads that “It won’t be easy under Albanese”, it’s now apparent they were talking directly to Souths fans.

In addition to tearing through half of the Souths’ defensive line to score a try, it was also nice to see Josh Papalii celebrate his 250th game by whipping out the classic rat’s tail/Padawan braid… Obviously he’s as excited for the release of the Obi-Wan Kenobi series as I am:

Cronulla Sharks 25 defeated Gold Coast Titans 18 = Correct

Just by looking at the result, the stats, Nico Hynes’ best afield performance, and the video recap of the game, you know what the Sharks looked like to me?

They looked like a team playing with the confidence of a club who knew they wouldn’t have to be associated with the Prime Minister and the Prime Minister’s Office anymore.