Always get a flex in when you’ve got the chance… especially when you flex the bloke who went on to score a 90-metre intercept try to win the game

So with Origin II coming up and Brad Fittler continuing to stake his claim for insanity by not picking Josh Addo-Carr despite his superb record for New South Wales, I’ll wind back to Thursday and state that the reason I didn’t get to post the usual random bullcrap for Round 15 on Thursday was because I got called to play a bowls game at 1 o’clock, right as I was filling in the Random Picks, although I doubt it mattered too much, because I usually just post the same 8 pieces of material every single week.

Still, I would point out that because I posted it after the Dragons beat Souths, I did pick 7/7, so beat that with a stick.

St George-Illawarra Dragons 32 defeated South Sydney Rabbitohs 12 = Incorrect

I felt it was very nice of Channel 9 to broadcast a Dragons Thursday night training session for the Red V faithful, ahead of Andrew McCullough’s 300th game, and –

Wait a minute, this was a premiership game?

Holy crap, Souths are awful.

North Queensland Cowboys 28 defeated Manly Sea Eagles 26 = Correct

Imagine if you went off for a nap with 7 minutes left when Manly were up 26-12….

You’d think you were still asleep when you saw the final score, and speaking of going off for a nap with 7 minutes to go, how about Manly blowing a 26-12 lead at home.

It’d be even funnier if they didn’t have so many injuries and the Cowboys weren’t a top quality team this year.

Also, I like how it took ‘Giga’ Chad Townsend to explain the Captain’s Challenge rules to Gerard Sutton, who was actually game enough to admit his error, making this one of a few times a player has argued with a referee and won:

Melbourne Storm 32 defeated Brisbane Broncos 20 = Correct

Is this where I insert a comment about how the Broncos of 2020 and 2021 would’ve lost a game like this against a quality opponent by 30 points?

Because the Broncos of 2020 and 2021 would’ve lost a game like this by 30 points.

Even with the Storm going on to win with a big 2nd Half, Craig Bellamy had to make note of the fact that the Broncos have seriously improved….

He then praised Jahrome Hughes & Nick Meaney, went back to the dressing room, and sacrificed one of his bench players to Satan.

Cronulla Sharks 18 defeated Gold Coast Titans 10 = Correct

I think we saw an event as rare as Haley’s Comet at the end of the game:

The attacking team getting denied a try because of an error by the defending team while they were the attacking team.

So let’s go through it:

Matt Moylan loses the ball just shy of the Titans’ line, but it isn’t called by the referee at the time, who waves play-on as time expires.

The Sharks kick on Tackle 3, which is caught on the full by Jarrod Wallace.

The Titans then start the relay team and go 95 metres to score a superb consolation try.

The Bunker then has a look and goes all the way back to the Moylan incident, which is called a knock-on as Moylan regains possession after knocking on, nullifying the entire play.

So you have to think, if the Titans had regained possession first instead of Moylan, it would’ve been all fine, but alas, the attacking team have been saved by their own error.

A quirk in the rules if there was one.

Penrith Panthers 40 defeated New Zealand Warriors 6 = Correct

I think there’s every chance the Panthers are going to be more annoyed about conceding a late try and losing a shutout than they are happy about the fact they won by 34 frikkin’ points, but that’s the standard they’ll set for themselves.

On the other hand, the Warriors can look to the positives…

They might lose their next game horrifically, but they’ll lose their next game horrifically….

IN NEW ZEALAND!

Parramatta Eels 26 defeated Sydney Roosters 16 = Correct

A brief summary of this game, from an Eels perspective:

So the Eels are kind of sort of back on track after last week’s bullying from the Bullies, while the Roosters have now dropped 3 games in a row and have a losing record after 15 games for the first time since 2016, and thanks to a questionable dangerous tackle that could’ve seen him sent off, Lindsay Collins got an offer he couldn’t refuse…

Cop a $2500 fine for a dangerous tackle, or challenge and risk being suspended for 2 games.

Pay $2500 to not get suspended?

Deal!

Canberra Raiders 20 defeated Newcastle Knights 18 = Correct

I believe the Raiders have engaged in a case of Faiders-ception, the concept of blowing a double-digit in a game and coming back to win.

Case in point, the Raiders led 14-0.

The Knights came back and the Raiders went behind 14-18.

Hudson Young barged through 8 players with 80 seconds left to score the game-winning try straight under the posts.

That my friends, is the very definition of Faiders-ception.

Canterbury Bulldogs 36 defeated Wests Tigers 12 = Correct

I find it hilarious that despite their playing CVs, Matt Burton managed to get picked for New South Wales while playing for Canterbury BEFORE Josh Addo-Carr did…

Which also points to how fried Brad Fittler’s brain is.

As for the game, this might once again confirm for Canterbury that Trent Barrett was the problem.

On the other hand, once again, Michael Maguire was not.