Anthony Seibold’s pre-game address for Manly before the game against the Dolphins last Friday night

58 points… good lord.

Alrighty friends, Origin II is back to the midweek slot for the first time since 2017, as the extra bye from the 17-team comp means we don’t need another general bye for the league during the middle of the year, and apparently the stakes are very high for the NRL, who would supposedly stand to lose at least $3.5m AUD (Just in ticket sales) if Origin III in Sydney ends up a dead rubber after Queensland wrap up the series, which seems increasingly likely with Latrell Mitchell now a confirmed out for New South Wales.

I’m not saying there’s going to be a few dodgy decisions at Suncorp, but don’t be surprised if there’s a few dodgy decisions next Wednesday night that won’t get called for the rest of the season.

In other news, St George-Illawarra’s coaching search has ended with the signing of Sharks premiership coach Shane Flanagan, a very sound appointment from a footballing point of view, because history shows Flanagan will get results…

BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY.

Another story was that Newcastle Knights winger Greg Marzhew was dropped after missing the team bus on Sunday morning after the Knights lost to the Broncos on Saturday night, the third such incident involving Knights players missing the team bus in the last 2 seasons, and ironically the player replacing Marzhew is Enari Tuala, who was stood down for missing the team bus after a game against the Broncos last year.

Fair dinkum, it has not been a great run for Hunter Valley folk and buses, has it?

Now, moving on from all that, we have to get through the boring slot of 5 games this weekend, and oddly enough this is the only Origin-affected round to not have a Thursday night game, which is instead an extra Saturday game, but on the bright side that gives me an extra 12 hours to write a bunch of crap for this report.

– A second-rate Friday night blockbuster in Townsville sees the Cowboys host the Panthers, second rate because in addition to no Nathan Cleary, Origin selection has seen the Panthers lose Brian To’o, Isaah Yeo, Jarome Luai, Liam Martin and Steven Crichton, and the Cowboys lose Jeremiah Nanai, Murray Taulagi, Reece Robson, Reuben Cotter and Valentine Holmes… Oh well, at least Kyle Feldt is still there.

– Saturday afternoon sees the Knights players who remembered what time the bus left Brisbane host the ailing Roosters, who rank dead last in attack this season, so much so the Coalition backbench ranks better in attack this year, and they’ll have to do it without James Tedesco thanks to Origin, and they’ll also have to play through Jared Waerea-Hargreaves’ inevitable biffo with a Knights forward that gets him sent to the bin.

– The clash of the old rivals in the Arthur Family Derby as Parramatta host Manly, which marks the first time Brad Arthur (Who claims the outright record for games as Eels coach) has coached against son Jacob since the younger Arthur crossed to Manly, and both teams come in off monster wins last week, Manly especially with that 58-18 win on the Dolphins, but the Eels now have to win without Mitch Moses after he inherited Nathan Cleary’s NSW halves spot, and Manly are without Tommy Turbo.

– Wests Tigers host the Storm at Campbelltown, as Luke Brooks announces he’s leaving Wests after 11 years of torture, with the Storm (After recovering all the lost points differential from the Townsville massacre) minus all their Origin stars as the Tigers try and get within single figures of Craig Bellamy’s team for the first time in 4 years, although they did only lose by 12 points back in Round 4 in the reverse fixture at AAMI Park.

– The only Sunday game sees Cronulla play Canterbury at Shark Park, as the Berries come in off a disappointing perfromance on the King’s Birthday Monday against the Eels, and the Sharks were utterly annihilated by the Storm in a 54-10 defeat that all but destroyed their premiership hopes, in scenes reminiscent of the end of the first Jaws film.

So here we go, time to spin the random tip generator for Round 14, and randomly enough I looked back and realised I got 6/8 last week, which was somehow below the round average…

Round 15 Score = 6/8, Progress Score = 70/116 (60.3%)

Round 16 =

Round 16 Lock of the Week

Well, folks, when you’re right 52% of the time, you’re wrong 48% of the time!

It would appear Manly were inspired by Joe Cocker last week as they racked up a lazy 58 points on Redcliffe’s hapless edge defence, with Reuben Garrick accounting for 30 points on his lonesome (A hat-trick + 9/10 conversions), which remarkably is the second time Garrick has scored exactly 30 points in a game.

Tick well and truly earned, as the Eagles cried on a mountain high.

Now, the Round 16 LOCK OF THE WEEK….

It’s been a tragic week for the people of the Hunter, but I say the Knights will DEFEAT Easts on Saturday afternoon, and they can do it to the sounds of something that sounds like Knights…

EUROPE with ROCK THE NIGHT!

What a hit:

You know it ain’t easy
Running out of thrills
You know it ain’t easy
When you don’t know what you want
What do you want?

WOAHHHHH YOU WANT TO

Rock now, rock the Knights
‘Til early in the morning light
Rock now, rock the Knights, WOAH, WOAH!

YEAH, Rock now, rock the Knights
You’d better believe it’s right!

Rock now, rock the Knights, WOAH, WOAH!