I find the best part of the Canberra Raiders re-enacting the Jonny Bairstow stumping with that try celebration was getting the English players involved

Well folks, State of Origin is done for another year, the Banana Benders had already popped the champagne corks a few weeks ago and came back for an after party, as Reuben Cotter got the Wally Lewis Medal as the pick of an even Maroons teams, and the Blues left us wondering what could’ve been as they easily avoided a humiliating sweep after a raft of team changes, and Freddie Fittler only just realised how good Cody Walker is in getting the ball out to the wingers & centres, rather than having a pair of ball hogs wrecking any chance of flow (Admittedly Walker would’ve been picked for Game 2 if he weren’t injured), and why you should never play one of the best hookers of the 21st century as a centre.

Fair dinkum, he deserves to get the arse for doing that to Damien Cook in Game II, and for not doing more to expose the only weakness in a fundamentally sound Queensland team, which is their right edge of Holmes, Coates and Nanai.

In the meantime, the toffs at the NSWRL can go back to kissing their own arses, while we’ve got to focus back on club football all the way through to the start of October, and we may as well start with the 7 games this weekend:

– The Knights, apparently back in form according to the promo I saw on GEM, play the Wests Tigers in Newcastle, and it’s good to see the NRL looking after the Tigers by giving them a Friday night prime time slot…. it’s like rugby league Centrelink.

– The Bulldogs, free of lasers threatening them during conversion attempts, return to Belmore to host the Brisbane Broncos, who haven’t played at Belmore since all the way back in their premiership year of 1998, when they eventually defeated the Bulldogs in the Grand Final, although all eyes will be on the NSW Cup game earlier in the afternoon, as beloved Berries hero Josh Reynolds will play his last game of competitive rugbaleeg against North Sydney after announcing his retirement during the week.

– Manly host North Queensland at Brookvale, and the Cowboys are officially on the charge in 2023, sitting in 9th place with a game in hand after their atomic bombing of the Wests Tigers, and I have no idea if Manly are still in it, or if they’ll scrounge the occasional win on their death spiral.

– Speaking of birds in a death spiral, the Roosters host the Storm in the Saturday night slot at the SCG, with Brandon Smith conveniently making his return from the injury to face his former employers from the south, as the Storm come off a sucker punch from the Panthers, while the best part of this disastrous Roosters season will be when it finishes in 2 months’ time, and one of their players can get arrested for a misdemeanor in Bali.

– The Warriors host the Sharks in a Top 8 clash at Mt Smart, with both teams taking advantage of the Origin round to rack up some points differential to go with the 2 points, and this one looks like a genuine 4-pointer, with the winner having a huge shot at the Top 4, and the loser getting wedged in that painfully awkward spot among the 4 teams trying to fit into 3 Top 8 spots.

– The Dolphins host the Panthers out at Redcliffe, and you could call this the clash between The Cliffe and The Riff, and luckily for Wayne Bennett’s mammals, they managed to get back into the winner’s circle thanks to that fortuitous offside penalty against the Titans in Golden Point to give them the chip shot penalty goal, while the Panthers are turning pink now that the Origin period is over, as they get the bulk of their key players back and charge up for the 3peat, and the fact they’ve come out still on top of the ladder speaks volumes of them as a team.

– And lucky last to end Round 20 is the Eels taking on the Titans at Parramatta, and the Eels pretty much wrote off last Saturday against the Warriors after having so many key players called up to the New South Wales team (Invariably, Mitch Moses performed well), while the Titans are somehow still not completely toast in 2023, given they have 2 games over 8th placed South Sydney.

So anyway, here we go for Round 20 of the Succinct NRL Tips, as I prepare to spin the random tip generator, HERE WE GO…..

Round 19 score = 3/5, Progress Score = 85/141 (60.3%)

Round 20 =

Round 20 Lock of the Week

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

One week I predict a Shark Attack, the next week I predict Ricky Stuart will be singing Kermit The Frog after the Raiders win.

In both cases, I was absolutely correct.

However, this weekend there is no St George to bash up on and get an easy Lock of the Week, so this week we’ll go left field.

Expect to see STORMY WEATHER in Sydney on Saturday night, and there’ll be a crazy old man on top of a clock tower trying to generate 1.21 Gigawatts of electrcity and get the Melbourne Storm back to 2021…

There may also be a coincidental appearance of a DeLorean.

Craig Bellamy climbing on to a clock tower and impersonating Doc Brown.

It’d be his second-best portrayal of a film character, behind his portrayal of Beetlejuice.