Women’s World Cup?

Never heard of it.

But here’s something even better – I got a 7/7 a few weeks ago thanks to dodgy refereeing, but this time we’ve only gone and done it….

8/8 DURING A ROUND THIS YEAR.

It only took the easiest round of the year to actually pull it off – Fair dinkum, the only games in any serious doubt was Souths against St George, and New Zealand against Wests, which was only ever going to end one way.

So there’s just the 3 Rounds remaining until the finals begin, after a season that began all the way back on the second day of March, and this weekend marks Daniel Anderson Round, raising money for the former Warriors & Eels coach (and current Roosters recruiting manager) who was cruelly left an incomplete quadriplegic after a body surfing accident at the end of last year.

And, in that prior paragraph I didn’t even mention Anderson’s tremendous success with St Helens (3 Challenge Cups, Super League winner and World Club Challenge winner) that led to him getting back to coaching in the NRL with the Eels.

So, fair to say this weekend is crucial in more ways than one, because while Anderson’s fundraising goes ahead with tremendous applause, this weekend sets up the outcome for several key finals battles, namely the minor premiership race, given the Brisbane Broncos do have a guaranteed 2 points coming up with their final bye as they stand level on points with the Panthers, while the loser of the Knights-Rabbitohs will potentially end the round outside of the Top 8, and there are others:

The Cowboys come off the bye to host the Sharks in Townsville, and that 2 points for the bye was the closest the Cowboys have come to claiming the 2 points in the last couple of weeks, because they have been beaten senseless in their last 2 games (by their Banana Bender relations) after looking like they were going to charge into September, but as it stands they sit in 9th, while the Sharks, for all their many failings this year, are still in 5th with the No.2 ranked attack, and not completely out of the Top 4 race, although their fixture is rather unkind.

The New Zealand Warriors host Manly in what will be Daniel Anderson Stadium for Friday night, as Mt Smart Stadium honours the coach who brought them their maiden finals appearance in 2001 + their maiden minor premiership and Grand Final appearance back in 2002, a couple of seasons that truly cemented the Warriors as a team for native Kiwis to get behind after the Auckland Warriors collapsed in 2000…. there will also be Manly-Warringah.

The loser of the Eels and Roosters in the Channel 9 Friday night game will almost positively be knocked out of finals contention, and while the Roosters’ premiership fate was sealed several months back, the Eels are now absolutely out of premiership contention after the Broncos dropped 54 points on them last Friday night, an almighty blow to the scone after being runners-up last year…. then again, it seems like Easts have given themselves a few blows to the scone this year.

The Tigers are only a few weeks away from making it back-to-back wooden spoons, but a win against Redcliffe might just be the first step to a miracle, and something that was more common sense than miracle was Wests’ decision to move on from Tim Sheens a year before he was due to hand over to Benji Marshall, while the Dolphins have lost at least 5 players and the faith of the independent doctor out of the loss to Easts last Saturday, namely Hamison Tabuai-Fidow, Jeremy Marshall-King and Kenny Bromwich… 3 players, 5 surnames.

On another note, that 5-year-plan from Wests was so shambolic and disastrous that even Joseph Stalin would point and laugh.

The Titans host the Panthers on the Gold Coast, the hosts looking as intimidating as a Chihuahua barking at a greyhound, but the Panthers do have to win to retain top spot at the end of Round 25.

The Dragons, fresh off another dudding from the whistle blowers, host the rampaging Melbourne Storm down in Woolongong, and the Storm actually have something valuable to play for, which means this could resemble a Deliverance scene.

The Newcastle Knights, coming in hot on a 6-game winning streak, host the wobbly Rabbitohs in Newcastle for what looks like being the biggest attendance in the Hunter this year (Sold out signs are UP), and this game looks like being the make-or-break game for both teams in making the finals, because the loser will almost certainly end the weekend outside the Top 8, especially vital for Souths who haven’t produced a decent 80 minutes for months, and have their bye coming up.

And finally, their try-scoring streak ended after 10 years, the Canberra Raiders host lowly Canterbury in the capital, the other big news from Canberra being captain Jarrod Croker’s retirement, and after seeing their pitiful display last Sunday, I find it a deadset insult to human decency that the Raiders can be in 6th place with a For/Against of -120… if you want context on that, that’s only good enough for the 14th-best differential in the league, meaning if a potential home final comes down to points tiebreakers, they’re utterly rooted on the first hurdle.

Now, after scoring me a perfect week last week, it’s time for the random tip generator to do its thing, here we go…

Round 24 score = 8/8, Progress Score = 117/180 (65%)

Round 25 =

That also means I’m finally averaging 5/8 every week.

Round 25 Lock of the Week

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

Piece of piss picking the Warriors to defeat the Tigers last week, and losing to the Lock of the Week made the Tigers board snap and offload Tim Sheens a year early, so looking in my magic mirror this week…..

WE’RE GOING BOLD THIS WEEK…

THE NEWCASTLE KNIGHTS OF THE ROUND TABLE TO DEFEAT SOUTHS IN CAMELOT… I MEAN NEWCASTLE

Newcastle!

Newcastle!

Newcastle!

It’s only a model.