Sam Burgess broke his face to end South Sydney’s premiership drought, and now he gets a kick up the arse

Alright, the penultimate round of the season before the finals, with the finishing order of every position still to be decided, and the major story of the week is that one-time premiership fancies South Sydney are burning down faster than Notre Dame Cathedral, as the accusations fly about Latrell Mitchell and Cody Walker being Jason Demetriou’s golden children, Mitchell’s work rate was called out by Cameron Murray during the game against Newcastle, and the club has now flicked off a club legend in Sam Burgess (plus John Morris), a dismissal that was sealed by a Russell Crowe phone call, although it is unknown if Crowe later threw that phone at a hotel clerk.

It just seems to me like another classic case of post-Bennett syndrome… the Broncos haven’t won a premiership since Wayne first left, then got turned into a newt the second time around (They got better), the Dragons haven’t even reached a preliminary final since the 2010 premiership, the Knights won a hat-trick of wooden spoons, and now it’s come time for Souths to suffer the wrath of God.

On another note, there was a report on the ABC on Wednesday about a Greens NSW MLC (Cate Faehrmann) requesting to unseal documents that revealed the 10 worst pubs and clubs in New South Wales for money laundering between October to November 2021, and….

THE CANTERBURY LEAGUES CLUB WAS NUMBER 1.

Finally, the Berries are back on top of the ladder after 11 years, and it makes you wonder, their major sponsor shouldn’t be Laundy Hotels…

It should be LAUNDRY Hotels.

Also noting that St Johns Park Bowling Club makes an appearance in there, which means I might have to get on to a certain Perth bowls character known as Lord Such for his thoughts on this, seeing as he is an ex-St Johns player.

Now, looking at the all-important rugbaleeg fixture for this week.

– Thursday night features the second of the Grand Final rematches as ladder-leaders Penrith play the fading Eels, with a Panthers win locking up yet another Top 2 finishing, and this is Parramatta’s last game in 2023 due to having the bye next week and being next to no chance of making the finals, and it was a season that just never took off for the Blue & Golds, despite the fact they actually knocked off the Panthers in Round 3.

– The 6pm Friday game features the Warriors up against St George-Illawarra at Mt Smart, and the Dragons might not even attempt to jump at any point during the game, after witnessing what Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad did to Reuben Garrick last Friday night, which didn’t even get penalised:

– The Friday night Channel 9 match sees the Dolphins host the Cowboys in another home game at Suncorp, as the Dolphins inaugural season limps to an end, as evidenced by losing to Wests, while the Cowboys get a 24th chance to try and salvage a finals spot after copping a ball-tearing from the Sharks in Townsville last weekend.

– Saturday afternoon has the Storm hosting the Titans at AAMI Park, headlined by the return of Ryan Papenhuyzen at full back for the Storm after his kneecap was splintered in 10,000 places some 13 months ago… It was quite the X-Ray.

– The Roosters play the Wests Tigers at Allianz Stadium in the Saturday twilight slot, with the Roosters needing to win (without James Tedesco) to retain any slim hope of making the finals, given their For/Against is awful and Souths have the bye, while the Tigers have to win or else the wooden spoon is as good as theirs, which would be Tim Sheens’ first since he couldn’t drag the Cowboys to mediocrity in the late 1990s.

– The Raiders host the Brisbane Broncos in Canberra, the Raiders having already defeated the Broncos once this season (In Brisbane nonetheless) and needing one win from their last 2 games to completely ensure a Top 8 spot, while the Broncos don’t have Adam Reynolds, but one player does not make a 13.

– The money-launderers from Canterbury take on Manly-Warringah in the Who Cares Cup for Round 26, and it’s so Who Cares that Tevita Pangai Junior doesn’t even want to play rugby league anymore, let alone play for Canterbury.

– And lucky last is the Game of the Round, as the charging Knights host Cronulla on what will be the annual Old Boys Day in Newcastle, which might top the sellout crowd of last Sunday as the Knights come in on their longest winning streak since 2002, when Andrew Johns showed white lines weren’t just for scoring tries, and the Sharks are still in the hunt for the Top 4, and the best way to keep themselves in that hunt is to win… and then start relying on others.

Now, it’s time for the random tip generator to do its thing, and what a ripsnorting run we’re having at the moment, with 7, 8 and 7 in the last 3 rounds to get my average round score to just under 5, so once again, here we go…

Round 25 score = 7/8, Progress Score = 124/188 (65.9%)

Round 26 =

Not too many upsets on the cards I don’t believe… still, the Dolphins will probably beat the Cowboys and the Sharks could very well win on Sunday, now that I’ve picked against both of them.

Round 26 Lock of the Week

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

Amazingly enough, the Knights didn’t even start favourites against Souths last week.

It turned out to be the one of the easiest Locks of the Week I’ve landed all season.

I have no idea how long the winning streak is now, but I’ve got every intent to keep it going, so the Round 26 Lock…

The Parramatta Eels need 6 points to make the NRL Finals, which is a shame because there’s only 4 still available….

But they’ll only get 2 from their bye next week, because the Panthers are going to re-enact the Grand Final on Thursday night, in a performance that another big cat in Cat Stevens would love, because the Eels will feel as though they’ve been run over by…

THE PEACE TRAIN.