I hope we get an update of this

The Royal Easter show is on for another year, which means it must be time for the Easter Round, which is really the same as any other round, except we have a game on Friday afternoon and Monday afternoon.

Of course, the news this week, which we already knew the previous week, is that the New South Wales Government want no part of redeveloping the run-down loveable Leichhardt Oval, given they’re already pumping $300m into Panthers Stadium amidst a sea of public debt, which brought up the possibility of the ALRC buying Leichhardt (Which could’ve just been Paul Kent needing to fill time), possibly for further use as a dilapidated stadium…

Although if the way Peter V’Landys sold off Harold Park while he was running the trots is any guide, they’ll only acquire it so they can get that Godfather offer and live off the ‘fatta the lan.’

Plus, Wests have got Campbelltown sitting right there, and they could easily play a match at Concord Oval, given their headquarters are there…

Which reminds me, they’ve still never played a competitive match at Concord Oval.

On a more serious note besides stadium squabbling, one of the game’s great scribes in Ian Heads died on Monday morning at the age of 81, and being from the other side of the country I never got to see much of Ian’s work, but I remember his appearances on Richard Fidler’s Conversations some 10 years ago, and he was talking about the story of fairtytale Western Division from country NSW winning the 1974 midweek Amco Cup against Penrith (Funnily enough, the final was at Leichhardt), covered in his book The Night The Music Died, and that win included a 12-12 semi-final draw against 2-time defending First Grade premiers Manly, and Western Division advanced to the final on a penalty countback of all things, the win described by Heads as the best story he’d ever covered in 40 years…

Then he went back a few years later and told the story of Balmain’s almighty upset of Souths in the 1969 Grand Final and the nefarious story behind it (The Great Grand Final Heist).

Another great storyteller of rugby league has left us… now all we’ve got is NRL 360 to remind us of how far we’ve fallen.

So looking through the games over the Easter Weekend, as the league show no favouritism and give the Melbourne Storm the Easter bye:

Thursday night features the Roosters and Panthers at the SFS, and we’ll see how good the Panthers still are with Nathan Clearly being sidelined for a month, which seemingly hands ascendancy back to the Roosters, especially after they produced their biggest win against Souths since 2002.

Next up is the latest edition of the Good Friday fixture between Canterbury and South Sydney, and with all the turmoil at Souths it appears the Bulldogs may have their best chance to win on Good Friday since 2017, based on that performance at Belmore against the Titans…. still, I have no idea if the Berries are that good or Souths are that crap, but I’ll find out by Friday evening.

The primary version of the Queensland Derby returns as the Broncos host the ladder-leading Cowboys on Good Friday night, who deadset roasted the Dragons when the game was there to be won on Saturday evening (4-18 down to 46-18 up in 40 minutes), while the Broncos have copped a bad run with the injury, the latest being Reece Walsh’s facial injuries…. still, at least he’s got a new contract.

The Dragons make their first visit to The Gong in 2024 as they play Manly, and I would note that the joint venture Dragons have the best record of any First Grade club against Manly-Warringah, although in Round 22 last year Manly won at WIN Stadium (24-18 in DCE’s 300th game) for the first time since all the way back in Round 5 of 2003, shortly after Manly returned as a standalone team after the Northern Eagles joint venture collapsed.

The Queensland Derby is on Friday night, and the Southeast Queensland Derby is on Saturday evening as the Gold Coast Titans host Redcliffe on the border of Tweed Heads and Coolangatta, and a study in contrasts, as the Titans’ last game was a 30+ point shutout defeat, while the Dolphins’ last game was a 30+ point shutout win.

Sunday afternoon (Or evening if you’re in New Zealand) sees the Semi Final rematch as the New Zealand Warriors host Newcastle, and last Friday showed Roger Tuivasa-Sheck is nearly back up to speed in the 13-player game, while I still have no idea if Newcastle are back or they’re still bloody average… chances are they’re average, but they’ve got Kalyn Ponga.

Sunday evening has Cronulla hosting the Raiders at Shark Park, and once again I have no idea if either team is any good at all, because the Sharks got chewed up and spat out by a 2-time reigning wooden spoon team in the Wests Tigers, and the Raiders got run over by the Warriors in Christchurch after getting the lead in the 2nd Half.

And the ‘traditional’ Easter Monday game has the Westies rivalry between Parramatta and Wests Tigers, and the Eels have lost Bryce Cartwright to fractured ribs and Mitchell Moses to a foot injury that will probably end his Origin I chances, while the Tigers looked emphatic on Saturday night as Benji Marshall cracked it for a win in First Grade, although as we found out today they’ve got no room for Balmain legends Backdoor Benny Elias and Blocker Roach on Monday, as they’ll have to attend the game as guests of Parramatta.

It’s a sad state of affairs for the old Balmain boys… the Balmain Leagues Club hasn’t existed for years, Leichhardt is a crumbling wonder of the world, and the old Western Suburbs have done far better financially out of the joint venture.

So on that note, time for the Succinct NRL Tips for Round 4, here we go…

Round 3 score = 5/8

Running score after Round 3 = 13/24 (54.1%)

I thought I was on for 8/8 last week….

Then Saturday night at Leichhardt happened… and Sunday happened.

Lock of the Week

Last week I said Benji Marshall was going to need a bigger boat if he wanted to knock off Cronulla…

Turns out he got one, and it was equipped with a harpoon.

Alright, the Lock for this week, which will probably be more like the key to break the Lock this week….

EAGLE ROCK IN WOOLONGONG.