On we rumble to Round 3, and looking back at Round 2 there was some top notch performances across the board, the Raiders smacking the Broncos who got too far ahead of themselves, the Tigers not looking like a horrific mess for once, Wayne Bennett conjuring another close win for Souths against Saints, and the best of them all was the Roosters against the Panthers, after so many personnel changes over the offseason, a horrific Round 1 beating, facing the 4-time defending premiers, with odds of 11/1…and they drop 38 points on the Panthers and defeat them for the first time in 10 attempts across 6 years.

Once again, Trent Robinson has produced his best work when he’s pinned on the mat facing a hard count, and this one was a deadset masterpiece, while on the other hand, maybe the biggest offseason loss for Penrith wasn’t Jarome Luai… it was Panthers Stadium.

So, looking ahead to Round 3:

– The Grand Final rematch on Thursday night as the Melbourne Storm host Penrith, and as per usual, the Storm finished up the big winners of Round 2 despite having the bye, as they still remain on top of the ladder, and the Panthers and Broncos both lost, and now The Riff, who won’t have Dylan Edwards, have to take on a Storm team who will just about get Nelson Asofa-Solomona back, and they’ve got blood in the nostrils after what happened last October.

– After delivering a much-needed response after the Las Vegas shitshow, the New Zealand Warriors host the Sydney Roosters at Mt Smart, and the last time the Roosters were in Auckland they delivered a 14-0 shutout

– The first of the traditional Queensland Derbies for 2025 as the Brisbane Broncos, who no doubt got a whip to the arse from Madge after the Canberra game, host the North Queensland Cowboys at Suncorp with the whole country watching on Channel 9, and they’ll get to see with their own two eyes how woeful the Cowboys have been through the opening fortnight of 2025, although they have recalled Maroons prop Jeremiah Nanai after dropping him to QLD Cup for a bit of shock value.

– Cronulla host Souths at Shark Park on Saturday afternoon, and funnily enough I saw a news report featuring John Sutton and Dale Finucane out the front of Optus Stadium in Perth, and that’s because both the Sharks and Bunnies will be featuring in a Perth doubleheader next month, when the Sharks play Manly and Souths play North Queensland.

– The Redcliffe Dolphins host the Wests Tigers at Kayo Stadium, and after a dominant performance against a dodgy Eels team, the optimism is up at the Tigers for the first time since ICAC dominated New South Wales, while the Dolphins haven’t exactly given us anything to inspire the tipsters… still, they are favoured with the bookies solely for being the home team, so I’m prepared to burn my fingers with Wests.

– The Knights have started 2025 with 2 wins as they parrot on about the money they’re prepared to waste on Dylan Brown, and for the time being they’re off to the Gold Coast to face the Titans, who could quite easily turn it around after Canterbury sliced and diced their defensive line at Belmore on Sunday, and this is a fixture the Titans have dominated, having won the last 7 games against the Knights at Robina, with their last win there being Round 3 of 2015.

Funnily enough, that game in 2015 saw the Knights go to 3-0, which they haven’t done since then… of course, 2015 was the year the Knights won the first of 3 consecutive wooden spoons.

– The great old duel of the Western Suburbs stalwarts as Parramatta host Canterbury at Commbank, and based on their respective performances in the opening fortnight of 2025, this is looking at cricket score territory for the Berries… although, I thought that about the Easts vs Penrith game, and look how that turned out.

– And the last game sees Manly hosting Canberra at Brookvale, the most 50-50 game of this season thus far, although if Tommy Turbo does end up withdrawing due to injury, then we’ll be jumping straight onto a Raiders team who actually look quite competent this year, although they did look competent at this time of last season and went on to miss the Top 8.

Anyway, here’s the Succinct NRL Tips for Round 3:

Round 2 score = 4/8

Progress Score = 9/16

Lock of the Week

LOOK FOR MADGE TO GET A RESPONSE OUT OF HIS WILD HORSES.