Mark Nawaqanitawase with some documented witchcraft to score the Try of the Year, Try of the Decade, and a valid candidate for the greatest try recorded on video

That Xavier Coates try that won the game for the Storm against the Warriors last year was just about the best ever seen simply for being a game winner, but in terms of skill in being able to balance himself IN MID AIR, Mark might have just taken the chocolates for the try of the decade.

On that note, we have a shortened Round 12 ahead of Origin I on Wednesday night, and there was some typical Origin shocks at selection, none bigger than Billy Slater picking Rooster Robert Toia alongside The Hammer in the centres for Queensland, becoming only the fourth player since 1988 (The entry of the Brisbane Broncos into the NSWRL) to make his First Grade debut and Origin debut in the same year, joining Willie Carne (1990), Ben Ikin (1995) and Payne Haas (2019), and Toia will also become the least experienced starter in State of Origin history, breaking the record held by Jim Leis, who started at Lock for NSW in the first State of Origin game in 1980, after 11 games for Western Suburbs.

Still, we must mention that Toia was born in Auckland but raised in Queensland, so it begs the fabled question, where is Auckland?

THAT’S IN QUEENSLAND!

Titans back Beau Fermor (Having overcome 2 ACL tears) and Storm forward Trent Loiero were also selected for a potential Maroons Origin debut, and on the other side of Tweed Heads, with Laurie Daley back in the saddle for New South Wales we got to see see Max King, after being on the scrapheap at the end of 2021 due to complications from Achilles surgery before Phil Gould got him to Canterbury, is in line for a New South Wales debut, Mitch Moses got the 5/8th gig over Jarome Luai, and Cody Ramsey, after being diagnosed with ulcerative colitis and losing his large intestine, causing him to miss all of 2023 and 2024, is now in the Blues squad.

Now for a shortened look at Round 12:

– Canterbury host the Redcliffe Dolphins without several Origin players on both sides, among them King, Kurt Mann and Stephen Crichton, while the Dolphins don’t Tom Gilbert and Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow

– Parramatta host Manly on Friday night, although it looks like Manly will start a solid favourite given the Eels are without Mitchell Moses and Zac Lomax, while the Silvertails, despite losing DCE and Jake Trbojevic, still have Tommy Turbo in the No.1

– Penrith host Newcastle out at Carrington Park in the West Penrith suburb of Bathurst, and to be honest it’s a strange time to have the Bathurst game given it’s in the middle of an Origin week, and once again the Panthers have taken the Origin hit with Isaah Yeo, Dylan Edwards, Nathan Cleary, and the Knights have lost Kalyn Ponga to the Queensland No.1 spot, while Jacob Saifiti was also out due to injury, just when things couldn’t sink any lower for the Novocastrians.

– The Roosters host Cronulla in Gosford, and despite their down year the Roosters still have 5 players away on Origin duty (Angus Crichton, Connor Watson, Lindsay Collins, Spencer Leniu and Robert Toia), meaning Dominic Young gets a recall, while the Sharks basically have their best available team, minus Samuel Stonestreet breaking his ankle last week.

– The Warriors host the Canberra Raiders at Mt Smart in the Game of the Round, 2nd vs 3rd in a rematch of the Las Vegas encounter in Round 1, with only Hudson Young missing due to Origin duty for the Blues… Interesting note is that the Raiders last defeated the Warriors in New Zealand back in 2019.

And now for the Tips:

Round 11 score = 3/8

Progressive Score = 46/88 (52.23%)

Crikey, tipping is a royal pain in the arse this year.

And for a musical interlude… here’s The Cure.