Craig Bellamy, 24 years strong

So a story about what happened last week – I didn’t have any time to write out the report on Thursday, then by Friday lunchtime I had everything written out on the phone to transfer over to the computer so I could properly format everything, then WordPress started shitting itself on Friday afternoon, and by that point in time I had to go and get set up for Friday night Chase The Ace, so I made a captain’s call to just leave things as they were considering I scored 0/5 the week before, with the only annoying part being that I had everything from Origin I written out on the post and decided to leave it…

Turns out not being able to post in time was a good thing, because I finished up with 6/7 and didn’t realise I’d tipped the Broncos instead of Manly.

Still, my main dot point from Origin I was this…

Laurie Daley must be happier than a dog with two dicks after realising he’s not coaching against a Queensland team with 9 Immortals in it.

Anyway, aside from all the bullshit about Lachie Galvin, there was one great story of historical note that the NRL seemed to completely gloss over, considering it’s one of the most significant milestones…

With his hat trick on Sunday, Alex Johnston became only the second player in the history of First Grade rugby league to score 200 tries, joining the great Ken Irvine.

By extension, that also makes AJ the first player in the NRL era to score 200 tries, the first player to score 200 tries with one club, and the first player to score 200 tries entirely within the era of limited tackles (Since 1967)

Irvine has held the tryscoring record since 1969, when he surpassed another Souths legend in Harold Horder, going on to score 212 tries in 236 games… it’s now within striking distance.

Now, looking ahead to the King’s Birthday long weekend that is Round 14 as we return to full rounds, with the Roosters getting the bye:

– The modern day rivals Manly and Newcastle meet in the Hunter, as the news picks up about Tom Trbojevic potentially leaving Manly and moving to the Super League amidst some tricky contract negotiations… I’d like to see Tommy Turbo in the Super League, because the last time the English have seen a glass cannon with that much ability was when Adrian Newey was designing cars for McLaren-Mercedes 20 years ago.

– The Storm host the Cowboys at AAMI Park, and this’ll be the first time since 2019 that the Cowboys have played in Melbourne, and it must be noted that the boys from the tropical north haven’t won in Melbourne since the 2015 Preliminary Final… it’s that long ago that Cameron Smith had only played 309 games.

– The Dolphins come off the bye and host St George-Illawarra at Suncorp in the feature Channel Nine game, and this one could go anywhere, because the Dolphins can defeat anyone and lose to anyone, while I was about to say the Dragons seem to enjoy playing at Suncorp given they won that game against the Broncos a few weeks ago… Inclusive of that game, they’ve only won 2 out of the last 10 at Lang Park.

– The Sharks come off the bye and host the Warriors at Shark Park in the Shaun Johnson Cup, and this was the game last year that cost the Sharks a Top 2 finish… Round 26, they led 22-4 at the half, then trailed 22-26, got in front with 10 minutes to play, then gave up the game winner in the last minute.

– Another South East Queensland Derby as the Broncos host the Titans at Suncorp, as the Titans now find themselves anchored to the bottom while Michael Maguire continues to cement himself as a hero of New South Wales rugby league by tanking the Broncos harder than Kevin Walters did in his last season… actually, the Titans will fancy themselves considering they’ve won the last 2 Derbies at Suncorp, just to help them forget they dropped 50 points in Round 2.

– The high performing Green Machine from Canberra host South Sydney in the nation’s capital, and here’s a rather remarkable fact, this’ll be the first time since the 2019 Grand Final that Latrell Mitchell, who was still at the Sydney Roosters and scored the winning try, has played a game against the Canberra Raiders.

Here’s the Souths games against Canberra that he’s missed in that time:

Round 11, 2020 (Suspended against Wests in Round 9)

Round 8, 2021 (Suspended against Wests in Round 6)

Round 11, 2022 (Hamstring injury)

Round 13, 2023 (Calf injury in Round 12)

Round 21, 2024 (Foot injury, didn’t play after Round 18)

Wests Tigers host Penrith at Commbank in the Koroisau-Luai Cup, with this of course being Jarome Luai’s first game against the team that he won 4 consecutive premierships for until crossing to Wests for this season.

And the King’s Birthday Monday game, as has been the case for several seasons, has Canterbury hosting Parramatta at Accor Stadium, and it does appear that Lachie Galvin isn’t quite ready for his Canterbury debut as he’s been named in the reserves, and considering how well Canterbury are going this year, the game might actually draw a crowd… won’t quite be as big as Good Friday, but they’ll make Accor Stadium look respectable, which is very hard to do.

Actually, here’s a somewhat concerning stat for the Berries… inclusive of the beating that the Dolphins gave their depleted team in Round 12, they’ve conceded an average of 28 points per game in their last 5 games.

And now, for the Round 14 tips:

Round 13 score = 6/7

Progressive score = 52/100 (52%)

And for no reason at all, here’s Kermit the Frog: