The last full round before Origin III, and Round 17 marks the 8th annual Beanies for Brain Cancer round, raising money for the Mark Hughes Foundation and brain cancer research + treatment, named after and run by the 2-time Newcastle Knights premiership player and NSW Origin representative Mark Hughes, himself diagnosed with the disease back in 2013 at the age of 36, and we should remember that brain cancer has affected others in the rugby league community, namely Channel 9’s NRL boss Matt Callander, who kickstarted the Beanies for Brain Cancer Round before he passed away in October 2017, and Brett Kimmorley’s wife Sharnie, who passed away in March 2017, but thankfully Noddy and his family are helping to carry on her legacy by being involved in the MHF.

The added bonus is that in addition to raising some $35m in funds, this year the Mark Hughes Foundation is going to pass the milestone of selling their one millionth beanie… a great legacy of Hughes and Matt Callander.

Of course, you know who else will be supporting Beanies for Brain Cancer?

Harry from Home Alone.

Now, on another note this week I noticed an interesting line from The Guardian on Tuesday, in which Peter V’Landys spoke to Papua New Guinea’s Prime Minister Marape about the incoming PNG team in 2028, which he described as a “Permanent holiday” for players wanting to sign with the new team and live in some kind of resort style set-up in PNG.

A permanent holiday, in that you’ll be beaten to death by a gang member in Port Moresby who wants your shoes.

There was also this line from Pistol Pete about the competitiveness of the new team:

“The rugby league tsar has assured PNG prime minister James Marape the team will make the top eight in its first year in 2028, a deadline which V’Landys said was “absolutely” going to be met.”

80% possession, a 20-0 penalty count and repeated 6 agains, here we come!

Still, a permanent holiday sounds foreboding, considering what the Australian Government’s own SmartTraveller says about going to PNG:

“We continue to advise exercise a high degree of caution in Papua New Guinea due to high levels of crime, tribal violence and civil unrest. Higher levels apply in some areas.”

PNG was also ranked 136th out of 140 countries by Economist Intelligence Unit’s liveability index, and Port Moresby consistently ranks in the Top 10 for the most dangerous cities on planet Earth…

Although, it appears the people compiling those lists have never visited Penrith.

Now, to look at the Round 17 action, with the full allotment of 8 games before the Origin III teams are announced early next week:

– The Panthers have climbed into the Top 8 for the first time since Round 1, and with their Origin players back in the team, they get a genuinely good Thursday night game against league leaders Canterbury at Commbank, which would have to be the biggest game between the teams since the 2016 Elimination Final… or possibly the 2014 Preliminary Final, considering that was a game to get into a Grand Final.

– Manly host the Wests Tigers at Brookvale in the Friday 6pm game as Anthony Seibold comes under the spotlight for his team’s immense drop in form despite the talent they’ve got on the park, leading to a supposed rift with DCE, while the Tigers apparently NOW have an issue with their local juniors, as Talyn Da Silva prepares to leave as a consequence of the club deciding to try and re-sign Api Koroisau.

– The feature event of the weekend has the Newcastle Knights hosting the Canberra Raiders in the Hunter with Mark Hughes in attendance, and somehow the Knights managed to pull off a superb upset against the Dolphins in Perth to leave them with everything to play for, given they’re caught between the wedge of still being in the Top 8 hunt and not out of wooden spoon contention, while the Raiders have now won 5 consecutive games to keep the heat on the Bulldogs, albeit they have played 2 more games than the Berries.

I would note that the Knights-Raiders is also one of the more even H2H contests… since 1988, it’s 24 Newcastle, 22 Canberra and 2 draws.

– After last week’s wild comeback win against the Sharks, the Brisbane Broncos host the New Zealand Warriors at Suncorp, the return fixture of the shortest Golden Point game ever seen on Easter Saturday in Auckland, as the Warriors copped an almighty credibility beating when a very undermanned Penrith went to town on them in the 2nd Half in New Zealand, which seemed to confirm that the Warriors are who we thought they were… good, but not that good.

– The Clint Gutherson-Zac Lomax Cup as the Dragons host the Eels in Wollongong, and hopefully it’s as good as the Round 5 game was when Zac Lomax was the one to sink the Dragons… if that’s any guide, then it’s going to be Clint Gutherson, aka the Wet Bandit, to sink his old team this time around:

– In the second part of the Suncorp Stadium Super Saturday, the Dolphins host the Rabbitohs, as both teams lost narrowly last Saturday, the Dolphins now having a losing record with the second-best points differential in the league, while the Rabbits have plummeted to second-last, but the one thing they’ve got to keep them going is that fresh off another bag of 4 tries, Alex Johnston is now only 6 tries away from Ken Irvine’s record of 212 career tries… the way AJ is going he’ll get it in 2 games, which would be Round 20 against the Panthers, considering the Rabbits have a bye in Round 19.

– The Storm host the Sharks at AAMI Park on Sunday afternoon, and the Storm are now up into 3rd place after sneaking under the radar over the last few weeks, and considering the Sharks’ recent woeful run, I can’t believe they did knock off the Storm in Round 11 (31-26), but now they’d need divine intervention to repeat the dose.

– And the lucky last game is a deadset Queensland cripple fight as the Cowboys, having lost their last 3 games by a combined score of 26-138, take on a Gold Coast Titans team that is now outright bottom of the ladder, with both teams possessing the two WORST points differentials in the league… what a great game Channel 9 is in for.

While the Roosters get the bye, having flown into the Top 8 after their terrible start to the year, also getting their points different into positive territory for the first time in 2025.

And now for the Succinct Tips for Round 17, here we go:

Round 16 score = 5/7

Progressive Score = 67/120 (55.8%)

And now for no reason, here’s one of my favourite glorious moments from the Footy Show… the late Terry Hill at the Dapto Dogs:

Mainly because you can’t show those Mahatma Cote clips anymore.