For the record, this was the Round 22 tips… I had to go to a funeral and ran out of time

The big news out of Round 22 was the antics of Penrith runner Corey Bocking, running into the line of Titans kicker Jayden Campbell as he lined up for a sideline kick, which he ultimately missed (Wonder why), and minutes later Nathan Cleary smashed the 2-point field goal to force Golden Point, which the Panthers ultimately won to earn a crucial 2 points.

But not for the first time, the Panthers have pulled some bullshit with a trainer – Going back to the 2021 Semi Final against Parramatta when the trainer (Peter Green) stopped play during an Eels attack without performing an initial assesment on Mitch Kenny, leading to a fine and Green’s suspension, and this year against the Cowboys when a trainer poured water on the game balls, although in the Panthers’ defence the Cowboys were doing the same thing.

Despite the Panthers’ claims it was an “Honest mistake”, that incident and the sins of the past are why they got a $50,000 fine instead of a $10,000 fine, and Bocking was suspended for 5 games… But the Riff won the game, so $50,000 is like getting flogged with warm lettuce.

Then the most minor story of the week turned out to be the Tigers’ ‘Khod’ try celebrations towards the Bulldogs fans, which were alleged to be offensive towards a team with one of the most prominent Middle Eastern fanbase, but all told was just a rip-off of what Bulldogs fans have done for years… and the Tigers’ should’ve done it during Try July, they could’ve raised money for charity.

There was also a historic milestone in the Broncos’ rout of South Sydney, as Adam Reynolds went 10/10 with the kicking tee and became only the second player in history (After Cameron Smith) to register 2,500 First Grade points, ironically achieving it against the club for which he is the all-time leading pointscorer.

It’s also interesting to note that Reynolds also has the most career points of any player that has never held the all-time pointscoring record, with himself, Jarrod Croker (No.4 all-time) and Johnathan Thurston (No.5) being the only 3 players in the Top 10 all-time that have never held the record, which progressed as such:

Graham Eadie (No.10) overtook Eric Simms (No.11) in 1983, Eadie was passed Mick Cronin (No.9) in 1985, Cronin was passed Darryl Halligan (No.8) in 2000, Halligan was passed by Jason Taylor (No.7) in 2001, Taylor was passed by Andrew Johns (No.6) in 2006, Johns was passed by Hazem El Masri (No.2) in 2009, and El Masri was passed by Cameron Smith (No.1) in 2019.

Of course, there were some other big results, namely the Raiders’ 9-game winning streak coming to a crashing end against the Dragons in the driving rain at Woolongong, a loss some Raiders didn’t take very well, then the next day the Wests Tigers had the shot at Lachlan Galvin that they’d been waiting for since April, and they duly punched Canterbury in the mouth in a stirring 28-14 victory, keeping them clear of wooden spoon contention and keeping the door ajar for a miracle Top 8 run – It was also Canterbury’s first loss against a Bottom 9 team this season (They were 12 from 12).

It all means that the inevitable is approaching… a Storm-Panthers Grand Final.

Now, on to Round 23… just a month to go until the finals, and this week it’s INDIGENOUS ROUND, and every year I love honouring an Indigenous champion of the game, and I didn’t realise until now that it’s only been 3 years since I used Greg Inglis as the cover photo, but now that he’s an NRL Hall of Famer, the Goanna is definitely getting a run in 2025:

A 195cm, 105kg beast who could play in the halves… Heck, he even won a Clive Churchill Medal as a five eighth!

– The Storm host the Broncos at AAMI Park on Thursday night… despite the Broncos playing some decent football, we can all see where this is heading, with 16 wins from their last 17 against the Broncos, and it’s also Harry Grant’s 100th game for the Storm.

– The Newcastle Knights host Penrith in the Hunter, as the Panthers go for their ninth consecutive victory, and it feels like a space age ago that the Knights defeated the Panthers in Bathurst in Round 12, which wasn’t particularly memorable because it was an Origin bye round and the Panthers had that many players on rep duty… still, if the Knights pull off a miracle, it’d be the first time since 2013 that they’ve swept Penrith.

– The feature Friday night game is Canberra hosting Manly, as Tom Trbojevic is back at fullback for the Silvertails and Ricky Stuart sticks with the exact same 17 that missed the chance to win 10 consecutive games, which will probably be enough to knock off this withered disintegrating shell of a Manly team.

Also, I’d have to imagine the Raiders will have a tribute lined up for the late Sam Backo after his passing on Sunday, as Backo played 115 games for the Raiders (Player No.43) and lined up in the 1987 Grand Final, alongside representing Queensland in the Origin whitewashes of 1988 and 1989, and Australia between 1988-90… Also very stiff leaving the Raiders at the end of 1988, as they went on and won their maiden premiership the next year.

– The old southern suburbs derby as St George-Illawarra (With Cronulla’s only premiership coach) host neighbours Cronulla at Jubilee, where the Dragons haven’t defeated the Sharks since 2016, and it’d be completely on brand for the Dragons to thud back to earth after becoming the only team to defeat the Raiders for the last 3 months, especially considering the Sharks have put together 10 consecutive wins against the Red V, and if you want context to that, the longest winning streak they ever had against the old St George was 5 games (1978-80).

– A crucial 4-pointer as the Dolphins host the Sydney Roosters at Suncorp, with it being 8th against 9th and the winner being guaranteed a spot in the Top 8 come Sunday night, and be warned, with these two attacks with their two defensive units, this game could be VERY high scoring.

– Canterbury host the New Zealand Warriors in a Top 4 showdown at the Olympic Stadium, and this is typically a matchup that favours the Warriors, although the Bulldogs finally bucked the trend last year and won both games against the Warriors for their first wins against the Kiwis since 2018, and the stakes are extremely high for the visitors, because if Penrith win and they drop this one.. the Panthers will jump into the Top 4 for the first time ALL YEAR.

– This may as well be SPOONBOWL 2025 as the Gold Coast Titans host South Sydney on the Gold Coast, and this does go to show how cruel that loss was for the Titans last week, because if they lose this the Spoon is as good as theirs, while the horrifically undermanned Souths are staring down some unwanted history for Wayne Bennett… having already handed him the first 9-game losing streak of a coaching career of over 1000+ games across all formats, he’s staring down the gun of his first 10-game losing streak, which will be the case if the Titans defeat Souths for the first time in 10 games.

– And the last game of the round has the ever improving Parramatta hosting the North Queensland Cowboys at Commbank… I think I’ll look elsewhere.

And now for the Round 23 Tips:

Round 22 Tips = 4/8

Running Score = 100/164 (60.97%)

In the spirit of the weekend, here’s an interesting little musical mash-up of Midnight Oil playing with the Warumpi Band in the middle of the Northern Territory in 1986… Blackfella Whitefella into The Dead Heart:

An important message of character for us all – Black fella, White fella, it doesn’t matter what your colour, as long as you are true fella, as long as you are real fella.