Because I ran out of time and stuffed up a few paragraphs:

Round 23 score = 5/8

Progressive Score = 105/172 (61%)

Things to watch out for this week:

– The Panthers are going for their 4th 10-game winning streak since 2020… If you want context on that, the Storm have had 5 during Craig Bellamy’s 22-year tenure, Canterbury have only had 3 in 90 years, and Parramatta and Manly-Warringah have had 4 each since 1947, with Manly’s last streak coming in 1997, and the Eels in 2001.

– Jack De Belin plays his 250th game for the Dragons against the Warriors, he is only the 4th player to play 250 games for the joint venture, joining Ben Hornby (273), Ben Creagh (270) and Jason Nightingale (266).

– The Bulldogs are trying to complete their first sweep of the Sydney Roosters since 2016, while Daniel Tupou is one try away from tying Steve Menzies in 4th on the all-time tryscorers list (180 tries)

– The Sharks are 1 win away from their 700th win in First Grade since entering the league in 1967, with an all-time record of 699 wins, 24 draws and 695 defeats

– The Dolphins are fresh off their biggest defeat since joining the NRL in 2023 (52 points), also conceding 60+ points for the first time (Previous high was 58), while the Broncos have lost their last 6 games without Adam Reynolds in the team.

– After his double last week to end Souths’ 9-game losing streak, Alex Johnston is now only 3 tries away from matching Ken Irvine’s all-time record of 212 tries, while the Rabbitohs have won 8 out of their last 9 games against the Eels.

– Manly have lost all 3 visits to the new Allianz Stadium (All against Easts), while the Wests Tigers finally got their first win at the ground against the Roosters in Round 18, which was an Origin bye round.

– The Knights’ last win in Townsville was in Round 2 of 2015… at that time the Knights were 2-0 and the Cowboys dropped to 2-0, but as it turned out, the Cowboys went on to win the premiership, while the Knights won the first leg of their wooden spoon hat trick.

And finally, because this is the second leg of Indigenous Round, I wanted to play some other career highlights of an Indigenous great, who successfully represented Australia in league and union…

THE KING OF THE WING, BIG DEL, WENDELL SAILOR!