In the Round 25, 25….

Alright, on to Round 25 as we enter the final 3 rounds before the Finals, and things I noticed this week:

Souths sent out this message before the game against the Eels, given Alex Johnston is now within 3 tries of matching the all-time record… only for AJ to go scoreless.

Payne Haas confirmed he’ll represent Samoa instead of Australia at International level, joining the likes of Stephen Crichton, Jarome Luai, Brian To’o and Terrell May in what looks like the formation of a decent World Cup team, and it is a big call because the last time I checked, Samoa doesn’t compete in the Ashes.

And the Panthers were pissed off about Harry Grant winning that obstruction penalty against Leota to wipe out Nathan Cleary’s winning field goal, which eventually led to the Golden Point result decided by Grant himself, and to be honest I think the Panthers were just confused that it wasn’t a Storm trainer that ran into Leota.

Also in that game, Marion Seve sporting the superhero goggles after he suffered a serious eye injury this year… if Kareem Abdul-Jabbar can become an all-time sporting legend in goggles, so can Seve:

Now, some things to look out for this week, in what is COUNTRY ROUND, featuring all of 2 games in ‘regional’ New South Wales

– The clash of the cripples on Thursday night as Souths tackle St George at the Olympic Stadium, and we’ve got St George with 14 players out, against Souths with 1400 players out, and forget about AJ, this is a milestone game with it being Wayne Bennett’s 100th game as coach of South Sydney, and that would make Souths only the second club that Bennett has coached at least 100 games for, joining the Brisbane Broncos on 631.

Yep, in 48 years of coaching, and that includes his time in Brisbane First Grade, the Broncos were the only club that Bennett had coached at least 100 games for, until tonight…. it is understandable given he spent a generation at the club.

– The Penrith Panthers play the Canberra Raiders at Glen Willow Oval in Mudgee, which is a western suburb of Penrith, as the Panthers’ attempt to climb into the Top 4 was obstructed by a charging Harry Grant, and the Raiders can pretty much seal a Top 2 spot if they win given Melbourne and Canterbury are playing, and this is the Raiders’ third visit to Mudgee, having lost there to the Dragons in 2018, and to Manly in 2022…

– The feature match of the round has the Melbourne Storm hosting Canterbury at AAMI Park, a 2nd vs 3rd showdown which probably won’t shake the ladder too much given Melbourne’s points differential, and history will show that Canterbury was the one team that the Storm just hated playing against (It was 21-16 in Canterbury’s favour at the end of 2016), but since the start of 2017 the Storm have won 8 out of the last 9 against the Berries, but that still doesn’t take away from the fact that Canterbury have the best winning percentage of any current club against the Storm, even if it is 47.83%.

– With Jake Trbojevic sidelined for his own good, Manly host the Dolphins at Brookvale in Daly Cherry-Evans’ milestone 350th game, making him only the fifth player to reach 350 First Grade games, behind Cameron Smith (430), Cooper Cronk (372), Darren Lockyer (355) and Terry Lamb (350)…. I’m sure it will be well receieved by Sea Eagles fans after the events of last Sunday.

– Not even 3 weeks after last playing each other, we’ve got the rematch between the Gold Coast Titans and the New Zealand Warriors at Cbus, with the Titans staring down the gun of the wooden spoon, and the Warriors fresh off getting a contentious close win against the Dragons to maintain 4th spot, but it appears hope is not totally lost for the Titans to dodge the spoon, considering Des Hasler has dominated the Warriors in his coaching career, and the Newcastle Knights are plummeting to now being a game ahead of the Titans, with next to no difference in points differential

– Parramatta host the Sydney Roosters at Commbank, with the Roosters fresh off drubbing the Bulldogs to make it 116 points in 3 games, while Daniel Tupou (Who sadly went into concussion protocols) is now the 4th-greatest tryscorer in league history, and the Eels couldn’t overcome Souths to confirm that they’ve still got a shitload to work on, while this is also Dylan Walker’s 250th NRL game… could’ve come a bit earlier were it not for some legal issues.

– As the exit door looms for Adam O’Brien, Newcastle host the Brisbane Broncos in the Hunter, and on the same weekend as DCE’s 350th game, Ben Hunt joins him as the sixth player in the 350 Club, and unfortunately for Ben he will have the dubious distinction of being the only player to reach 350 games and not win a premiership…. in fact, he’s the only player in the Top 15 for most First Grade games that hasn’t won a premiership.

– And with a fourth consecutive wooden spoon now well and truly out of danger, the Wests Tigers host the North Queensland Cowboys at Leichhardt, and I wouldn’t be surprised if the 2005 Premiership trophy made an appearance on Sunday for some kind of 20th anniversary, which would be made easier by the fact that Benji Marshall will be there, and Todd Payten will also be at the ground coaching the Cowboys…. also Johnathan Thurston could be there working for Channel Nine.

Now for the Round 25 tips:

Round 24 score = 4/8

Progressive Score = 109/180 (60.55%)

And because the Tigers are hosting the Cowboys this week… here’s the full replay of the 2005 Grand Final!