Yes, this happened

Dunno what Luron Patea was thinking there… should’ve just gone with his finger.

On we rumble to Round 17, and I would note another record fell last weekend as Dolphins superboot Jamayne Isaako has now scored in 95 consecutive First Grade games, breaking the record of 94 that Steve Gearin set for Canterbury between 1979 and 1982 – It should be noted that both players didn’t play every single game available during those seasons, but nonetheless it’s still a record that even the greatest pointscorers in history (Smith, Reynolds, El-Masri, Johns, Taylor etc) can’t match.

The last time Isaako didn’t score was Round 5, 2022, when he was playing for the Gold Coast Titans against Parramatta on April 9, 2022… to give you an idea how long Isaako’s streak has lasted, Queen Elizabeth II was still alive, and there have been 4 British Prime Ministers in that time… soon to be 5.

Now, on to Round 17, the only full round of footy before Origin Game III:

– Thursday night has Parramatta hosting Souths in Mitchell Moses’ 250th First Grade game, and even his opposing captain Cameron Murray returns alongside Moses from New South Wales duties, and another statistical milestone is that Josh Addo-Carr requries 1 more try to tie Andrew Ettinghausen on 166 tries, which would put him 7th all-time.

– The Gold Coast Titans and Canterbury play the Friday 6pm game on the Gold Coast, and amazing to think that these two teams both won by a point on Saturday, and that now means that in 2 out of their last 3 games, the Titans have defeated the 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025 premiers… as good a 50/50 game as we’ll get this weekend.

– The feature Friday night game has yet another D-Day for the Brisbane Broncos as they play the Sydney Roosters at Suncorp, in what is James Tedesco’s 200th game for Easts, and it’s interesting to note that the Broncos have defeated the Roosters at the Gabba more recently than they have at Suncorp, with that last win coming in 2019… in fact, they’ve defeated the Roosters at the SCG more recently than they have at Suncorp.

– The best game of the round in terms of ladder position has the Dolphins playing the Warriors at Suncorp, 3rd hosting 2nd as the Dolphins are just about the form team of the comp as they rack up 30+ points a game, and the Warriors closed back the gap to Penrith last weekend after a rare slip up, and of course we should note that the Dolphins’ last defeat was the 20-18 result against the Warriors in Wellington in Round 8.

– The North Queensland Cowboys host the Panthers in Townsville, as Jason Taumalolo becomes the first North Queensland Cowboy to play 300 First Grade games for the club, against a Panthers team that the Cowboys have a strangely good record against (4 wins a draw and 3 defeats in the start of 2022), and as mighty as the Panthers have been in 2026, their only two defeats have been against the teams in 12th and 15th… the Cowboys are 9th, so if they’re doing defeats in thirds, they might be in a bit of trouble here…. just kidding, it’s Penrith and they’ve got Yeo, To’o and Cleary back

– The great rivals of the 2000s and indeed the 21st Century meet again as Manly host the Melbourne Storm at Brookvale, and regardless of the result we will be guaranteed a milestone victory for either team – the Storm could win their 500th game in First Grade rugby league in only their 752nd game, which would be faster than any club has ever reached that milestone (They’d also be the first club of the NRL era to reach 500 wins) and Manly are still sitting on 999 wins after Stephen Crichton nailed them in Golden Point last weekend.

– The Canberra Raiders host St George-Illawarra in Canberra on Sunday afternoon, a ground that has many horrible memories for the Dragons as they went winless there from 2001 to 2013 when they were actually a decent team (11 consecutive defeats), then they won consecutive games there in 2014 and 2015, and haven’t won there since – A total of 4 wins in Canberra in 27 years.

– The Channel 9 Sunday afternoon game has the Newcastle Knights in the Hunter as Kalyn Ponga is back after copping another hit to the head in Origin II, while the Knights come off a win against the Dragons despite scoring fewer tries, and the Tigers come in having already knocked off the Knights this season, and they put up a nice old 42-22 win at Campbelltown back in Round 6.

So on that note here’s the Round 17 tips:

Round 16 tips = 5/7

Round 16 progress score = 78/120 (65%)

5/7 and I was 2 points of getting a perfect round.

And for today’s birthday tribute… today is the 70th birthday of NRL Hall of Famer and St George Premiership captain Craig Young, so here’s one of his finer games against Canterbury in 1983!

Happy birthday Albert!