Here we go – The NRLW is back, and we have the build-up to Queensland having the unlosable Game III at Suncorp, and in fact it’s unlosable for both teams because if New South Wales win they’ll win the series that looked impossible to win 20 minutes into Game I, and the Maroons can look forward to another year of Daley’s coaching, and if Queensland win then they celebrate another series win, and Laurie Daley is subsequently staring down the hangman’s noose from the NSWRL.

See – A win for everyone.

Of course, Try July would’ve also started this weekend, but that was discontinued in April, so instead the NRL have organised a new fundraiser…

JAI JULY.

The high point will come on July 12, which is planned to be the world’s biggest birthday party for Jai Arrow when Souths play Newcastle, and the rest of the month the fundraising for Motor Neurone Disease research will come as such:

Coca-Cola South Pacific will donate $1000 for each try scored in NRL, NRLW and Origin games in July…. we’ll see if Coca-Cola Indian Ocean also join in.

Budget Direct will donate $1000 for each try scored by the Rabbitohs in July.

In addition, Trading Card licensee Select have committed $40,000 to encourage players to stand with Jai with an arrow gesture after tries… whether or not that means they’ll donate $40,000 for every bow and arrow gesture after a try remains to be seen.

Now, on to the 5 club games for Round 18:

The leaderless Panthers host the Rabbitohs to kick off Jai July, having dropped their last two games.

St George Illawarra host the Wests Tigers at Kogarah, and what a great chance for the Red V to get another win on the board, and this’ll be the first time since 2018 that the teams have played at the ancestral home of St George, and the Tigers won that 2018 game 20-16, which coincidentally was also in Round 18 of that season.

The Brisbane Broncos have now dropped 7 in a row as they get another home game against Cronulla at Suncorp, and if the losing streak wasn’t painful enough they have to make another half a dozen changes as Reece Walsh, Pat Carrigan and Payne Haas are all off playing in Origin III, Aublix Tawha injured his ankle, Jack Gosiewki has broken ribs, and Josiah Karapani got suspended for driving 119 km/h in a 100 km/h zone and failing to display his P Plates, his second off-field incident this season….

It goes to show the Broncos will do anything to get a few points this season.

The first Sunday afternoon game sees Parramatta hosting Manly, as the Eels continue to be a big nothing burger in 2026 as Mitch Moses goes back to New South Wales, while Kieran Foran has his first major headache as Luke Brooks is done for the season with a torn ACL, although Joey Walsh has got a fair bit of promise about him, Haumole Olakau’atu got his spot back in the Blues team, and apparently I was a week early on the Manly 1000th win milestone, because the win against the Storm was their 999th First Grade win, so they’ve got the chance to get the 1000th win against arguably their greatest historical rival…

And the second Sunday game on Channel Nine has Newcastle hosting the Dolphins in the Hunter, and this seems to be the one contest that the Dolphins have really struggled with since their inception, as they’ve won only 1 out of 6 games against the Knights in their history, although the counter point to that is the Dolphins are on an absolute tear right now, even without their pod of Origin players, while the Knights don’t have Kalyn Ponga as he prepares to play for Queensland and cop another awkward hit to the head, and their record without him is 3 wins out of their last 17 games without him in the lineup.

Round 17 tips = 6/8

Round 17 progress score = 84/128 (65.6%)

As for our musical number this week… it’s the 250th edition of the 4th of July, so there’s no better way to celebrate it than a song about a disillusioned Vietnam veteran by Bruce Springsteen… BOOOOOORN IN THE USA!

A mistakenly nationalistic classic.