What an amazing NRL competition we have. With two rounds remaining, we have a five way battle for the Top 4 and four teams outside the Top 8 waiting to pounce on one more Dragons loss.
Add to this, at either ends of the ladder, we have the minor premiers crowned and the battle of the spoon is well and truly on.
Minor Premiers
Congratulations to the Melbourne Storm for wrapping up the NRL 2024 Minor Premiership. They are in form and are the team to beat.
Tipsters beware. The Storm are likely to start resting players in the final two rounds of the regular season.
Race for the Finals
Top 4
Only for/against differential separates second from fourth with just the Bulldogs in a position to knock one team out.
Who would have thought last week the reigning premiers and competition favourites, the Panthers, would be sitting 4th.
Top 8
The Dragons still have destiny in their hands despite suffering a heavy loss to the Sharks.
The Broncos, Dolphins, Knights and Canberra are all alive to pounce back in finals contention should the Dragons falter once more.
A loss this round, at minimum, will see the winner of the Broncos v Dolphins move into the top eight.
The Dragons play the Eels Saturday at 3:00pm.
All other teams in contention play after this match completes.
The Battle of the Spoon
The Wests Tigers upset over Stinky guarantees they face the Eels for the wooden spoon in the final round of the season.
More on this next week.
Upset of the Round
With everything to play for, Manly threw away any chance of finishing in the Top 4. And I mean this literally. Multiple passes to ground by the Manly fleet of Saabs and Turbos. Over sidelines. Three players sinbinned throughout the match.
The Sea Eagles raced to a 16-0 lead in 20 minutes only to see the Tigers score 30 unanswered points. But, with 20 minutes remaining, Manly had all the momentum and looked destined to break the hearts of Leichhardt.
Except, I have not seen a team crumble with so many unforced errors. It was fun to watch (maybe not for 22 Tipsters).
End result.
Wests Tigers win 34-26 and will next battle to avoid the Wooden Spoon.
Stinky Manly can’t finish in the Top 4 and hence cannot win the comp. Hooray!
In Other Games
- The Bulldogs were party poopers for the Shaun Johnson farewell game (played at Shaun Johnson Stadium, Auckland) with an easy 34-18 win.
- Broncos coach Kevvie Walters is adamant his team WILL play finals football this year after defeating the Eels 30-24. WILL! Someone please tell him the Broncos are still outside the eight.
- The Raiders were too classy against premiers Panthers with a 22-18 win.
Round 25 Results
Main Competition
The pressure of leading this prestigious comp has struck big time for our leaders. When you looked at the draw it was pretty clear that there were 3 potential standouts – Storm, Panthers and Manly. For 22 punters (3 of whom were in the top 10), if you didn’t hate Manly before, you certainly do now. Their loss to the lowly West Tigers has really set the cat amongst the pigeons.
With only 2 rounds to go The Creator has taken a 4 point lead over GeorgeTheDragon – all as a result picking the right standout. The victory is all but sealed.
Magnum and Rossco The Pom have both moved up 2 places into 3rd and 4th respectively. Carlos (down 2 spots) and Bart Simpson (up 1) make up the remaining $$$ places.
2nd Chance Competition
Stallion continues to lead the comp from Robert Cook. I have dropped out of the $$$ with Bridie moving up 4 places and into 3rd spot.
The Standout
The Standout bites again. With stinky Manly and the Penrifff reigning premiers going down in shock losses, we had more wrongs than rights.
- Standouts correct – 26
- Standouts wrong – 28
- The average score – 4.87
- Our round high – 8
- Our round low was – 1
Footy Tipper Weekly Jackpot
No takers, so up we go. We now playing for $30 for round 26.
Good luck with your tips this week.
Rob and Paul
