We've got a good run home as well, 4 matches against the top 4 and 10 against the bottom 9.
I feel the Origin period is the big decider on where we end up finishing this year.
We have no Reynolds to steer the ship and take pressure off the origin guys, but during that stretch we go:
Rd 13. Bye
Rd 14. Sharks (who never have anyone in origin... top of the table and all that)
Rd 15. Bunnies in Sydney (might be a good match up for us this year with how they're travelling, but Trell is back)
Rd 16. Bye
Rd 17. Wahs in NZ... because of course it would be... straight off origin let's fly them over to NZ to play the only team other than sharks that never have anyone in origin
Rd 18. Penrith.. Chin will be back by this point no doubt
Rd 19. Dargons in origin week... they'll lose Bhunt and maybe Lomax... maybe Sua pending how teams are going... should be a winnable game even with the outs
Rd 20. Newcastle away after origin 3... again the luck of the draw has us travelling after origin. Unsure on Ponga, but he could be due back around this time as well
Having byes in 13 and then 16 is nice to get two during origin, but 13 and 19 is the go... that's been reserved for ... checks notes... oh Melbourne... who got the same last year as well.
Also I feel we need to be lining ourselves up for a bye before round 13... don't think the bye in round 25 or whatever helped us all that much last year, because we were entrenched in the top 4 and resting players anyway.
NRL always screw us with a tough draw early on so people actually tune in... we could desperately use a bye before now this year.
Byes at the end of the year aren't needed if you're winning, because you can just rest players later on anyway. It does give the origin guys a dedicated week off after the series is finished though, so that's a benefit to look forward to