Round 2 Discussion

[Big Pete]

Penrith Panthers v Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs
Thursday 10 March 2016, Pepper Stadium
Kickoff 8:05pm

1. William Smith 2. Josh Mansour 3. Waqa Blake 4. Peta Hiku 5. Dallin Watene Zelezniak 6. Jamie Soward 7. Peter Wallace 8. Sam McKendry 9. Tyrone Peachey 10. Regan Campbell-Gillard 11. Bryce Cartwright 12. Isaah Yeo 13. Trent Merrin
Interchange: 14. James Fisher-Harris 15. Jeremy Latimore 16. Suaia Matagi 17. Elijah Taylor 20. Sitaleki Akauola

1. William Hopoate 2. Curtis Rona 3. Josh Morris 4. Kerrod Holland 5. Sam Perrett 6. Josh Reynolds 7. Moses Mbye 8. Aiden Tolman 9. Craig Garvey 10. James Graham 11. Josh Jackson 12. Tony Williams 13. Greg Eastwood
Interchange: 14. Sam Kasiano 15. Tim Browne 16. David Klemmer 17. Adam Elliot 19. Lloyd Perrett

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Brisbane Broncos v Warriors
Friday 11 March 2016, Suncorp Stadium
Kickoff 8:05pm

1. Darius Boyd 2. Corey Oates 3. Jack Reed 4. James Roberts 5. Greg Eden 6. Anthony Milford 7. Ben Hunt 8. Josh McGuire 9. Andrew McCullough 10. Adam Blair 11. Alex Glenn 12. Matt Gillett 13. Corey Parker
Interchange: 14. Jarrod Wallace 15. Sam Thaiday 16. Jo Ofanhengaue 17. Kodi Nikorima 18. Joe Boyce

1. Roger Tuivasa-Sheck 2. Tuimoala Lolohea 3. Blake Ayshford 4. Solomone Kata 5. Manu Vatuvei 6. Shaun Johnson 7. Jeff Robson 8. Jacob Lillyman 9. Issac Luke 10. Ben Matulino 11. Bodene Thompson 12. Ryan Hoffman 13. Simon Mannering
Interchange: 14. Nathaniel Roache 15. Sam Lisone 16. James Gavet 17. Raymond Faitala-Mariner

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Canberra Raiders v Sydney Roosters
Saturday 12 March 2016, GIO Stadium Canberra
Kickoff 3:00pm

1. Jack Wighton 2. Edrick Lee 3. Jarrod Croker 4. Joseph Leilua 5. Jordan Rapana 6. Lachlan Croker 7. Sam Williams 8. Shannon Boyd 9. Josh Hodgson 10. Frank Paul Nuuausala 11. Josh Papalii 12. Elliot Whitehead 13. Shaun Fensom
Interchange: 14. Kurt Baptiste 15. Iosia Soliola 16. Paul Vaughan 17. Jeff Lima

1. Blake Ferguson 2. Daniel Tupou 3. Dale Copley 4. Shaun Kenny-Dowall 5. Latrell Mitchell 6. Jayden Nikorima 7. Jackson Hastings 8. Kane Evans 9. Jake Friend 10. Dylan Napa 11. Aidan Guerra 12. Mitchell Aubusson 13. Isaac Liu
Interchange: 14. Sio Siua Taukeiaho 15. Sam Moa 16. Ian Henderson 17. Vincent Leuluai 19. Joe Burgess

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South Sydney Rabbitohs v Newcastle KnightsSaturday 12 March 2016, ANZ Stadium
Kickoff 5:30pm

1. Greg Inglis 2. Alex Johnston 3. Bryson Goodwin 4. Hymel Hunt 5. Aaron Gray 6. Cody Walker 7. Luke Keary 8. George Burgess 9. Cameron McInnes 10. David Tyrrell 11. Paul Carter 12. Kyle Turner 13. Sam Burgess
Interchange: 14. Damien Cook 15. Jason Clark 16. Nathan Brown 17. Chris Grevsmuhl 18. Kirisome Auva'a

1. Jaelen Feeney 2. Nathan Ross 3. Dane Gagai 4. Pat Mata'utia 5. Akuila Uate 6. Jarrod Mullen 7. Trent Hodkinson 8. Sam Mataora 9. Tyler Randell 10. Korbin Sims 11. Jacob Saifiti 12. Robbie Rochow 13. Jeremy Smith
Interchange: 14. Danny Levi 15. David Bhana 16. Lachlan Fitzgibbon 17. Daniel Saifiti 18. Sione Mata'utia 21. Kade Snowden

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Parramatta Eels v North Queensland Cowboys
Saturday 12 March 2016, Pirtek Stadium
Kickoff 7:30pm

1. Michael Gordon 2. Semi Radradra 3. Michael Jennings 4. Brad Takairangi 5. Clinton Gutherson 6. Corey Norman 7. Kieran Foran 8. Junior Paulo 9. Nathan Peats 10. Tim Mannah 11. Manu Ma'u 12. Beau Scott 13. Tepai Moeroa
Interchange: 14. Kaysa Pritchard 15. Peni Terepo 16. Danny Wicks 17. Ken Edwards 18. Daniel Alvaro

1. Lachlan Coote 2. Kyle Feldt 3. Justin O'Neill 4. Kane Linnett 5. Antonio Winterstein 6. Michael Morgan 7. Johnathan Thurston 8. Matthew Scott 9. Jake Granville 10. James Tamou 11. Gavin Cooper 12. Ethan Lowe 13. Jason Taumalolo
Interchange: 14. Rory Kostjasyn 15. John Asiata 16. Scott Bolton 17. Ben Hannant

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Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks v St George Illawarra Dragons
Sunday 13 March 2016, Shark Park
Kickoff 4:00pm

1. Ben Barba 2. Sosaia Feki 3. Jack Bird 4. Ricky Leutele 5. Valentine Holmes 6. James Maloney 7. Chad Townsend 8. Andrew Fifita 9. Michael Ennis 10. Sam Tagataese 11. Luke Lewis 12. Wade Graham 13. Jayson Bukuya
Interchange: 14. Gerard Beale 15. Matt Prior 16. David Fifita 17. Joseph Paulo

1. Kurt Mann 2. Euan Aitken 3. Josh Dugan 4. Timoteo Lafai 5. Jason Nightingale 6. Gareth Widdop 7. Benji Marshall 8. Leeson Ah Mau 9. Mitch Rein 10. Russell Packer 11. Tyson Frizell 12. Will Matthews 13. Michael Cooper
Interchange: 14. Ben Creagh 15. Jack de Belin 16. Dunamis Lui 17. Siliva Havili 18. Peter Mata'utia 19. Jake Marketo

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Melbourne Storm v Gold Coast Titans
Sunday 13 March 2016, AAMI Park
Kickoff 6:30pm

1. Billy Slater 2. Young Tonumaipea 3. Will Chambers 4. Cameron Munster 5. Marika Koroibete 6. Blake Green 7. Cooper Cronk 8. Jesse Bromwich 9. Cameron Smith 10. Jordan McLean 11. Kevin Proctor 12. Tohu Harris 13. Dale Finucane
Interchange: 14. Kenneath Bromwich 15. Tim Glasby 16. Felise Kaufusi 17. Christian Welch

1. David Mead 2. Anthony Don 3. Josh Hoffman 4. Nathan Davis 5. John Olive 6. Tyrone Roberts 7. Ashley Taylor 8. David Shillington 9. Nathan Friend 10. Agnatius Paasi 11. Zeb Taia 12. Chris McQueen 13. Greg Bird
Interchange: 14. Eddy Pettybourne 15. Ryan James 16. Leivaha Pulu 17. Daniel Mortimer 18. Luke Douglas 19. William Zillman

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Wests Tigers v Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles
Monday 14 March 2016, Leichhardt Oval
Kickoff 7:00pm

1. James Tedesco 2. David Nofoaluma 3. Tim Simona 4. Kevin Naiqama 5. Jordan Rankin 6. Mitchell Moses 7. Luke Brooks 8. Aaron Woods 9. Dene Halatau 10. Tim Grant 11. Curtis Sironen 12. Chris Lawrence 13. Sauaso Sue
Interchange: 14. Kyle Lovett 15. Josh Aloiai 16. Ava Seumanufagai 17. Manaia Cherrington 18. Michael Chee-Kam

1. Tom Trbojevic 2. Jorge Taufua 3. Jamie Lyon 4. Steve Matai 5. Brayden Wiliame 6. Dylan Walker 7. Daly Cherry-Evans 8. Josh Starling 9. Apisai Koroisau 10. Nate Myles 11. Lewis Brown 12. Martin Taupau 13. Jake Trbojevic
Interchange: 14. Matt Parcell 15. Nathan Green 16. Brenton Lawrence 17. Siosaia Vave

 

[Big Pete]

With only one game left, I thought I'd get in early so people know what to expect from the week ahead.

And yes, I'll be updating the OP. I'm just going to wait until all the teams are named so I can copy/paste instead of entering everything manually (which I did last week...which is why Luke Brooks was 'named' for the Tigers).

 

[Big Pete]

I remember liking the look of Garvey when he was in the Dragons NYC side a few years back. He's a really busy hooker who loves to play around with the markers. He's made some mistakes off the field, but if Hasler can work his magic he could be one of the finds of the season (ala Cook).

Will be interested to see how Holland goes. Didn't really see a lot of him, but from what I heard, he was one of the stars of that Knights NSW Cup side. Newcastle fans are very quick to put all their problems on Wayne, but if Holland holds his own on Thursday it just highlights how poorly the club went after Wayne left.

As expected, Lachlan Croker comes in for Blake Austin. He's still raw, but in broken play he's lethal and can tear teams apart. On the weekend, he brought the Raiders to life with a 90m try after the Panthers had been all over them. I reckon he'll turn some heads this season.

Brown shows some balls early and drops Snowden. Good on ya Nathan, Snowden has been a colossal disappointment since 2012 and his effort on Sunday wasn't good enough.

I'm glad Barrett has tinkered with his prop forwards. Maybe Leary is unlucky to be dropped, but the Sea Eagles were completely dominated in that department and need to show more steel in the middle. I don't know what to make of Taupau as an edge backrow, I don't think he has much of a future in the role but against Wests maybe he'll tear them apart? If Manly lose here, it could be a long season - and after the Tigers performances I wouldn't be surprised to see them cause another upset. As a club, they have a habit of registering a few upset wins to start the season before falling into a heap. Monday night is as good a chance as any to keep that trend going.

Game of the Round? I'm going with Roosters v Raiders - it's going to be really open footy. I'm expecting a big game from Nikorima who didn't really play that badly on Sunday.

 

[Unbreakable]

My upset of the week is the Eels, they played pretty well last week considering they had no Foran & no Norman for 40+ minutes. Wicks adds a bit of punch to their bench, Cowboys are due for an off game, they've had to travel down to Sydney, Eels have had an extra 2 days to rest & prepare in comparison to the Cowboys also.

Eels by 8.

 

[Sproj]

My upset pick - Titans over Storm. Storm were dreadful last week and against a better team would have lost. Am I saying the Titans are a better team than the Dragons, you know what, at this point in the season, I guess I am. Now, watch the Storm rack up a cricket score.

 

[Big Pete]

Anything can happen in Round 2.

I'm playing it relatively safe this weekend and backing all the favourites. So tonight I've got the Bulldogs just being too strong for the Panthers and getting through a fairly comfortable 10 point victory. If both teams were at full-strength, I'd be a little more cautious but with the injuries to Moylan, Whare and Segeyaro it makes life fairly easy.

Also, I kind of seeing a 'teething' narrative forming around the Panthers at the moment. Hook is still coaching Cleary's side at this point in time and I wouldn't be surprised to see them struggle until Hook brings in the players that suit his nononsense style of play.

As for the upset of the round, I'm going with the Tigers to continue their hot start and beat the Manly Sea Eagles at home. While their performance on Saturday felt like a once off with plenty of flukey tries and anxious moments, I thought the Sea Eagles were that poor the other night that in the clutch situations a Tedesco, Woods or Moses could break the game wide-open. Originally I went with the favourites, but there's something off about Manly and the Tigers are one of those sides that generally starts the season well.

 

[mitch222]

My tips this week

Panthers
Broncos
Roosters
Rabbitohs
Eels
Sharks
Storm
Tigers

 

[Bull Shark]

Bryce Cartwright on the bench ... Anthony Griffin ladies and gentlemen

 

[Big Pete]

It appears as if Tyrone Peachey maybe playing in the halves with Wallace in the dummy-half role if the Panthers twitter account is anything to go by.

The big issue with Cartwright is who he's been replaced with. If he had a good defensive edge backrow to help often the Dogs up early I could understand the tactic, but Akauola is a T-Rex wannabe.

 

[Unbreakable]

It appears as if Tyrone Peachey maybe playing in the halves with Wallace in the dummy-half role if the Panthers twitter account is anything to go by.

The big issue with Cartwright is who he's been replaced with. If he had a good defensive edge backrow to help often the Dogs up early I could understand the tactic, but Akauola is a T-Rex wannabe.

Yeah Kent said last night Peachey would be playing Five-Eighth with Wallace playing a fair portion of the game at Hooker.

Dogs SHOULD win this, but you never know, Panthers sometimes pull out miracle performances at home with a lot of troops out.

 

[GCBRONCO]

Much better start from the Panthers then against the Raiders so far.

 

[GCBRONCO]

Nice try to Hiku from a very nice kick from Soward.

 

[GCBRONCO]

Another try sees the Panthers 12-0 12 minutes in

 

[ningnangnong]

Reynolds is such a little turd.

 

[GCBRONCO]

14-6 thanks to Wallace misreading the defence.

 

[Tera]

Listening on Grandstand on my way home from work. Matt Elliot just said that Wallace's service from dummy half looked as good as Cam Smiths... Is he looking that good? Haha.

 

[GCBRONCO]

He seriously said that with a straight face? Average at best.

 

[Harry Sack]

Reynolds is such a little turd.

This. Such a little flog

Panthers looking good so far.