Round 15 – Suds Saturday Previews
Overview
Three games take place on Suds Saturday this week. Three games means six teams. The Raiders, Cowboys, Titans, Warriors, Dogs and Panthers all go head to head in a whopper of a Saturday. Let us be clear, they are not all going head to head against each other, although introducing a royal rumble type day of footy probably wouldn’t be booed by the fans. Perhaps something the NRL can think about in the future.
Can the Cowboys make it 11 in a row? In the cold of Canberra they might struggle. Can the Warriors get their season back on the right path, or will the Titans continue their surprising run? Finally, the Dogs and Panthers…two teams that have been up and down more than a cheap hooker on a Monday night face off in what should be a fizzer of an affair.
Players to watch
Blake Austin – After a week off, Austin will come back refreshed and ready for another double. He has nine tries in 13 appearances thus far and they all seem to come in multiples of two or more. Look for the new home-town hero to single handily destroy the Cowboys winning run.
Dave Taylor – He is being given a shot at redemption. In this fixture last year he score three tries in the first half. Will he step up and beat the Warriors into a pulp, or will he just be making up the numbers like he has been all season?
Curtis Rona – The Bulldogs winger has flown under the radar and somehow registered 15 tries already this season with no fanfare. If he can keep his try-scoring feats up, he could go on to average more than one a game. Not a bad feat for a team who can’t decide if they want in or out of the eight.
Results and score predictions
Will the Cowboys continue their run? No – they are used to the warm humid temperature up there in the tropics. Heading to Canberra on a cold winters day will be their undoing. The battle hardened Raiders will do a number on the Cows and announce their presence as giant killers in the cold. Raiders by 12.
The Titans and Warriors have been on similar paths this year. Win, loss, win, win, loss, loss – very very annoying if you are a fan. The Titans should win this at home, but the Warriors are a team that can do anything. Rock paper scissors. Warriors by 14.
Like we said before, these guys (Panthers and Dogs) can’t seem to decide if they want in or out. If you ask Ivan Cleary, he’d likely say “oh yeah, we’ll just go out there and see what happens” whereas Dessy would be likely to spray you out for asking the question after which he might throw a chair or door at you. Everybody loves a good blow up – Panthers by 6.
The coach most likely to lose it
Two of the four coaches taking part in Suds Saturday are no chance of a blow up. In fact Cleary and Cappy McFadden are more likely to smile and wave for the cameras, even if their teams lost by 50. No, actually Cleary doesn’t smile, even if they win by 50 so forget that.
The other four coaches though, Rick, Paul, Neil and Des are all good for a spat, but the question is, who is going to deliver the best one? Favourites are Rick and Des given their history. Given we picked Rick to get the win, look to the changing rooms for another door to be thrown across the room at the Dogs players.
Most likely to be a late scratching
The way Boyd Cordner laid JT out on Wednesday night, gives us the thoughts the tough competitor might just be rested this weekend. Another Origin casualty could be Ryan Hoffman. With more concussions than games played recently, Cappy might just find a spot for him on the bench this week. Both the Panthers and Dogs should be 1 – 17, but the Panthers haven’t had much luck with injuries this year, so don’t be surprised to see someone of importance go down in warm-ups.