Can the Cowboys win?
THIS week Jason and Glen make some bold and not so bold NRL predictions.
Jason Gibbs: I’M throwing down two massive markers straight away.
Cameron Smith will the Daly M again and the North Queensland Cowboys will go one better to win the title this time round.
With no Origin burden weighing him down, I think Johnathan Thurston will have the biggest season of his career this year and that will be the difference for the Cowboys.
There I said it – and dear God please don’t Craig Bellamy and co read this – I love the Storm but I’m not sure we will get over the line this year.
Led by a determined Smith, I believe the Storm will give it a red hot shot but I don’t know if Cameron Munster will be consistent enough to be the third prong in the “Big Three Trident” and Brodie Croft needs a good season under his belt.
My smokies for a top four berth and the title are the Dragons. They lost a few in the off-season but bringing in James Graham and Ben Hunt is a sizeable plus for the Red V.
Further down the table – as far down as you can go in fact – I’m not expecting much from the Newcastle Knights.
They’ve made some great signings but is Kayln Ponga really that good? And can Mitchell Pearce turn his and the Knights fortunes around at the same time? They’ll pick up a few more wins but not enough.
And finally, I’m expecting this year will be the one Gus Gould gets put in his place.
Even one-eyed Blues supporters can’t stand the guy and I believe this year will see one of his fellow commentators “call him out” during Origin.
Glen McCullough: ANY long-term Saturday Soapbox reader would be aware of my “don’t really care” approach to the NRL these days.
Can’t tell you why. It just happened.
That doesn’t mean I don’t maintain a passing interest in what goes on.
I’m not going to try and kid myself or you that I’m up with the competition well enough to be offering tips and opinions as Gibbo has bravely done.
I gave away footy tipping competitions years ago with good reason.
It had got to the stage where my suspect Clifford Park horse tips were more reliable than my two-horse football game stabs.
Take Thursday night for example.
My tip would have been Brisbane as an absolute certainty.
What happened? They were flogged.
Two years ago I was on the Storm to win the comp when they went down to Cronulla in the grand final and last season I dropped off them.
Astute people are saying it’s too hard to win the comp two years in a row, but why can’t Melbourne do it again?
They are the competition benchmark handled by the NRL’s best coach. They’ll do me.
The Cowboys remain the best tip amongst the coat tuggers and surely the Broncs are heaps better than that.