North Queensland Cowboys vs Melbourne Storm @1300SMILES Stadium, Friday 7:50pm

Stat Fact: Dating back to last season North Queensland have won nine of their past twelve games at home.

Big Talking Point: Earlier in the season Cooper Cronk announced that he would be leaving Melbourne at the end of the season. Then fairly recently he said that he still hadn’t decided as to what club he was going to go to. This has led to some immense speculation that he could in fact be staying at Melbourne beyond this season. Cronk is the ultimate professional and no matter what speculation is swirling around him he will always play well. But how the speculation as a whole affects his teammates in the run home is still to be seen.

What Will Happen: North Queensland recently have gained applause from around the Rugby League world for the way in which they’ve been able to win games without Johnathan Thurston. They have been gutsy and resilient. They will show those qualities again in what should be a close game on Friday night.

What Won’t Happen: What is expected to happen. Melbourne are well on their way to winning the Minor Premiership and Premiership. They are heavy favourites to win this game but that won’t stop North Queensland from taking another scalp.

Our Tip: North Queensland by six.

 

Newcastle Knights vs New Zealand Warriors @McDonald Jones Stadium, Saturday 3:00pm

Stat Fact: Despite only playing eleven games this season, Jamie Buhrer has made an astonishing 396 tackles.

Big Talking Point: Quite often NRL players are in the headlines for the wrong reasons but recently Newcastle halve Trent Hodkinson has been in them for all the right ones. Recently he took a terminally-ill girl to her formal in what would have been a night to remember for her. Then despite bouncing back and forth between Reserve Grade and the NRL recently he didn’t sulk or wine about it and stepped up big last round to kick the match sealing field goal that gave Newcastle a win for the ages (or at least in the context of their season).

What Will Happen: Shaun Kenny-Dowall has played pretty damn well since his recent debut for Newcastle. The former Sydney outcast has clearly found a new lease of life up in the Hunter and that form should continue on into Saturdays game.

What Won’t Happen: The pressure of Newcastle coach Nathan Brown going away. As always when your coaching a side that’s not winning their will always be speculation about their future. But as far as losing teams go his done pretty well considering the situation he and his team are in at the moment. Another win will go a long way to helping him.

Our Tip: Newcastle by one.