wdnicolson.com: NRL Round 17 Tips from The Postman

The Postman's Tips for Round 17, 2020.

Published September 2, 2020
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Well reality hit like a freight train in Round 16 - with the Bunnies obliterating Parramatta's false sense of premiership contenderness on Thursday night, and then the Titans ending St George-Illawarra's season (well it was pretty much over before hand but is officially now) with an upset on Friday night. So a lot of us - myself included - were 0/2 to start the Round and although the Chooks ripped Brisbane apart for the second time this year - it was then the Warriors turn to upset the Knights and leave me (and mostly everyone else) 1/4 halfway through.

Normal tipping service resumed the rest of the weekend to get to 5/8 but it is the first time since Round 10 I've dropped 3 games in a Round - you can't complain about that.

So 5/8 means that the success rate has dropped from 70% last week a shade under at 69.5% - not horrible though so stick with me the rest of the way.

Round 16 Results:

Rabbitohs 38 Eels 0 - Incorrect
Titans 14 Dragons 10 - Incorrect
Roosters 58 Broncos 12 - Correct
Warriors 36 Knights 6 - Incorrect
Sharks 28 Cowboys 12 - Correct
Panthers 30 Tigers 6 - Correct
Storm 30 Sea Eagles 6 - Correct
Raiders 34 Bulldogs 20 - Correct
2020 TIPPING STATS: 85/128 at 69.5%

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Round 17 Tips:

Thursday
Panthers over Broncos

This really could be as big a bloodbath as what the Roosters executed last week. Penrith aren't showing any signs of slowing down and aren't resting anyone they don't have to - so take the Panthers 30+ realistically. Brisbane are a basket case as a whole and their players can't wait for the season to end.

Friday
Knights over Sharks

Newcastle don't give you a good reason for you to give them the benefit of the doubt after last week's capitulation against the Warriors but the Sharks didn't set the world on fire in beating the woeful Cowboys. This is in Newcastle and Ponga/Pearce/Klemmer are fit... and Shaun Johnson isn't. Knights in a close one.

Storm over Rabbitohs

Harsh to pick against the Bunnies after they demoralised Parra last Thursday (and they get 2 full extra days rest over Melbourne - who are on the road) but Smith, Munster and Papenhuyzen look like they are primed to take a good enough Melbourne pack to the end of the year without giving up that 2nd spot on the ladder and a Brisbane 'home' semi. Souths also just lost Latrell for the year so that will hurt... the key for the Rabbitohs is their halves imposing themselves on the contest so Cook has some room to move around the ruck - Melbourne are really good but they aren't infallible. Storm just.

Saturday
Titans over Bulldogs

Have given Canterbury too many games on 'trust' against similarly bad opponents this season and got burned... so the Gold Coast (who are playing ok footy since AJ Brimson has returned) will get my tip here even though the Dogs show glimpses for periods - they have just fallen over when the blowtorch is applied time after time despite being well and truly in a few games.

Sea Eagles over Tigers

Harder to pick than a broken nose... come back on Saturday and double check if I'm still on Manly. The Tigers just decided to punt Benji Marshall for 2021 via press release so I'm expecting a massive game from the Benj to show them just how ridiculous it is that they invested in Josh Reynolds, Moses Mbye and Russell Packer for 2021 instead. Manly... maybe.

Roosters over Raiders

The last time theses two met it was a cracking Grand Final rematch... Canberra need to be more expansive with the ball in the first half to beat the Chooks though - the conservative opening halves have worn down bad opposition but Easts are certainly not that. Taking the Roosters as they can pretty much relegate Canberra to the bottom half of the Top 8 if they win this one.

Sunday
Eels over Warriors

Parra are really really really hard to tip after last week... and the Warriors showed you plenty of reasons to hope after crushing Newcastle. But... the Eels have a Top 4 spot to lose a firm grip on if they falter here and both Canberra and Souths win this week and the embarrassment of last week has to sting them into action on the Central Coast on Sunday.

Dragons over Cowboys

Saints were atrociously complacent last week when they rolled over for the Titans at Kogarah and as they confine the Cowboys to yet another loss the playing group will be looking at the ladder after Cronulla lose to Newcastle and think to themselves... yeah we might've wanted to win our two gimmies back to back against the Titans and Cowboys and we'd have been only two points out of the Top 8 with 3 games to play. Saints I guess...

2020 Tipping Record: 89/128 @ 69.5%

Round 01: 4/8
Round 02: 4/8
Round 03: 7/8
Round 04: 5/8
Round 05: 5/8
Round 06: 6/8
Round 07: 5/8
Round 08: 6/8
Round 09: 5/8
Round 10: 5/8
Round 11: 6/8
Round 12: 6/8
Round 13: 7/8
Round 14: 6/8
Round 15: 7/8
Round 16: 5/8
Round 17: tbd

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