The 2024 NRL season is tight, with plenty of players injured or in and out of form, as clubs look to make their runs through the Origin period, tipping a perfect round is nearly impossible, so each week we'll give you some extra help with three standout games.
The sure thing
Melbourne Storm vs. Newcastle Knights, AAMI Park, Sunday June 9, 2pm (AEST)
The run of outs for the "sure thing" continued last week with the Roosters being upset by the Cowboys. It was part of an Origin-tainted round that was an absolute nightmare for tippers. This round doesn't look to be any easier, with Origin recovery playing a major part in a lot of these games.
Melbourne last played two weeks ago when they were well beaten by the Sea Eagles at Brookvale. The Knights had all the advantages last week at home, but put in one of their worst displays in living memory against the Bulldogs. The Knights can surely not play that badly again, and will travel to Melbourne determined to stay in touch with the Top 8. The Storm rarely lose consecutive games and they will have spent the bye week working on all the little things that let them down against Manly.
The Storm will have a couple of players backing up from Origin, whilst the Knights will only be carrying the bruises of that Bulldogs defeat. At home the Storm really should bounce back strongly from the loss to Manly.
Round 14 sure thing: Storm
The toss of the coin
The Cowboys named some youngsters last week to replace their Origin players and they really delivered in upsetting the Roosters. The Cowboys have been drifting in and out of games all year, but it seemed it was the injection of youthful enthusiasm that enabled them to defend their line without breach in the second half. It will be interesting how many Origin players will back up for this one, especially considering the improved performance achieved without them.
The Warriors look to have things back on track, after beating the Panthers and Dolphins before having a rest last week. They will be very keen to continue their climb up the ladder back to the Top 8 position many people assumed they would comfortably nail down this year. This game really could go either way, with the Cowboys possibly in the best position to win at home, on the back of the confidence boost they received in beating the Roosters.
Toss of the coin game winner: Cowboys
The roughie
Canterbury Bankstown Bulldogs vs. Parramatta Eels, Accor Stadium, Monday June 10, 4pm (AEST)
This might be a bit cheeky, but according to the bookies the Eels are the favourites for this one, making the Bulldogs the roughies. The Eels bounced back to crush the Sharks last week, with returning star halfback Mitchell Moses having a blinder. The Bulldogs travelled to Newcastle without three of their best players and proceeded to destroy the disappointing Knights.
Both teams will be pumped up with a lot of confidence from their last start victories, but the Bulldogs have been building nicely to this point, while the Eels relied completely on the return of Moses and Clint Gutherson to find their missing mojo. Will that form hold up against one of the best defences in the NRL? If the Bulldogs can shut down and frustrate the Eels backline, they might have enough points in them to irk out another victory at Accor Stadium where they are unbeaten across four starts this year as the home team.
Round 14 roughie: Bulldogs
Click here for a full guide to Round 14 of the 2024 NRL season