I was doing Previews and Reviews of the State of Origin Series this year but it was such a crazy week last week that I didn’t cover the 3rd game and deciding match. NSW won in an upset to take the series 2-1 and while it was a good game to watch, many have already forgotten about it. What’s important for Rugby League fans in Australia is the final stretch of the NRL Season which now begins.…
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State of Origin wreaks havoc on the NRL Season every year. The best players get taken out of their club teams and beaten to a pulp during origin. Injuries and Fatigue are always big factors that the clubs need to deal with and every year there is at least 1 or 2 teams which get devastated during what we call “The Origin Period” which usually includes a Hangover that lasts another week or two after the final game.
This year it was the Cronulla Sharks who won 9 out of 10 games to start the year and then lost 6 in a row once origin started. Similarly last years Grand Finalists the Brisbane Broncos lost 10 games in a row over the origin period and despite being a club full of talented origin players they have been so badly decimated on the ladder that they may not even make the Top 8 this year.
So what I do around this time every year is have a fresh look at which teams have got both a reasonable ladder position AND a relatively healthy roster going into the home stretch – the last 7 games of the regular season. A team with a good ladder position only needs to put on a winning streak at this time of year to have a real shot at the title and I have a decent record of picking out the serious contenders during early August.
The Manly Sea Eagles look like they might be capable of putting some consistently good form together and their roster is in good shape. They are currently 5th so are a potential Dark Horse that I'll keep an eye on. I still like the Cronulla Sharks because they are running 3rd and they’ve just broken their losing streak but they’ll need to start getting their winning mojo back consistently so the next couple of weeks are going to be crucial for them.