A full weekend of games in the NRL and the drama from last Wednesday night’s Origin continued.
We had our first draw of the season, teams giving us cause for concern and some arresting form slumps and off the park Garth Brennan was sacked by the Titans.
As is always the case every Monday we have looked through the numbers and broken down the facts and figures to see what we can takeaway with the 5 Lessons Learned from NRL Round 17
1 – A Titanic Turnaround?
Finals are all but mathematically beyond the Gold Coast Titans in 2019, but with the departure of coach Garth Brennan on Sunday, you have to wonder what is on the cards for their remaining few games.
There’s the old theory about the players picking up their game after a coach gets shown the door and let’s be honest, they can’t be much more dire than they were against the Panthers.
Problem for them is their first chance to show things are different comes against the Melbourne Storm…
If you want to buy into that theory, backing the Titans for a win might be a bit optimistic but with the line likely to be in the double digits, you could always back the Titans to cover and keep the game close.
Considering the Storm are 1-3 against the spread when favoured by 10 or more points, it’s not the worst bet if you’re expecting some sort of rebound.
2 – Swings and Roundabouts
Crisis averted at the Rabbitohs (for now anyway) as they ended their losing streak with a one point win over Manly on Saturday.
It was the second time this season these two wound up separated by just a field goal after Manly won their Round 4 clash 13-12.
Which of course begs the question, what will happen if these sides face off again this season?
You would surely have to expect another tight clash and the intensity will be ramped up 10-fold considering it would be in a sudden death win or go home clash.
Of course before we worry about that, the sides both have to navigate a tricky run home including a Rabbitohs trip to Townsville next weekend.
Manly on the other hand will host a Parramatta side that has to be flying after a huge win over the Tigers.
3 – Broncos & Warriors Share the Spoils
If you thought you had seen it all this season going into the Saturday evening game you were in for a treat as the Broncos and Warriors played out the first NRL draw since 2016.
Back then, the Titans and Sharks couldn’t be split after 90 minutes and had to share the points after finishing the game locked at 18-18.
It looked like the Warriors would run away with the game early after flying to a 16-6 lead before a Broncos rally gave them a lead late in the second half.
Issac Luke sent the game to extra time with a 76th minute penalty goal and after both sides missed three field goal attempts they took home a point each.
You’d be hard pressed turning betting on the draw into a winning play considering most games will have it sitting somewhere in the $21 range in the Ladbrokes Winning Margin market.
Of course if you took the Warriors at the line, you’d have been happy taking the victory.
Anyway for both of these sides they will look at it as a point dropped as they try and chase down the Panthers in the race for a finals berth.
4 – Milestone Men Have Their Moments
It was a weekend of milestones across the NRL with some of the game’s greats reaching some impressive game tallies.
The Storm honoured Cameron Smith playing his 400th NRL match and marked his night with a huge win over the Sharks.
Following that, the Cowboys pulled off a huge upset in Gavin Cooper’s 300th game, knocking off the Roosters in Gosford in one of the most dramatic finishes of the weekend.
It wasn’t all smooth sailing for the milestone men though, with the Tigers falling to the Eels in Benji Marshall’s 300th game, but the post game haka by Marshall’s family members perhaps was the best visual of the season so far.
5 – Roosters v Knights Saturday Special
Now on to the biggest game of the coming weekend and without a doubt, it is the Roosters taking on the Knights on Saturday afternoon at the SCG.
As a home favourite the Roosters have gone 5-2 head to head and 4-3 against the spread and will no doubt be looking to bounce back from a very disappointing outcome against the Cowboys.
The Knights on the other hand have been one of the stronger performing teams away from home this season, going 4-3 head to head and against the spread to this point.
Add in the fact that the Knights have already knocked off the Roosters once this season, a 38-12 back in Round 11 and they have to fancy their chances of doing it again.