And then there were 8.  The Dragons, Doggies, Titans, Storm, Sea Eagles, Broncos, Knights and Eels.  Unfortunately the press will now have to focus on the antics on the field but at least we had one last hoo-har with Jason Taylor going head to head with David Fa'alogo and coming off like most former half backs would against a big forward – poorly.  To add more salt to the bruised ego and concussion, he has been given a show cause notice by the Bunnies Mgt – Poor bugger, the bunnies only missed the finals by a win. Anyway, it shows how good I am at picking the off field dramas, I was sure it would have been the Roosters making the tabloids this week …

Anyway, that gets us to the finals.  NRL had a great finals set up with the old final 5.  Unfortunately they replayed that with possibly the most confusing finals structure known to man.  I’d try and explain it to you but I don’t understand it other than that is somehow involves using the number of spanners in a sidchrome tool set to work out who plays next week.

Storm v Sea Eagles

Storm at home and fully fit should terrify just about any team but I don’t think it does Manly.  Both sides had good wins last week – the Storm smashed the Warriors and the Sea Eagles did the same against the Titans.  Of the two, I think the Sea Eagles was the most complete performance and against better team (and that was without Jamie Lyon).  The Bookies can’t split them but I am tipping the Sea Eagles to win this.  That could be all heart but I think there is still improvement in the eagles. To state the obvious, Inglis is the wild card – if he fires, the Storm will take this one but I reckon Dessie will have a plan for him (if you don’t Dessie, here’s a tip: get the boys to tackle him around the legs).

Titans v Broncos

Just to spoil the rest of the tips, the only team I’ve picked to win away from home is the Sea Eagles; that means my tip here is the Titans.  Sure, they were smashed last week but the Eagles were on fire and the Titans didn’t have anything to play for.  Bailey should be back at full strength and Rogers is OK to play so the Titans are pretty much at full strength.  So are the Broncos but they were last week as well and only beat the Raiders 22-10.  Titans at home are formidable and these two teams are 3 each in their battles so far.  Unless Locky and Hodges really lift, I can’t see the Broncos getting up.  The only bonus from this is I reckon the two lower teams will lose as well so the Broncos will stay alive.

Bulldogs v Knights

The Doggies are going to miss Kimmorley and they did last week against the Tigers but don’t write them off; they have to see Hazem off in style.  While the Knights win over the Panthers was impressive on the scoreline, the Panthers were woeful and the knights weren’t that convincing.  If the Doggies defend well and avoid the errors like they have been doing all season, they’ll win this.  The Knights are too ill disciplined to go any further. They will have their mad Monday on Sunday.

Dragons v Eels

1 v 8.  Last year saw the Warriors upset the Storm. That was the exception that proves the rule – 8 won’t beat 1 for about 10 years I reckon. The Eels have been playing well but last week showed that the Dragons have their measure.  The addition of Hindmarsh and Grothe won’t help the Eels.  Sure Hindmarsh will make a shit load of tackles but Growth will do something stupid to counter all that good work.  I don’t think the Dragons will win as convincingly as last Friday but they will win and get a week off.  The eels will get a couple of months to think about how to play the first half of the season a little better.

GO MANLY