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Knights tipped to sign Luke

September 18, 2018, 2:30 pm By Joel Leave a Comment

Hooker Issac Luke has been arguably the Warriors’ best player in 2018, but unfortunately, that doesn’t mean he’s certain to remain in Auckland.

According to the New Zealand Herald, the Warriors have had an offer on the table for Luke for months, however the Kiwi star has chosen to test his value on the open market, with the Knights now considered the favourites for his signature.

Signing Luke would complete the Knights’ collection of recent Kiwi hookers, with club already having Danny Levi and Slade Griffin on their books. Presumably the signing of Luke would bring the future of at least one of that pair into question.

Luke has played 254 first grade games for the Warriors and Rabbitohs, and 42 Tests for New Zealand.

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Filed Under: NRL News and Rumours Tagged With: Isaac Luke, New Zealand Warriors News, Newcastle Knights News

Cleary expected to stay at Penrith

September 17, 2018, 11:54 pm By Joel Leave a Comment

Expect the Ivan Cleary rumours to kick into gear again soon.

According to Panthers boss Phil Gould on 100% Footy, the Panthers are expecting to get star halfback Nathan Cleary re-signed “soon“.

Re-signing Cleary would put an immediate end to speculation linking him with a move to the Tigers, but would likely re-ignite rumours linking his father, Ivan, to a return to the foot of the mountains.

Cleary has played 57 first grade games for the Panthers, and 3 Origins for New South Wales.

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Filed Under: NRL News and Rumours Tagged With: Nathan Cleary, Penrith Panthers News

The Weekend Wrap: 16/9/18

September 16, 2018, 9:01 pm By Joel Leave a Comment

Scans have revealed that Sharks skipper Paul Gallen suffered damage to shoulder ligaments during the win over the Panthers, however his status for the preliminary final remains unclear.

Sharks coach Shane Flanagan is set to be rewarded for another deep finals run, with the club close to agreeing to a two or three-year extension.

With the Panthers’ season now over, contract talks are set to begin with star halfback Nathan Cleary, who said that “in the next week or so I’ll start talks and hopefully get it wrapped up”.

The Tigers will have a new home in 2019, after the club announced that they’ll be moving the four games previously played at ANZ Stadium across to the new Western Sydney Stadium in Parramatta.

Former Roosters CEO Brian Canavan is set to be the latest high-profile recruit to the Knights, who are set to appoint him as the club’s Director of Football.

He could be joined in Newcastle by Warriors halfback Mason Lino, who the Knights have reportedly offered a two-year deal.

The Eels won’t be offering former Test star Tony Williams a new deal, following a reported positive test for an illicit substance.

Finally, plans are in place for Tonga to play a match against New Zealand Maori in Rotorua, in preparation for their historic clash with the Kangaroos the following week.

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Filed Under: NRL News and Rumours Tagged With: Brian Canavan, Mason Lino, Nathan Cleary, Paul Gallen, Shane Flanagan, Tony Williams

Smith signs on with Storm for 2019

September 14, 2018, 10:44 pm By Joel Leave a Comment

As expected, Storm skipper Cameron Smith will be going around again next season, after signing a one-year extension to remain in Melbourne.

According to The Daily Telegraph, Smith’s new deal will be worth around $1 million.

Smith has played 382 first grade games for the Storm, 42 Origins for Queensland, and 56 Tests for Australia.

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Filed Under: NRL News and Rumours Tagged With: Cameron Smith, Melbourne Storm News

NRL Tips and Previews: Finals Week Two 2018

September 14, 2018, 5:34 pm By Joel Leave a Comment

2018 Season Results:

Head-to-Head Tipping: 115/196 (59%)

Line Betting: 40/86 (47%)

2017 Season Results:

Head-to-Head Tipping: 66%

Line Betting: 55%

(NOTE: If this is your first visit to the site, be sure to click here for an explanation of what we’re all about. Then, be sure to sign up at the bottom of the page to get betting tips sent straight to your inbox!)

NRL Finals Week 2 Tips and Previews

Sharks v Panthers

Offense VOA: Sharks 4.71% (8th), Panthers 4.81% (7th)

Defense VOA: Sharks -12.65% (4th), Panthers 0.77% (9th)

First up, the Sharks were a little unlucky to lose last weekend against the Roosters. If Luke Lewis doesn’t spill the ball inches above the ground (or if they don’t butcher any of their other plentiful scoring opportunities), they’re likely enjoying a week off right now. However, they did lose, and now that they’re here, it’s actually not a slam dunk that they’re going to roll past the Panthers.

We realise that the Sharks won both their meetings during the regular season (and all their meetings since 2016), however it’d be revisionist history to suggest that Cronulla were comfortable victors in either of those matches. In Round 7, the Sharks got home 26-22, but scored the same number of tries; winning the game through penalty goals. In the return clash the score looked more favourable (24-12), but hid how well Penrith actually played. On that particular night, the Panthers made more line breaks, more tackle breaks, more offloads and more run metres. In fact, about the only thing they didn’t do was score more tries. This, despite being mired in an otherwise bog average two-month form slump.

So, despite what you may have thought about Cronulla’s impressive form line against the Panthers, it’s nowhere near as lop-sided as it looks. Which is important, because the team Penrith will be trotting out at Allianz Stadium will be vastly better than either of the Penrith sides who lost to Cronulla during the season. Returning from their Round 7 loss are representative stars: Josh Mansour, Dallin Watene-Zeleznaik and Nathan Cleary. From the Round 18 loss, Penrith will be adding: Mansour, Watene-Zelezniak, Cleary, Tyrone Peachey, James Maloney and Reagan Campbell-Gillard. That’s an enormous influx of talent to a team that was statistically superior as recently as two months ago.

But perhaps more concerning to Shane Flanagan than the long list of “ins” for Penrith, is the short list of “outs” for Cronulla – specifically, Wade Graham (Josh Dugan is out too, but it’s debatable whether or not they’re any worse with Jesse Ramien in his place). Though the Sharks have done well to win games in his numerous absences this year (including the Round 7 win over Penrith), it’s indisputable that Cronulla’s offense is markedly better when he’s present. Graham ranks second on his team for line break assists with 11, and unsurprisingly, the team’s attacking output slumps when he’s unavailable: with Graham, they possess the 2nd best LBVOA in the NRL, with 18.54%; without him, that drops to a depressing -9.27% (13th). The difference is night and day.

We make all these points, not to argue that we think Penrith are significantly better – we don’t. While the Sharks’ LBVOA without Graham is poor, the Panthers’ over the past month has been an appalling -40.42%. They’re only two weeks removed from a three-week stretch of double-digit errors, and while they defended brilliantly the past two weeks, they’re certainly prone to the odd bed-wetting. Penrith aren’t great.

But they mightn’t need to be. It’s likely that Penrith won’t be required to put another 9 line breaks on Cronulla to win this game – depending on how many opportunities they convert, 4 might be enough to keep it close, and we think that’s within reach (after all, the Panthers hit that mark in both their two prior meetings). And if it is close with the clock winding down, who would you rather pin your hopes on: James Maloney and Nathan Cleary, or Matt Moylan and Chad Townsend. The answer is subjective, but we’ll roll with the New South Wales halves.

Our tip: Panthers

[Read more…]

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Top 5 NRL Offense VOA

South Sydney35.51%
Brisbane20.57%
Canberra19.15%
Sydney11.18%
Melbourne7.91%

Top 5 NRL Defense VOA

Sydney-44.17%
Melbourne-30.92%
South Sydney-16.46%
Cronulla-13.25%
Brisbane-8.62%
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