Stilesy’s Late Mail – Round 2

Round one tossed up a few last minute curveballs such as the late Pangai omission, the benching of Luki and the “where actually is he playing?” madness of Taumalolo. Come to think of it, two of those can be directly attributed to Peyton. Go figure.

Round two appears reasonably straight forward on the surface, which means I’m expecting absolute chaos as the weekend progresses. Fingers crossed for us though with so many covid and injury hits this round that we don’t have any other complications to navigate.

As always I’ll be tweeting out the rest of the mail @AStilesAuthor across the weekend but PSA: I’ll be at a buck’s day from 1pm Saturday so things could get a bit dicey.

DRAGONS V PANTHERS, FRIDAY 5:00PM AEST/6:00PM AEDT

DRAGONS: There’s a good chance that Tariq Sims starts in this one according to Michael Chammas. He’s predicting De Belin will be benched with Sims starting at lock, however I could also see him moving to the edge with Su’A benched. In either scenario, it’s likely Jack Gosiewski or George Burgess make way to accommodate. Zac Lomax was taken off last week for a HIA but he is good to go. Jackson Ford, Daniel Alvaro, Poasa Faamausili, Tautau Moga and Jaiyden Hunt all dropped out at first cut with Sims and Mathew Feagai remaining.

PANTHERS: Nothing noteworthy happening in Penrith, should be 1-17. Robert Jennings, Taylan May, Lindsay Smith, Soni Luke and Kurt Falls were the first cut with J’maine Hopgood and Chris Smith remaining.

ROOSTERS V SEA EAGLES, FRIDAY 7:05PM AEST/8:05PM AEDT

ROOSTERS: Billy Smith owners were waiting for his HIA clearance with baited breath but he’s survived first cut and looks like he’ll be fine, along with Victor Radley. Lachlan Lam, Naufahu Whyte, Adam Keighran, Renouf Atoni and Ben Marshke were the first players cut with Kevin Naiqama and Daniel Suluka-Fifita remaining.

SEA EAGLES: Karl Lawton was the main player in doubt with an HIA of his own last round but he too has survived first cut. Morgan Boyle, Jorge Taufua, Alec Tuitavake, Christian Tiupulotu and James Roumanos dropped out Thursday night with Andrew Davey and Tolutau Koula still in the squad.

TITANS V WARRIORS, SATURDAY 2:00PM AEST/3:00PM AEDT

TITANS: Jayden Campbell and Erin Clark were both in some doubt but were spotted training with the main squad by Dominique Loudon so I suspect they are good to go, as is AJ Brimson who missed out last week. Therefore, they appear to be 1-17 pending nobody pulling up sore from captain’s run. Ese’Ese, Marsters, McIntyre, Turner and Sosefo Fifita were the first players cut.

WARRIORS: The Warriors similarly look 1-17. Murdoch-Masila, Murchie, Petterson-Robati, Otukolo and Ratuva were the first players cut.

SHARKS V EELS, SATURDAY 4:30PM AEST/5:30PM AEDT

SHARKS: Cam McInnes is the big talking point here having been named on the extended bench, along with Connor Tracey. Tracey was always expected to play at centre with Ikuvalu the cover man so I assume his return would push Iku out and Multitalo back to his natural wing position, however my gut is telling me they’ll put McInnes on ice for another week given his history.

EELS: Can’t see any changes here even with Nathan Brown on the bench, given his injury history and lack of kilometres in his legs.

COWBOYS V RAIDERS, SATURDAY 6:35PM AEST/7:35PM AEDT

COWBOYS: There were pack changes galore last week which makes it very hard for me to trust that the forwards run out as named, but what those shifts could be are anyone’s guess. Reuben Cotter missed out last week with a hamstring concern and could be a late inclusion.

RAIDERS: I haven’t seen much news out of Canberra so assuming another 1-17 here.

KNIGHTS V TIGERS, SUNDAY 3:05PM AEST/4:05AEDT

KNIGHTS: My weekly scan of Barry Toohey’s Twitter feed tells me that Daniel Saifiti is some hope of playing this round, but far from locked in. “Definitely can’t play if not named in the 24 so why not throw him in just in case” is the exact quote so I wouldn’t be surprised if he misses out this week. Jirah Momoisea is in the hotseat if Dan returns since Leo Thompson seemed favoured last week, but that may be a good thing for owners like me who don’t want to cop another potential AE score of 5.

TIGERS: Luke Brooks is dealing with a leg issue according to NRL Physio which means Jackson Hastings likely gain kicking duties this week. No actual team changes are expected though.

BULLDOGS V BRONCOS, SUNDAY 5:15PM AEST/6:15PM AEDT

BULLDOGS: My steak bet with Lakey was nearly over in the first few minutes last week with Hetherington sin-binned, though unfortunately the wager was a suspension so things are still alive with TPJ likely to play this week after being a late omission last round with a hamstring issue. It felt like they lost half their team last week through HIA’s but the longer turnaround should help here for the likes of Marshall-King, Naden, Burns and Patolo. I’ll keep an eye out for captain’s run info.

BRONCOS: The covid cavalry is back this round so the Broncos should run out as is.