NRL Round 13 Tips: An early Spoon Bowl and Origin backups decisive

Origin might have intervened, but the NRL stops for nobody.

That’s a little bit of the problem this weekend: previewing the round after Origin is always a nightmare, with no clear idea who might back up following the big game in Brisbane next week.

Latrell Mitchell is the most obvious casualty, with a knee injury sustained on Wednesday likely to rule him out. 

We’re still waiting on Payne Haas, who is named for the Broncos despite a pre-Origin issue. Brisbane might rest him anyway, as they go to Manly, who didn’t need Origin to stop both Jake and Tom Trbojevic playing.

That’s just some of the unknowns. Here’s what we do know.

Roosters v Canberra

The best comes last this weekend, not just because the players have had the longest to rest, but also because of the match-up.

Canberra are flying high at the top and picked up a statement win in Auckland last time out. They’re also pretty free of Origin issues, as only Hudson Young featured, and his involvement was a late cameo off the bench.

The Roosters, however, will be a tough opponent. They’re also sky high on confidence after smashing the Sharks last weekend, and bring back some of their best. 

The Raiders have won on their only two visits to the new Sydney Football Stadium – and you’d be brave to back against them making it a hat trick.

Tip: Raiders

Cowboys v Tigers

This fixture, while not a derby, has been one of the most entertaining in the NRL in recent times.

Perhaps the funniest moment of the Tigers banter years is the 2023 game in Townsville where they copped the worst Bunker call of all time to turn an epic underdog story into a crushing loss.

Maybe even more symbolic of the struggles was 2024, where they seemed to have sorted it all out, defeating the Cowboys by a record score at Leichhardt, only to concede 74 unanswered points to exactly the same opponent less than two months later.

The 2025 edition will be without Lachlan Galvin, who finalised a move to Canterbury in the week, but with a Origin-free contingent, fully rested after last week’s bye.

North Queensland had a few rep involvements but are at home. They should win – but in this fixture, should means nothing.

Tip: Cowboys

Manly v Brisbane

It’s not quite El Crapico – more on which later – so let’s go for the Old Fart Derby, where Daly Cherry-Evans and Adam Reynolds (combined age: very old) will don the halfback jerseys at Brookvale Oval.

DCE is backing up from Origin, but a much bigger problem for Manly is his halves partner Luke Brooks, who has barely been present in weeks. 

Actually absent are the two major Trbojevics, both injured, necessitating a move of Lehi Hopoate to fullback and the continuance of Jazz Tevaga at 13,  meaning Manly will field three hookers.

Brisbane are also reshuffling their fullback – Jesse Arthars takes over from Selwyn Cobbo – and might yet move their middle as well, depending on how Haas and Pat Carrigan pull up.

Both teams underwhelm, both are at a crossroads. Anything could happen.

Tip: Manly

Dragons v Knights

OK, here’s our sickos special for the week. The Dragons are generally bad, the Knights are potentially worse.

Newcastle at least won last time out, overcoming a highly-underpowered Penrith, but will face a St George Illawarra that turned over an admittedly half-arsed Broncos on their previous outing, and who have had a week off too.

Kalyn Ponga is named to back up, though coach Adam O’Brien said he might not play and his replacement last week, Fletcher Sharpe, was their best in that Panthers win.

Val Holmes, who featured on the wing on Wednesday, is listed in the centres here – outside him will be Nathan Lawson, a rugby union convert on debut. 

It probably won’t be pretty, but the entertainment value between these two is sky high. Admittedly, that might be because it’ll be a car crash, but we all watch those as we drive by, right?

Tip: Dragons

Panthers v Eels

There was a time when this was the biggest game in rugby league, but that seems a decent time ago now.

The Battle of the West is our 4pm Sunday headliner and, at time of writing, will see a full involvement from the seven victorious NSW Blues who have been named. Whether that lasts until gameday remains to be seen.

That does make it hard to preview: if Mitch Moses is out, Parra will lose; ditto if Nathan Cleary doesn’t back up.

Ivan Cleary was previously reluctant to put his Origin stars forward twice in a week, but that was a lot easier when his side were ensconced in the top four. Now rooted to the foot of the ladder, they need every point they can get.

If things couldn’t get more tight, we could add that this Penrith home game is taking place in Parramatta’s stadium, and that even when the Panthers were in their pomp, they struggled badly against their nearest and dearest.

This is 15th v 17th, but it should be a lot better than the league positions would suggest.

Tip: Panthers

Everyone else

We can batter through these quite quickly as there’s a few duds in among the gold this weekend.

The Titans face the Storm, which goes one of two ways: either Melbourne win or the Titans manage to outscore them. 

No, really: the Storm have taken the choccies in 15 of the last 18 meetings, but the three that the Gold Coast won were 38-34, 38-36 and 28-26. It’s almost like they can’t defend very well…

With three teams getting the bye, our only other match is Souths v Warriors. It’s hidden away at the start of Sunday, Latrell isn’t playing and New Zealand are wounded after losing to Canberra at home. They should wipe the floor with the Bunnies.

Tip: Storm, Warriors