NRL Round 15 Tipping: Origin-hit sides to suffer, Sam Walker to inspire the Roosters

Just the five games this week as Origin call-ups bite, but there’s a fair few derbies in there that should make things interesting.

Well, that’s one way of looking at it: the other might be that we get games that could be great played out with little fanfare, turning showcase events into afterthoughts.

This is the world we live in, at least until the NRL decides to take its own scheduling seriously, so we find joy where we can.

Hey: last time Manly went to the Gold Coast, there were 64 points scored and 60 of them were down one side of the field. If you want to see Reuben Garrick v Brian Kelly in the Defence Optional Cup, that is certainly on the table again.

Elsewhere, good football might even be played – let’s go round the grounds.

Souths v Canterbury

This game had 65,000 fans stuffed in Accor Stadium last time they played, which does leave a strange taste in the mouth knowing that this one will be played with half teams.

The Doggies won pretty easily on Easter Monday, but have a few more Origin outs and thus this one might be a bit closer, if not better, and the accession of Matt Burton to the NSW squad as 18th man means a start for Lachie Galvin in the 6 jumper.

Souths had a brief period without injury issues, but Cody Walker is done again and misses this, while Latrell Mitchell is in Origin camp.

Canterbury fell apart with fewer missing personnel than this last time around, copping a beating off the Dolphins, so should be well motivated. They’ll likely have enough.

Tip: Bulldogs

Sharks v Dragons

Cronulla also embarrassed themselves in the last short round, dropping a big defeat to the Roosters despite having zero outs.

Again, the vagaries of NRL scheduling sees this derby wasted on an Origin-affected weekend, but that shouldn’t matter much anyway: the Sharkies have battered St George Illawarra of late, winning the last nine meetings between the southern rivals.

The Dragons were flogged last time out, too, so hopes aren’t high. They’ll turn up motivated on Thursday, but haven’t won in the Shire since 2018. Don’t expect that to change.

Tip: Sharks

Knights v Roosters

Winning is a habit, right? That’s what Newcastle will be hoping, though the rested Roosters will likely not be as charitable as the Sea Eagles were last week.

Then again, the Knights’ best showing of the year was in the last Origin week, where they turned over an admittedly understrength Panthers with relative ease.

The big story for them here is the chance to see Fletcher Sharpe run at fullback again, something we might see a lot more of if Kalyn Ponga decides to put the Ewing Effect to the test and leave at the end of the year.

On the other side, this is all about Sam Walker. He’s named at 7 – Hugo Savala shifts to 6 – for his first game of the year.

After just 40 minutes in NSW Cup last week, it’s a big step up, but Sammy is raring to go. On his day, he remains one of the best to watch in the NRL, so this should be good.

Tip: Roosters

Cowboys v Dolphins

Townsville and Redcliffe might be 14 hours’ drive away from each other – for Europeans, that’s the distance between London and Prague – so hardly local, but Queensland is massive and this is sort of a derby.

The Phins travel up without Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow in Maroons camp, but more importantly, without an entire forward pack after Tom Gilbert, Max Plath and Daniel Saifiti all were ruled out long-term.

The Cowboys lack three Maroons and one Blue – too many, really, given how badly they’ve been going – and are sans John Bateman.

There’s a debut for Kaiden Lahrs (son of former Kangaroo Tom Learoyd-Lahrs, if you want to feel old) which is nice, even if it does tell you a little about how shallow their talent pool is at the moment.

Redcliffe are well set up to take this one, having thrashed the Dogs in the last short round, and can leapfrog North Queensland if they do. They’ll be favourites.

Tip: Dolphins

Titans v Manly

It’s hard to get too excited about any Titans game, let alone one where their few stars aren’t even playing anyway.

Then again, it’s a Des Hasler revenge mission against Manly, who famously punted him a few years ago, sparking a protracted legal battle.

The Sea Eagles arrived with a full complement – DCE has been dropped from Origin, Haumole Olakau’atu excused the trip due to his partner’s impending labour – but on the back of their worst half of the season, chucking a 16-0 lead to a historically bad Knights side.

On paper, Manly should wipe the floor with the Gold Coast. This is a side that can’t tackle against one that loves to attack.

Then again, Anthony Seibold’s Globetrotters decided not to attack at all last week after the break, so anything could happen.

Tip: Manly