South Sydney Rabbitohs v North Queensland Cowboys
ANZ Stadium, 7:35pm.
Rabbitohs $1.67, Cowboys $2.22 (Luxbet)
Rabbitohs: Nathan Merritt, Dylan Farrell, Shaune Corrigan, Greg Inglis, Chris McQueen, John Sutton, Chris Sandow, Ben Ross, Issac Luke, Shannan McPherson, Eddy Pettybourne, David Taylor, Michael Crocker (c). Interchange: Luke Burgess, Dave Tyrrell, Jason Clark, Nathan Peats.
Cowboys: Matthew Bowen, Ashley Graham, Brent Tate, Willie Tonga, Kalifa Faifai Loa, Ray Thompson, Johnathan Thurston (c), Matthew Scott (c), Aaron Payne, James Tamou, Gavin Cooper, Glenn Hall, Dallas Johnson. Interchange (from): James Segeyaro, Tariq Sims, Scott Bolton, Ashton Sims, Cory Paterson
THE RABBITOHS SIT OUTSIDE THE TOP 8 but you wouldn’t believe it if you had only seen their last 3 matches. In those games the Bunnies have racked up a massive 137 points and beaten the reigning premiers in the process. There’s no doubting the impressiveness of South Sydney’s recent feats but one could point out a few things and wonder if the Rabbitohs are in fact the real deal. 5 weeks ago they beat the Roosters but only by a point. A week later came the Warriors who put the Rabbitohs away by 48-16. Then came their win against the Dragons who its fair to say are in a massive form slump and at one stage were ahead 20-0. Follow that by victories over the 15th and 14th placed sides in the Eels and the Raiders respectively and one could say that the Rabbitohs are yet to fully convince the NRL world that they are the real deal. A win over the Cowboys would go a long way to proving that they can become genuine premiership contenders.
The Cowboys now have Johnathan Thurston back for the second week since his injury and he will only play better than he did last week when his side lost to Brisbane. The loss was the first time this year that the Cowboys have lost back-to-back matches.
If the game was played in Townsville then I would be all over the Cowboys but the fact that it’s a Rabbitohs home games should indicate a much closer affair.
Mike’s Best Bet: None
Starting Bank: $2000, Current Bank $2597.27
(Team lists sourced from nrl.com.au)
