Here are the talking points looking ahead to a pivotal Round 24.
Do or die
With three rounds to play it is now or never for a number of teams floating around the bottom of the top 8. The Raiders are clinging to their season by the skin of their teeth, and this week find themselves up against the Panthers, who are also on a roll and needing to keep the momentum going. Knowing they are due to meet the near unbeatable Storm in a couple of weeks, Canberra will know that a slip up this week will mean they can start booking Mad Monday.
It is also make or break for the stuttering Dragons, who have somehow managed to work their way out of the top 8 despite being in the box seat just a few short weeks ago. The trip to Brisbane on Friday night is a massive test, and on current form they look like no chance of knocking the Broncos off and keeping their season alive. Perhaps, though, that's just the motivation they need to pull off this upset. If not, you can write the Dragons off for 2017.
The bounce back brigade
After a number of shock losses last week, some big teams will be desperate to bounce back this week to get their season back on track. The Cowboys meet the Sharks in Townsville, both last start losers and badly out of form. The Cowboys have been decimated by injuries, but won't give up the fight, while the Sharks look like they almost have given up, turning in back-to-back performances that were completely underwhelming. If they can't give the undermanned North Queenslanders a good touch up this weekend, they might be just marking time until they are bundled out in the finals.
Trent Barrett will still be trying to work out what went wrong last week when the Sea Eagles were run down by the Tigers. He will be furious at a couple of the very soft tries that came through the middle, a trend that cannot continue into the finals if they are to have any hope of competing with the big boys. You would think they are certainties against the struggling Bulldogs, but they will need to win well to convince us they are a genuine September threat.
The Eels also look like certainties against the Titans, who are showing more fight in the boardroom than they have on the field this year, but we probably thought the same thing last week against the Knights. Again, Brad Arthur will be looking for more than just the two points this week, and they will need to dominate the Gold Coast to get some confidence back after their last start shock loss.
Super Storm
What else is left to say about this Melbourne Storm team? Marching mercilessly towards another minor premiership, they are everybody's short priced favourites to go one better than their 2016 runners up medals. Craig Bellamy continues to astound as a coach, somehow able to turn average first graders into premiership contenders, knowing that he can rely on his big three to steer them around the park and get them over the line more often than not. Debate will rage forever about the greatest players of all time, but surely Cameron Smith cannot do any more to convince us that he is at least in the conversation. Savour the next few weeks, the last time we will ever get to watch the great combination of Smith-Cronk-Slater running around together, surely something we will be telling future generations of football fans about. They will end the plucky Knights’ run of wins this weekend, and we will have to wait to see if anyone has the game to knock them off between now and the first Sunday in October.
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Enjoy your footy!
Words: Cameron Stokes
