NRL NRL 2025 - Round 10

[balmainforever]

https://www.bigfooty.com/forum/pickem/picks/2025-official-bigfooty-nrl-tipping.183/?week_id=434

Thursday 8th May
Parramatta vs Dolphins (CommBank Stadium - 19:50)

Friday 9th May
Newcastle vs Gold Coast (McDonald Jones Stadium - 18:00)
South Sydney vs Brisbane (Accor Stadium - 20:05)

Saturday 10th May
Canberra vs Canterbury-Bankstown (GIO Stadium - 15:00)
St.George-Illawarra vs New Zealand (WIN Stadium - 17:30)
North Queensland vs Penrith (Queensland Country Bank Stadium - 19:35)

Sunday 11th May
Melbourne vs Wests Tigers (AAMI Park - 14:00)
Manly-Warringah vs Cronulla-Sutherland (4 Pines Park - 16:05)

Bye: Sydney Roosters

 

[balmainforever]

 

[Big Unit 30]

https://www.bigfooty.com/forum/pickem/picks/2025-official-bigfooty-nrl-tipping.183/?week_id=434

Thursday 8th May
Parramatta vs Dolphins (CommBank Stadium - 19:50)

Friday 9th May
Newcastle vs Gold Coast (McDonald Jones Stadium - 18:00)
South Sydney vs Brisbane (Accor Stadium - 20:05)

Saturday 10th May
Canberra vs Canterbury-Bankstown (GIO Stadium - 15:00)
St.George-Illawarra vs New Zealand (WIN Stadium - 17:30)
North Queensland vs Penrith (Queensland Country Bank Stadium - 19:35)

Sunday 11th May
Melbourne vs Wests Tigers (AAMI Park - 14:00)
Manly-Warringah vs Cronulla-Sutherland (4 Pines Park - 16:05)

Bye: Sydney Roosters

You’ve put up last weeks fixture my balmain friend

 

[balmainforever]

You’ve put up last weeks fixture my balmain friend

you're impatient

 

[Jatz]

Hey a second winnable game in a row.

Gold Coast are a much different team away than they are at home...which sounds awfully familiar to us actually.

 

[moto748]

Why do the Roosters want to unload Dom Young? Has there been a falling-out, or do they just reckon they can do without him?

I've sure Newcastle would welcome him back.

 

[Jatz]

His defending is absolutely putrid.

But I would think his bloated salary probably impacts on that as well.

As for Newcastle, no thanks. Don't believe him to be that good anyway but you don't welcome back players that ditched you.

 

[Jatz]

Not just Dom Young, it looks like Brandon Smith will be allowed to leave, effective immediately.

Due back in 6 weeks from his ACL, another casualty at the Roosters.

 

[balmainforever]

Not just Dom Young, it looks like Brandon Smith will be allowed to leave, effective immediately.

Due back in 6 weeks from his ACL, another casualty at the Roosters.

He’s off to Souffs.

David Fifita also being shopped around

 

[Jatz]

He’s off to Souffs.

David Fifita also being shopped around

I reckon Fifita has just enough baggage to not bother with him. Reckon he ends up in England.

 

[Andronicus]

I reckon Fifita has just enough baggage to not bother with him. Reckon he ends up in England.

He'd be a couple of levels above them if he ever pulls his finger out.

 

[LebaneseForces]

GIO stadium Canberra 3pm game is sold out!

A strong Canterbury Bankstown Bulldogs boosts NRL crowds all over!

 

[nobbyiscool]

Very early in the season for the Canberra bandwagon to be gathering such momentum, we don't usually start selling out games til August.

 

[eddiesmith]

I’d like to go to a game in Canberra one day, but we always seem to play there first couple of rounds and I’m not in a position to go. Maybe one day we’ll play there July or August.

 

[PhatBoy]

Don’t have a problem with us waving Young or Smith early but I hate with a passion this mid season shit.

Very short sighted and leaves us in a hole if Billy Smith gets hurt again or Watson goes down.

Yes Dockar-Clay has been excellent from the bench. But what happens if one in-form starting hooker who can play lock gets hurt? Why you bring in Brandon Smith for the last 10 weeks of course.

What happens if an outside back goes down and this mini resurgence continues? You can always give young another chance and hope he remembers to stop rushing in off his wing. At least he knows how to find the line if nothing else. It’s not that hard to drum into someone once they’ve had their reserve grade medicine that they can use the sideline as another defender. At least then they can start to blame their inside man for not sliding a little bit and put some more responsibility on them and the edge forward on the right hand side.

Hopefully it works out for our sake but these things have a habit of biting us

 

[moto748]

I reckon Fifita has just enough baggage to not bother with him. Reckon he ends up in England.

Wouldn't have him as a gift.

 

[LebaneseForces]

Very early in the season for the Canberra bandwagon to be gathering such momentum, we don't usually start selling out games til August.

I heard you guys haven't sold out a regular game in Canberra for 30 years... Is that true? I know you have sold out some finals.

 

[Jatz]

He'd be a couple of levels above them if he ever pulls his finger out.

He hasn't really done so yet, how much longer do you give him?

 

[Jatz]

Don’t have a problem with us waving Young or Smith early but I hate with a passion this mid season shit.

Very short sighted and leaves us in a hole if Billy Smith gets hurt again or Watson goes down.

Yes Dockar-Clay has been excellent from the bench. But what happens if one in-form starting hooker who can play lock gets hurt? Why you bring in Brandon Smith for the last 10 weeks of course.

What happens if an outside back goes down and this mini resurgence continues? You can always give young another chance and hope he remembers to stop rushing in off his wing. At least he knows how to find the line if nothing else. It’s not that hard to drum into someone once they’ve had their reserve grade medicine that they can use the sideline as another defender. At least then they can start to blame their inside man for not sliding a little bit and put some more responsibility on them and the edge forward on the right hand side.

Hopefully it works out for our sake but these things have a habit of biting us

It hasn't been successfully drummed into him yet, why do you think he'd automatically pick that up in reserve grade? If Robbo hasn't been consistently working on that with him, it's probably time for Robbo to move on.

 

[PhatBoy]

It hasn't been successfully drummed into him yet, why do you think he'd automatically pick that up in reserve grade? If Robbo hasn't been consistently working on that with him, it's probably time for Robbo to move on.

While I don’t doubt a head coach would have a say in it, they would do very little one on one technical coaching about where to hold your position etc etc.

He has played patches of footy previously where it wasn’t such an issue. Hes never been, and is never going to be, a ‘strong’ defensive player. But he’s been competent: the guy on the other wing has made a career out of it. Tupou has played rep footy and just been year in year out one of the most consistent wingers in the comp on the back of being a great finisher, incredible under the high ball, and just making the reads he ‘should’ make, rather than reads ‘above his pay grade’ as it were.

I equate it to a batsman in cricket having an issue where they can’t stop flirting with balls outside off stump that they don’t have to play at in their test career. Sometimes it is a habit they cannot break because it’s so mental, but other times they go back to domestic cricket and it’s just the kick in the pants they need; they stop doing it, they just go back to playing the way they did to get to the top level in the first place and get their form back.

I don’t see why a stint in reserves who’s major flaw is rushing in couldn’t sting a player into simply realising ‘ok I have to realise I’ve gotta stop doing this.’ When it’s a mental thing not a skill thing, I tend to think it can be resolved a lot more easily.

 

[Jatz]

While I don’t doubt a head coach would have a say in it, they would do very little one on one technical coaching about where to hold your position etc etc.

He has played patches of footy previously where it wasn’t such an issue. Hes never been, and is never going to be, a ‘strong’ defensive player. But he’s been competent: the guy on the other wing has made a career out of it. Tupou has played rep footy and just been year in year out one of the most consistent wingers in the comp on the back of being a great finisher, incredible under the high ball, and just making the reads he ‘should’ make, rather than reads ‘above his pay grade’ as it were.

I equate it to a batsman in cricket having an issue where they can’t stop flirting with balls outside off stump that they don’t have to play at in their test career. Sometimes it is a habit they cannot break because it’s so mental, but other times they go back to domestic cricket and it’s just the kick in the pants they need; they stop doing it, they just go back to playing the way they did to get to the top level in the first place and get their form back.

I don’t see why a stint in reserves who’s major flaw is rushing in couldn’t sting a player into simply realising ‘ok I have to realise I’ve gotta stop doing this.’ When it’s a mental thing not a skill thing, I tend to think it can be resolved a lot more easily.

I know what you're saying, I just don't see how this suddenly jolts him into action. He surely knows this is an issue, the whole code talks about it (and deliberately attacks it), why does playing in Cup all of a sudden make the light click.

Doesn't really matter now anyway, I'd be very surprised if he plays in Roosters colours again.

 

[Andronicus]

He hasn't really done so yet, how much longer do you give him?

You saw the "if" in my post right?

 

[Jatz]

You saw the "if" in my post right?

I did, was merely asking a question. Where do you think he ends up?

 

[PhatBoy]

I know what you're saying, I just don't see how this suddenly jolts him into action. He surely knows this is an issue, the whole code talks about it (and deliberately attacks it), why does playing in Cup all of a sudden make the light click.

Doesn't really matter now anyway, I'd be very surprised if he plays in Roosters colours again.

I guess it’s not so much a jolt as such but an opportunity to fix the problem.

For starters a reserves opponent won’t be able to exploit it as relentlessly so he gets to work on it under a bit less pressure but knowing it’s what he has to fix. Same as the cricket analogy I guess - for the hypothetical batsman he goes from facing Glenn McGrath who’s going to test that weakness every ball to facing Martin McCague or some other 90s English plodder who will test it twice an over or 3 times an over. He can knowingly work on it without Adam Reynolds or Nathan Cleary or Jahrome Hughes etc sending exceptional centre-wing combinations at him every second play which would immediately make things a bit easier.

Bottom line is to me, there are a lot of things in sport or footy you can never teach players no matter how much work you do with them but ironing out that particular flaw in someone’s game is one that I personally don’t think it would take a lot to fix. I never played wing as I was a fat c**t but I had issues moving laterally as fat c**ts tend to do but I did manage, at the very low level I played, to work on them with the blokes around me, and become more competent so it wasn’t such a glaring flaw when I defended and I didn’t leave such a big gap to the lock or five eighth or second rower depending on who was there.

It wouldn’t surprise me if he gets to the point where he fixes his problems and reaches the sort of Tupou level I mentioned earlier where he’s not strong by any means but is at least competent

 

[nobbyiscool]

I heard you guys haven't sold out a regular game in Canberra for 30 years... Is that true? I know you have sold out some finals.

I was super surprised when I read that. I was thinking that we'd sold out late-season games in 2010 and in 2019, but maybe I was thinking of finals matches. Or maybe it's just a nomenclature thing around what constitutes a sell out.

Not that it matters, the joint is going to look and sound a million bucks on Saturday. The Raiders are the only thing about Canberra that I really love, and Canberra Stadium is a freezing cold, decrepit old stadium that badly needs replacing - but if this bandwagon keeps rolling I might have to try and get up for a game this season. She rocks when she's full.