NRLWeekly Blog Post - 22nd February

The Week It's Been...
There is only 1 week to go until the 2012 NRL season starts and I'm sure pre-season nerves are starting to kick in for players, coaches and fans alike. Recently today, in fact, the NRL announced that it would be changing the McIntyre finals system, which I am thrilled about. Last year, the Broncos and Tigers were unlucky in that they won their games in the first week of the finals, which had no significant influence to them. The Dragons and Warriors both lost in the first week, yet each got another chance to face the Broncos and Tigers respectively. The new system is much more fair for all, and is shown on the NRL website (it is the same as the AFL system, where the top 4 teams and the bottom four teams are split into two separate pools.

This week was also the last week of trials and it has thrown up some interesting results:

• Leeds 26 - Manly 12
• Panthers 26 - Eels 10
• Warriors 68 - Sunshine Coast 10
• Storm 34 - Broncos 30
• Raiders 16 - Bulldgos 14
• Cowboys 28 - Titans 36
• Sharks 18 - Knights 22
• Dragons 18 - Rabbitohs 12
• Tigers 24 - Roosters 28

Leeds suprised Manly 26-12 in a shock result, and the Tigers also lost to the Roosters. So I got both those tips wrong, but thankfully the Storm won so I did get that one right.



Games Coming Up...
You may have noticed I have changed this section from “Big” Games Coming Up to Games Coming Up, as now that the trials are done, all NRL season games are big and I will be providing tips for all of them. In saying that, there are no games coming up as it is the week before the season kicks off and all the trials are finished.



Team of the Week...

Konrad Hurrell is in for a big season with the Warriors

This week's team of the week is the New Zealand Warriors. They destroyed the Sunshine Coast, who are admittedly not an NRL side, but to put 68 points on any team is impressive. The warriors boast a HUGE forward pack with the likes of Michael Luck, Simon Mannering, Russell Packer, Feleti Mateo and Ben Matulino being joined by workhorse hooker Nathan Friend. They also have some of the competition's most exciting young backs, with Shaun Johnson, James Maloney, Kevin Locke and the experience and bulk of Manu Vatuvei. Having won the Toyota Cup last year as well, the warriors have great young players from the 20's stepping up into the NRL squad. Watch for Konrad Hurrell for the warriors this year.



Dream Team News...
With the NRL season fast approaching, it is worth taking note of the official NRL Dream Team guru, Lone Scout. Lone Scout has been noting Dream Team Builders each few days of the NRL's website. Here is the full list:

• Akuila Uate
• Adam Blair
• Nathan Friend
• Billy Slater
• Clint Newton
• Boyd Cordner
• Jack De Belin
• Justin Poore
• James Tedesco
• Mitchell Aubusson
• Sam Burgess
• Tony Williams
• Terry Campese
• Todd Carney
• Nathan Merritt
• Adam Reynolds
• Shaun Berrigan
• Timana Tahu
• Corey Norman
• Konrad Hurrell

Some of these players are superstars of the game, while some you may not have even heard of. These are the players that Lone Scout thinks will have a big year in Dream Team and are worth consideration when picking your squad.



Thank you for reading NRLWeekly and for Jaime Lopez Urdaniz and SportsFreak who are really helping the channel grow. Make sure you read next week's blog, where I will predict the 2012 NRL season's placings for each team.