NRL Tips 

Round 2 Free Game Previews

Game Tips

Broncos by 10

Warriors by 4

Roosters by 2

Tigers by 8

Storm by 10

Panthers by 2

Knights by 6

Dolphins by 12

Game Notes

Broncos v Eels

The Broncos have looked poor, unimpressive if not for the most part disinterested in both the Hull KR and then round 1 Panthers loss. Major error counts and leaky defensive offering have led to being a long way off the pace, and last week vs Panthers never really in the game. We’d expect at home they should turn up.. Eels just horrible last week, opened the game scores yet all downhill quickly thereafter and looked to have some significant defensive issues on their left edge. Off such a big loss I do expect a response, and they have won 4 of their last 5 head to head at the ground. 12.5 between them looks wide, 51.5 points looks high. Broncos

Warriors v Raiders

I did like the Warriors chances last week first up at home vs a slow starting Roosters, they started strongly and for the most part maintained control. Still with 3 key player outs, but again advantaged playing at home. Raiders have back to back travel but a positive recent record here, and have won the last 3 head to head. They are off a positive second half last week when they finally got some ball. Small lean to the home side but looks a quality close contest, wasn’t convinced this game had as high a total in it (46.5) and certainly their recent history has been for lower tighter scoring game outcomes. Warriors  

Roosters v Rabbits

Classic contest and highlight match up for Friday night. Roosters typical clunky round 1 offering last week and somewhat surprising that they’d leak 42 points, I’m sure they will have been stung by that and won’t need a great deal of motivation vs their arch rival. Rabbits looked strong last week in whacking the Dolphins, Murray, Walker and Mitchell outstanding, now have a further injury out and change at #7. Small knock conceding 30, but they will be buoyed off a positive first up win. Another that looks close, small lean to the Roosters to respond.

Tigers v Cowboys

Early pm Saturday Leichhardt game between these two, what could possibly go wrong.. looks points galore (again) as these two always seem to turn the ball shift and attack on. Tigers first up, trial form means little but they have looked positive and up and about. Cowboys had their chances in Vegas but overall disappointing, too many errors and crash ball attack, they have had an extended break to rework their game and find an opening win. Has been a strong push for the Tigers this week, I like them here at home. Tigers

Dragons v Storm

The Dragons overall effort and defence was good first up, but where do their points come from? Against the Bulldogs we saw very little creativity or line break, and we’d expect against the Storm a similar tough defensive offering difficult to crack. Storm ‘s spine looked super last week albeit against a weak defensive offering, this looks far tougher and they have lost their last 3 at the ground. Expect some desperation from the home side, but the visitors good enough to get the result.

Panthers v Sharks

@ Bathurst Surprised the market had this as wide as they do. Both come off positive wins last week, but both also against questionable / weak opponent offerings. I have these two teams marked as potential top 4 contenders, so while at an away from Sydney venue I hardly see it as a significant advantage to the Panthers nor do I see it as this lopsided. Panthers did have plenty of errors in them last week, both offer strong line ups, and a nice physical contest through the middle. Good quality contest, Panthers might just get home but do expect the Sharks aim up.

Eagles v Knights

The key question on the Eagles into this season was the forward middle strength and depth and if this was to be exposed longer term as their obvious weakness. Once the Raiders got a share of the ball and worked through the middle they found plenty of joy last week, and the Eagles now lose Taukeiaho up front with injury. Under sustained physical pressure do they have the goods? Knights will be buoyed off their first up win, the attack looked a lot better and Mooney looks an excellent signing. Though the 4.5 between them looked wide, think the Knights can win straight out.

Dolphins v Titans

Dolphins very disappointing last week, I expect in weeks to come they will improve significantly, Plath is a big in, they remain at home and I’m sure Wolfe has been all over them this week looking for significant improvement. Titans need to respond, thumped by a big margin last week, they can bob up and play this ground well at times, but without Campbell this looks an ask. Dolphins

Thought the Dolphins looked the best of the round.

Good luck with yours.

NRL Expert Tips  – Reading The Play

Gerard Condon and Gerard Barton combine to present our NRL tips content.

MrG

Having coached at a senior level for 16 years, including 3 years on the coaching staff of an NRL club, Gerard Condon is a long-term avid student of the game. He’s coached sides to win titles at a senior level, run the football arm of a successful district club, managed professional players and worked in various development roles, so it’s fair to say the game of Rugby League is certainly in his blood and supports an experienced and unique offering.

Mr G’s NRL previews and betting tips combine this knowledge and ‘read’ of the current weekly form with a statistical and betting analysis to provide his followers with a unique and successful approach. He spends hours each week watching and reviewing each and every game, assessing the strengths and weaknesses of the form to then weigh against that of the betting markets. His previews and betting tips have been published on the internet via two sports forums for 7 years prior to his public offering through Reading The Play.

MrGB

Gerard Barton started his rugby league story when playing at the age of six, running around in the bush for the Forbes Magpies before eventually landing at Dubbo CYMS. The highlight? Captaining the Dubbo CYMS Under 18s to a premiership – with a young bloke named Andrew Ryan watching on from the bench. 

Like any mad Eels supporter, he went from screaming at the TV to putting his money where his mouth was. What began as casual NRL punting slowly evolved into something much deeper – a full-blown obsession with data analysis. A love for the game then grew into a love for what the play and stats can and can't tell you about the outcome. But here's what matters: GB is a footy headfirst, and self-taught maths and data nerd second. You've got to know the game before you crunch the numbers. Stats don't play football – blokes do. Understanding that distinction is everything.

These days, GB is deep into modelling the key performance areas that actually influence outcomes. Pre-game team forecasts, AI-assisted analysis, the works. It's about finding the edge where footy knowledge meets data science.

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