Graham

Eels for me.

Did you say he was one of your SC squad Irish Saint?

Sneaked Warriors in there again I see Irish Saint!

It can't be a fluke surely as you're our table topping tipster!

Cameron King So Parra has a big problem at hooker with injuries to Kaysa Pritchard (ACL) and Isaac De Gois (concussion). It is rumoured that Doggies' Micheal Lichaa was offered to eels for the rest of the season. It's also rumoured that Parramatta turned down the opportunity and prefer to give Cameron King a chance.

Best wishes to Jayden Brailey for a speedy recovery. He's in hospital after his surgery on a broken jaw this weekend. I felt for the poor lad at the weekend.

Connor Watson will cut his Roosters contract short to join Wests Tigers from 2018. He's set to take Teddy's place at fullback. A figure of $500,000 a season is rumoured.

Good thinking that though SP

The future of rugby league is at stake and the NRL must get its expansion plans in motion - click here to view Paul Kent has returned to the topic of how the future of the NRL should shape up in terms of the spread of clubs. There's always lots of good ideas until of course it impacts negatively on the listener's own club. In this article Kent reflects on how good ideas can fall on deaf ears, how doing nothing is wrong and where the game might go. There's of course the central idea that if the NRL was set up now, would there be 9 Sydney clubs, one each in Brisbane, Melbourne, Townsville, Auckland, Gold Coast, Canberra and Newcastle while Perth and Adelaide remained NRL free?

Highlights of the final six rounds include: * The Eels handed a dream final six weeks in regards to rehabilitation and recovery; playing only Thursday and Friday nights until week one of the finals. * A return to the Sydney Cricket Ground for Friday night football to coincide with Fox Sports “Retro Round” between the Dragons and Rabbitohs in round 22 * The possibility of the minor premiership being decided on Saturday August 12 in round 23 with premiership-favourites Melbourne hosting the currently second-placed Roosters at AAMI Park. * Premiers Cronulla being forced to ‘go troppo’ by playing Brisbane at Suncorp Stadium on a Friday night in round 23 before then flying north to Townsville to tackle the Cowboys six days later * The Raiders wanting desperately to cement their top-eight spot prior to a daunting final round match-up and 2016 preliminary final replay with the Storm on September 2 at AAMI Park * The possibility of the last-placed wooden spoon not being unable to be decided until the last Sunday of the regular season with Newcastle, the Wests Tigers and Bulldogs all drawn to play on September 3 of the final round. * What length the Tigers administration go to farewell departing local juniors Aaron Woods and James Tedesco on a Sunday night at Leichhardt Oval in the final match of the regular season

The NRL have released the draw in detail if the final ix rounds of this season. I've updated the season's fixture thread in the forum with the details below. Here they are: ROUND 21 Thursday (July 27) Panthers v Bulldogs, Pepper Stadium (NINE), 7:50pm Friday (July 28) Warriors v Sharks, Mt Smart Stadium (FOX), 6pm Eels v Broncos, ANZ Stadium (NINE), 7:50pm Saturday (July 29) Knights v Dragons, McDonald Jones Stadium (FOX), 3pm Rabbitohs v Raiders, ANZ Stadium (FOX), 5:30pm Roosters v Cowboys, Allianz Stadium (FOX), 7:30pm Sunday (July 30) Storm v Sea Eagles, AAMI Park (FOX), 2pm Titans v Tigers, CBus Super Stadium (NINE), 4:00pm ROUND 22 Thursday (August 3) Bulldogs v Eels, ANZ Stadium (NINE), 7:50pm Friday (August 4) Dragons v Rabbitohs, Sydney Cricket Ground (FOX), 6:00pm Cowboys v Storm, 1300Smiles Stadium (NINE), 7:50pm Saturday (August 5) Knights v Warriors, McDonald Jones Stadium (FOX), 3pm Titans v Broncos, CBus Super Stadium (FOX), 5:30pm Sharks v Raiders, Southern Cross Group Stadium (FOX), 7:30pm Sunday (August 6) Sea Eagles v Roosters, Lottoland (FOX), 2pm Panthers v Tigers, Pepper Stadium (NINE), 4pm ROUND 23 Thursday (August 10) Rabbitohs v Bulldogs, ANZ Stadium (NINE), 7:50pm Friday (August 11) Eels v Knights, ANZ Stadium (FOX), 6pm Broncos v Sharks, Suncorp Stadium (NINE), 7:50pm Saturday (August 12) Dragons v Titans, UOW Jubilee Oval (FOX), 3pm Storm v Roosters, AAMI Park (FOX), 5:30pm Panthers v Cowboys, Pepper Stadium (FOX), 7:30pm Sunday (August 13) Warriors v Raiders, Mt Smart Stadium (FOX), 2pm Tigers v Sea Eagles, Leichhardt Oval (NINE), 4pm ROUND 24 Thursday (August 17) Eels v Titans, ANZ Stadium (NINE), 7:50pm Friday (August 18) Rabbitohs v Warriors, ANZ Stadium (FOX), 6pm Broncos v Dragons, Suncorp Stadium (NINE), 7:50pm Saturday (August 19) Knights v Storm, McDonald Jones Stadium (FOX), 3pm Roosters v Tigers, Allianz Stadium (FOX), 5:30pm Cowboys v Sharks, 1300Smiles Stadium (FOX), 7:30pm Sunday (August 20) Raiders v Panthers, GIO Stadium (FOX), 2pm Bulldogs v Sea Eagles, ANZ Stadium (NINE), 4pm ROUND 25 Thursday (August 24) Broncos v Eels, Suncorp Stadium (NINE) 7:50pm Friday (August 25) Raiders v Knights, GIO Stadium (FOX), 6pm Tigers v Cowboys, Campbelltown Stadium (NINE), 7:50pm Saturday (August 26) Titans v Bulldogs, CBus Super Stadium (FOX) 3pm Storm v Rabbitohs, AAMI Park (FOX), 5:30pm Sharks v Roosters, Southern Cross Group Stadium (FOX), 7:30pm Sunday (August 27) Warriors v Sea Eagles, Mt Smart Stadium (FOX), 2pm Panthers v Dragons, Pepper Stadium (NINE), 4pm ROUND 26 Thursday (August 31) Cowboys v Broncos, 1300Smiles Stadium (NINE), 7:50pm Friday (September 1) Eels v Rabbitohs, ANZ Stadium (NINE), 7:50pm Saturday (September 2) Roosters v Titans, Allianz Stadium (FOX), 3pm Sea Eagles v Panthers, Lottoland (FOX), 5:30pm Storm v Raiders, AAMI Park (FOX), 7:30pm Sunday (September 3) Knights v Sharks, McDonald Jones Stadium (FOX), 2pm Dragons v Bulldogs, ANZ Stadium (NINE), 4pm Tigers v Warriors, Leichhardt Oval (FOX), 6:30pm

Wests Tigers player Matt Ballin has today announced his retirement from the game, effective immediately. Ballin has played 220 NRL games since making his debut in 2007, winning Premierships with the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles in 2008 and 2011 and representing Queensland in the 2010 State of Origin series.

Quite a struggle for points this week again, despite there being only two teams on byes. Injuries before and during the round plus players being rested after Origin were limiting factors for some of us. Let's have a look at our points first. By looking at the Head2Head results image we can see our points best: Top scorer was James (1123) and his Flat Capper Select with Aaron (1121) xcheesybagelx just two points behind. Well done to both. The others to break the 1,000 point barrier were: David and his Saints and Sharks (1059) - great score on a tough week David. David and his Anley Sea Eagles (1056) Jack Spirit Squad (1007) Graham Fev Stormers (1005) It was a toughie, so it was fair do's if you got into the 900's So here are the two ladders that follow on from those games. N.B. If you click on the images you can see them bigger and clearer. As always it is good to hear from you. How did it go for you? What could it have been if only... All the clubs play this week - no byes or Origin to intefere with our grand plans. Good luck in Round 17 Cheers, Graham

Stormduck? Where did that come from? Maybe from FarmGirl? Pardon that slip StormGirl. It's been a looooooooonnnnnngggggg morning!