GET READY FOR ROUND 27 - All You Need to Know Before Kick-off

Just one more regular season round for us NRL fans before we get to the really good stuff. The top eight has been confirmed, but there could still be some movement within those teams. Some coaches may also opt to rest their stars to keep them fresh before finals footy. See how this round in the NRL is shaping up with the help of the BettingTop10 team!

It’s now a two-horse race for the Minor Premiership; the New Zealand Warriors and the Penrith Panthers (who remain the Premiership favourites in NRL betting odds). While there is the prestige of becoming Minor Premiers, what teams really want is a top-two spot. This guarantees them home finals all the way through to the Grand Final.

As it stands, the Dolphins are in third spot, and it’s highly unlikely they’ll be able to take out the top spot. So, with a top-two locked in for both the Warriors and Panthers, do they rest their stars? We’ve seen Ivan Cleary do this a lot in the past.

The Warriors aren’t typically in this type of position, though, so what Andrew Webster will do is more of a mystery. I have a feeling he wants to go for the Minor Premiership, though, and if they can bag it, it’ll be only the second time in the club’s history.

There are still a few injury concerns for the Panthers as well. Most notably, Isaah Yeo is still racing the clock to prove his fitness after a torn pectoral. Plus, Izack Tago has suffered a knee injury, which puts him in doubt for the finals.

Last round, we saw what could be a preview of a key matchup in the finals, when the Sydney Roosters and Dolphins faced off. It was the Dolphins who proved too good, winning 26-12. Now, the Roosters have lost their last two games in a row.

It gets worse, though, with Sam Walker leaving the field in that game with a syndesmosis injury. It’s now been reported that the star had surgery on Sunday for the injury. The covering time for this kind of injury is four to six weeks, so there’s certainly still a chance he’ll return for the Roosters, especially if they make a deep run.

Some things are bigger than the game, and Jai Arrow notching up his 100th game for the South Sydney Rabbitohs is one of them. We saw Arrow take the field last time out for his 99th game, and there wasn’t a dry eye in the house.

This game is at home (Allianz Stadium), so expect the stadium to be filled with Rabbitohs fans as we see Arrow off. Hopefully, the Rabbitohs put on a show for their brother and get the two points, which could also see them retain sixth spot on the ladder.

The last game also saw the return of Latrell Mitchell, who came off the bench. We’ll likely see more of the same in this game, as Wayne Bennett doesn’t want to push things before the finals. 

Both Mitchell and Brandon Smith were charged by the Match Review Committee in the game against the Dolphins. Both have managed to avoid match bans; instead, they will be slugged with fines.

One player that hasn’t escaped with a fine is Jacob Saifiti for the Newcastle Knights. Saifiti became just the second player this season to be sent off after a grade two reckless high tackle charge against the Warriors.

He has been offered a four-match ban if he takes the early guilty plea. If he chooses to fight it and loses, he’ll be off for five matches. This means that his season is effectively over, joining the likes of Dylan Brown and Dylan Lucas on the sidelines.

The St. George Illawarra Dragons have officially locked in the wooden spoon position, something that we pretty much all saw coming from a mile away. However, there’s something else that I want to talk about.

For the first time in the NRL era, we’ve seen the top four teams from the previous season not even make the finals! The Canberra Raiders have gone from first to 12th, the Melbourne Storm have gone from second to 11th, the Canterbury Bulldogs have gone from third to 10th, and the Brisbane Broncos have gone from fourth to 15th.

Looking specifically at the fall from grace for the Broncos. While there had been some talk around (and the club has publicly admitted they ended up making some significant errors), there was no Jai Arrow-like send-off for Adam Reynolds for the Broncos last time out at Suncorp Stadium. 

This was despite Reynolds passing a fitness test and expressing his desire to take to the field one last time before retirement. The Broncos are on the road for this round, and play their final game of the season at Accor Stadium (without Reynolds once again).