NRL Late Mail Round 14: Armstrong fears grow, Origin back-up concerns

Welcome back Lakey. We all miss SC Talk. Thanks for youur great insight as usual.

G&#8217;day Lakey. Hope you are doing well in SCTalk retirement. Just some chatter about Galvin. On the Supercoach Experience Q &amp; A you tube site last night someone DM&#8217;d that Galvin had a broken hand. A few minutes later someone else said he had playing with the injury for a few weeks now and that his manager had been in talks with the Tigers management. Ont know how true all this is. He has survived the first cut but just one to keep a sneaky eye on tonight. Cheers!

By Daniel Lake



Hi all, Lakey here.



As alluded to last week, Postman Pat has packed up his black and white cat and is traversing the countryside in his big red van, so I’ve been asked to step in over the next couple of weeks.



And who can say no to the great man?



In keeping with the usual protocols, all the&nbsp;updates across the round will come via @scplaybook1 on X/Twitter and Instagram. Follow and turn your notifications on.



For those that aren’t familiar with my work (and it’s probably for the best), I’ve been in SuperCoach circles for roughly 15 years, as a part of the NRL SuperCoach Talk team and co-hosting the SC Report.



With family and other general life commitments, I hung up the boots last year, but in their time of need, Playbook has sent out an Alfie style SOS and called me back into the big leagues one more time to help save them from embarrassment.



PRICE DROP! We’ve dropped out prices for the remainder of the season. Access extra premium articles every round of the season, access our subscriber-only Whatsapp group with contributor feedback, late mail and other threads, our major unlimited group prize and plenty more.&nbsp;<a href="https://scplaybook.com.au/subscribe/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">SIGN UP HERE</a>!



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On the footy, we’ve got through the first “big” bye round without much issue and have an extra four teams at our disposal this week.



In my opinion though, this week might be harder than last week.



To start, we’re obviously without the Roosters, Raiders and Dolphins players, which is going to catch a few out after loading up on Chooks in particular.



On top of that is the question marks around Origin players.



I’ve also seen a lot of chat about available numbers this round, but so much of that is reliant on Origin players being available.



It happens every year: late outs and restings after Origin ruin all our best laid plans.



Expect it again this year from the boys who played on Wednesday night. Hopefully, I can pinpoint the right ones across the weekend.



And because of that, it’s a lengthy update this week. So, without further ado, let the rampant rumour-mongering begin.



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St George-Illawarra Dragons



The Dragons Origin trio of Ben Hunt, Zac Lomax and Jaydn Su’A were named in the extended reserves and have since been promoted to the starting 17.



With only two days break between games, backing up was always going to be tough to do but it seems Flanagan is going to give his guys every chance.



Lomax played in a number of spots for the Blues across the night and had a great game.



Hunt was huge for the Maroons, but did all his damage in just 42 minutes. Similarly, Su’A played 53 minutes.



Now having survived the 24-hour cuts, it’s my, and less importantly, Shane Flanagan’s feeling that they’ll take part on Friday.



Lomax has been brought in on the wing for Sione Finau, Hunt has replaced Jesse Marschke, with Su’A coming onto the bench for Ryan Couchman.



24 hour cuts: Jesse Marschke, Fa&#8217;amanu Brown, Michael Molo, Christian Tuipulotu



Wests Tigers



With no Origin players, the Tiggies should run out as named on TLT. Alex Lobb is a solid goal-kicker and may end up the first-choice option over Apisai Koroisau.



And from all reports, Brent Naden is purely in the 17 as cover should it be needed.



24 hour cuts: Kit Laulilii, Asu Kepaoa, Jordan Miller



Gold Coast Titans



The good news here is that with Queensland winning, David Fifita looks locked into club duties for the foreseeable.



As far as game day movements, Jayden Campbell is floating around the reserves and is a good chance of returning this week, but I’m hearing it would be in a utility role with Keano Kini retaining the #1. It’s likely Jacob Alick-Wiencke makes way.



Mo Fotuaika should be fine to back up after playing just 36 minutes in Origin.



South Sydney Rabbitohs



I can’t remember the last time I had to write about the Bunnies having no Origin players, but here we are.



Cody Walker is the one injury worry for Souths from team lists, having missed round 12 with a calf strain.



He suffered the injury at Magic Round and while it was considered minor, the club opted to give him the two weeks to recover rather than risk further injury last week. He should be good to go.



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Cowboys



Payten has used the extended benches to name every one of the six Origin Cowboys in the hopes they can back up on Saturday afternoon.



The front-line trio recorded 143 tackles between the three of them, and of the six of the Origin boys, it was only Cotter (69 minutes) who played less than the full allocation.



But the Cowboys need to keep racking up wins so it’s hard to see them all being rested.



And for what it’s worth, Payten played all of his Origin boys on all three rounds backing up from Origin a year ago. That being said, Cotter featured off the bench on those occasions.



Robson and Tualagi are confirmed outs for the Cowboys, while a decision on the remaining players will be made tomorrow.



Warriors



A whole host of names are back for the Dubs this week.



All of Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad, Rocco Berry, Wayde Egan, Kurt Capewell, Tohu Harris and Addin Fonua-Blake have been named to return from a large variety of injuries, illness or discretionary reasons and I’ve heard very little to suggest they won’t take the field. Taine Tuaupiki has also been named in the reserves.



Shaun Johnson, however, is still out with a pec concern. He should be back next week or round 16 at the latest.



With those returning names, off the back of two wins and no Origin worries, the Warriors are in a great spot for a big second half of the season.



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Broncos



I don’t think I’m breaking any major news in saying that Reece Walsh will not be backing up for the Broncos on Saturday.



He suffered a category 1 concussion which not only immediately ruled him out of the remainder of the game, but with the NRL’s 11-day concussion stand down protocols, Walsh will miss both this week and round 15.



While the test results following the incident were positive, officially, he cannot play.



Now while nothings been confirmed, there’s two schools of thought on his replacement:



Tristan Sailor is expected to come into the team at fullback, keeping Selwyn Cobbo at centre.



Payne Haas and Pat Carrigan look like they’ll play at this stage.



Elsewhere, Kotoni Staggs missed the Broncos last hit out with a fracture rib but that week off plus the bye has given him the time to get on top of it.



He may be needled up but there’s little concern about his availability here.



Sharks



Those with a Nicho Hynes / Sam Walker halfback combo had better have a contingency plan in place.



Either that or pray to the SC Gods that your VC goes H.A.M but considering the options leading into this Saturday night affair, it’s looking bleak.



After playing half a game in round 12, the wet Prince has not been named anywhere in the extended squad as the Sharks opt not to push his troublesome calf.



Cam McInnes on the other hand is trending towards playing so the team should be 1-17.



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Storm



Harry Grant split time with Ben Hunt, only playing 38 minutes and got through unscathed so should be fine to back up.



I’m less confident on Xavier Coates who had 25 runs for 206m on Wednesday.



Bellamy could take a cautious approach with the winger given his recent hamstring issues but that’s pure speculation on my part.



I haven’t found anything that suggests he won’t be there.



And in case you missed it, Ryan Papenhuyzen has confirmed that his recovery is going well and he’s aiming to return in roughly&nbsp;four weeks. Sualauvi Fa’alogo owners rejoice.



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Knights



After last week’s abysmal Knights display, the big talk is that Fletcher Sharpe, the young fullback who’s currently named among the reserves in jersey #22, will get his debut.



But with Pheonix Crossland already filling a bench utility role, the&nbsp;rumour&nbsp;(and I do stress rumour) is that the debut will come at the expense of David Armstrong, with Newcastle legend Barry Toohey stating it’s a “big chance”.



Both kids have been training at the back this week so there’s a huge watch on this one but a real smoke/fire situation. Plan accordingly.



Dan Saifiti limped off in the first half last week but has been named on the bench.



He has to get through captain’s run to suit up with Jack Hetherington likely taking his spot if withdrawn.



Panthers



Liam Martin is out with a foot ligament injury, which will likely see Luke Garner start on the edge.



Penrith’s remaining Origin reps are looking likely to back up but with the Panthers recent post Origin injury history, particularly to Nathan Cleary last season, I would not be at all surprised to see some restings.



One thing we can be relatively sure about is that Dylan Edwards won’t play. When asked about his inclusion he said “I’ll wait and see but I don’t think so this week.”



Sea Eagles



Daly Cherry-Evans did what he does in the Origin arena and he’ll do what he does following Origin: back up for the Sea Eagles.



So will both NSW boys, Jake Trbojevic and ‘Guac’ Haumole Olakau’atu, who were both reduced to bit part players.



On a personal note, I haven’t seen NSW misuse their captain so badly since Kurt Gidley was coming off the bench.



The only other potential move is that of the newly acquired Jake Simpkin coming in on the bench in place of Gordon Chan Kum Tong.



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Bulldogs



The Dogs and Eels are playing Monday on the King’s Birthday Sydney holiday so there shouldn’t be any real worries with Origin players backing up in this game.



Stephen Crichton and obviously 18th&nbsp;man Matt Burton will both be there.



Nothing else of note here except that Sam Hughes was reportedly rested during the round 15 game because of a heavy recent workload for the rookie and the Dogs substantial lead.



He’d been playing 38.4 minutes per game since round 5 and should return to that usage.



Eels



Same as above for J’maine Hopgood. He’ll be back to his standard role.



The rest of the side will remain as per the 17 named on Tuesday but Stilesy wanted me to make sure I mentioned something about a prop swap.



I also wanted to make a note to wish Ryan Matterson all the best with his current situation given his history of concussion worries. Here’s hoping he can get on top of things and back on the field soon.



Bye – Dolphins, Raiders, Roosters

NRL Late Mail Round 14: Armstrong fears grow, Origin back-up concerns

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