NRL Late Mail Round 17: Cows/Panthers mass rest, Lomax, Papy out

I managed to dodge,&nbsp;duck,&nbsp;dip, dive and dodge the first Origin back-up round (sorry Lakey!) but am firmly in the hotseat for this one. 



Taking SuperCoach out of things, it&#8217;s easy to forget just how chaotic the post-Origin late mail can be with the almost hourly &#8220;will he or won&#8217;t he&#8221; changes.



While things have started taking shape it will as always be an ever-evolving landscape as the weekend progresses but all the late changes as of now are below, and all the&nbsp;updates across the round will come via <a href="https://www.instagram.com/scplaybook1/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" title="">@scplaybook1</a> on X/Twitter and Instagram, as well as myself <a href="https://x.com/AStilesAuthor" target="_blank" rel="noopener" title="">@AStilesAuthor</a> (X/Twitter only).



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BULLDOGS



Stephen Crichton&nbsp;survived the 24 hour cuts and remains a chance to backup, which I assume would push&nbsp;Jeral Skelton&nbsp;out of the side and&nbsp;Jacob Kiraz&nbsp;back to his best SuperCoach scoring position on the wing.



Jacob Preston&nbsp;is not good to return this week and dropped out of the side Thursday night.



24 hour cuts: Preston, Hutchison, Clark



SHARKS



Teig Wilton&nbsp;makes his return, named so far on the bench with&nbsp;Tuku Hau Tapuha&nbsp;dropping out. He&#8217;s every chance to elevate straight to the starting side however with&nbsp;Siosifa Talakai&nbsp;dropping back to the bench.



24 hour cuts: Hau Tapuha, Hiroti, Berrell



WARRIORS



No major changes expected for the Warriors barring the occasional forward and bench shuffle. They were&nbsp;1-17&nbsp;last week and it could happen again.



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BRONCOS



None of the Origin trio &#8211;&nbsp;Reece Walsh, Payne Haas&nbsp;and&nbsp;Patty Carrigan&nbsp;&#8211; will back up. This likely leads to an&nbsp;unchanged side&nbsp;on game day.



In sadder news and not game day relevant,&nbsp;Jordan Pereira&nbsp;has made an immediate retirement due to a neck injury.&nbsp;



KNIGHTS



Dylan Lucas has been ruled out with hamstring tightness, which will see Kai Pearce-Paul start on the edge in a reprieve for his owners in a tough round.



Barry Toohey has also labelled&nbsp;Kalyn Ponga&nbsp;as a chance at a round 19 return against Manly, which puts a timer on popular trade-in&nbsp;Fletcher Sharpe.



EELS



In keeping the&nbsp;Junior Paulo&nbsp;to the bench theme, I could see&nbsp;Joe Ofahengaue&nbsp;moving to prop and&nbsp;Ryan Matterson&nbsp;playing lock, which makes the latter potentially interesting with the news the&nbsp;J&#8217;Maine Hopgood&nbsp;will be out for the season after requiring back surgery.



Mitch Moses&nbsp;seems likely to back up from Origin at this stage also.



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STORM



After making his return last week,&nbsp;Ryan Papenhuyzen&nbsp;may miss this round due to a minor heel injury. If he misses (and it is likely only a one week thing), this could be a reprieve for&nbsp;Sua Fa&#8217;alogo, who would presumably slot straight in at fullback.&nbsp;



Reimis Smith&nbsp;failed to return from his concussion last week so surely he&#8217;s a massive chance, which likely puts a line through cheapie prospect&nbsp;Jack Howarth.



RAIDERS



A big shakeup is projected for the Raiders with&nbsp;Adam&nbsp;Cook&nbsp;tipped to move into the halves,&nbsp;Kaeo Weekes&nbsp;shifting to fullback and&nbsp;Jordan Rapana&nbsp;to the wing. Along with the occasional shuffle of&nbsp;Josh Papali&#8217;i&nbsp;to the bench.



DRAGONS



Zac Lomax&nbsp;doesn&#8217;t look like he&#8217;ll back up after Origin with a knee issue.&nbsp;Jack Bird&nbsp;has resurfaced on the extended bench and could return at centre with&nbsp;Max Feagai&nbsp;moving to the wing, and&nbsp;Christian Tuipulotu&nbsp;is also an option.



Ben Hunt and Jaydn Su&#8217;A&nbsp;are likely to backup, and I could see the somewhat usual forward pack shuffle happening also.



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DOLPHINS



Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow&nbsp;will be ruled out with the shoulder injury he copped in Origin.&nbsp;Trai Fuller&nbsp;will slot straight in at fullback.



I can&#8217;t see any reason why&nbsp;Felise Kaufusi&nbsp;wouldn&#8217;t back up.



PANTHERS



Hard to make a call on which Panthers will back up after Origin.&nbsp;



Dylan Edwards,&nbsp;Brian To&#8217;o,&nbsp;Jarome Luai,&nbsp;Liam Martin&nbsp;and&nbsp;Isaah Yeo&nbsp;have all been named to start but surely Coach Cleary learns from past mistakes and gives at least a couple a breather. If any or all are ruled out, it could really test my X character limit.



COWBOYS



Jeremiah Nanai&nbsp;won&#8217;t back after Origin with a calf issue. 



The Cowboys have confirmed all other Origin representatives in&nbsp;Valentine Holmes,&nbsp;Murray Taulagi,&nbsp;Tom Dearden,&nbsp;Reece Robson&nbsp;and&nbsp;Reuben Cotter&nbsp;will all be rested from the clash also.



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ROOSTERS



Angus Crichton&nbsp;played the full 80 minutes in Origin and the chat this week &#8211; even before Origin &#8211; is that he&#8217;ll be rested, with&nbsp;Sitili Tupouniua&nbsp;moving to the edge and&nbsp;Ethan King&nbsp;making his first start at centre.



Lindsay Collins,&nbsp;Connor&nbsp;Watson&nbsp;and&nbsp;Spencer Leniu&nbsp;all look like they&#8217;ll back up at this stage.



TIGERS



John Bateman&nbsp;is the big name on the extended bench, and he was tipped last week to be on the cards for this round. 



NRL Late Mail Round 16:I assume he&#8217;ll still need to make it through captain&#8217;s run along with&nbsp;Justin Olam, who dropped out late last week with a knee issue and is also on the extended bench.

NRL Late Mail Round 17: Cows/Panthers mass rest, Lomax, Papy out

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