The Group 20 season has just passed the halfway mark and the competition is as surprising as ever.
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Just as a gap started to appear between the top five and the rest of the competition, the sides sitting toward the bottom of the ladder turned their fortunes around.
In this week’s At The Bar, Michael ‘Speedy’ Stratton and The Area News sports journalist Ben Jaffrey discuss how the Group 20 competition is shaping up.
Ben: They reckon it’s hard to tip in the NRL but I reckon tipping Group 20’s a touch tougher.
Speedy: How many upsets – if you can call them that – were on the weekend?
Ben: Three teams beat sides that were higher then them on the ladder – Leeton were the only favourite to win.
Speedy: There you go and Yenda beating TLU is the biggest of the lot.
Ben: Last beating first – you’re not wrong. It just shows how close the competition is.
Speedy: You have two of the top sides over the past few years in West Wyalong and Waratahs battling for form but they have the potential.
Ben: Those two teams have lost a lot of close games. They just need to land the killer blow more often. Who do you think is the favourite at the moment?
Speedy: I have to go for Darlington Point – I think the Roosters deserve to be favourites but in a way I’d say Waratahs – they’re the defending champions, it wouldn’t surprise me if they came right back into calculations in the second half of the competition.
Ben: Both have it in them. DPC are placed better at the moment. I think both sides have the potential to string games together and the Waratahs will need to do that to make the five.
Speedy: All of the sides can do it, it’ll be another mad dash to the finish.
Ben: Well, you look at Lakes last year, they won a heap at the back end of the season and just missed out on the finals – if they got in, they would have given it a real good shake.
Speedy: Who do you think is looking the goods?
Ben: I could make a case for all the sides I reckon but I’ll go with TLU at the moment.
Speedy: They’re on top for a reason.
Ben: They’ve got some good young blokes at the club with some older heads too and Tim Ring says they’re digging in for each other.
Speedy: I’m not saying they can’t win it this year but if they keep the side together, maybe add a name or two, they should be right up again next year if they don’t do it this year.
Ben: No doubt. Going off my form, though, anything I say won’t happen.
Speedy: You are a dud tipster.
Ben: Don’t I know it, no need to rub it in.