The NRL’s top team, and some would say surprise 2020 package, the Paramatta Eels looked to continue their excellent start to the season with a game against tenth placed North Queensland Cowboys.

The Eels were the bookies favourites with both sides making a couple of changes to the line-ups from round seven.

The Eels brought in David Gower and Jai Field but were without the inspirational Mitch Moses, while the Cowboys called on the services of Reuben Cotter and Valentine Holmes.

The Cowboys were on-fire last time out to defy the odds and beat the Newcastle Knights, and the pre-game feeling was that the Eels would need to be on top form to pick up the win.

Australian NRL doesn’t get much bigger that a game between Melbourne Storm and the Sydney Roosters and that is just what was served up in the opening game of Round 8 at the Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane.

Both sides knew that a win would lift them into an overnight top spot on the ladder but the bookies favoured a win for the Storm.

Most commentators struggled to call it though as the rugby league loving public settled down to watch a true battle of the titans.

Melbourne were without Cameron Munster, and the Roosters would have to do without the second rower Isaac Liu, but did have talisman James Tedesco back in their line-up.

Two sides who find themselves at the wrong end of the table had a desperate battle for a crucial two points as the Brisbane Broncos faced the Gold Coast Titans.

Both sides have had a nightmare since the restart with the Broncos unable to register a win since March and the Titans with just a single win to their name, over the Wests Tigers, in round four.

The bookies had the home side as strong favourites to pick up the points as both sides made a number of changes to the line-ups that suffered defeats last season.

The Broncos brought in Rhys Kennedy, Tesi Niu and Tom Dearden with the Titans naming Dale Copley, Jarrod Wallace and Mitch Rein in their seventeen.

On paper there was only one winner of the Saturday Round Seven clash between the North Queensland Cowboys and the Newcastle Knights as the team Novocastrians looked to build on their tremendous 2020 season by going top of the ladder.

The  Cowboys hadn’t registered a win since defeating the Gold Coast Titans in round three and were desperate for a win to give their campaign a boost, the Knights came into the game on the back of a big win against the Brisbane Broncos last time out.

Few, of the small number of supporters allowed into the Stadium, would have been expecting what their side was about to serve up.

In their first game since the controversial sacking of coach Stephen Kearney, the New Zealand Warriors had to take on a Melbourne Storm side sitting four points and seven places clear of them on an increasingly desperate looking ladder.

Both sides came into the game on the back of losses in round six, the Storm losing out to the high-flying Panthers while the Warriors were heavily defeated by the Rabbitohs.

Both sides made a number of changes; Melbourne brought in Hughes, Addo-Carr and Momirovski while the Warriors recalled Harris-Tavita, Papali’i, Curran and Maumalo.

August could see a return to Super League when the twelve topflight clubs meet today to agree a schedule for restarting the top tier of the game, in order to achieve a meaningful season.

The return to action in the Championship and Championship One is, however, still unclear after failure to meet a consensus amongst the clubs and the RFL during an online meeting earlier in the week.

With sport restarting across the globe after the COVID-19 pandemic, Super League will have one eye on the end of the Football Premier League fixtures on the 26^th July (the FA Cup Final being played on the 1st August) with a view to filling the SKY TV schedules on the first weekend of August.

The opening game of round seven of the NRL thrust the Penrith Panthers and South Sydney Rabbitohs together as third took on eighth in the shortened season.

There were three ladder points between the sides coming into the game but both sides showed good form last time out in recording victories.

The bookies couldn’t choose between the two outfits, and the stage was set for an exciting Thursday night clash.

The Rabbitohs won both meetings last season but by margins of just a single, and then four, points.

A late change for the Panthers saw Brent Naden take the place of Josh Mansour who had picked up a knee injury just ahead of the clash.

The Rabbitohs made two changes with Hame Sale and James Roberts both being called onto the bench in place of Patrick Mago and Tom Amone.

Fifth placed Canberra Raiders were the bookies favourites to grab a win against fellow hopefuls the Manly Sea Eagles in Campbelltown and the first of Sunday’s two matches to complete round seven in the NRL got underway.

The game was billed as the battle between super star Englishman George Williams and Australia’s finest, Daly Cherry-Evans as the two number sevens went head to head.

The game of the day.

.

.

certainly.

The game of the round.

.

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absolutely.

The game of the season… there was every chance! An undefeated Paramatta Eels side took on a Sydney Roosters outfit who knew that a win would put them right back in contention, and more importantly halt the Eels run at the top of the table.

Both sides made a single change from last weeks winning sides with Oregon Kaufusi replacing Kane Evans for the Eels, and Jared Warea-Hargreaves in for Lindsay Collins for the Roosters.

A mid-table tussle between the Wests Tigers and North Queensland Cowboys was seen by many as the appetiser ahead of the Eels v.

Roosters main event to come later in the evening.

But the two sides, currently placed in ninth and tenth, knew that the two points could see them climb the table.

Both sides made four changes to the sides which lost out on round five as they looked to find some form and register a season turning win.

Few would have predicted a game of two such contrasting halves.

It was billed as the last game for stalwart forward James Graham before he returned to Super League and the other Red Vee club, St Helens.

The Dragons were looking to build on their first win on 2020, secured last time out against the Cronulla Sharks.

That win put the Titans to the bottom of the table, on points difference after a very disappointing start to their campaign.

Both sides knew that the win was crucial if their season wasn’t to be over before it had started.

The teams placed fourth and fifth in the ladder were always likely to serve up a close encounter as the Penrith Panthers took on the Melbourne Storm at the Campbeltown Stadium in Sydney.

There was little to choose between these two sides as the continued their hunt for the top of the table.

Josh Addo-Carr was missing for the Storm, expecting the birth of his first child, and was in the starting line up by Marion Seve.

The ladders’ bottom side, St George Illawarra Dragon looked to get their first win of the 2020 season as they took on thirteenth places Cronulla Sutherland Sharks who themselves were struggling with just one win in this year’s competition, recorded last round against the Cowboys.

The most notable change was the inclusion of Andrew Fifita in the Cronulla line-up but both sides made three squad changes and various positional switches from the sides.

It was another crucial game at the bottom of the table.

Two sides who’ve made a terrible start to their 2020 NRL campaigns were brought together at the Bankstown Stadium in Paramatta as the South Sydney Rabbitohs took on the Gold Coast Titans in a crucial match at the wrong end of the table.

Sitting fourteenth and fifteenth in the ladder and propped up only by a pointless St George Illawarra Dragons, a win was vital for both sides to get their campaign moving and hopefully gain some momentum.

History was on the Rabbitohs side and they were massive favourites with the bookies to seal the win.

Friday’s first game pitted the New Zealand Warriors against the North Queensland Cowboys.

The Warriors continue to struggle, despite their triumphant return to rugby in round three, and suffered a defeat last time out which keeps them towards the bottom of the ladder.

The Cowboys have fared little better with two wins from their four outings so far, a win and a loss since the restart.

New Zealand welcomed back Peta Hiku and Lachlan Burr while the Cowboys have Coen Hess and Reuban Cotter in their side as well as giving a debut to Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow on the wing.

A win for North Queensland could lift them as high as fourth, while the Warriors could make it to tenth spot if they could secure the points.

‘Some socially-distancing fans were allowed to return to the Central Coast Stadium to replace the cardboard cut-outs’, is about the most 2020 think that I think I’ve written all season.

Brisbane Broncos, still smarting from their 59-0 loss to the Roosters last weekend, were the opponents for the Manly Sea Eagles who lost narrowly to the Paramatta Eels.

Both sides came into the game on four points with one eye on achieving fourth spot on the ladder by the end of the eighty minutes.

The pundits and bookies, however, couldn’t see past a Manly win.

Two of the four unbeaten sides in the 2020 NRL competition were thrown together at the Campbelltown Stadium in Sydney as the Canberra Raiders took on the Newcastle Knights.

A big win for the Raiders would lift them to the top of the pile but the Knights knew that a win would see them into second.

Mitchell Pearce was selected for the Knights despite being concussed last time out and Kalyn Ponga was back from suspension for his first game since the restart.

The Raiders were unchanged in the seventeen, just Bailey Simonsson and Jordan Rapana swapping positions.

The pre-match billing was that this would be a blood and thunder nail-biter.

After being knocked off their lofty perch yesterday, by a devastating Penrith Panthers, the Paramatta Eels were looking for a swift return to their table topping opposition as they took on the eighth placed Manly Sea Eagles.

Paramatta made just once change, Oregon Kaufusi on the bench in the place of Ray Stone, while the Manly side were unchanged from the side which put the Brisbane Broncos to the sword last time out.

Two sides, both showing good form in the opening Project Apollo round, set the scene for a classic encounter.

After keeping the Dragons pointless last weekend the New Zealand Warriors, all Australians second team, had a tough game against the Penrith Panthers to navigate.

The Panthers had a nail-biting draw against the Newcastle Knights last weekend and knew that a win today would lift them from fourth spot to the top of the table.

The teams last met in Round 15 in late June last year when the Panthers won by a golden point, but despite being narrow favourites to continue their unbeaten start to the season there was very little to choose between the two sides in the odds.

Ninth took on tenth in the NRL league ladder met as the Brisbane Broncos took on the Sydney Roosters at the Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane in the crucial opening round four match.

Both sides made changes, the most notable being the loss of James Tedesco who awoke this morning with a temperature.

He was replaced by Englishman Ryan Hall with Brett Morris moving to the full back position.

Both sides needed a win to stop them from falling further adrift of the top of the table.