Wests Tigers vs South Sydney Rabbitohs - Friday night – ANZ Stadium

Oddly enough the Tigers pay a heftier price during the Origin period than the defending premiers. The Bunnies lose their captain (Inglis) and he's hard to replace, but the Tigers are without their captain (Farah) and their best forward (Woods). These sides met back in round three, and the Bunnies triumphed with a fairly definitive four tries to one display. In that game Aaron Woods ran for 220 odd metres and Robbie Farah made 56 tackles. Those are tough shoes and numbers to fill. It's not all cut and dried though, as the Bunnies are also missing Luke and Reynolds - that's three quarters of the round three spine filled by replacements. Note the home ground location too - a cold wet night at Campbelltown and you could entertain an upset. At ANZ the red and green are the team with more sheen.

Verdict – Rabbitohs by 10

Result - Tigers 34 defeated Rabbitohs 6

New Zealand Warriors vs Sydney Roosters – Saturday night – Mt Smart Stadium

I don't mind backing the Roosters over the ditch - given that the tricolours have almost as many Kiwis in their 17 as the Warriors. Their performance against the Sharks was flat and four of their best are in Origin camp but I think they can bounce back with a win few will see coming. I have a huge wrap on their missing backrowers (Guerra and Cordnor) but they still boast a strong pack and some big boppers on the bench to share the load. Importantly the Warriors are without two of their most reliable forwards in Lilyman and Hoffman - the onus is on those that remain to stand up and keep on standing up. If they do the Warriors win this in a walk, but it's the Red, White and Bluesters for me. Hoping the Warriors still have jet lag after returning home from that away game on Neptune last weekend.

Verdict – Roosters by 4

Result - Roosters 25 defeated Warriors 21

Gold Coast Titans vs Canterbury Bulldogs – Sunday afternoon – CBus Super Stadium

If you told Dave Taylor he wouldn't be available for this game he would assume Big Mal had given him yet another chance at Origin level. Alas no...even with Myles and Bird unavailable it's the Tweed Heads Seagulls for Big Dave. At least the Star Buffet is good value. Even Dave Taylor couldn't eat all the Bulldogs players unavailable on the weekend - Morris, Morris, Graham, Hodkinson, Klemmer and Jackson. Despite all those missing in action I'm tipping the Doggies here - they have still pulled together a pretty decent seventeen and that halves combination of Reynolds and Mbye worked last weekend against the Dragons. That's good enough here.

Verdict – Bulldogs by 2

Result - Titans 28 defeated Bulldogs 14

Melbourne Storm vs Parramatta Eels – Monday night – AAMI Park

Parramatta were mostly good against the Cowboys - mostly good. If they repeat that performance they'll win this time, because there is no way known the Storm can score 30 points in 11 minutes without their big three. The Eels are near enough to full-strength (minus Hopoate) and have no excuse for dropping their hands this time. Even though there is talent coming through at the Storm they are very young and they need their big guns to steer them around. The Storm will try and win this game slowly and they'll compete, but I expect the Eels to pull away when it matters. Given the number of times in recent weeks the Eels have turned winning situations into losing ones I can't believe I'm about to say this - I'm pretty confident.

Verdict – Eels by 8

Result - Eels 26 defeated Storm 22

Wally Lewis - round fourteen selections (in bold)

Note: tips from Wally will be published on Thursday night or early Friday morning.

• Tigers vs RABBITOHS
• WARRIORS vs Roosters
• Titans vs BULLDOGS
• Storm vs EELS