Brisbane Broncos vs Canterbury Bulldogs – Thursday night – Suncorp Stadium

The Bulldogs haven't beaten a lot of top eight sides this year (two to be precise), but one of them was the Broncos way back in round five. A couple of things to remember from that game – it was played in dreadful conditions and James Graham gave us on of the best performances of his career. This time around there will be no wet weather and no James Graham. The Bulldogs finally racked up 20 points in their last game, but that was against the Knights and they were on just 8 points until the 76th minute. Prior to that effort they haven't scored 20 points in their last nine attempts. On a dry surface at Suncorp they'll need points. They just can't get enough. They just can't get enough.

Verdict – Broncos by 8

Result – Broncos by 30

Sydney Roosters vs Newcastle Knights – Friday night – Allianz Stadium

Much of the interest in this game will be around SKD Row – with Shaun Hyphen-Dowall suiting up against his old club. He'll probably have a blinder, because he's that kind of crazy. No Jake Friend for the Chooks so someone else needs to make 60 tackles a game. In any case the forwards on the bench for the Roosters would be starting players with the Knights. You all know what happens with this game – the Knights will play well, for a fleeting moment you'll think they could win this...and then they won't. Happens every week.

Verdict – Roosters by 8

Result – Roosters by 24

Cronulla Sharks vs South Sydney Rabbitohs – Friday night – Southern Cross Group Stadium

It's hard to be enthusiastic about the Cronulla Sharks after that lacklustre effort against the Titans, but I'm tipping them anyway. Their record at home this season has been poor, but the Rabbits record at whatever we are calling Shark Park this weekend is even poorer. More importantly though, this game is a milestone for one of the good guys in the NRL. Luke Lewis notches up game number 300 on Friday night, and 300 is a serious milestone. He becomes just the 28th player in our game to get there, and the Sharks won't let him down. The Rabbits probably have to win seven of their last eight to play finals football this season. There's only seven games left. It's not their year.

Verdict – Sharks by 10

Result – Sharks by 14

Penrith Panthers vs Gold Coast Titans – Saturday afternoon –Pepper Stadium

Some useful inclusions for the Panthers in Moylan and Wallace this weekend, although they do lose one of their 'spiritual' leaders in Trent Merrin. With Latu and Fisher-Harris still on the bench for the Panthers, they clearly aren't short of power in the engine room even without Merrin. The Titans were fantastic in their first underwater game for the year and if they want to play finals footy (and they do) they have to keep winning. They can win this, and if they were at home I'd be tipping them. I think I've got the Panthers wrong for about five weeks in a row. Clearly they are a team I'm misjudging (I did tip them to win the premiership this year so I've been misjudging them for quite some time). Still, they have won 6 of their last 8. Their two point loss to the Cowboys in Townsville looks fair form, and I'm going to put a line through that baffling performance against the Rabbitohs as a one-off oddity. Cleary proved he can take a game by the scruff of the neck and own it – NSW Blues selectors surely have to take notice. Of all the sides outside the top eight the black cats look the most likely to make a run for it...if they win this.

Verdict – Panthers by 4

Result – Panthers by 8

Canberra Raiders vs Melbourne Storm – Saturday night – GIO Stadium

A quick glance at the inclusions in the line-up for the Storm and they all but pick themselves don't they? If the Raiders were in 2016 form this would be one of the games of the year...but I think they're struggling. Sure they got the win in round 19, but only just. A length of the field intercept try to Sezer and some rare magic from big Dave Taylor got them the points. The purple machine is a sterner test than the Red V, and I'm assuming the Storm will cope with whatever sort of diabolical weather Canberra dishes out on Saturday night.

Verdict – Storm by 10

Result – Storm by 6

North Queensland Cowboys vs New Zealand Warriors – Saturday night – 1300SMILES Stadium

I'm not even disappointed by the Warriors anymore. They're like a girlfriend that's been letting you down for years and you basically expect it before it even happens. That's it Warriors – this relationship is over. If you can't make an effort for the game to celebrate Manu Vatuvei you are not my girlfriend anymore. The Cowboys have won five from seven without Thurston, and their losses were against the 2016 grand finalists. That's the sort of girlfriend I want. Hey Cowboys – what are you up to after the game on Saturday night?

Verdict – Cowboys by 10

Result – Cowboys by 12

St George Illawarra Dragons vs Manly Sea Eagles – Sunday afternoon – WIN Stadium

At the risk of facing a barrage of angriness from Fortress and his mate EagleROCKS I'm tipping an upset here. There's absolutely nothing wrong with the way the Sea Eagles are playing, but I have a feeling the Dragons will deliver on Sunday afternoon. They need to shore up their place in the top eight, and while they have a few easy games ahead of them, there's quite a few difficult contests too. This is the sort of game they have to be winning to keep their place in the top eight. They went close against the Raiders in Canberra and back at home in front of a healthy crowd on a Sunday should see them bring out their best. The return of Frizzell bolsters an already imposing pack of forwards. I'll be accused of having a simple mind, but the Dragons season is alive and kicking.

Verdict – Dragons by 2

Result – Dragons by 30

Wests Tigers vs Parramatta Eels – Sunday afternoon – ANZ Stadium

The only thing the Tigers have to play for is pride and enough points to stay ahead of the Newcastle Knights on the ladder. With four points of breathing space they are starting to look safe, but they aren't quite out of the Aaron Woods yet. The Eels are still in the battle for a finals berth, and I would hope that's reason enough to be ready for battle. Mitchell Moses gets another opportunity to show the Tigers that his decision to move to the Eels was the right one. Hoping for a fair crowd at this game by ANZ standards (20000+), despite the Tigers sorry season.

Verdict – Eels by 14

Result – Eels by 1

Wally Lewis - round twenty selections (in bold)

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

• BRONCOS vs Bulldogs
• ROOSTERS vs Knights
• SHARKS vs Rabbitohs
• PANTHERS vs Titans
• Raiders vs STORM
• COWBOYS vs Warriors
• Dragons vs SEA EAGLES
• Tigers vs EELS

The comments section

Greetings football fans. I've been busy with other things over the last few days. On reading through the comments on this page I've made the decision to close the comments section for the time being. I apologise to those of you that were here to make legitimate comments about rugby league on a rugby league website. I hope you can accept the choice I am making for now. Obviously you can't comment to tell me how you think...so I'll try and read your minds.

Closing the comments section serves two purposes.

It gives some of you a chance to calm yourselves down and have a think about what you are doing here. If you can't work it out let me give you a hand - what you are doing sucks. You're turning what is meant to be a bit of fun and making it everything but.

Closing the comments also gives me a chance to go through what has been said and delete anything I want to delete (which I will now start doing instead of watching the Sharks play the Rabbitohs) without people adding even more comments for me to manage. Abuse is unacceptable, and feeling like someone is abusing you does not give you the green light to abuse others. It doesn't solve anything and you all end up looking like idiots.

I will open the comments again, but if this crap continues the individuals responsible will be shut down. Creating new accounts or posting anonymously is hiding in plain sight. We know where you are.

Apologies for the rant. Thanks to those of you that have tried hard to keep the comments on track, and to those of you whose patience with all this garbage must be wearing very thin.