NRL 2022

North Queensland's flying start to 2022 has seen Val Holmes, Reuben Cotter, Jeremiah Nanai, Tom Dearden, Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow and Murray Taulagi all rewarded with Maroons selection while Gold Coast are without big guns Tino Fa'asuamaleaui (Origin) and David Fifita (knee).

The Titans have lost seven of their past eight, including Friday's inexplicable fadeout against the Broncos in which they led 24-4 after 50 minutes before conceding five tries in 21 minutes to be blown off the park.

North Queensland forwards Reuben Cotter and Jeremiah Nanai have both been rewarded for their strong start to the year with selection in the side, while Broncos winger Selwyn Cobbo is also set to make his Origin debut after just 19 NRL games.

Staggs and Crichton were both named as part of the extended squad by Blues Coach Brad Fittler, which also included potential Origin debutants in Sharks halfback Nicho Hynes and Eels forward Ryan Matterson.

Hynes was part of the New South Wales Origin camp during the 2021 series, while Matterson was previously 18th Man for the Blues during their successful 2019 campaign.

Brown crossed for a 65th minute effort to give the Eels an eight-point lead late and was well supported by former Raiders junior Bailey Simonsson, who came back to haunt his old side with his own double in the victory. 

The Dragons skipped out to a 16-6 lead in the first half but two Bulldogs tries after the break brought the strong Belmore crowd back into the game as the home side stole the lead.

However, crucial errors after points helped the Red V get back on track with tries to Zac Lomax and Andrew McCullough enabling the visitors to go up by 10 with a quarter of the game remaining. 

Canterbury hit back to get within four through Aaron Schoupp but a costly error from Englishman Luke Thompson killed off any momentum the Bulldogs had late.

The 32-12 victory was Canberra's third on the trot, lifting them to ninth on the ladder, outside the eight only on points differential.

Parramatta had to dig deep to get the better of Manly in a tight struggle at CommBank Stadium, coming back from 20-10 down to register their seventh win of the season.

The Raiders are traditionally tough to beat at home on a Sunday afternoon and they'll be hoping for a huge crowd to make life uncomfortable for Brad Arthur's men.

In the last four meetings between these sides the Bulldogs have come away with two wins, including a thumping 28-6 victory at Accor Stadium in round 14 last year when Luke Thompson and Josh Jackson ran riot through the middle.

The forwards will again hold the key if Canterbury are to turn their fortunes around and hand interim coach Mick Potter his first victory on what is sure to be an emotional day back at Belmore Sports Ground.

Fittingly, the star winger, who is proud of his Saibai Island heritage, achieved the feat in Indigenous Round and he later joked that he wouldn't take off his jersey for a week but at just 27 years of age Johnston has more records within reach.

With 147 tries in 178 appearances for Souths, Johnston has the best strike rate of any player since former Dragons winger Nathan Blacklock, who scored 121 tries in 142 matches between 1995 and 2004.

Tedesco tuned up for Origin One with a dazzling display which included a try, two try assists, nine tackle breaks and 242 running metres.

The Roosters had the early ascendancy thanks to a Daniel Tupou try in just the fourth minute after Drew Hutchison took the odds to running on the last tackle and found his winger with a crafty offload.

Come the 21st minute and Tupou had his second of the night and 125th of his career after Luke Keary and Tedesco combined from a scrumbase play to give the winger a saloon passage to the line.

Making just his second appearance for the Knights, Milford had a hand in three of Newcastle's four tries as they overcame an early 12-0 deficit to snatch just their second win in 10 weeks.