{"id":116677,"date":"2021-08-19T05:46:28","date_gmt":"2021-08-19T05:46:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=116677"},"modified":"2021-08-19T15:38:52","modified_gmt":"2021-08-19T15:38:52","slug":"tips-joey-freddy-split-on-game-of-the-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=116677","title":{"rendered":"Tips: Joey, Freddy split on &#039;game of the year&#039;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Andrew Johns is backing the <a href=\"https:\/\/wwos.nine.com.au\/nrl\/south-sydney-rabbitohs\" target=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" title=\"Rabbitohs\">Rabbitohs<\/a> to make a huge statement ahead of the finals by taking care of a <a href=\"https:\/\/wwos.nine.com.au\/nrl\/penrith-panthers\" target=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" title=\"Panthers\">Panthers<\/a> side that&#x27;s starting to get back to full strength in what he says is &quot;the game of the year&quot;.<\/p>\n<p>Sitting second and third on the ladder with three rounds remaining, <a href=\"https:\/\/wwos.nine.com.au\/nrl\/live-scores\/penrith-panthers-v-south-sydney-rabbitohs-nrl-telstra-premiership-2021\/321233\" target=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" title=\"tomorrow night&#x27;s Suncorp Stadium blockbuster\">tomorrow night&#x27;s Suncorp Stadium blockbuster<\/a> shapes as a qualifying final preview with the two sides on collision course to meet in week one of the playoffs.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Scroll below for the current leaderboard and Round 23 tips by Johns, Fittler and all Nine&#x27;s expert tipsters!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p><img data-id=\"6166ec38-7e7f-467c-934b-456ebcacdc22\" src=\"https:\/\/prod.static9.net.au\/fs\/6166ec38-7e7f-467c-934b-456ebcacdc22\" alt=\"Panthers star James Fisher-Harris.\" data-width=\"2032\" data-height=\"1142\" \/><\/p>\n<p>While that has had some predicting that Wayne Bennett and Ivan Cleary will hold their cards close to their chest and leave something in reserve for September, Johns expects South Sydney to plant their flag after <a href=\"https:\/\/wwos.nine.com.au\/nrl\/live-scores\/south-sydney-rabbitohs-v-penrith-panthers-nrl-telstra-premiership-2021\/321117\" target=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" title=\"being walloped 56-12 when the clubs last met back in Round 11\">being walloped 56-12 when the clubs last met back in Round 11<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>At that point in the season the Panthers were purring and had established themselves as red hot premiership favourites, thanks to the stunning form of Nathan Cleary and Jarome Luai in the halves.<\/p>\n<p>That script was flipped somewhat by the shoulder injury Cleary suffered in State of Origin II, but with <a href=\"https:\/\/wwos.nine.com.au\/nrl\/phil-gould-paul-gallen-clash-over-nathan-cleary-sholder-charge-jack-bird\/55e4351f-5e8d-42cf-a5dd-65a9fbb4dd50\" target=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" title=\"the halfback set to suit up for his second match after returning\">the halfback set to suit up for his second match after returning<\/a>, Penrith have a huge chance to re-establish their title claims.<\/p>\n<p><img data-video-id=\"6268160242001\" src=\"https:\/\/vms-network-images-prod.s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com\/2021\/08\/375464\/pickerimage.jpg\" alt=\"Gus, Gal fire up over Cleary shoulder charge\" data-vms-id=\"ref:ckselxccu000t0hpyonyz0r56\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Johns doesn&#x27;t see it going that way.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;Penrith with Nathan back against the high flying point-scoring Bunnies, I think this game will be a pointscoring shootout,&quot; Johns told Brad Fittler for Wide World of Sports&#x27; <a href=\"https:\/\/wwos.nine.com.au\/videos\/nrl\/freddy-joeys-tips-round-23\/cksgxumte00000hpgxw0nd4wf\" target=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" title=\"Freddy &amp; Joey&#x27;s Tips\"><em>Freddy &amp; Joey&#x27;s Tips<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;I&#x27;m going Souths, I really like Souths in this one,&quot; Johns said, adding that he was blown away by &quot;Cam Murray&#x27;s form in the middle of the field&quot;.<\/p>\n<p>The Rabbitohs have named flyer Alex Johnston and star centre Campbell Graham to return, with Bennett able to pick his first choice back five for the first time in a while.<\/p>\n<p>However, on the other side of the field, a Panthers debut for former Broncos wrecking ball Tevita Pangai Jnr looms and James Fisher-Harris is expected to make his return after being named on an extended bench.<\/p>\n<p>Those additions were enough to convince Fittler to stick with his old side and tip the Panthers to do the season double over the Rabbitohs and retain second spot on the ladder.<\/p>\n<p><img data-id=\"a99229a7-26c2-4f0d-a876-bf1d97c56668\" src=\"https:\/\/prod.static9.net.au\/fs\/a99229a7-26c2-4f0d-a876-bf1d97c56668\" alt=\"Nine&#x27;s NRL tipping leaderboard.\" data-width=\"1396\" data-height=\"785\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>Andrew Johns:<\/strong> Storm, Sea Eagles, Rabbitohs, Tigers, Knights, Eels, Roosters, Broncos<\/p>\n<p><strong>Brad Fittler:<\/strong> Storm, Sea Eagles, Panthers, Tigers, Knights, Eels, Roosters, Warriors<\/p>\n<p><strong>The Mole:<\/strong> Storm, Sea Eagles, Panthers, Sharks, Knights, Eels, Roosters, Warriors<\/p>\n<p><strong>Paul Gallen:<\/strong> Storm, Raiders, Rabbitohs, Sharks, Knights, Eels, Roosters, Warriors\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>Ruan Sims:<\/strong> Storm, Sea Eagles, Rabbitohs, Tigers, Knights, Eels, Dragons, Broncos<\/p>\n<p><strong>Wally Lewis:<\/strong> Storm, Sea Eagles, Panthers, Sharks, Knights, Eels, Roosters, Broncos<\/p>\n<p><strong>Billy Slater:<\/strong> Storm, Sea Eagles, Rabbitohs, Tigers, Knights, Eels, Roosters, Warriors<\/p>\n<p><strong>Darren Lockyer:<\/strong> Storm, Sea Eagles, Rabbitohs, Sharks, Knights, Eels, Roosters, Broncos<\/p>\n<p><strong>Peter Psaltis:<\/strong> Storm, Raiders, Panthers, Tigers, Knights, Eels, Roosters, Broncos\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>Tim Elbra:<\/strong> Storm, Sea Eagles, Rabbitohs, Wests Tigers, Knights, Eels, Roosters, Broncos<\/p>\n<p><strong>Ben Glover:<\/strong> Storm, Sea Eagles, Rabbitohs, Sharks, Knights, Eels, Roosters, Broncos<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/em><\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/login.nine.com.au\/login?client_id=wwos&amp;redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwwos.nine.com.au&amp;newsletter=true\" title=\"clicking here!\"><strong><em>clicking here!<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p><img data-video-id=\"6268401392001\" src=\"https:\/\/vms-network-images-prod.s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com\/2021\/08\/375856\/pickerimage.jpg\" alt=\"The Eels&#x27; new coach?: Freddy &amp; The Eighth - Round 23\" data-vms-id=\"ref:cksgxzngp00020hmr204lvw84\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>Andrew Johns is backing the Rabbitohs to make a huge statement ahead of the finals by taking care of a Panthers side that&#x27;s starting to <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=116677\" title=\"Tips: Joey, Freddy split on &#039;game of the year&#039;\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116677"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=116677"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116677\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":116679,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116677\/revisions\/116679"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=116677"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=116677"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=116677"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}