NEW ZEALAND v GOLD COAST (Mt Smart Stadium, Friday, 8:30pm NZ time)

The Warriors have to be inspired by Micheal Luck. The hard-headed tackling machine was carried off the field in round 14 with what looked like a season-ending knee injury. The doctors gave better news, saying the former Cowboy would be out for only eight weeks, having him back mid-August. Luck defied even that optimistic prediction, and a dislocated patella, and is back on the paddock less than four weeks later. It comes as no surprise that the Warriors have gone winless since Luck was helped from the field. He is the heart and soul of the club but more importantly, he is their backbone, the player that gives the Warriors middle the required starch. In the three games Luck missed/partially missed, the Warriors allowed 24 points per game, well above their season average of 18.13. The return of big prop Sam Rapira is another major plus. Against a hapless Titans team who are a out-of-form across the board and unlikely to have their Origin players (who are a better than even-money chance of getting rested on a two-day back-up with the season over), the Warriors should romp this in.

BPL Tip: New Zealand by 20

TAB Sportsbet odds: New Zealand $1.30, Gold Coast $3.50

PARRAMATTA v WESTS TIGERS (Parramatta Stadium, Friday, 7:30pm)

Throw your hands in the air in this one. Turn around. Get nice and dizzy. Pick up a dart and hurl it blindly at a sheet reading "Parramatta" and another reading "Tigers". That is probably the best way to tip this match. It doesn't matter how you break this game down, finding a winner with any confidence is near-impossible. Parramatta are struggling, failing to win a game since round 11. They will at least (in all likelihood) get Jarryd Hayne, their only attacking weapon, back for this. The Tigers have been hot and cold all year but enter this without Benji Marshall (though Marshall being a late call-up would not surprise). Chris Lawrence returns from a nasty dislocated hip but second-rower Simon Dwyer has been ruled out for the year. Parramatta have won 9 of 12 and are at home and that may just be enough.

BPL Tip: Parramatta by 2

TAB Sportsbet odds: Parramatta $2.00, Wests Tigers $1.80

CRONULLA v CANBERRA (Toyota Stadium, Saturday, 5:30pm)

When the Raiders and the Sharks did battle back in round one, these two teams seemed to be staring down two very different destinies. Canberra, for the first time in arguably 15 years, went into the season as legitimate premiership threats. They had come off a fast-finishing run to make it all the way to the second week of the finals and had recruited well, picking up a need in halfback Matt Orford and scoring talented Cronulla winger Blake Ferguson. The Sharks, meanwhile, were the red-hot favourites for the wooden spoon after another dreadful season in 2010 and little action in the recruitment stakes. The 40-12 Raiders win seemed to suggest all was on track for both teams. Paths have converged since though with the Raiders losing eight straight, battling to only their fifth win against the Roosters on Monday night while the Sharks have cobbled together six wins to put them in contention for their first finals berth since 2008. The Sharks have been in good nick, three-peating for the first time since 2009 in their victory over Souths, but Canberra have been playing with a lot more flair of late as five-eighth Josh McCrone has found both form and confidence. The decision to dump Bronson Harrison for the bullocking youngster Josh Papalii has also helped, stiffening the defensive line and bringing in some direct fringe running. The Raiders have won three of four against the Sharks and should be just a little too strong.

BPL Tip: Canberra by 4

TAB Sportsbet odds: Cronulla $1.68, Canberra $2.15

CANTERBURY v MELBOURNE (Adelaide Oval, Saturday, 7:00pm SA time)

The NRL returns to the Adelaide Oval for only the second time since the Rams closed their doors in 1998 with the Bulldogs trying to cultivate South Australia as a home away from home. The picturesque ground has hosted 26 league matches since St George defeated Balmain 16-2 in 1991 with the Bulldogs defeating the long-gone Storm here 20-18 last year. A similar result seems highly unlikely this year considering the Bulldogs woeful attacking form over the last two months. The Dogs have averaged a putrid 12.25 points in their last eight games and if the 28 points against the Titans is taken out, where the Bulldogs were handed the game on a butler-held silver platter, the average drops to 10 with Canterbury only once scoring more than two tries and never breaking 16 points over that timeframe. The Storm, meanwhile, have allowed only 30 points in their last five games as they reassert themselves as the top defensive outfit in the NRL. Canterbury simply don't have enough points in them to worry Melbourne.

BPL Tip: Melbourne by 12

TAB Sportsbet odds: Canterbury $2.40, Melbourne $1.57

SYDNEY ROOSTERS v PENRITH (Sydney Football Stadium, Sunday, 2:00pm)

New Penrith coach Steve Georgallis had a brief stint at the Roosters in his playing days, running out 38 games for the Tricolours between 1989 and 1992. His move to Penrith doesn't quite make up for the loss of Phil Gould and Brad Fittler in the mid-nineties to the Roosters, two moves that crippled the Panthers for a decade, but it is something for a club more used to losing than winning. Georgallis has had an interesting start to his coaching career. He has won his first two matches in charge of the Panthers but he has since found out he won't be at the club in 2012 with Ivan Cleary appointed to the head coaching job. The Panthers have been the punters pal this year, covering 11 of 15 starts including making the spread in their last eight. The Roosters haven't been bad either, at least if you have taken to betting against Brian Smith's men, who have won four matches and covered only five times this years. The Roosters are a team in disarray, having seemingly given up on the 2011 season. Steve Georgallis should make it three from three this week.

BPL Tip: Penrith by 10

TAB Sportsbet odds: Sydney Roosters $2.25, Penrith $1.65

MANLY v SOUTH SYDNEY (Brookvale Oval, Sunday, 3:00pm)

There are few better places to be on a Sunday afternoon than Brookvale Oval for a battle between old rivals Manly and South Sydney, a match-up first played out in 1947 but a rivalry that came to life in the 1970s when the likes of John O'Neill, Ray Branighan and Tom Mooney defected to the "Silvertails" and helped guide Manly to four premierships in six years. The Bunnies have not won a title since O'Neill and Branighan left for the Northern Beaches in '72. In more recent times, these two have had a tendency to play high scoring shootouts which makes for a salivating match-up this Sunday with five of their last six tallying 50-plus points. Manly have won five of the last eight between these two and six of the last seven at Brookvale Oval and their classy backline, led by the in-form No.6 Kieran Foran, should have too much punch for the Bunnies in what is expected to be a real points-fest.

BPL Tip: Manly by 8

TAB Sportsbet odds: Manly $1.30, South Sydney $3.50

NEWCASTLE v NORTH QUEENSLAND (Ausgrid Stadium, Monday, 7:00pm)

It will be interesting to see if Cory Paterson gets a run for the Cowboys this week. Paterson had been part of the furniture at the Knights from 2007, playing 77 games for Newcastle before making the move to Townsville a month ago when told he was unwanted by incoming coach Wayne Bennett. Paterson has been named on an extended bench to play the Knights and if he does play, it will be his debut for North Queensland. Paterson's attempts to exact revenge on the club that dumped him may not be enough to get the Cowboys over the line though. The Knights have won five of their last seven against the Cowboys including a 34-22 touch-up in round two, North Queensland's only loss at home this year. On the road, the Cowboys are a far worse team, winning only one of their last four away from Dairy Farmers and with Newcastle in sound form, having won three straight and three straight at home, the Knights are deserved favourites.

BPL Tip: Newcastle by 6

TAB Sportsbet odds: Newcastle $1.65, North Queensland $2.25