20 Thoughts from Round 7

1. Why Tigers board members think sacking their coach will fix everything when the last five times they made such a move failed spectacularly is beyond me. Time for an overhaul of the board and playing roster I believe. Although it's probably just easier to change the coach and absolutely nothing else.

2. Every time a player plays well fans rush to find which team "let them go". The Broncos seem to have once contracted every talented youngster in the NRL right now. At least it isn't the Sharks. Good fun.

3. I absolutely don't buy into NRL conspiracies but the Roosters sure do have their fair share of luck don't they? Radley let off for a similar incident others were suspended for. Angus Crichton was applauded for a tackle that saw Talakai sin-binned and suspended for a month of footy. Lucky, lucky stuff.

4. How incredible is Benji Marshall? The question needs to be asked whether or not he should be in Immortal discussions. I'm still waiting to hear the argument against it.

5. ANZAC Round was every bit as amazing as we had hoped. Every game's pre-match ceremony was met with incredible respect. I was at the Kogarah game on Saturday evening and I can't speak highly enough of the emotion.

6. 'Tommy Turbo' is the most important player in the competition. End of argument. He's completely transformed that Manly side.

7. If I'm a Cowboys fan I'm hoping they kept the reported $800,000 receipt for Chad Townsend. For the third week in a row he was outplayed by a rookie or a journeyman and routinely blew overlaps with horror decisions. NO take backs HAHA!

8. I would make fun of the Titans game-plan of "throw it to Fifita" but for 40 minutes on Friday night it was 10/10 working. I don't think there's any question as to where the danger lies in that Titans side, nor do I expect teams not to plan specifically for that tactic moving forward.

9. Stephen Crichton looked twice the player moving back into the centres on Thursday night. I don't think a move to fullback is in his near future, which is great seeing as he's a top six centre in the game. That Panthers right side quickly became just as lethal as their left.

10. Maika Sivo just did as much damage to my Supercoach Draft side this weekend as he did to the Broncos edge. No, on second thought he absolutely made young Xavier Coates look like a deer in the headlights. He won't be the last player either.

Watch ZT's Dan Nichols discuss the big moments from Round 7 via Rugby League Outlaws

11. The Raiders look a shell of their former selves. I'm not usually one to lump on coaches but Ricky Stuart has blamed referees and his players for not being "first graders". There was a quick "I should have picked Kris" at a press conference but now is the time to really earn his wage.

12. Valentine Holmes is starting to look a little more like the player the Cowboys thought they were signing. As a huge fan of the Sharks' record regular season try-scorer I'm happy to see him up and running. So too are the Cowboys.

13. Sam Walker is a freakish talent but he's only beaten the Sharks, Warriors and the Dragons whilst being massively outplayed by the Storm. Let's kick back on the hype and let the kid be awesome.

14. I hate the Storm. They lose Slater to retirement, Drinkwater moves on, Hughes shifts into the halves, Papenhuyzen is injured and in comes Nicho Hynes. The fact this kid isn't the target of a multiple team recruitment drive is shocking to me. He's a genius youngster capable of playing multiple positions.

15. Sticking with the Storm, Reimis Smith is exactly the kind of player Craig Bellamy takes from a decent, fringe first grader and makes a star. It's happening! He looks sharper, faster and a much better player already.

16. For numerous reasons, any talk of Sam Burgess returning is ridiculous. Not least because he literally retired due to never being able to play the game again. Greg Inglis playing again made a mockery of the rule.

17. What about those poor Roosters. They might have to play without James Tedesco this weekend and only have a centre by the name of Joseph Manu to fill in at fullback. I hate them too!

18. I don't know why teams don't look to the future once players sign away, especially teams who are struggling. The Broncos lose Tom Dearden at the end of the year, so too the Sharks and Chad Townsend. Surely both sides pick alternate halfbacks with both results and the future in mind.

19. RTS shifting to the wing to allow the future fullback of the club to debut in the number one role shows his stature in the game. Incredible. That said, I'd be picking RTS at fullback moving forward until they're out of finals contention.

20. I'd sure hate to be a Sharks fan across the next three weeks. Storm, Panthers and Bunnies. That'll be great fun!