There are few greater sights in rugby league than a well-constructed, well-orchestrated try.
When a team reads from the same song sheet, or a player puts on a move that the average punter could only dream about - the kind of move that has a whole stadium rise as one - it really is special.
And of course, because we are Australians, we have managed to link tries to meat pies which seems to be pretty apt when a big forward bundles across the line.
We've run the rule over this weekend's games and come up with eight players likely to crash over for a four-pointer, and you can grab your own footy pie with Red Rooster and Four 'N Twenty combining to launch the brand new Chicken and Gravy Pie.
Matthew Timoko
The Bulldogs love conceding a try down their left-hand side. According to Stats Insiderย data, they have conceded 48 per cent of all their tries there this season.
Canberra's right centre Matthew Timoko has hardly been prolific when it comes to crossing the stripe this season with just three tries to date, but he is overdue for one against the Bulldogs. He also scored in the corresponding game last year, where the Raiders opened Magic Round with a 34-30 win over the Bulldogs.
Anytime try-scorer odds: $3.10
Deine Mariner
Friday's second game sees a clash of two teams without their key fullback, both Reece Walsh (Broncos) and Tom Trbojevic (Sea Eagles) have been ruled out.
NRL STATS 2024: Try Scorers Leaderboard
That is going to make for an intriguing contest, and with Brisbane entering as favourites, we will back Deine Mariner to continue his try-scoring run by making it nine tries in nine games this year.
Anytime try-scorer odds: $1.53
David Fifita
Not a lot of rocket science behind this one other than "David Fifita will be ready for a big performance."
He has had a wild week off the field. Late last week, he was set to become a Rooster. That has now gone out the window and he will remain with the Titans.
He will be keen to make a statement for the club he will spend at least the next two years of his career at, that we have little doubt about.
Anytime try-scorer odds: $2.80
Dominic Young
This looks like the game of the weekend. The Sharks come into the contest off the back of a shock away win over the Melbourne Storm, while the Roosters have been strong in recent weeks.
What the Sharks don't have, though, is height to match Dominic Young, and on the back of Sam Walker's kicking game - which has been outstanding in recent weeks - Young should be able to cross the line after winning an aerial battle at some point.
Anytime try-scorer odds: $1.72
Reuben Cotter
The Rabbitohs have had a ridiculously soft underbelly this season. They have let in points at will all over the park, but some of the tries through the middle third have been alarming.
With Souths lacking speed and agility, Cotter will be primed to dive across at some point. He is a bit on the smaller side of some of the other men in the middle, but he makes up for that in other ways, and the Queensland Origin forward scored four chicken pies last year.
He has just the one this year, so definitely due for another one soon.
Anytime try-scorer odds: $6.00
Sunia Turuva
The Warriors are simply all over the place this weekend. Breaching Penrith's defence is hard enough at full strength, let alone with blokes missing, and in a run of bad form.
It's tough to predict exactly who will be defending what parts of the line for them as well this weekend, but Penrith go in as red-hot favourites, and the competition's equal leading try-scorer Sunia Turuva must be favoured to push through at some point.
Anytime try-scorer odds: $1.57
Sua Fa'alogo
The key battle in this game could be that of the two young fullbacks, Blaize Talagi for Parramatta, and Sua Fa'alogo for Melbourne.
Fa'alogo has three tries in three NRL games though, and his pace could be too much to match for a slow-moving Eels unit. Melbourne flogged Parramatta last time these sides met in the Queensland capital for the Magic Round showpiece, and they are tipped to repeat the dose this year - Fa'alogo should have a big say in the result.
Anytime try-scorer odds: $1.95
Jack Bostock
This could be a sneaky contender for one of the more entertaining games this year. At their best, this is two free-flowing footy sides, so there could be a bunch of pies on the scoreboard.
NRL 2024: Who's scored the most tries in 2024?
Expecting a lot of points in this one, we are tipping the Dolphins' young winger Jack Bostock to at some point touch down across the line, adding to the eight scores in nine games he already has against his name in 2024.
Anytime try-scorer odds: $1.70
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