Gamblers Benny Read Aaron O'Neill Wes Welker Morgan Burridge Senor Slippy Brett Hall Simon Humble Brett Gemmell Mate Perry Dion Alessi Ben Herd Jaz Eightyfour Luke Tyson Damien Taylor Ether Starris Subs: Duckworth Lewis Alex O'Driscoll Luke Popovic Ben Taylor Truman Lee Theo Miokovic Jack Dempsey Vikings Clayton Evans Tom Delonge Reagan Wheelson Donald Boland Choco Man Ben Manera Simon Laing Bill Morganpola Rob Cribb Aaron Hunt Andrew James Steve Cambridge Sam Green Dirk Diggler Kelvin Fung Subs: Quentin Goldenhaus Antone Sciappapetre Nigel Hunt Hache Emm Rusty Downpipes Scott Flack Henry Daman Odds Gamblers: $2.00 Vikings: $1.66 Insight This one should be the match of the round. Gamblers are slight outsiders, but with home advantage and a bit of luck and a fair wind, they could turn over the Vikings. The Vikings have clear strengths and weaknesses, whilst the Gamblers seem to have their talent more evenly distributed. The Vikings' clear strength is in the pivots, with star signing Rob Cribb teaming up with Aaron Hunt who was a tough retention in the off season. This should mean good ball for the key Vikings backs in Andrew James and Steve Cambridge. That's where most of the Vikings' points will come from. Unfortunately for the Vikings, for their pivots to come into play, they need their pack to function, and that's where the problems start. Two first-grade flops in Evans and Wheelson bed down with the more experienced Delonge. They face a strong and well tested front row in Read-O'Neill-Welker. Expect a high number of technical penalties at scrum time. The 2nd rows are more evenly matched with Burridge supported by the untested Slippy. Boland will have a tough battle with Burridge, but Choco Man should outperform Slippy. The back rows both feature big names from seasons past, perhaps whose standards have started to wane. Humble, Manera, Laing. The key player here is Brett Gemmell who the Gamblers will need a top performance from to win this match. At least here, the Gamblers have some bench strength to call on in Alex O'Driscoll. Expect to see O'Driscoll early in the 2nd half to try and take advantage as the Vikings tire. The use of former key pivot Ben Taylor will also be interesting. With the signing of Dion Alessi in the off-season, Taylor can be freed up from first-five duties and operate more as a utility. Taylor might make an appearance in the centres or even at full back. Expectation: Tough call. Vikings by 3, but could easy be a small margin to the Gamblers.
If the weather's dry, then that'll aid the Vikings but damp or wet and the Gamblers start to edge towards being favourites.
So keen to take my combination with Hunt from the provincial stuff into club rugby and make my Vikings debut.