First week of the finals!

And so it begins. One of the tightest NRL finals races in memory starts this weekend.

It may sound like a cliche, but this will be a September where anything can happen. Dreams will come true for some, while for others, heartbreak will be their destiny.

Minor Premiers St George are known to choke come finals time. There's an old joke "What do St George have in common with snow? They're both gone by September..." but this time I predict things will be different. First up they face a Manly side decimated through injury and suspension. Steve Matai will be gone for 7 weeks minimum, while Jason King and Chris Bailey are on report and Anthony Watmough, Joe Galuvao, Ben Farrar, Matt Ballin, Brent Kite and Jamie Lyon are all in doubt due to injury. St George will decimate a depleted Sea Eagles side and fly to the preliminary final with momentum on their side.

Saturday night's qualifying final between the Tigers and Roosters is being billed as "The battle of the five-eighths" with the men who will likely play pivot for their respective countries, Todd Carney and Benji Marshall doing battle. Trying to pick a winner for this one is hard - both teams are capable of scoring plenty of points from all over the field. Check out some highlights from the two playmakers:





Titans v Warriors is another hard one to pick. Gold Coast are not without injury worries with key players Mat Rogers, Scott Prince and Ashley Harrison among their walking wounded. Gold Coast have the talent to shake up the finals series but their casualty ward coupled with an ordinary end to the regular season are reason for alarm.

Finally, the Raiders should continue their dream run with a win against Penrith on Saturday night.The Panthers have the home ground advantage but Canberra have proven this year that their away hoodoo is a thing of the past. And the Raiders are simply running too hot for a lacklustre Penrith side who were lucky to finish in the top four anyway.