Graham Lowe: Manly a solid bet at halfway stage

I almost sacked myself and got the cat to do my picks before the last round of NRL games.

My tipping has been going that badly. I've even resorted to ringing mum a couple of times for help - she's 85, lives in Perth, and has Aussie Rules rammed down her throat.

Thankfully, I came good last weekend, with five out of five. Until then though, my cat Bindi had as much chance of picking the winners as I did.

It's been bred into me to pick results on the unpredictability of certain coaches and players, and I finally used that with some success.

For instance, I thought that the Sharks would beat the Broncos on the Ricky Stuart factor. Backed into a corner, and with a coach like Stuart, the Sharks responded.

The reason that tipping has become so difficult for everyone is that there is a sameness to the competition. There is a similarity to the coaching and the gameplans, and even the players.

Manly are now my favourites for the title. They have balance to their side, especially when it comes to size.

Their opponents last week, Canberra, are out of whack when it comes to balance, and look as though they have appeared from the land of the giants. Other sides whom I believe have that nice balance include the Bulldogs and the Titans, who the Warriors play this week.

The Bulldogs are nicely set up. They have big players where they should be and creative players in the right places including some ball-playing forwards.

Like a lot of things in life, league has fashions. At the moment, many clubs are obsessed with size, but I believe the next trend will be to have groups of smaller players in teams. Manly proved last weekend that you don't have to be giants to succeed.

It's a huge achievement for the Sea Eagles to have made the top eight at this stage, given their bad start to the season. The work ethic of their coach Des Hasler is coming through in the players they are bringing up into first grade.

It's the old story: it's not the dog in the fight, but the fight in the dog that counts. I saw signs on Sunday that Manly deserve to be mild title favourites because of the nice balance they have. The Warriors, to my mind, are a bit out of balance. They need a couple of key players to hit top form.

Teams, even really good ones, need a players to spark them. Some of those who need to find form can do so on the back of what Lance Hohaia and Kevin Locke are bringing to the Warriors.

I rate Locke so highly and believe that he can play in the halves one day. Locke and Hohaia would be at the top of my wish list if I was still an NRL coach.

Even though Locke is on the wing, he has an effect all over the park. In sheer ability, I rate him alongside the finest of Kiwis - Mark Graham, Sonny Bill Williams and Stacey Jones.

The Warriors are fully capable of storming into a great finish to the season, of that I have no doubt.

Their last win over Newcastle wasn't pretty, but it's one of their best.

They face a nicely balanced side in the Titans tomorrow night.

It will be the little men - Locke, Hohaia, Jones, Preston Campbell and Scott Prince - who will decide the result.

Bellamy's neck on the line

Those alarm bells you hear are coming from the other side of the Tasman. New South Wales to be precise.

The cockroaches will have been stunned by their lack of Origin readiness on Wednesday night. The series is gone and a good many Blue reputations have been left in tatters after a farcical start to the second Origin match.

There's one neck that might soon be feeling the swoosh of cold steel. Craig Bellamy has been a failure as an Origin coach. He is responsible for the disorganised rabble that took to the field.

New South Wales haven't understood the difference between preparing a side for an intensive three-week campaign and the week-in-week-out NRL routine. Bellamy took control of the Storm for their match last weekend. That's outrageous - an Origin coach should have only one thing on his mind in the week before the big match.

Queensland have a considerable advantage for the third match, because Mal Meninga has control of the series and a great bunch of players to choose from.