Winners and losers from Round Seven of NRL

 
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By , 17 Apr 2012 dan-talintyre is a Roar Rookie

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    Round Seven of the National Rugby League is done and dusted, with upsets and big wins all round — as well as some strong performances right across the board.

    And as with every week, there were some big winners and some even bigger losers.

    Here’s your winners and losers from this week in the NRL:

    Winner: Melbourne Storm

    The Melbourne Storm continued their perfect start to the season with a hard fought 12-6 win at home against the Canterbury Bulldogs. Cameron Smith led the way again for the hosts with 39 tackles as for the first time this year, Billy Slater failed to find himself with a four-pointer. They take on the Warriors in Melbourne next week to try and make it eight wins on the trot.

    Loser: Manly Sea Eagles

    After starting the year with two wins, the Manly Sea Eagles have now recorded their fourth loss of the year – this time going down at home to the Gold Coast Titans by 12 points. The hosts were missing Brett Stewart and Kieran Foran, but with the depth of talent they still have, should still be competitive. Fortress Brookvale might not be as such in 2012.

    Winner: Wests Tigers

    Sure it was only Penrith, but the Tigers finally recorded the big win that they were desperately searching for, running in five tries to none in their 30-0 win over the Panthers. Most impressive was their defense, which despite missing 27 tackles, didn’t give up a try to the home side. The Tigers must now back that up against Parramatta next week.

    Loser: Sydney Roosters

    I genuinely thought the Roosters would compete against the Cowboys, but from the opening whistle, they were simply outgunned and outclassed. Down 30-0 at half time, the Roosters managed some respect by crossing the line, but lost whatever they had gained when Matt Bowen crossed to bring up the 50-point mark for the visitors. But, hey, at least the Darwin fans were happy with the 11 tries they were able to witness.

    Winner: Jonathon Thurston

    All this talk about Billy Slater and Cameron Smith and Cooper Cronk didn’t seem to be going down to well for Jonathon Thurston, who turned in a fantastic performance in his side’s big win. The Australian halfback chalked up four try assists, three line break assists, two line breaks, six conversions and 152 meters en route to a 50-12 flogging. And he was incredible for my SuperCoach.

    Loser: Jarryd Hayne

    Note that this is not implying Jarryd had a bad game, or is having a terrible season — rather the contrary.

    Hayne is one of the week’s biggest losers because despite doing so much for the Eels, they just can’t seem to win football games. Hayne scored two tries again in his side’s loss to Parramatta, with two line breaks, five offloads and a whopping 235 meters also to his name.

    Chris Sandow and Ben Roberts need to step up and give the Hayne Plane a chance to get Parramatta off the ground.

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