We’re back with our weekly series of NRL Round reviews. Round 7 saw an historic come from behind win, a coming-of-age performance in Townsville and some remarkable weather conditions.
Theme of the round – Overcoming the elements
Whether it was howling winds at Leichardt, the pouring rain in Melbourne, the heat in Townsville (28 degrees at kick-off) or the Lord’s wrath in Cronulla this round showed the true fortitude of NRL players and fans.
A special congratulations goes to Sharks and Rabbitohs’ fans who made their way to Shark Park on Monday night in conditions that were as bad as one can imagine without the direct intervention of a vengeful God.
Team of the week – Canberra Raiders
Well that was fun. Not, one imagines, for Wests Tigers fans. But for this Raiders fan, and really anybody who enjoys a come-from-behind win, Sunday afternoon’s game at Leichardt was simply first rate.
After conceding 22 straight points to start the game behind a series of almost comical errors and horrific defence the Raiders returned serve with authority, scoring the remaining 30 points in the game to earn a deserved two competition points.
The game changed in the back end of the first half on the back of two prop interchanges, with Aaron Woods leaving the field for the Tigers and boy-mountain Shannon Boyd coming onto the field for the Raiders. Without Woods or Keith Galloway on the field the Tigers struggled to get out of their own end while meanwhile Boyd and Paul Vaughan started making inroads in the opposite direction.
Boyd, who little more than 18 months ago looked like a washout after a series of injuries kept him off the field in NSW Cup, has begun to return to the level of performance he demonstrated in the under 20s a number of years ago. With his combination of raw power and mobility he looks like a representative player of the future and he adds sheer size to a forward pack that is more mobile than ever, but also leaner than recent years.
Yes the Tigers were certainly robbed of a play in a set towards the end of the match, but they also got two free sets on the back on incorrect knock-on calls. The first a dropped ball by James Tedesco off a towering Blake Austin bomb that was inexplicably not called a knock on and the second when Jordan Rapana was called for a knock on when the ball came off his knee.
Some Tigers fans with a poor understanding of the rules were also upset with the decision to deny Luke Brooks what would have been a match winning try after Robbie Farah ran right behind one of his teammates.
For Raiders fans long accustomed to Sydney teams getting preposterously lucky calls against them it was both surprising and heartening that the video refs got the call right. What’s more in an era of ref blaming it was also encouraging to hear Jason Taylor acknowledge that the correct call was made.
Player of the week – Jake Granville
What a tremendous story Jake Granville has been this season. After playing for the Broncos’ NYC team in 2009 Granville was unable to make the leap to first grade and instead spent several seasons in the Queensland Cup. However his consistently strong performances in that grade earned him an opportunity at the Cowboys and he has seized that chance.
While it is difficult to imagine how Brisbane would have accommodated Granville with Andrew McCulloch looking increasingly like an elite 80 minute hooker and livewire Kodi Nikorima coming off the bench, it is now abundantly clear why so many Broncos fans were disappointed to lose Granville at the end of last year.
It is no coincidence that after a slow start to the season the Cowboys form reversal began in Round 4 against the Storm, the same game in which Granville was elevated to the starting line-up.
Granville’s speed out of dummy half has been critical and he does an excellent job of leading his forwards to the line before delivering crisp short passes. Granville’s inclusion in the starting line-up, along with the impressive rebirth of Lachlan Coote as an NRL player, has completely rejuvenated the Cowboys season.
Interesting personnel move of the week – Sione Mata’utia dropped
Managing the declining Kurt Gidley while trying to find minutes for rising star Sione Mata’utia has been an ongoing challenge for Knights coach Rick Stone. This column looked at this topic way back in Round 2 noting the tactic of starting Gidley at fullback before moving him into dummy half to accommodate Mata’utia coming off the bench into the fullback role.
With the exception of Round 4, when Mata’utia played on the wing in place of injured James McManus, the Knights continued this strategy until Sunday against the Eels.
This week instead Mata’utia joined his brothers in NSW Cup and the Knights instead included specialist dummy half Tyler Randel in the first grade side.
However, with Gidley struggling with the pace of the game these days it can only be a matter of time before Mata’utia takes on the fullback job full time.
Easing a club legend out the door is a balancing act. Inevitably many fans cling to their vision of who the player was not what they have become. Last year Ricky Stuart took the approach of essentially handing Terry Campese the rope and letting him hang himself with poor performances week after week.
In the end there was barely a whimper from the fan-base when Campese was finally dropped to NSW Cup then shipped out to Hull KR.
Gidley may not be quite as far gone as Campese was in 2014 but Mata’utia is knocking down the door in a way that no one on the Raiders really was last year. It is going to be fascinating to see how the Knights handle the transition
Disappointment of the round – The Wests Tigers black jerseys
Finally this week can anyone offer a reasonable explanation for why the Wests Tigers were wearing a mostly black jersey when playing at the home ground of the Balmain Tigers half of the club?
I understand that the Wests Tigers are not the Balmain Tigers but when the vast majority of the home fans are sporting an orange jersey is it too much to ask for the team to wear something similar on the field?
Isn’t the whole point of playing at Leichardt a nod to the heritage of the game? Amazing lack of vision from the club.
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