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Origin injuries, try bonanzas and Shark attacks: NRL Round 16 review

Will Bennett be at the Broncos in 2019? (AAP Image/Dan Peled)
Roar Guru
30th June, 2015
4

Round 16 of the NRL season delivered a classic Wayne Bennett complaint about Origin, the most unlikely four-try haul in recent memory and incredible second half performance from the Sharks.

Theme of the Week: Origin season
On Friday night – after his star prop forward Josh McGuire snapped his Achilles – Broncos coach and Detroit vigilante Wayne Bennett again voiced his concern about the toll that State of Origin places on NRL clubs.

Bennett’s Broncos are far from the only team suffering through Origin related injuries or fatigue and reforming the schedule has become a cause celebre in some parts of the rugby league media. Personally, I quite like the havoc that Origin season introduces though I am, as regular readers would know, a Canberra Raiders fan and the Green Machine is largely untouched by Origin.

I’ve also always found the push for stand alone Origin games particularly short sighted. Why in the world would we want three weekends with only a single game of football on, even if it is Origin?

Regardless of my opinion, the opinions of Wayne Bennett the current format seems likely to continue at least through the current TV deal.

And no I don’t want to hear about how TV runs the game. That particular perspective is about as clapped out as a rugby league opinion gets.

Team of the Week: Cronulla Sharks
After forty minutes of the match in Townsville with the Cowboys on Saturday night the Sharks looked very much like just the latest speedbump in the Cowboys’ unbeaten run. Down 18-0 after 27 minutes, the Sharks made a mere 544m on the ground and completed only nine of 16 sets.

They had also made 188 tackles and frankly looked like they were keen to get the game over with.

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Fair to say the second half went a bit better. Starting with a completion rate of 19 of 21 sets and only three errors all half, the Sharks also made over 800m on the ground including six line breaks. Led by a powerhouse performance from the Fifita twins, the Sharks strangled the Cowboys out of the game and in the absence of Johnathan Thurston the North Queensland team were unable to create any second half points and really very few chances.

After a terrible start to the season the Sharks now sit ninth on the ladder and with a number of games against mid-table rivals such as the Raiders, Warriors and Bulldogs during the run home, the team is a chance to play finals footy this season.

Player of the Week – David Simmons
Simmons entered Sunday afternoon’s game against the Tigers needing three tries to reach his 100th try in his 194th appearance in the NRL. Given that he had taken ten games to score his last three tries, this seemed unlikely at best.

So of course he went out and scored four tries thanks in no small part to some amazing coaching from Jason Taylor. With regular left centre Tim Simona leaving the game early with an injury, Taylor chose to switch right side second rower Kyle Lovett to the left centre spot.

Simmons his right edge partner Dean Whare duly proceeded to have a field day, gashing the Tigers’ left edge at will.

Unsurprisingly this was Simmons’ first four-try haul, although he does have two hat tricks to his name firstly as a Shark in 2009 and then as a Panther in 2011. Interestingly both of those hat tricks game against the Canberra Raiders, a fact which is not all that surprising to Raiders fans who remember those 2009 and 2011 seasons.

Simmons debuted way back in 2003 and has been a regular, if rarely spectacular contributor, for the Sharks and more recently the Panthers. In a team packed to the rafters with young talented outside backs, Simmons has remained a reliable presence when called upon over the last two seasons.

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Follow Lachlan on Twitter @mrsports83

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