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It’s tight at the top of the NRL ladder but Melbourne and Manly are still leaps and bounds ahead of the competition according to their closest rivals.
The Storm joined Manly on 32 competition points with four rounds to go after a hard-fought 16-10 win in Friday night’s rematch between last year’s NRL grand finalists.
Cronulla also moved into an equal share of the lead by beating South Sydney 28-14 on Saturday while the Roosters remained two points behind in fourth following their 28-24 loss to Parramatta today.
On points alone, it looks to be one of the most open battles for the minor premiership in recent years but, after witnessing the high quality of the Storm’s win over the Sea Eagles, both the Sharks and Roosters have acknowledged they are still a long way of the pace.
“That was a great game Friday night, Melbourne were unreal and so were Manly and our standard certainly wasn’t there today,” Rooster five-eighth Braith Anasta said after the loss to the Eels.
“We’ve got to work hard to get up there.
“They’re both great teams, that play well as a team and at moment they’re ahead of everyone else unless a couple of teams get a bit of momentum going into the semis.”
Sharks coach Ricky Stuart was also blunt about where his side stood next to the co-leaders.
“We’re not as good as Manly and Melbourne, we’ve got a lot of improvement to do over the next four or five weeks,” Stuart said.
“We’ll just keep punching away and do everything we can to make the top four and get a home semi-final, that’s our goal.”
While the Storm, Sea Eagles and Sharks are virtually assured a top-four finish and home semi-final, the Roosters are only three points ahead of fifth-placed Brisbane, who suffered a 16-12 loss to the Warriors in Auckland on Saturday.
Below that is a mid-table jam with eight teams fighting for four top-eight spots.
Canberra were the big movers this weekend, jumping to sixth following their stunning 74-12 thrashing of Penrith.
The Raiders now sit on 24 points, with their for and against improved to +72 with the win.
Also on 24 points are St George Illawarra (+63), Wests Tigers (+38) and the Warriors (-95).
The Panthers dropped to 10th on 23 points to sit ahead of the Knights and Titans – who meet on the Gold Coast tomorrow night – on 22 points, along with the Eels, who kept their finals hopes alive by upsetting the Roosters today.
South Sydney, the Bulldogs and North Queensland are all out of finals contention, though the last-placed Cowboys moved to within two points of the Dogs following their 36-12 win over the troubled club on Saturday.
Snapshot of round 22 of the NRL
THEY SAID IT: “It’d cost me a lot of money if we had have got beaten because I would’ve unloaded.” Cronulla coach Ricky Stuart admitted he would have been prepared to cop a $10,000 fine for criticising referee Ben Cummins if his side hadn’t beaten Souths. Stuart was furious his side was on the wrong end of an 11-1 penalty count at half time.
STAT THAT MATTERS: 13 losses. North Queensland had to endure that many before finally ending their worst ever losing streak with a 36-12 demolition of the Bulldogs. The win gives them some hope of avoiding the wooden spoon after emerging triumphant from the battle of the NRL’s bottom clubs.
MAN OF THE ROUND: Without question Raiders five-eighth Terry Campese, who scored four tries and kicked 10 goals in Canberra’s 74-12 smashing of Penrith. It gave him a personal haul of 36 points, just two shy of Mal Meninga’s club record. The Raiders will barely miss Todd Carney if five-eighth Campese continues his rich vein of form.
MAGIC MOMENT: Warriors fullback Wade McKinnon marked an impressive return from a long stint out with a knee injury when he scooped up a Nathan Fien kick on the first play to score a wonderful try just before halftime against Brisbane. The try put the Warriors in front and they held on to secure a crucial win for their top eight hopes.
TALKING POINT: Melbourne again got the wood on the Sea Eagles in another rematch of last year’s grand final. It’s the second time this year the Storm have prevailed against the team they beat convincingly in last year’s decider. Manly still sit atop the NRL ladder on for and against, but even they must be questioning whether they have what it takes to beat the reigning premiers come finals time.
JUDICIARY WATCH: Melbourne winger Anthony Quinn on report for a lifting tackle on Manly’s David Williams. Wests Tigers’ Todd Payten for dangerous tackle on Dragons centre Matt Cooper. Dragon Lagi Setu for a high tackle on Corey Payne. Dragons hooker Dean Young for an elbow to the head of Tigers centre Chris Lawrence.
KEY INJURIES: John Sutton (Rabbitohs) – sternum, Beau Champion (Rabbitohs) – shoulder, Matthew Keating (Eels) knee, Shaun Kenny-Dowall (Roosters) medial ligament, Daniel Wagon (Eels) – rib cartilage, Glenn Buttriss (Raiders) – medial ligament.
UNDER PRESSURE: Under pressure would be an understatement for the struggling Bulldogs. Not only is the Sonny Bill Williams drama continuing, they slumped to a new low on the field with a 36-12 thrashing by last-placed North Queensland on Saturday night. The Dogs have now conceded 98 points and scored just 16 in the three matches since Williams walked out on the club.
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