What did we learn from round 18 of the 2012 NRL Season? Here are the five big talking points, starting with Bulldogs coach Des Hasler.
Des Hasler is the signing of the season
Todd Carney has been great at the Sharks and Nate Myles has been a workhouse since swapping lattes at Bondi for meter maids on the Gold Coast, but the signing of the season has to be Bulldogs coach Des Hasler.
The boys from Belmore encountered a tough 2011 season, going through two coaches (Kevin Moore and Jim Dymock) on their way to a disappointing ninth place finish. This season, however, Hasler has his team firing on all cylinders, and with just eight rounds to go the Bulldogs are just two points behind the Storm, who are looking wobbly in first place.
Following a few words from Hasler at half-time after a sub-par first half against the Wests Tigers on Friday night, where his team completed just 9 of 17 sets, Canterbury came out firing to score two quick second half tries, eventually winning 32-20 to consign the Tigers to their third straight loss.
Hasler’s ability to improve his team individually and as a group can’t be emphasised enough. Ben Barba, Sam Kasiano and Josh Reynolds have all taken their games to a new level and were unlucky not have played representative football so far this season. And while many fans have been sceptical of the June 30 deadline for mid-season player signings, Hasler has strengthened his backline expertly with discards Krisnan Inu and Sam Perrett. The Bulldogs now look like one of the sides to beat this season.
The Storm have come back to the field
After winning their first nine games of the season the Melbourne Storm were expected to cruise to the NRL Minor Premiership, but nine weeks later and they appear to have run out of gas. Missing the injured Billy Slater and fatigued Cameron Smith the Storm were spanked 40-12 against Canberra at AAMI Stadium on Saturday night – the Raiders biggest ever win over the Storm. While any NRL team is going to miss two of the most influential players of all time, what was most noticeable was how average the other Storm players looked (excluding Queensland field goal hero Cooper Cronk who tried almost everything he possibly could) without the two future Immortals.
The Storm have lost three out of their past four games, and while Slater is still reportedly a couple of weeks off a return, Smith is expected to play against the Cowboys back at home this Saturday – and it’s not a moment too soon for the spluttering Storm.
Spineless Eels
Parramatta’s spine for Sunday’s game against Manly at Brookvale Oval read: 1. Jake Mullaney, 6. Luke Kelly, 7. Chris Sandow, 9. Nathan Smith. Mullaney and Smith were on debut; Kelly has now played 8 first grade games since he debuted for the Storm back in 2009; and then there’s the horribly out of form Chris Sandow.
No disrespect to the playing talent listed above, but none of these names listed in the four most important positions on the footy field were ever going to strike fear into the heart of the defending premiers. The Sea Eagles led 40-0 after just 48 minutes after exiting the blocks as fast as that other Jamaican bloke who knocked off Usain Bolt last week. Despite scoring the last four tries, the Eels were still comfortably defeated 40-24. You just can’t expect to compete in the NRL with that spine.
The Roosters know how to drag the opposition down to their level
Cold, wet and slippery conditions greeted the Sharks and Roosters on Monday night at Toyota Park – hardly the ideal conditions for a Cronulla team containing inform ball players Jeff Robson, Todd Carney and Wade Graham. Despite turning over the ball on a mind boggling 14 occasions and consequently having only 43% of the possession, conditions were still more suited to a bigger and slower moving Roosters pack who were intent on making the game an arm-wrestle.
The Roosters, despite being the most penalised team in the NRL this season (they were once again on the wrong end of a 9-2 penalty count) are particularly good at bringing other teams down to their level. This was never more evident than in the 63rd minute when the Sharks took a penalty goal to increase their lead to four points, rather than put a tired Roosters team to bed by scoring a try. They repelled almost everything that a flat and deflated Sharks team could throw at them and after scoring a very late try the scores were locked at 14-all at the end of normal time.
The less discussed about the 8 field goal attempts that took place in extra-time the better, but it should be said that it was indicative of the scrappy and bruising 80 minutes that preceded it.
NRL plays second fiddle to State of Origin, again
The build up to State of Origin three and consequently all the talking points that came from the epic encounter last Wednesday night, certainly took the gloss off a round of just six NRL matches that took place over the weekend. It also didn’t help that many of the games stars were rested or were injured for this week’s fixtures following a tough two month Origin period – including Smith, Gallen, Harrison, Bird, Myles, Slater and Glenn Stewart.
With the representative period now complete, NRL teams will start to get back to full strength and begin to gain some momentum with the inclusion of their top players on a weekly basis, a basic luxury they haven’t been afforded since Round 10. It is also time for NRL fans to bring their entire focus back to the week in and week out grind.
Bring it on!
Individual Performance of the Round: Ben Barba (Bulldogs)
Match of the Round: Bulldogs v Tigers
Bosco
Guest
Couldn't agree more about Parramatta who are noe becoming famous for 2nd half comebacks against teams that have clocked off and are mentally in the pub. What I would like to know is why the hell we keep getting Parramatta and Penrith dished up to us constantly on a Friday night and Sunday afternoon on Channel nine. Go out of town occasionally Channel 9 and stop dishing up tripe. I would have thought that with the TV rights in play that 9 would want to put their best foot forward. Disappointing to say the least
Matt F
Roar Guru
I think that they will tolerate it with State of Origin. I know the stand-alone weekend for the ANZAC Test and City/Country was quite annoying but the interest in Origin is significantly greater than those other two matches so would have a much better chance of coping. The other issue with the current system is that it can skew the ladder somewhat. The Tigers had a very valuable win against Melbourne in Melbourne but would they have won that game if the origin players weren't in camp? Those 2 points could be the difference between them playing finals. No doubt many will be a bit unhappy about no football until Sunday night (assuming Origin will be played then) but I think it might be nescessary to reduce the impact that Origin has on the club competition. Ideally we wouldn't have a stand-alone weekend for them but I just think it's doing too much damage to the club competition to continue the way it is. Let's be honest here, if the fans were really so desperate for football then the NRL crowds wouldn't drop off during Origin as much as they do. I like the idea of other events to go with it. None of them would be unbelievably successful but they would fill a void. Perhaps one week there could be a NZ Origin, though I'm not sure how they would define the teams, or if it will be competitive enough. NSW v QLD Cup could be on another weekend and Toyota Cup origin as well? Maybe even a Legends match on one of the weeks? The AFL have a Legends match that rates very well, especially in Melbourne. A NSW/QLD legends match could have some appeal with a chance to see the likes of Johns and Lockyer run around again. I don't think a NSW/QLD Cup match or a Toyota Cup origin would attract enough TV viewers for FTA but Foxtel may be interested. They've showed the Under 20 game this year from memory? NZ Orrgin and a Legends match might have good FTA appeal. I like the concept of the all-stars weekend but the problem is that the best players would be in origin camp so it would lose a lot of its lustre.
The Barry
Roar Guru
Matt F - do you think the NRL (and fans) can handle three empty weekends ? I have my doubts. I've read suggestions of having a stand alone weekend with some 'novelty' games included like Kiwi Origin, QLD cup vs NSW cup origin, toyota cup origin and events like sprints, relays, NRL strongest man comps, kicking comps etc like the NBA all star weekend. That's great - but do we want three weeks of that ? Again, I have my doubts. Maybe it's more byes around Games 1 and 3 and Game 2 which is always a contested rubber as the stand alone weekend. As a Bulldogs fan, you're obviously a highly intelligent fella - so I'd be interested to hear your thoughts mate.
Matt F
Roar Guru
Good point. Each team currently gets 2 byes (plus the week off for test & City/Country) which they will no longer need because they'll get 3 weeks off when Origin is played. So instead of each team playing 24 games over 26 rounds with 2 byes they get 24 games over 24 rounds with the "byes" being the weeks off when origin is played. They still get the weeks off that they want and the season stays at the same length.
Luke M
Guest
Easy mate, they can schedule the byes better.
Matt
Guest
"The Storm have lost three out of their past four games" I love reading articles that try and "prove" that SOO doesn't affect teams by comparing SOO period win rate vs overall win rate. Except their overall win rate includes the bunch of losses they never would have during the SOO period, not making it accurate by any means. 9 straight wins to open the season, now only 1 win from the past 4 games. Maybe it's not SOO it's winter.
Matt F
Roar Guru
1. Agree. I was expecting us to make the 8 but didn't expect us to be sitting where we are right now. 2. Origin period was always going to affect them. Every team has a bad period and I'm sure that the Storm fans would prefer it to be now rather than in September like last year. 3. The words "spineless" and "Eels" have never been far apart this season, or last season for that matter, though it's normally been more associated with a lack of effort then their actual spine. I do agree that it's going to be very tough for the Eels to be at all competitive with that spine. Maybe they can ask the NRL to let Hayne play for them while wearing his NSW jumper? 4. Very hard to argue. As Barry said, they've been involved in some absolute shockers this season. 5. Every year I get closer and closer to wanting Origin played on stand alone weekends. Nobody wants to get rid of Origin but it really does hurt the NRL for 2 months. Stand alone weekends seem the logical option to reduce the impact on the NRL without also harming the golden egg that is Origin.. Where we find those extra 3 weeks from is the big question. I guess we could scrap the city/country and ANZAC test stand alone weekend but we need to find 2 more.
The Barry
Roar Guru
1. Dogs / Hasler - agreed. 2. I don't think we only just learned that the storm would come back to the field. Most people expect the Storm and the Broncos and in recent years the Dragons to have a lean spell in the middle of the season during Origin. I'm sure Bellamy did and that's why he had his team exploding out of the gates. The Broncos usually do the same and try and accumulate enough points to see them through Origin. 3. Parra as a whole were terrible and were lucky that Manly had three players off the park or it would have been a cricket score. The young fullback performed ok. Kelly looks a composed player. Smith is not a 9 and well Sandow is Sandow. 4. The Roosters have been involved in some of the worst games this season. They had a game earlier in the year against Canberra (I think) that was one of the worst NRL games I've ever seen. Monday nights game was worse. 5. This is an interesting one for the Commission. I don't think the NRL season can tolerate three stand alone weekends but 'losing' 8 or 9 rounds of the NRL season to Origin is way too much.