- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
After nine rounds of the NRL the top eight is a rabble, with only South Sydney showing signs of being a true premiership contender.
With second place on the ladder up for grabs, due to Melbourne’s recent slump, the Roosters and Manly battered each other to standstill at Brookvale Oval last night.
But for all of its brutality, it wasn’t the spectacle you would’ve expected from two sides with such lofty ambitions.
Perhaps it was the FA Cup final effect, Wigan and Manchester City’s fast-paced and free-flowing affair at the weekend aside, where big matches often produce nervy play.
Both teams treated the ball like it was about to explode at any moment and Roosters centre Shaun Kenny-Dowall found a new way to drop the pill with no-one around, after taking an intercept on his own line.
Manly missed 22 tackles in the first half alone and completed just 13 of 20 sets, while the Roosters finished with 15 of 22 sets in the bag heading to the break to lead 8-nil.
The standard didn’t improve much in the second half, with the Roosters winning 16-4.
The tri-colours battled to the end with 12 men, after the bizarre sending off of Jared Waerea-Hargreaves for a high tackle on George Rose with just over 10 minutes to play, but neither side could be completely satisfied with the outcome.
Sea Eagles forward Anthony Watmough, playing in his 250th game, admitted as much by lamenting the fact they weren’t, “doing the simple things”.
The three tries that were scored didn’t eventuate as a result of mounting pressure, but on the back of mounting error counts.
The chance for both sides to stand up and show they should be feared sadly passed.
The Rabbitohs, in contrast, have embraced the growing expectation around the club over the last month and after the last four days they have every right to feel confident about ending their premiership drought.
Melbourne is on a worrying slide after losing to Penrith and Canberra in successive weeks.
When Storm coach Craig Bellamy looked around the sheds at half-time at Centrebet Stadium and only saw “blank eyes,” the alarm bells were ringing.
“They just don’t look excited about being here,” he went on to say.
If they’re tired now, the Origin period is looming large on the horizon.
They’ll lose at least the big three to representative duty and covering for them, when all is well, is a herculean task to say the least, let alone when blank eyes are searching for answers.
The fifth placed Knights were just belted 44-14 by the seventh placed Raiders, who swing between awful and amazing themselves.
The Titans, despite their one point victory over St George Illawarra on Sunday, have still lost three of their last five games and Brisbane just traveled to Parramatta and came away empty handed.
South Sydney, in contrast, continue steady and unmoved by the week to week grind.
Their giant forward pack lays the platform for Adam Reynolds and John Sutton to unleash a potent back line that includes the monster frame of Greg Inglis.
Stopping the type of momentum the Bunnies are rolling with will take something dramatic.
They might be just two points above the Roosters on the ladder but, on the evidence of last night, the gap between the sides is larger than that.
Reckon you can pick the winning team? Build your own dream team with Draftstars daily fantasy and compete on any match. For great odds on the NRL head on over to PlayUp. Imagine what you could be buying instead. Set a deposit limit.