As usual, this Monday brings us the View from the Couch, wrapping up all this weekend’s NRL action.
St George-Illawarra versus Roosters
I’ve never been a fan of the Anzac clash, but after 12 of them, I’m starting to come around. At least it was shown on free-to-air TV this year.
If only the original ANZACs had found making ground as easy as the Easts forwards did throughout this game. Out of sorts so far this season, they reverted to the style of play that was so successful for them last year – run hard, tackle hard and support the ball carrier, which was too much for the Dragons to handle.
It was mentioned during the coverage that Tuivasa-Sheck replaces Minichello at fullback when the Roosters are in attack. It won’t be too long before he replaces him in defence too if there are too many air swings like the one Minichello managed on the stroke of half time that gifted the Dragons a try.
Melbourne versus New Zealand
This match-up is also becoming an Anzac day staple. A very impressive crowd witnessed New Zealand pull off a shock win. The Warriors actually have one of the better head-to-head records with Melbourne, but it always feels surprising when the Warriors manage to put one of their good games together.
Also surprising has been the decline of the Storm this year. We’ve grown used to seeing the Storm at the top of the ladder early in the season – last year they won their first seven games, and won their first nine in 2012.
The Storm won their first three this year, but have gone one and four since – with the one coming due to a refereeing error. Is age catching up with them? Have the NRL’s rule changes stopped their style of play? Or have they been mentally scarred by the football gods after the Alex McKinnon injury?
Brisbane versus Souths
A crazy game, featuring big swings in momentum. Souths were going great early on, including Greg Inglis’ superhuman try.
Brisbane worked their way back and looked like they would take the game with 10 minutes to play, however the usually reliable Corey Parker honked the conversion attempt, giving the Rabbits hope.
One of my pet hates is when the ref rules a no try due to obstruction, but refers it to the video ref. Just blow the penalty.
If the obstruction happens anywhere else on the field, the ref has to rule without consulting the video ref – it should be the same for tries.
In this case, it was fortunate for the Rabbits that the refs didn’t take my advice, with the video refs overruling the on-field refs and awarding the try. Yet another game ending in controversy as the Rabbits lucky to receive a stripping penalty that allowed Reynolds to kick the winning conversion.
Cronulla versus Penrith
An exciting finish, with the lead changing hands three times in the last 10 minutes.
It’s good to see my kiss of death powers remain as strong as ever. A week after teasing the Sharks for their position on the ladder, of course they pull out a come from behind win.
Penrith started the season well and had everyone raving about their chances, but have since alternated wins and losses and haven’t lived up to the early promise.
Sharks are currently the favourites to secure the services of Benji Marshall, who announced during the week that he was returning to league after admitting he was only an average rugby player. What he failed to mention was that he was only an average league player in the year or so before he left.
Andrew Fifita has reportedly now re-signed with Cronulla after this Bulldogs contract fell through. Let’s hope he’s actually signed something this time and it’s not just a non-binding statement of understanding.
The new contract may cheer him up as he received the news that he’d been dumped from the Australian Test side at the same time.
Marshall stormed out of the Tigers because he wasn’t getting the contract or the money he claimed had been agreed with the previous board. We can only guess how much the whole affair has cost him as he’s returning when most clubs have nothing left to spend.
The hypocrisy detector went in to melt-down after Paul Gallen said that he’d be happy to have Marshall at Cronulla, provided he was back to play football and not just so he could appear on the Footy Show.
Gallen has more media commitments a week than he does head knocks.
North Queensland versus Parramatta
Robert Lui was replaced by Ray Thompson. That move also may have assisted with some of the attacking difficulties encountered by the Cowboys this season as they took their Sydney conspiracy frustrations out on Parramatta, who showed they haven’t completely recovered from their wooden spoon bad habits and effort lapses.
Canterbury versus Newcastle
Game was overshadowed by the attendance of Alex McKinnon. Newcastle responded with a far more committed effort, but even that wasn’t enough to topple the Dogs, who have become experts at winning these close games.
Manly versus Canberra
Interesting to see how Manly would react to news that one of the club stalwarts, Glen Stewart, had been forced out of the club, to sign with Souths next season.
Manly lead 42-0 after 32 minutes. A resounding answer.
Manly scored nine tries of their own and threw the final pass for two of Canberra’s as they gave them a couple of length of the field intercepts.
At least it was a slight improvement for Super Coach, Ricky Stuart who lost 50-10 when his Parramatta coached team visited Brookvale last year. At that rate of improvement, one of his teams might get close around the year 2023.
Wests versus Gold Coast
Gold Coast were awful last time these teams met in Round 2. They were belted by 30. The last time Tigers played at Leichhardt, they smashed Manly off the park.
Everything should have pointed to a comfortable Wests victory, so of course the complete opposite happened in game that featured Dave Taylor playing in the centres.
Now almost everyone has a week off as we pause for the most pointless weekend in the football season. The Australian and New Zealand teams get four days together to prepare for a game that means little.
Then there is the City versus Country match, which is still attempting to be relevant. It may be a case of the last man standing will be playing for NSW with a number of Blues injured including Robbie Farah, James Maloney and Todd Carney.
That’s how I saw it from the couch.
@Armchair_Guru
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