- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
Like most Origin rounds, Round 18 of the premiership played second fiddle to Wednesday’s interstate showdown.
While many (including myself) have bemoaned this fact, last weekend’s round may well have surpassed Origin in the people’s minds. Here are two big talking points from the weekend past.
Panthers rue missed opportunity
A lot of the pre-match talk surrounding the Cronulla-Penrith clash had centred around how vulnerable the Sharks were.
Missing five players due to Origin, Cronulla headed into Sunday’s match at Pepper Stadium looking to extend their winning run to 13.
Standing in their way was a Panthers side that was starting to look dangerous and was on the cusp of the eight. What followed was pure disappointment. Despite applying the pressure to the Sharks and dominating field position, Penrith failed to register any points before conceding two quick-fire tries from Ben Barba, who put on a vintage display.
Despite hitting back just before half-time, the Panthers then collapsed after the break and allowed the Sharks to simply walk all over them. Indeed the 26-10 scoreline could have looked worse had it not been for Cronulla’s erratic goal kicking.
Penrith should be absolutely furious after letting what was a golden opportunity to beat a top four side slip. Cronulla was still able to field a good side but if the Panthers are going to be a top eight side they need to start showing it.
A Sharks team missing their forward leaders and halves pairing should not have caused Penrith too much trouble but they ended up completely running over the top of them.
Instead of leapfrogging St George into the eight, Penrith sit in tenth and face two cutthroat games against Parramatta and Brisbane over the next two weeks. Coach Anthony Griffin will be feeling the pressure as will his new halves pairing of Bryce Cartwright and Nathan Cleary.
Both are talented players with huge potential but will need to find something special to guide their side into a finals berth.
Canberra’s days of choking over?
On paper, Monday’s game between the Raiders and Cowboys should have easily gone the way of Canberra. Playing in the nation’s capital and missing a host of stars including Johnathan Thurston, Michael Morgan and Matt Scott, the sixth-placed Raiders should not have had much trouble disposing of the men from FNQ.
However, as Raiders fans know well, this is exactly the sort of scenario that would usually result in a loss for the Green Machine. So ingrained in the Raiders’ psyche was this scenario, fans and players alike must have dreaded being made favourites in any game they played.
Much has changed under Ricky Stuart over the past two and a half years however and while there have been many blips along the way – think Rounds 4 and 10 against the Titans and Dragons respectively – Canberra finally seem to be travelling smoothly in the wake of their 26-12 victory last night.
Halfback Adam Sezer has come into his own at the Raiders and was again prevalent against the Cowboys with a fantastic kicking game that set up a clever try of the post for Jack Wighton, before adding one himself late in the game.
Wighton himself was strong and is becoming more and more confident every week after some poor form earlier in the year led to calls for him to be dropped. Stuart will feel vindicated in his decision to keep him in the line-up after his two-try performance last night. Wighton’s bone-rattling defence was also on display as Jake Granville now knows.
It’s still early days for the Green Machine but Stuart is building something special in the nation’s capital.
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.