The Finals are here! The season is over, eight teams are off on their mad Monday’s and as some have described it, a new season starts here. Four weeks of what should be epic matches to determine the premiership.
But what happened during Round 26? Let’s have a look at The Roar‘s talking points from the weekend that was.
This could be the most open finals series in history
This finals series is really shaping up to be quite something. There are probably five teams you could say are genuine title contenders, and that would be ruling out the Penrith Panthers and Canterbury Bulldogs who we all know can turn it on.
So while the Panthers and Bulldogs would be surprise winners, and ok, let’s not forget the Gold Coast Titans who I’ve ruled out, but this is a finals series where you really throw your hands in the air and go ‘well, who knows.’
With the exception of the Storm maybe, who even themselves have proven beatable at different points throughout the season, particularly at the back end of the season, every team seems beatable.
Any given team could rock up on any given day and turn on a show in this top eight. Don’t be surprised if we have a shock winner or a couple of upsets over the next four weeks.
It’s not hard to locate a couple of examples either, with the Raiders defeating both the Storm and Sharks recently, while the Broncos also beat the Storm last weekend.
The Panthers and Bulldogs have both shown they can be competitive against big teams, while the Titans secured a draw against the Sharks.
It’s certainly not a done deal for any team. Heck, getting through to the second week will be hard enough.
Wayne Bennett needs to stop whinging and get on with it
I can already hear the Broncos fans out to get me on this one, but it is the absolute truth. Wayne Bennett came out after the Broncos Round 26 game against the Roosters on Thursday Night and told the media that it simply wasn’t good enough that he didn’t know when he was playing the weekend after.
While the claims may have a little bit of merit to them because fair enough, some sort of idea should be locked down, it was essentially a terribly bad whinge from the experienced coach, given it’s the same situation every year.
It’s almost like he is saying ‘I don’t know whether we get an eight or ten-day turnaround.’ As a fan of anyone but the Broncos you simply have to shake your head and ask ‘why Wayne?’
They do get the best schedule of any team year in and year out, playing a majority of their games on a Thursday or Friday Night, with consistent turnarounds in between games and he wants to whine about this?
Particularly when other teams who will play finals are still wrapping up their regular seasons on Sunday night. Whether the Broncos go back to training or not might have been a guessing game, but other teams are still thinking about Round 26.
I know this seems ranty, but it’s supposed to be. Wayne needs to focus on the Titans, not whining to anyone who will care to listen about the scheduling.
The Bulldogs are toast and will be lucky to beat the Panthers
The Canterbury Bulldogs will enter the finals on the back of three straight losses, and not good ones either. They have been inconsistent throughout the season and the news that William Hopoate will miss their first finals match isn’t going to improve that.
While fullback could be filled by Brett Morris and no harm is done, it’s another positional swap that will unsettle the Bulldogs, and for a team struggling with their attack in recent weeks, that isn’t going to help collaborations on the park.
The loss to the South Sydney Rabbitohs on Friday Night, where they were touched up to the tune of 18 points, told everyone that the Bulldogs will need a dramatic turnaround next weekend.
Penrith on the other hand, have also been inconsistent but they have finished the season strongly and a thumping of the Manly Sea Eagles leaves them primed and ready for what will be a big clash next Sunday.
I would go as far as to say the Panthers could be dark horses for the competition if they can string together four strong performances in a row.
The Storm were at their clinical best and will be hard to stop
Melbourne were absolutely fantastic on Saturday Evening against the Cronulla Sharks as they won the minor premiership in dominating circumstances.
They led most of the way, and never looked like they were going to give it up as they were methodical and clinical. Their defence was absolutely brilliant, and their attack not far behind.
What is scary for teams they will face during the finals, is that Cameron Smith and Cooper Cronk, their big two, didn’t look to be anywhere near their best, yet they still found a way to rack up the points against Cronulla who have been unsurprisingly one of the better defensive teams this year.
Should Jason Taylor be at Leichardt next year?
Last week, I wrote about how Andrew McFadden probably shouldn’t be fronting up for work come Round 1 of the 2017 season.
This week, I would like to nominate Jason Taylor to step on board that boat, sailing out of the first-grade coaching job.
No matter what you think of Jason Taylor, his efforts at the Tigers and the fiasco with former captain and club legend Robbie Farah, their on-field performance on Sunday, and at various points of the season hasn’t been good enough.
Their defence, for the most part simply hasn’t been good enough which is a massive shame because with Luke Brooks, Mitchell Moses and James Tedesco they have what could be one fo the most dynamic spines in the competition.
The bottom line is, if you rock up to a game with a top eight berth on the line in a ‘win or be eliminated environment’, yet find a way to give up a massive 52 points then you don’t deserve to be in the eight, and you don’t deserve to be in a coaching job.
It might be harsh on Taylor, and the board appears to have backed him over the Farah call but it simply wasn’t good enough to be bundled out of the season like that.
Which bottom eight team is set best for 2017?
It’s a tough question this because teams that finished in the bottom eight generally were very inconsistent through the season and possibly had issues off the field.
The first team to rule out are the Newcastle Knights – they have a long rebuild in front of them and while they might avoid a third straight wooden spoon in 2017, it won’t be by much. The St George Illawarra Dragons join them on that list – while the current board and coaching staff are in place they won’t be causing many problems.
The New Zealand Warriors have more talent than anyone cares to think about yet found a way to finish tenth – if their culture doesn’t change then it’s not going to happen in Auckland.
The Sydney Roosters rebuild will continue while the Tigers could be mediocre once again just challenging for the top eight.
The three clubs that look primed and ready are the Parramatta Eels, South Sydney Rabbitohs and Manly Sea Eagles. Parramatta you have to remember were at the pointy end of the ladder before all their off-field issues hit and with Corey Norman back on the park they should be in for a strong season if they can move on from all that.
The Rabbitohs were supposed to be a lot better this year and have finished the season on some reasonably good performances so don’t be surprised if they are up there, while the Sea Eagles on the back of the Trbojevic brothers and a more settled playing roster, will be much better if they can steer clear of injuries.
Finally! It’s time for the finals
The finals are here! Finally. After 26 long rounds of footy, we are ready for the knockout phase and in just four weeks time we will have the 2016 premiers.
It’s set up to be an absolute cracker of a finals series as well, and as mentioned above, nothing is really set in stone and any team could beat any other team on any given day.
Good luck tipping a winner at this stage, because every single team is either in form or can, and have proven that they can turn it on at a moment’s notice.
There’s nothing quite like the NRL Finals! I can’t wait for it all to get underway, and don’t forget, The Roar will have you covered with live blogs and highlights of every single game.
That’s The Roar‘s talking points from Round 26. What did you make of it? What else do you think is worthy of a mention from the weekend of action?
Follow Scott on Twitter @sk_pryde
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