Nine talking points from the NRL weekend: Round 8

What a weekend of footy! Out of the six games played so far in Round 8, four of them were decided in the last five miuntes, with one of those going to golden point. The other two weren’t exactly blowouts either and with that, let’s get into The Roar‘s NRL talking points from the weekend.

The referees become a talking point for the first time in 2017
I’m not going to sit here and try to tell you they have been perfect for seven weeks – but it’s been the least complaining about referees in recent memory.

Unfortunately, it all went pear-shaped for the men in the middle during Round 8.

Two games in particular stand out, but as with any criticism of referees, it’s subjective and there will be plenty of different thoughts flying around.

The one that isn’t debatable though, was the try for Tautau Moga in Brisbane’s narrow win over South Sydney. It opens a whole new can of worms, because if Anthony Milford wasn’t held, then we might as well be playing Rugby Union and throw the rule book out the window.

How the bunker can rule that he wasn’t held defies belief. In fact, it’s almost like they were going to rule that and then realised they should check how the ball came out of the tackle.

Then there was the game-winning ‘knock on’. In real time, it looked fine – until you saw the replay anyway. Slow it down and it was an almost obvious knock on – watch it in real speed again and sure enough, it looked the same.

How it wasn’t checked with the bunker on a game-turning decision also is not understandable at any level.

Skipping through the weekend, we arrived in the Shire on Saturday night and had our first penalty try of the season.

While an argument could be made either way, there was no guarantee Jason Bukuya was going to be able to ground the ball. He might have beat the defender who was ruled to have pushed him out of the way, but even that ruling was up for debate.

Hayne plays his best game for the Coast, and the Titans fight again to get a win
For the first time since Jarryd Hayne arrived on the Gold Coast, it felt like their performance didn’t go backwards with him on the park and surprise surprise, the Titans won.

Hayne is talented, don’t get me wrong. He is one of the best fullbacks in the competition on his day – but it’s those three words – on his day – that put paid to him being considered the best.

He can produce miracle plays, turn a game on its head and take a team to victory, but the Titans have never looked comfortable with him on the park. He has had a tendency to overplay his hand with the young squad and try to takeover, which has derived from the good work Ashley Taylor and company have done.

On the weekend though, he didn’t get overly involved. Sure he popped up enough to guide the Titans to victory and be named man of the match, but he made smart decisions and created for others – namely Leivaha Pulu, who had a sensational game.

If Hayne continues along the trajectory he has set himself, buying into what must be an incredible culture Neil Henry has worked up, then this Titans side are going to be all the better for it.

Brisbane’s attacking display against the Roosters was a one-off
Broncos supporters have every right to be a little worried about the trajectory of their side right at the moment. Points have been a little hard to come by this season, and that was on display again against the Rabbitohs.

The one time they have looked at their best and run up a score was against the Roosters three weeks ago, when they scored 38 points and attacked from whistle to siren.

However, the two weeks since have seen the Broncos scratch around and pluck wins out of the air against the Gold Coast Titans and South Sydney Rabbitohs – two games they just as easily could have lost.

Simply put, Wayne Bennett has a lot of work to do with his side if they are going to become a force in the competition. While Ben Hunt being out isn’t helping matters, their attack is lacking the creative spark to get through opposition defences.

Anthony Milford needs to lift his game, Jayden Nikorima needs to play a stronger supporting role, and their outside backs – namely Corey Oates and James Roberts – need to become consistent at what they do.

Conceding 24 points against the Rabbitohs wasn’t fantastic either, just while we are talking about Brisbane.

Josh Papalii confirms his spot in the Kangaroos squad
If there was one bright spot from the Raiders loss on Friday, it was Josh Papalii, as he put to bed what little doubt there was about his spot in the Kangaroos squad for the Anzac Test in Canberra.

Papalii was part of the Kangaroos’ squad for last year’s mid-year test match against the Kiwis, so it’s not so much of a shock to see his name being thrown up again.

A dominant left-side runner, Papalii scored a try and put in an 85-minute performance, never showing signs of fatigue or being out of the game.

The Raiders second rower is one of the most damaging in the game, and his selection for both Australia and Queensland is a mere formality.

Will the Tigers be better now the off-field start is starting to sort itself out?
To say it’s been a tumultuous start to the season for the Tigers would be the understatement of the year.

However, as of Friday evening, contracts for the only two of their big four not locked away – Aaron Woods and James Tedesco – were taken off the table.

Not to say they were fantastic in winning against the Bulldogs, but it seemed to be a performance from a side who is starting to learn the way of Ivan Cleary and will only get better in the coming weeks as the off-field drama is slowly put behind them.

Sure, there is still a lot to work out. Aaron Woods and James Tedesco don’t know where they will be next year and Mitchell Moses is gone, but the rest of the side will continue next year under Cleary. The pressure on them to succeed and show their new coach they are worthy of being there is immense.

Expect the Tigers to pick up some important wins in the coming weeks.

Heads are going to roll at the foot of the mountains
Dreadful. Woeful. Inept. Incompetent. Simply not good enough. All those words and phrases have one thing in common – they can be used to describe the situation at the Penrith Panthers at the moment.

It’s a mess to put it nicely.

Te Maire Martin was dropped for the weekend’s clash against the Eels, with Bryce Cartwright – who it must be said impressed in the halves at the back end of last season – named in his place.

Unfortunately, it did nothing to help the Panthers get into the contest, and they now sit with a record of two and six after a first half that was truly shocking.

Nathan Cleary is struggling behind a forward pack who aren’t holding their own and if the Panthers can’t find a way to start winning, heads are going to roll.

Martin could be the first in a long line to go. Anthony Griffin for mine appears to have lost the dressing room. His team looks flat, without energy and like they don’t want to be there – so he could be next.

In the meantime, their pack needs to undergo renovation and while we are on that – Matt Moylan, Trent Merrin and James Tamou shouldn’t be touched by the Origin selectors with a ten foot pole.

Time for the Cowboys to start playing the full 80
While Johnathan Thurston was out, that’s no excuse when your forward pack is as close to full strength as it will get for the rest of the season to not play 80 minutes.

The Cowboys did, in their defence, improve on last week’s effort against the Dragons when they failed to realise the game had started and didn’t actually do anything of note until the second half, but there were still some pretty quiet spots in their win over a brave Knights side.

Coach Paul Green was still not impressed in his post-match press conference but acknowledged the improvement on last week’s effort.

Unfortunately for North Queensland, they still fell asleep in the period leading up to halftime, and a good team would have made them pay.

In a close competition, goal kicking will cost the Sea Eagles
Manly fans, is your heart rate back down yet? I’m not sure I’ve ever seen anyone give their team a bigger scare than Dylan Walker did on Friday in the nation’s capital.

First he missed a penalty goal. Then he missed a conversion from the same spot (not a difficult one either), before slotting a penalty goal in golden point off the goalpost.

Walker probably isn’t the worst goalkicker going around and he has made some from the sideline this year, but as evidenced in Canberra, when the pressure is on, it’s not going to be a strong point.

While losing matches is the most obvious way it’ll cost Manly, not having the goal kicking on a consistent basis will also cost them come the end of the season.

Manly are likely to be in the battle for the bottom of the eight and if they were to miss out on a for and against thanks to a goal kicking percentage lower than their rivals, that would be an absolute kick in the guts.

What’s the future of Kane Elgey at the Titans?
It was a surprise to say the least when Elgey’s name was missing from the Titans team sheet an hour before kick-off, but with Jarryd Hayne back in the fold and Tyrone Roberts playing superbly, he was the unlucky one.

The problem for the young half who has been in pretty reasonable touch himself is that unless there are injuries, it’s going to be tough for him to force his way back in.

Roberts has proven to be the ultimate utility this year, playing fullback, halves, hooker and even a bit of wing and is unlikely to be dropped. The dilemma gets worse for Neil Henry, because Hayne and Ashley Taylor, who could be playing State of Origin next year, are also not going to get dropped.

You could play Roberts at hooker, but then Nathan Peats is a huge part of the Titans side and proved it again on the weekend, making 57 tackles.

It’s a good problem to have, but the Titans have one too many quality spine players, and Elgey is the odd one out at the moment, despite the future he has in the game.

Unfortunately, with a pair of games on Tuesday, they won’t be included in this week’s edition of talking points. However, they may be incorporated into the Round 9 edition.

Roarers, what have you made of Round 8 so far? Who are you tipping for the two games on Anzac Day? Drop a comment and let us know!