With the NRL taking this weekend off for the representative round, let’s take the time to look back at what has been an eventful first third of the 2017 season.
After nine rounds, the Melbourne Storm currently head the competition ladder with a 8-1 record, with their sole defeat coming in Round 6 when they were defeated by the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks at AAMI Park.
Their last outing before the bye saw them thrash the second-placed St George Illawarra Dragons 34-22 in Wollongong, in the process notching up their first win in the heart of the Illawarra since 2005.
After nearly two years out of the game due to a serious shoulder injury, fullback Billy Slater continued to impress in his comeback, scoring his first try in nearly twenty-four months and eventually finishing with a double.
Despite their defeat, which followed a heartbreaking loss to the Sydney Roosters on Anzac Day, the Dragons remain second but do face a challenging month ahead without its captain Gareth Widdop.
The result could so easily have been different had he not suffered a knee injury, which has ruled him out of England’s Test match against Samoa this Saturday night, last week.
He had been the architect behind the NRL’s best attack this season, with the Dragons’ 225 points scored nine points more than the second-best side, the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles.
Defending premiers the Sharks are in third place with the competition’s best defence; the 118 points they have conceded is just three less than the Storm, who have leaked 121 points in their first nine matches.
After a shock loss to the Gold Coast Titans in Round 8, their third defeat for the season, the Sharks righted the ship with a 22-16 win over the Wests Tigers at Leichhardt Oval last Saturday night.
Rounding out the top four are the Brisbane Broncos, who after losing three of their first five matches have won their last four to be sitting in fourth place on the ladder.
There has been a lot of commentary not just in the papers, but also on social media, about the way Wayne Bennett’s men always seem to get the rub of the green when it comes to referee and bunker decisions.
Last Thursday night, the Broncos were lucky not to concede the first try when the bunker ruled that Peter Wallace had knocked on in the lead-up to James Tamou scoring in the fifth minute.
That came a week after referees boss Tony Archer said the referees were wrong to award a try to Tautau Moga in their 25-24 win over the Rabbitohs in the previous round.
Moving down the ladder, the Roosters, Sea Eagles, Eels and Bulldogs all round out the eight.
Five days after sinking the Dragons in golden point with his first successful field goal attempt since 2011, NSW Origin hopeful Mitchell Pearce went from hero to zero when he conceded the match-losing penalty against the Warriors in Auckland last Sunday.
He had kicked a field goal to put his side up 13-12 with five minutes to go, but was caught offside with a minute to go, allowing his Warriors counterpart Shaun Johnson to boot the penalty goal to give his side their fourth win of the season.
The Sea Eagles are sixth with a 5-4 record, their most recent outing being the most impressive yet as they thrashed the hapless Rabbitohs by 46-8.
It is another step in the right direction under Trent Barrett, who had been under pressure to deliver after the club started the season 0-2 for the second consecutive year.
Today marks one year to the day since Parramatta were stripped of twelve competition points for mass salary cap breaches; twelve months on they now sit in seventh place on the ladder also with a 5-4 record.
They have won their last three matches, none more impressive than their 26-6 win over the Cowboys in Townsville last Friday night, though it must be noted that the hosts were missing their halfback, Johnathan Thurston.
In eighth place are the Bulldogs, who have turned a corner since being humiliated 36-0 by the Sea Eagles at Lottland in Round 4.
Many believed coach Des Hasler would be sacked in the wake of that defeat, but instead he was granted a two-year contract extension and their only loss since then came against the Wests Tigers in Round 8.
We now move to the bottom half of the ladder, where the Cowboys sit in ninth with a negative points differential of -21.
As if losing co-captain Matt Scott for the rest of the season in Round 2 wasn’t tough enough, in Round 6 they lost their other co-captain, Thurston, to a calf injury in their shock 26-16 loss to the Wests Tigers at home.
They have since lost to the Dragons (by 28-22 after they had trailed by 28-4 at half-time) and the Eels (by 26-6), on either side of a rather unconvincing 24-12 win over the last-placed Knights at home.
It’s a fair thing to say the 2015 premiers would not be where they are now had neither or both of Scott or Thurston suffered their respective injuries.
The Raiders and Warriors are in tenth and eleventh place respectively, though it’s the former team which is placed higher thanks to a superior percentage of +51.
Ricky Stuart’s men were considered unlucky to have lost their past two matches, going down to the Sea Eagles in golden point extra time and being held scoreless in the second half of their 16-10 loss to the Bulldogs.
The Warriors’ hot-and-cold start to the season continued when it defeated the Roosters 14-13 last Sunday, despite having a shorter break than their rivals following their Anzac Night loss to the Melbourne Storm.
Their current form does little to suggest that they will push for a finals berth in what will be Kieran Foran’s only season at the club before he returns to Sydney to link up with the Bulldogs in 2018.
The Titans, Rabbitohs and Wests Tigers each have a record of 3-6, with injuries (and, in the case of the Tigers, a change in coach) all conspiring against them at this early stage of the season.
Jarryd Hayne has been solid on his return from an ankle injury, which sidelined him for five matches, marshaling the Titans’ last two wins, an upset over the Sharks on the road, and a regulation win over the Knights at home.
The Rabbitohs have been one of the biggest disappointment stories of the season, their 2017 campaign hitting a new low when they were beaten 46-8 by the Sea Eagles last Friday night.
The club faces the possibility of a second straight year without September action, which would put the heat on coach Michael Maguire, who just two-and-a-half years ago guided the club to its first premiership since 1971.
And with captain Greg Inglis out for the season, any chances they have of a mid-season revival appears all but shot and it’s possible Maguire may be moved on at the end of this year.
As for the Wests Tigers, well, it’s fair to say that the club is in crisis.
The appointment of Ivan Cleary in the lead-up to Round 6 has preceded three of their biggest players, Aaron Woods, James Tedesco and Mitchell Moses, all deciding to leave the club at the end of the ongoing season.
Woods and Tedesco both missed a deadline to re-sign with the club, and both will be heading to the Bulldogs and Roosters respectively in 2018, while Moses has been denied an immediate release (for now) to join Parramatta.
Despite the recent crisis, the Tigers have somewhat turned a corner, winning two of their last four matches against the Cowboys and Bulldogs,while they could so easily have also beaten the Eels and Sharks.
Premiership favourites at the start of the season, the Penrith Panthers find themselves in 15th place after suffering their fifth straight defeat last Thursday night, at the hands of the Broncos in Brisbane.
It has been suggested that Matt Moylan is struggling with the pressure of the captaincy, but the man himself has said that he is happy leading one of western Sydney’s biggest clubs.
The Panthers could so easily have beaten the Rabbitohs in Round 6 had he and two others not been so stupid enough to go out for a drink following their 28-6 loss to the Storm in Melbourne in Round 5.
In the end, if the mountain men are absent from September, then experts will point to their 42-10 thrashing at the hands of the Dragons in Round 1 as being where it all fell apart for Anthony Griffin’s men.
And last but not least, the Newcastle Knights once again find themselves in familiar territory – in last place on the ladder.
As was the case last season, Nathan Brown’s men enter the representative round with just the one win for the season, that coming against the Gold Coast Titans at home in Round 2.
Apart from 40-0 and 38-8 defeats to the Panthers and Titans in Rounds 4 and 9 respectively, the Knights have been competitive in most of their matches, and very nearly upset the Sharks on the road in Round 5.
Unlike last year, when the Knights found the going tough, they are in a good position to win more games than they did in the entire 2016 season, but whether they can avoid a third straight wooden spoon remains to be seen.
The NRL will take a back seat this weekend for the representative round of matches, which is anchored by the annual Anzac Test which this year will be played in Canberra.
The Jillaroos will face the Kiwi Ferns in the curtain raiser, in what will be another step forward for women’s rugby league with a formal NRLW competition hopefully not too far away.
Saturday sees a triple-header at Campbelltown Stadium, with Papua New Guinea and the Cook Islands kicking off proceedings, followed by Fiji facing Tonga and England taking on Samoa.
Sunday will see the final installment of the City versus Country match, which threatened to turn into a farce after several NRL coaches (most notably Des Hasler and Ricky Stuart) made their players unavailable.
In what will almost certainly be his final representative match, Paul Gallen will line up for the Brad Fittler-coached City so as to provide some motivation and experience to his side.
NRL action will resume next Thursday, May 11, with the Bulldogs hosting the North Queensland Cowboys at ANZ Stadium.
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