Eleven talking points from NRL Round 3

What a round of footy that was. A grand final rematch, a few comeback wins, the ladder still looking like it’s upside down and a controversial golden point game on Friday. Here are all my talking points from Round 3.

Call one, call them all
I’ve waited three weeks, but it’s time to bite the bullet and talk about the men with the whistles.

The Tigers and Broncos clash on Friday was one of the more dour affairs you’re ever likely to see, but it will be remembered for one refereeing decision in golden point.

The penalty crackdown we have seen over the first half of the season has, in this writer’s opinion at least, been much needed. Too often in seasons gone by, teams were able to be offside, play the ball incorrectly and basically get away with every rule under the sun until the referees finally relented and blew a penalty.

It caused inconsistent officiating and plenty of gripes from fans. Those issues haven’t gone away in 2018, but some of the chat in the media, labelling games boring because of too many penalties – particularly for offside – has been ridiculous. You can’t call for more penalties, then backtrack when the referees follow through on pre-season promises, so credit where credit is due.

Back to the Tigers-Broncos game on Friday though and the penalty in golden point brings into question the validity of the exercise. The main gripe for fans has been a lack of consistency, yet, after seven minutes of golden point, the referees found reason to award a penalty.

The only problem? It wasn’t a penalty. The referees admitted as much on Saturday afternoon, saying they got the decision wrong.

The other problem? There is no way known to mankind that it was the first infringement of any sort in seven minutes of golden point rugby league.

Teams are always offside, forming walls around the ruck and playing the ball incorrectly, yet, for some reason, this one incident resulted in a penalty.

Consistency has still been lacking in 2018 when it comes to blowing penalties, and this was one of the worst. Essentially, referees need to blow every penalty they see – every time the rules are broken – golden point or not.

The obstruction rule was also talked about during the week. I don’t want to delve into it too much, but it’s a shambles at the moment and needs explanation, coaching and fixing.

How do the blue and gold fix their problems?
I don’t think many were tipping the Eels to be zero and three after the first three weeks of action. They have been woeful though and Brad Arthur’s men, statistically at least, are now along way away from September.

Being that far behind the eight ball is never a good thing, with the side now needing to win at least 13 of their last 21 games to make the top eight.

Besides the long game though, the men in blue and gold don’t look like winning in the short term. They have scored just one try in their last 190 minutes of rugby league, which is a hideous effort.

For a side almost at full strength, their attack looks lost at the best of times and defence not much better. Cronulla might have got their first win of the season, but the Sharks still have a lot to work on, so for the Eels to only get one try against them isn’t good enough.

Clint Gutherson is still over a month away from returning, while the injury to Jarryd Hayne isn’t going to help matters.

In short, the Eels need to start getting combinations working in the middle. Bevan French needs more involvement, and the halves need to do their job properly if this team is to arrest the form slide.

(Photo by Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images)

Thurston and Morgan need time to get things clicking
It might have been a grand final rematch, but the Cowboys were a long way from their best in the loss to Melbourne.

While defence was an issue, their clunkiness in attack was the key point to come out of the game. Johnathan Thurston didn’t quite look himself, Michael Morgan was in his first game of the season and the team looked to be always a step behind the play, rather than ahead of it.

Melbourne weren’t perfect, but still found a way to dominate the game with the Cowboys giving away errors time and time again.

While North Queensland are still without Lachlan Coote (and the difference he makes to the side is enormous), they need to find a way to start winning – and that’s going to begin with the combination between Thurston and Morgan in the middle of the field.

(Photo by Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images)

Nathan Cleary being out is a hammer blow to Penrith
The Panthers’ slow starts finally caught up with them on Friday as they lost their first game for 2018 to the Bulldogs at Homebush. The loss wasn’t the worst news to come out of the game though, with revelations on Saturday that Nathan Cleary is likely to be nout for ten weeks with a grade three medial ligament tear.

It’s going to hurt Penrith big time, not having their young half. He has a certain level of control well beyond his maturity and has been pivotal in Anthony Griffin’s side coming from behind twice already in 2018.

Without Matt Moylan and Bryce Cartwright at the club this year, it’s going to put a stack of pressure on others in the creative slots – of which it’s already a young spine – to stand up.

James Maloney will need to take the reigns of the side, with the veteran likely to be joined in the halves by Tyrone May, who will get his first proper, extended run at first grade.

May has shown good signs, but he won’t be at the same level as Cartwright.

Penrith have been far from perfect over the first three weeks, but their job to keep pace with the top eight over the next few months just got a whole lot tougher.

(Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)

How good will Matt Dufty be?
This isn’t the first time I’ve ranted and raved about Dragons youngster Matt Dufty, but he is going to be something very special.

To say he was a little bit off his game against the Cronulla Sharks last week would be an understatement. He played terribly, but that’s expected for someone in their first season to have a few poor games here and there.

What he did against the Titans in Toowoomba though might go down as his breakout performance. A hat-trick of tries, an assist to go with it, more than 150 metres and regularly popping up in combination with Ben Hunt and Gareth Widdop.

It’s that three-man combination which sparked the Dragons to their half-century of points in the rout against the Titans, but Dufty is a key for the Dragons at the back, who, for the first time in many years, have three genuinely good ball players in key positions.

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Why can’t the Raiders win close games?
It’s becoming a head-scratcher. The Raiders playing 80 minutes and closing out a game is like seeing a blue moon. – It just doesn’t happen.

Canberra have lost three close ones in a row to start their season and while coach Ricky Stuart can whinge about obstructions until the cows come home, they shouldn’t have given up the position they were in against the Warriors.

Or against the Knights last week and yep, come to think of it, against the Titans in Round 1.

Sitting with zero wins from three games is a shocking start to the season, and for a team who are confused by their half pairings, are without their number one hooker and have appalling game management at the back end, it’s an even worse place to be.

Their defence is also questionable at best. The Warriors rolled up the field with ease setting up their two field goals on Saturday afternoon.

The Raiders are good enough, but execution is way off at the moment. They need to work out what’s going on in the halves between Blake Austin, Sam Williams and Aidan Sezer, get their forward packing running (and defending) as one and stay focused for 80 minutes, or close losses like this will keep happening.

(AAP Image/Dean Lewins)

The Knights bubble bursts
Well, that was a smashing to close Round 3. The Roosters were superb as they routed the Knights, their second big win in as many weeks with combinations starting to roll for the tri-colours. Hey, it might even be time to start tipping them!

Anyway, the Knights bubble burst. They won both Round 1 and 2, but their first was in golden point against the Sea Eagles with plenty of help from the officials, the second a comeback win against the Raiders.

They are a much-improved side on the one who competed in 2017 and won’t be at the bottom of the table, but if they are going to be in contention for the top eight at the end of the season, they need to work on ball handling and doing the basics right, because even in their victories, there were long stretches when they weren’t.

(Photo by Mark Nolan/Getty Images)

Nelson Asofa-Solomona is the perfect replacement for Jordan McLean in Melbourne
Ever since Nelson Asofa-Solomona burst onto the junior scene, he has always been earmarked for big things. The Kiwi is tall, has strength, acceleration, aggression and a will to succeed all going for him.

The first match I ever saw the prop play was a New Zealand vs Australia under 20s match. He was a star for the Kiwis and his development has been strong ever since.

While he played from the pine for 2017 in Craig Bellamy’s side, having sometimes limited minutes, he took to first grade like a duck to water. He had impact off the bench in nearly every match, with the quietly spoken forward going from strength to strength in 2018.

His first three rounds have been sensational, and Bellamy has well and truly found his replacement for newly-recruited Cowboys prop Jordan McLean. Replacing the Australian representative was never going to be easy, but Asofa-Solomona is doing a damn good job of it.

(AAP Image/Joe Castro)

The Tigers conundrum – Reynolds, Marshall and how does the puzzle fit?
The Wests Tigers are two and one, right at the pointy end of the NRL ladder. It could have been three and zero if not for some bad luck in golden point as well.

If anyone thought we were going to be saying that leading into Easter, I’m going to go out on a limb and say you’re probably fibbing, as Andrew Voss would say.

It’s been a sensational start – even better when you consider new recruit Josh Reynolds has been out of the side.

While the Tigers have attacking issues to work on and can’t go on averaging eight points and one try per game, the control over the side from Benji Marshall has been a breath of fresh air for a club who have often simply played what they have seen in front of them, not worrying about possible ramifications.

Ivan Cleary’s Tigers are a very different outfit to ones we have seen in years gone by.

Before trying to answer their attacking problems though, Clearly has a tough decision to make. Marshall, or Reynolds, who is due back this week.

It’s going to be incredibly tough to drop Marshall at the moment, but Reynolds was brought to a club for the reason. One will start, one to the bench, but I don’t envy the decision Cleary has to make.

(AAP Image/Daniel Munoz)

A lack of offloads will hurt Manly in 2018
Manly are a fun team to watch when they get going. Round 1 might have been a loss to the Knights, but it was a high-quality performance from the maroon and white.

They showed their full potential in Round 2, running up a half-century, but then were stopped by wet weather, poor footy and a red-hot South Sydney Rabbitohs outfit.

One of the key stats to come out of the game against the red, white and green was a lack of offloads. Manly are a free-flowing side, with a forward pack who love to offload and create opportunities. With names like Martin Taupau and Jake Trbojevic running around, it’s little surprise they had the ability to run up 50 against Parramatta.

Of the first three games, they recorded 35 offloads in the first two rounds – 15 in the loss to Newcastle and 20 in the big win over Parramatta. In anyone’s book, that’s a lot and helps with field possession, as well as the free-flowing nature Daly Cherry-Evans and Lachlan Croker were able to lead the team around with in the first two weeks.

Against Souths though, the number of offloads was down to just ten. Taupau’s influence was stagnated in the slippery conditions and with the rest of the forward pack not picking up the buck, they regularly found themselves under pressure.

There were plenty of other issues for Trent Barrett’s side in their second loss of the season, but offloading appears as if it’s going to be a big part of their game plan in 2018 and when they can’t execute, they may well struggle to stay in games.

(Photo by Jason McCawley/Getty Images)

Josh Morris makes it 200 in the blue and white
I’ve always liked the Morris twins. Of course, it makes it easier when they started at your club, but I’ve never lost an ounce of respect for them at Canterbury and to see Josh Morris bring up 200 first grade games for the Bulldogs was wonderful.

When he left the Dragons, he simply wasn’t getting as many opportunities as he should have. He took the gamble, with Kevin Moore in his first season as coach at Belmore and has never taken a step back.

He has become a club stalwart, scoring 96 tries (including one on Friday) in his 200 games and with brother Brett joining him in 2015, they have fast become two of the most respected players at the club.

At 31-years-old, both are entering the twilight of their careers, but they are going to be extremely difficult to replace when they call time and walk off the field for the final time.

Roarers, what did you make of Round 3?