Twelve talking points from NRL Round 7

The Eels are on the board, no teams are undefeated anymore and the draw has come under full scrutiny once again with more double-ups inside the first two months of action. Here are my talking points from Round 7 of this crazy 2018 season.

Was Billy Slater’s try a try?
Ever since Storm fullback Billy Slater scored off a faux dropkick on Friday night, opinion has been divided over what constitutes a dropkick.

Precedence would say it wasn’t a dropkick, yet, the referees boss has backed the official decision on the night to award the superstar a try, which was crucial in the Storm’s eventual and important victory over the Broncos.

Looking at the footage, an argument can certainly be made that Slater did in fact ‘intentionally’ drop the ball looking for a kick, which then makes it a dropkick. The official NRL rule book states a knock on is:

“If, after knocking-on accidentally, the player knocking-on regains or kicks the ball before it touches the ground, a goal post, cross bar or an opponent, then play shall be allowed to proceed. Otherwise play shall stop and a scrum shall be formed except after the fifth play-the-ball,”

The key word here is ‘accidentally.’ If it was ruled Slater dropped the ball accidentally, then there is no way it should have been allowed as a dropkick because the ball touched the ground before he kicked it.

Because of the intentional ruling though, the referees awarded a try.

We can argue all day about it, but at the end of the day, the footage doesn’t look all that accidental, so despite my initial reservations, I’m quite happy for that to be a try, so long as we see consistency applied to the rule.

And that’s despite the fact Slater got up shaking his head. He did a very good job of making something accidental look intentional without meaning to based on his body language.

The loss they had to have: Dragons go six and one. Again.
Six and one is a haunting number for Dragons fans. It’s exactly where they were last season heading into ANZAC Day, and without going into too many painful details, we all know exactly how that ended up.

The game against the Roosters last year was a shocker for the Dragons. They lost Gareth Widdop to injury, Josh Dugan didn’t play the whole 80 and eventually, they went down to a Mitchell Pearce golden point field goal.

Things feel different this year though. Even after their first loss on the weekend, the Dragons have more depth in key positions this time around, and it felt like the loss the Dragons had to have.

Given their five-day turnaround and trip back from Auckland while the Roosters have an extra 24 hours and no flight, it would barely be a surprise to see the Red V make it two straight losses, but they were far from poor against the Warriors.

While the facts – over 60 per cent possession with just a few tries – make for concerning reason, the Dragons have been doing things reasonably easily up until now, and just maybe, that loss will reinforce some issues they need to work on, despite leading the competition.

It was the first time they have played a team at the top of their game this season (and that’s probably a credit to the Dragons defence more than anything else), but they will learn from the loss.

(Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)

Moses has the power to turn Parra around
Parramatta are finally on the board!

What a victory it was as they thumped the Sea Eagles, running up 40 points and not once looking like the worse of the two teams.

The Sea Eagles were absolutely awful, but as the saying goes, you can only play what’s in front of you, and that’s exactly what the blue and gold did.

At the head of operations was half Mitchell Moses. He had a pearler of a game, setting up tries and causing problems for the Manly defence left, right and centre. He was man of the match by the length of the straight, and with that sort of form, he could well kickstart Parra’s season.

Of course, he wasn’t the only player who had a great game – it was hard to locate a bad player in Brad Arthur’s side – but it was an emphatic return to the winner’s circle.

I’ve previously more or less written off the Eels, and the first 20 minutes of this contest were still concerning as they struggled to score against Manly, but the last hour was fantastic.

It’s still going to be tough to make the finals, needing to win at least 11 of their final 17 games. It leaves very little room for error, but it’s doable. They need to go on a run of victories now though to give themselves some breathing space, and Moses is the man to spark it.

(AAP Image/Dean Lewins)

What a bludger Thursday was
Thursday night’s round opener between the Roosters and Bulldogs was a shocker for anyone but rugby league purists, let’s get that fact out of the way.

The Roosters came away with the win after Latrell Mitchell became the first and last scorer in the fifth minute. I don’t need to repeat the records that were broken, but neither team would have been impressed with their attack, particularly the Roosters, who would have been looking to make a statement against a side on a five-day turnaround.

What both coaches can take out of the game though was that the defence was first class.

The Roosters held a side scoreless, the Bulldogs to six. While it was a bludger of a game, both sides can take things away to build on moving forward.

(Photo by Brendon Thorne/Getty Images)

Oh Sammy, what are you doing?
Sam Burgess had just returned from two weeks on the sideline for an elbow to the throat of Josh Morris. Now, one brain snap later he is staring down another two, maybe three weeks on the sideline if he fights and loses at the judiciary.

The English prop has never been one to back down from a challenge, but it’s costing his team with incidents like this.

If he was to miss three weeks, it’d mean he misses five out of six through suspension. When you’re the leader of a team’s forward pack, you can’t be missing that much footy through suspension and hoping the team makes it through in a good position.

There was an argument made Burgess could have been sent to the sin bin for his big hit on Sezer as well, and while that’s debatable, what’s not debatable is that the South Sydney prop will miss yet more footy.

It’s making life tough for Anthony Seibold in trying to replace him, and he must get a grip around discipline and decision making, or incidents like this will keep happening.

It put a dampner on what was otherwise a high-quality performance from South Sydney as they thumped the Raiders.

(Photo by Will Russell/Getty Images)

Could the Warriors afford a bench spot for Mason Lino?
Mason Lino has had two standout performances now this season. On two occasions he has been asked to fill in for an injured Shaun Johnson and on two occasions has come up in a big way for the Auckland-based outfit.

He has pace, acceleration, agility and an ability to read the game, filling the role of Johnson well in a well-functioning halves combination alongside recruit Blake Green, who has been one of the most in-form players across the competition.

The question though, is how to make Lino a permanent part of first gade.

He surely deserves it, but would it upset the team balance. Last year, we saw Stephen Kearney often include Ata Hingano on the bench at the Warriors, and while he isn’t at the club anymore, if there was a man to fill that void and provide a rest for Issac Luke, it’d be Lino.

At the same time, there’s no point giving Luke a rest at the moment. He is in form better than he has been in for three or four years and a key man for the Warriors.

It’s also worth noting the Warriors are defending differently this year. They are working on line speed and high intensity, instead of laying back and conserving energy at times. Keep that up, and four forwards on the bench are a must.

The Sharks look a lot better with Josh Dugan at the back
Last week, I expressed major issues with the Sharks left-side defence. This week, it all seemed to be gone with Jesse Raimen back and Josh Dugan playing fullback.

While Matt Moylan is a good fullback in his own right, he isn’t in the class of Dugan, and is much better suited to a role in the frontline, playing in the halves.

Shifting things around meant the defensive liability on the left of Trent Hodkinson had disappeared, and it showed in Cronulla’s clash with the Panthers.

Dugan is among the best defensive readers in the competition and he showed it on the weekend, while his attacking play was also first class, ensuring the Sharks got off to good starts in their sets. With Moylan in the halves and their generally better field possession, it allowed play to be more expansive, which showed on the final scoreboard.

It made a huge difference compared to what they dished up last week, and if Shane Flanagan has learnt anything from the first seven weeks of competition, then surely Dugan will be at the back going forward.

How will Newcastle cope without Mitchell Pearce?
While the Knights managed to get a win over the Tigers, sending them back into the top eight after seven weeks of footy with more wins than they managed all of last year, it came at a huge cost.

Gun half Mitchell Pearce, who has been in fine form for the first seven weeks, guiding the Knights around the park, has been ruled out for an extended period with a pectoral injury – and the most extreme of reports state he may well be out for the remainder of the season.

That is a killer blow for the Knights, who would now be relying on two of Connor Watson, Brock Lamb (who has already been dropped) and Jack Cogger to get them into the finals.

The top eight is really where Nathan Brown’s want to be by the end of this year. They have improved out of sight and while there are still glaring issues in their play, no team has been even close to perfect this season like the Storm were last season, so the premiership at this stage seems a wide open race, let alone the top eight.

In short, the Knights will only be able to replace Pearce, not fill the void left by him should be miss the rest of 2018.

(Photo by Tony Feder/Getty Images)

Manly look a rabble
Whether it’s the reported off-field issues or not is anyone’s guess, but the Sea Eagles look a rabble right at the moment.

After a promising start to the season where they defended Brookvale well and fought on the road, it all came crashing to earth last week and was backed up by a resurgent Eels this week.

Last week, it was a 38-12 hammering at the hands of the Tigers. This week, Parramatta, who were yet to win a game, ran up a 44-10 scoreline on them, meaning the Sea Eagles have a combined score of 82-22 in their last 160 minutes of football.

Their commitment in on-line defence is nowhere to be seen, the attack is a shambles and Trent Barrett has a heap of work to do if the men from the northern beaches are to turn things around anytime soon.

The Raiders inconsistency is mind boggling
It’s quite unbelievable with the amount of talent the Raiders have, that they can’t seem to be consistent. Ever.

Raiders’ fans were left jumping mad on Saturday afternoon as the South Sydney Rabbitohs, whose attack hadn’t look much chop anyway, ran up 42 points in a convincing 20-point victory.

Canberra has well-documented issues in competing for 80 minutes, and they struck again on Saturday, although it’d be fair to argue they were never really in the game anyway, with the Bunnies running on three tries before anyone had a chance to blink.

Adam Reynolds being back is helping Souths, but the Raiders had no excuses for the performance they dished up after two straight victories.

Just when you thought they were starting to build momentum, they fold in on themselves and lose their way, meaning they now have to turn around next week and start from the ground floor again.

A record of two and five doesn’t accurately reflect what Ricky Stuart’s side should be bringing to the table, but it’s hard to see them turning it around on a week-to-week basis.

(AAP Image/Mick Tsikas)

The Broncos will be in trouble without McCullough
While Pearce appeared to be the key injury coming out of the weekend, Broncos hooker Andrew McCullough also picked up a hyperextended elbow.

Initial reports feared he could miss two months on the sidelines. While it’s not likely to be that serious, any length of time McCullough spends out is serious for Brisbane, particularly with back-up hooker Jake Turpin also on the sidelines at the moment.

They genuinely face the prospect of Sam Thaiday playing a lot of hooker in the next couple of weeks with no McCullough, and that is a major worry.

It’s a frustrating time for McCullough to go down injured, because the Broncos improved against the Storm. It was a high-quality game of footy and one which they could quite easily have won if a few things had of gone their way.

As we saw last year, the Broncos premiership hopes went out the back window when the hooker injured his ACL and was rubbed out for the remainder of the season. For the club’s sake, let’s hope the injury doesn’t rule him out for long or ruin any momentum the Broncos have built in the last fortnight.

The Cowboys finally click
It’s been a long and horrid first month and a half to 2018 for the Cowboys, but they looked a different team in their beating of the Titans on Saturday evening.

It was the first time this season the creative combinations have clicked. Johnathan Thurston looked still a way off his absolute best, but it was his best performance of the year, as it was for Michael Morgan, Lachlan Coote and key forwards, Jason Taumalolo and Matt Scott.

The Cowboys still have plenty of improvement to do, and to be fair, it’s hard to make an assessment after beating the Titans, who are a bit all over the place.

North Queensland have won just two of their first seven games and have a lot of work to do, but it was the first positive step in the right direction for the club.

The victory did come at a cost though, with John Asiata, who has been one of their best so far suffering a pectoral injury and now being likely to miss an extended period of time.

Roarers, what did you make of Round 7? Drop a comment below and let us know.