Rugby League is a fantastic game. Every week there is always something going on. Despite all the drama, the NRL must be absolutely happy with the season’s outcome so far.
At the beginning of the season, I had my top four locked in: Melbourne, North Queensland, Easts and Parramatta. However, we are one week short of teams playing half their games and we have the Dragons on top. I did think they would start strong, but there is something different with the 2018 Dragons team.
In previous seasons they had the appearance of being tough, but when the push came to shove, their bones became brittle and shattered like glass.
This year they seem different. It could be that the steel that was once widely produced in the Illawarra has made its way into the Dragons team. The way the Dragons beat Canberra showed their resolve. The test that awaits the Dragons now is how they come through the Origin period where I suspect they will have quite a few representatives.
North Queensland were unfortunate to lose against South Sydney, but they are not unfortunate to be placed 15th. Is it over for them this year? Probably, but they have a chance to turn it around. Time remains unbeaten, and it seems that time or in this case age has caught up to the Cowboys.
This is Johnathan Thurston’s last year; I hope the Cowboys players realise this because if they do, then they would relish every game. Maybe this enthusiasm would carry over into the results and an improvement on the NRL ladder. Also, what every fan of the game needs to realise is that JT only has a possible 13 games left (if they don’t make the eight) so get out there and watch one of the best players compete before it’s too late.
Parramatta at the moment doesn’t matter. They are coming dead last and deservedly so. They started the season poorly and despite putting in some substantial efforts over the last five weeks have limped to this part of the season with only two wins. Now there are two clear options for the Eels.
Option one is that they can show up each week, get beaten and say to themselves “it wasn’t our year” and wait for next year. Option two is the tough one, but the one that could make them be one of the great teams.
(AAP Image/Craig Golding)
Has any team been last at this time of the year and made it to the big dance? Possibly, I know a Souths team in the 1950s produced something similar, but they had Clive Churchill. This Eels team do not have such greatness in their team. To be the best in the NRL, which is effectively the toughest team sports competition in the world, you need to be a unified outfit.
So my message to the players of Parramatta is simple: how good are you?
It is evident to all that you’re in a hole, and it’s not pretty. Are you going to be the team that gets pushed around? Or are you going to be the team that comes together as a unit and on every run, every pass and every tackle give it everything you’ve got.
If you don’t do that, then you will remain firmly placed to the bottom of the table. However, if you do, the results will come your way. I know my die-hard Parramatta friends haven’t given up on you, but it doesn’t matter what they believe, it only matters what you the players believe. The challenge is waiting – do you take it on?
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Melbourne and Easts are not in top four, but they are not far off either. The Roosters versus Broncos game was a classic. I was left wondering if some players had played themselves into a Blues jersey while others out of a Queensland one.
For Melbourne, a tough loss to the Sea Eagles followed a pretty solid start to the year. I’m sure more people would have watched the battle in Melbourne if there wasn’t a significant wedding happening back in England.
So 11 rounds in, the Dragons sit atop with the Penny Panthers a close second. It is good to see the Warriors show some true grit and they remain placed a deserved third while all my hopes at the start of the season are holding up with South Sydney rounding out the top four.
After next weekend the Blues and Maroons teams are announced, and Origin madness will swamp our thoughts. For five weeks our vision will be tainted a slight blue or maroon depending on one’s allegiances.
Exciting times await in this arena. I hope the Blues win, and I hope they win three nil, but I would have still liked to have seen Cameron Smith play one last series.
Once Origin ends and normality resumes, the season will be on the home run. However, I wonder if during the Origin period if there will be any big movers or if any team will have collapsed. I’m not sure, I’m not sure if anyone is either for that matter, it’s a very unpredictable competition.
I tell you what though, I’ll be watching and waiting with anticipation for all the drama to unfold.
Laimo
Guest
If you get 4-5 correct tips each then you're doing fine. The salary cap is having a good effect on talent distribution. I expect Eels and Cowboys to win soon. They just need one win to bolster.
Jeffrey Lebowski
Guest
Not as much as I used. I’m finding myself watching less and less.
BA Sports
Roar Guru
And yet you are still watching apparently...
Duncan Smith
Roar Guru
"At the beginning of the season, I had my top four locked in: Melbourne, North Queensland, Easts and Parramatta." That's the mistake people make - thinking this year will be like last year. You picked 3 of top 4 from last year plus the grand finalists. But of course I made the same mistake.
andrew
Guest
@RandyM..... your comments about the the Dragons choking sounds like you are still crying over another close loss yet again by your team! Crying over spilt milk I say. Before you should say the dragons the are going to choke you should look at your team that has already choked in 2018!!!!!!!!!! Maybe its time for Ricky to look for a UK coaching job?
thomas coates
Guest
I thought the Eels would do well. the arrival of the new half last year made them dangerous, but it had the effect of meaning Corey Norman went a little quiet, becoming a foil rather than taking charge. I was anxious about the halves pairing, similar to having doubts over morgan/thurston whether they'd get in each other's way. i had the tiniest of tiny doubts about the Eels. wrong again.
Dogs Of War
Roar Guru
I having been tipping poorly. So poorly my missus said let me do the tips this week cause she said I have no idea. Thought it would be a good laugh. She tipped 7 out of 8 (missed the Titans over the Knights). Looks like she is taking over.
Macho
Guest
Remarkably close games but then again there was some odd officiating where the losing team was favoured highlighted by the dummy half dropping the ball into an opposing player on the ground to get a penalty. Incredible
Jeffrey Lebowski
Guest
Last year was the worst season of footy I’ve seen. This season is just as bad.
Paul
Roar Guru
I hope an SOO game IS decided by a sin bin or penalty as long as the decision is correct. The players and coaches simply have to get it through their heads that the sort of illegal play they've been used to getting away with in other seasons, is just not on this year. Far better to get a result from this than to get one from a blatantly forward pass or a player being held back, that's not called.
Matt
Guest
Couldn't agree more. The players and coaches only have themselves to blame for the penalties and sin bins. Luke Lewis was on NRL 360 earlier in the year and pretty much said the players will keep on breaking the rules and give away penalties until the referees gave up and went back to what they were doing last year. We are now 11 rounds into the season and the players haven't cleaned up their act so the referees are still blowing penalties and sending players to the sin bin.
Matt P
Roar Rookie
Is that the Fox Sports article? You know it said that the crackdown is fair, and the players need to smarten up and clean up their game, right?
RandyM
Guest
has been a topsy turvy season, Dragons and Panthers the only sides that have shown any consistency. I think we can predict one thing.... the Dragons to choke!
ja ja klazo
Guest
So the teams on top of the ladder have won more games than the teams at the bottom? Who would have thought!
Raugeee
Guest
I just read an article by one of the big sportscasters - a sub-heading was "Excessive use of the sin bin" - I couldn't agree more. When the policing takes over as the main focus - in any situation - the game is the loser. I stopped watching Rugby Union due to the woeful state of the refereeing. I will vote with my feet with Rugby League too. When there is a black letter application of the rules/law, any inconsistency leads to huge discrepancies. If State of Origin is decided by a decision such as the Cowboys v Rabbitohs, there will be rioting in the streets from either State, and rightly so. It had been a wonderful weekend of Footy, up until the Cowboys match. I had to stop watching the Storm v Manly match as the reffing had ruined it as a spectacle. I cannot be the only person who is thinking this.
Nat
Roar Guru
Couldn't agree more with the Roosters/Broncos game playing for SOO jumpers. One, maybe both, centers should don the sky blue while Friend found himself on his backside so often that Kevvie would have to go with Macca. It's unfortunate timing for Friend to be carrying that sternum injury but that wasn't his best showing either.
Rob Davison
Roar Rookie
I'm loving the close games and many upsets so far this season, except for when it comes to tipping and whether or not to have a punt LOL. My main worry is the Cowboys, they have so much x-factor players but it seems they just can't gel their plays together. I applaud the way the Dragons have performed, Ben Hunt has been buy of the season, Blake Green (Warriors) second to that. Will be interesting when Origin starts and whether or not the Dragons start to slip down the ladder if many of their players get called up for NSW or QLD
Steve
Guest
I'm not sure it's that unpredictable, the top 3 teams have won more games combined than the bottom 7.
Forty Twenty
Guest
A few weeks back a poster on Roar was quite rightly laying the slipper into the Sea Eagles. We were dismal and you have to cop it on the chin. He did however make a classic error in his judgement by saying that looking ahead he couldn't see where a win was coming from and that enabled him to lay the slipper in further. Since then we've beaten the Broncos and Storm away and should have beaten the Roosters. Looking ahead at the roster and chalking up wins or losses may have been applicable in other eras but not this one.
Paul
Roar Guru
The headline for this article says it all. Each week there's been games which the average punter would think are certainties for one team, yet the other side has other ideas. There's still 13 sides that would be saying they still have some chance of making the finals, half way through the season. It's also nice that the traditional powerhouse teams are not having it all their own way this year and again, that's got to be good for the competition as a whole. Hopefully the surprises will continue as will some really good football in the second half of the season.