Nine talking points from NRL Round 17

It might have been another short round in the NRL, but there was plenty of quality action across the four matches. Here are this week’s talking points.

The Warriors bubble has burst
It’s hard to get concerned about losses during the bye rounds sometimes, but when the Warriors – who are unaffected by Origin – start doing it, then there is more than one reason to be concerned.

What’s even worse was the way they lost on the weekend, going down to the Penrith Panthers by a ridiculous 32 points.

As far as the wider community of rugby league fans are concerned, there has been a ticking time bomb over the Warriors head all season, and it’s just exploded.

Their form over previous years has been to start slowly, become premiership favourites during the Origin period and then become deadweight in the final push for the finals.

This year seemed different for a while though. They were winning games off the back of hard work in defence and dominance up the middle. Their win over the St George Illawarra Dragons was a testament to that as they bashed and barged up the middle third of the park for 80 minutes.

That forward pack which was once so dominant played with a whimper on Friday night at Penrith though as they slumped their second straight loss and more concerningly sixth out of their last 11 games. While that doesn’t scream terrible, it does scream inconsistency, which is something the Auckland-based club have been famous for over the years.

Regardless of what excuses they may be able to come up with, the Warriors should have absolutely belted the Panthers on Friday and should also have beaten the Cronulla Sharks the week before in Auckland.

The losses confirm the Warriors may well be starting their long, sorry fall from grace down the NRL ladder.

The top eight appears more or less set and they are probably still going to play finals footy, but it’s not hard to see them bombing out without an effort in the first week at this stage unless they can muscle up and stop the rot in a hurry.

(AAP Image/SNPA, Martin Hunter)

It’s time for Jahrome Hughes to be a fulltime first grader
How Jahrome Hughes isn’t already a fulltime first grader is a question in itself. Of course, when you’re playing behind Billy Slater, it’s hard to get a look in, but every time he has been asked to fill in for the legendary fullback, he has done so brilliantly.

Whether it was against the Broncos a few weeks ago or during the attacking masterclass against the Dragons on Thursday night, Hughes has never looked out of place in the Melbourne No.1 jersey.

Of course, it helps coming into a team who are at the top end of the ladder and dominating a vast majority of their opponents, but without Cooper Cronk guiding the team around in the halves, making a debut now for the Storm isn’t as easy as it might have been a few years ago.

Hughes is taking to the NRL like a duck to water, and Melbourne must line him up with a permanent first grade spot for the rest of the season.

There is a bench utility role there, but so far it appears to have gone to back-up hooker Brendon Smith a vast majority of the time. That, to an extent, is far enough as well. Smith adds much more versatility in terms of being able to buck in with some minutes in the back row.

Hughes is never going to replace Slater at fullback while the older veteran can still run and hasn’t retired, but Melbourne run the risk of losing Hughes if he isn’t given more minutes both this year, and into next year.

It’s a good problem for Craig Bellamy to have though. As long as he can manage things and find minutes for both Brendon Smith and Hughes, they will form the future of the club alongside Cameron Munster and Brodie Croft, who between them have the potential to be the next big four.

(AAP Image/Daniel Pockett)

Lachlan Lewis is going to be very good
While the Bulldogs might have lost, sending them one step closer to the bottom of the table, a talent has been unearthed in the last fortnight.

While I refute long time Roarer The Barrys’s somewhat satirical (at least, I think it was satirical) claim on my blog last night that Wally will be one day known as Lachlan’s uncle, I will acknowledge Lachlan is impressing big time during the first games of his career.

Lewis, for mine, has the potential to lead Canterbury into the future. He seems to be a guy you could build the club around, along with second rower Rhyse Martin, who had a wow of a game against the Raiders, scoring three tries.

There is still a lot of development for Lewis to do before he reaches the top echelon of players in the NRL – obviously. He is in his first season and been rushed into the side after an injury to Kieran Foran and the departure of Moses Mbye.

Yet, the last two weeks is the best Canterbury have looked all season, with Lewis forming a dangerous halves combination alongside Jeremy Marshall-King, who has improved out of site.

To come into a side sitting down the bottom of the ladder and who have been attacking awfully to turn them around like he has shows Lewis is ready for the challenges NRL will bring. It shows he is talented as well.

It’s mightily important for the Bulldogs to lock Lachlan Lewis down long-term, because it’s a ray of sunshine in what was looking like a very bleak short-term future for Canterbury.

(AAP Image/Darren Pateman)

How good were those Broncos?
The Broncos have had an up and down 2018, but their win over the Titans on Sunday was one of their best.

Running up 34 points without their Origin stars against a Titans side who had been starting to find some form in the previous weeks was brilliant to watch.

Kodi Nikorima and Anthony Milford are continuing to grow into their rolls in the halves, while the form of Darius Boyd seems to be picking up from week-to-week.

Their forwards were dominant, the outside backs strong and it was a full team effort to smack the Titans around for the full 80 minutes on the Gold Coast.

The victory means the Broncos have won three straight during a period of the season where they generally struggle to win consistently due to the taxing toll on Origin players.

Still, they couldn’t afford a slump this year, given they entered the Origin window just hanging onto the coat tails of the top eight due to an inconsistent start to 2018. Their attack has been struggling, and it’s in their attack where the Broncos fate will be decided this season.

Getting it right over Origin was probably the least-expected time, but after battering the Raiders last week and beating the Titans this week, they are taking two steps at a time in the right direction.

Their spot in the top eight seems to be more or less sewn up with a six-point advantage to the Raiders in ninth, but they could do no harm by moving up a few spots and showing everyone exactly where they are at post-Origin with the Warriors, Panthers and Sharks shaping as their next three opponents.

(AAP Image/Lukas Coch)

Good on Darren Nicholls, but why didn’t Jai Field get a run?
It was good to see Darren Nicholls finally make his NRL debut on Thursday night for the Dragons, with the 29-year-old becoming the oldest NRL debut in the game’s history.

Yet, it was confusing to see him picked by coach Paul McGregor over youngster Jai Field.

Field is a man the Dragons need to endeavour keeping at the club. He was in a battle with Matt Dufty to play fullback this year, although his primary position is in the halves.

It seems a club would get more out of game time for a youngster when replacing an Origin star like that rather than a 29-year-old debutant. It’s going to be a short career at best for Nicholls, while Field still has it all in front of him.

The Dragons went on to lose the game with some of Nicholls’ defence looking a bit shoddy at times. While he was far from the worst player on the field, it carries on a tradition under McGregor of failing to give youngsters enough game time. Field and Dufty have been the two at the centre of it over previous seasons.

Anyway, you’d only hope as a Red V supporter the snub doesn’t mean Field will look for an exit from the club any sooner than he would have otherwise.

Jarome Luai and Tyrone May are going to be good
I’ve written about Tyrone May previously, but Luai was also superb in the Panthers rout of the Warriors at home on Friday night.

Playing what may well be their last first grade game for the season barring injuries, the pair put on a masterclass to ensure the Panthers would run up 36 points against the men from across the ditch.

Without James Maloney and Nathan Cleary, the Panthers weren’t supposed to be favourites. They weren’t supposed to go close. But they dominated, and it has to leave you thinking this is a side destined for September, and a deep run through September at that, no matter the rumours swirling around the club off the field right at the moment.

Of course, the main ones are around Anthony Griffen and his ability to coach the side, but when Phil Gould comes out and shuts them down, before the team runs up a cricket score on the Warriors, you’d have to think they might be squashed for a few weeks at least.

Luai and May potentially will be looking elsewhere in the coming seasons for gametime though, although the rumours continue to persist that Cleary won’t be at the club for much longer, plus James Maloney surely only has a few years left in his career.

The halves situation at Penrith is an intriguing one.

Also, can I just say. I tipped them to win much to everyone else’s amusement.

(Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)

Someone tell Keegan Hipgrave to play smarter footy
The Titans got off to a horrendous start against the Broncos on Sunday afternoon, and a big part of the reason was Keegan Hipgrave, who appeared to be on a mission to have a major impact on the game during the early going.

While the Gold Coast would get bashed on the scoreboard across the 80 minutes, a side like the Titans need to make a good start to all of their games.

The last two weeks, granted, against the Bulldogs and Tigers, have seen them do that and then run away with some victories.

The Broncos were always going to be a bigger challenge, but giving away dumb penalties to go with momentum, possession and territory which led to a handy early lead for the understrength Broncos was always going to make the job five times harder for the Gold Coast.

The first penalty was somewhat forgivable, but the high tackle in that sort of position – penalty goal kicking position when you’re already down 6-0 inside the first ten minutes – simply wasn’t forgivable.

Hipgrave has had a pretty promising start to his NRL career. Alongside AJ Brimson in the halves, he has been a breath of fresh air, but playing smart footy is one of the most important things any player can learn how to do.

Based on Sunday’s effort, Hipgrave still has a long way to go.

Can we get better commentators? Please?
A short one to finish off this week, but I have to draw attention to the commentators we are seeing across the competition. It’s grinding my gears.

While the personnel being rolled out on free-to-air TV through the Nine Network has been expected for years, the quality on Fox is going downhill.

Warren Smith, Matt Russell and Andrew Voss are still the best in the business, so good on them. But anyone who wants to listen to Matt Nable, Steve Roach and Braith Anasta, please form an orderly queue.

Funnily enough, that queue is just about empty.

Anasta used to be pretty good. It’s like he has a vendetta against the game this year though, challenging every decision the referees make and being frustrated with the game in general. Also, please stop talking over the bunker. Let them explain what’s going on. Unless of course, you’re sitting in the bunker and relaying the information. But you’re not. So zip it.

Roach was good as a one-time thing. When he was brought back for heritage round alongside Graeme Hughes, there was a real bit of nostalgia about it. He has somehow got a fulltime job though, working each and every weekend. His observations are poor, normally adding nothing to the broadcast and I’ll leave it to social media to work out the rest, but he is off the money with facts quite often.

I save the worst for last though. Who knows what made the Fox executives think Nable could actually commentate footy. The former actor is monotone and boring, constantly getting names and facts wrong while he puts together an excuse for commentary.

A commentators primary job is to keep the audience both informed and excited about the game they are watching. Whatever the opposite of that is – yeah, that’s what Nable does.

Anyway, rant over. Roarers, drop a comment below and let us know what you made of Round 17.