Eight talking points from NRL Round 20

After a weekend of comebacks, upsets and statement games, the top eight still has one place to sort itself out while the race to avoid the dreaded wooden spoon has taken shape. Here are my talking points from Round 20.

We must be able to rule on forward passes
This isn’t a knock on the referees, but it’s more a knock on the power of the bunker and what they are and aren’t allowed to do in the game.

Forward passes are an issue the game seem as if they will never be able to fix up.

Nearly ever week, in every single game you watch, countless forward passes are let go. The odd one is pulled up, but it’s a bad look for the game when you know tries have been scored off passes which were a lot further forwards.

While you could immediately place all the blame at the foot of the touch judges’ and question what their point of purpose on the field is, it’s frustrating the game can pour millions of dollars into the bunker and not be able to get them right there.

Sure, they have the problems of whether the ball actually came backwards out of the hands and not enough cameras, but there are no excuses at this point. They can work it out in some other sports on video technology, but can’t get it right in the NRL.

We aren’t asking for absolute perfection. At the end of the day, if it’s questionable, they can do what they do now and go with the on-field call, but the fact of the matter is, the current system we have to work out forward passes isn’t working.

It was proven time and time again in crucial situations over the weekend and it’s only a matter of time before a teams season ends or the grand final is decided on a dodgy pass not picked up by the officiating team in the heat of the moment.

James Tedesco will decide whether the Roosters win the comp or not
If anything was learnt during the first half of the Dragons and Roosters on Sunday afternoon, it’s that James Tedesco is currently one of the best players in the competition.

The Roosters and New South Wales Blues fullback is outstanding and nearly impossible to slow down when he is on his game, as he proved during the Origin series and has done for the Roosters on numerous occasions this season.

His first half in particular on Sunday saw him involved in everything as he shredded the opposition defence, ensuring the tri-colours would go into the halftime break leading 16-0.

Tedesco has the complete package, but it’d be fair to say there are times this season when it just hasn’t worked for the Roosters. Whether it’s his combination with Cooper Cronk or the way he has played fitting into Trent Robinson’s season, his form was patchy for the first half of the season.

After Sunday, it finally looks like things have clicked into the gear for the Roosters to potentially win the competition.

They were favourites for a reason coming into the season. Their roster is elite and, on paper at least, at the very top of the game. They now found themselves well in the top four just a handful of weeks from the season and if this form continues, they are going to be hard to stop.

Tedesco is a big part of the reason why.

(Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)

Penrith can’t let their comeback paper over the cracks
First up, holy moly. What an incredible comeback that was from Penrith. I still don’t know how they managed it, but they did to keep their top four hopes well and truly alive.

But steering away from the comeback, there are issues at the foot of the mountains. Issues they must address if they want to anywhere in the finals.

Sure, four tries in six minutes is going to create mass hysteria amongst the fans, but the bottom line is that if Penrith had of started (or played any of the first 60 minutes at their top level), they wouldn’t have been in that position.

Slow starts have been an issue for Penrith all season. If you were to look at the ladder across the first 60 minutes of games this season, they are well off the pace with a for and against of minus one.

While they are the best finishing team in the competition, often winning games in the last 20 minutes, they can’t afford to put themselves under that much pressure during the finals, or they will find themselves bounced out of the competition very quickly.

Anthony Griffin has a lot of issues to fix. Their errors, their defence on the goalline at times and attacking options among them, but it comes down to whether their forwards can get rolling from the start. If that happens, then Penrith are a strong side.

If not, they are going to keep relying on the last 20 minutes, which will see their season-ending before they want it to.

(Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images).

Will the wobbling Warriors hold off the Tigers?
It’s incredibly tough to get a read on the eighth spot right at the moment. For the last month, it’s gone from being locked in to not locked in and back around in a circle again.

Varying opinions are bread and butter of the NRL when it comes down to the top eight, but the Tigers could mathematically still miss out on the eight, so that’s more than good enough for me to at least entertain the option, given the form of the two sides over the last few weeks.

The Tigers looked shot on Friday night. After huge wins over competition heavyweights the Dragons and Rabbitohs, they came out against the Bulldogs and looked like they didn’t know which direction to run to find the tryline. It was an awful performance, genuinely their worst of the season.

The Warriors then had the opportunity to put the argument to bed when they played against the Titans, but didn’t come out of the halftime sheds. For all the good they did during the second half, they could have been on a plane back to Auckland and it wouldn’t have changed the result all that much.

With so much to play for, their defensive effort was embarrassing and reminiscent of previous seasons, rather than what has been sighted from the Auckland-based club for most of this season.

For things to change, the Tigers need to simply win two more games than the Warriors and get a for and against turnaround of 26 points – which is not that much if they go on a run of wins.

The Tigers run home reads the Knights, Raiders, Dragons, Sea Eagles and Rabbitohs, while the Warriors will play the Dragons, Knights, Bulldogs, Panthers and Raiders.

Ordinarily, you’d say the Warriors will be right. But their performance against the Titans suggests otherwise. If the Tigers can get back to their best, three of those games should be certainties and they could quite easily go five from five.

Simply put, this isn’t over. If the Warriors don’t win two or three, the nerves will be real.

(AAP Image/SNPA, Martin Hunter)

Should Brisbane’s defence be credited or is the Sharks attack that much of a worry?
Thursday was another controversial encounter, but there are problems for Cronulla. While the Broncos won again, although not nearly as convincing as when they thumped Penrith last week, the Sharks attack was awful.

They only ran up ten points despite having the lions share of possession. At times, they looked lost attacking the Brisbane line, and while attack hasn’t been a huge issue for them this year, you have to wonder exactly where they are at.

Their backline, while coming good at different points, has the potential to be extremely fragile. Matt Moylan in the halves, Valentine Holmes at fullback along with the defensively poor Chad Townsend and youngster Jayden Brailey.

It’s either going to come off or its not. Holmes is still trying to become the player he is on the wing at the back, whie Moylan’s game in the halves can go from hero to zero in a matter of moments.

The problem with that backline is, when it doesn’t fire, like it failed to on Thursday, there is very little chance of them being able to turn it around in the same game, and during the finals, that’s not where you want to be.

Brisbane’s defence also deserves a wrap, but it’s not what will win them the comp – that’s a dominant running game and quick play the balls allowing Kodi Nikorima and Anthony Milford to do their thing.

For now though, the Sharks need to get back on the training paddock and hope things click for them at crunch time.

What to make of the race to avoid the spoon?
The wooden spoon is something no club wants to end up with. The Bulldogs and Cowboys clearly illustrated their desire to avoid it with wins over the Tigers and Knights respectively.

Coming into this weekend, those two teams along with the Eels were all on ten points, but the two victories leave the Eels outright last, which, to be honest, they probably don’t deserve to be.

Given the Eels almost toppled Souths, it could have been a different story, but it now seems destiny that they will pick up the most unwanted prize in the competition.

(AAP Image/Dan Himbrechts)

Ben Hunt and Gareth Widdop have to get back to his best if the Dragons are to make a charge in September
Ever since the Origin window, the Dragons halves have looked like different players – and that’s certainly not for the best.

During the first two months (longer) of the season, Hunt and Widdop were among the competition’s form players as they got the Dragons off to a blistering start.

Yet, comparing the Dragons win over the Roosters on Anzac Day and their horrendous performance today is like comparing apples and oranges. There is no comparison.

On Anzac Day, which we can use to represent the first portion of the season, the Dragons halves were brilliant. They picked the right option kicking, were dangerous running the ball and seemed to pop up at all the right times.

Since the end of Origin 2 when Ben Hunt had that woeful game which virtually handed New South Wales the shield on a platter, both halves have been off the boil and it’s showing in the Dragons results, with the Red V dropping to the edge of the top four, losing three of their last four matches.

It’s a slump, and the halves lack of control over things is heavily to blame.

Yet, they could still turn things around. The Dragons run to the end of the season is incredibly weak Warriors at home, Eels, Tigers, Bulldogs and Knights on the agenda over the final five rounds.

Hunt seems very much to be a confidence player, so he could easily get his mojo back heading into the finals which, one way or another, the Dragons will be part of.

Widdop, on the other hand, seems to play well when he has a confident, firing halves partner. So, you connect the dots. If Hunt starts playing well, Widdop probably does well and on the back of their forward pack which still has the potential to be the best in the comp, things could quickly turn around.

The Red V are running out of time to get it right though.

(AAP Image/Craig Golding)

South Sydney need to win well next week
I have a concern for the Rabbitohs at the moment. After nine straight wins, they lost last week, and that was all fine. It was the loss they needed to have as the intensity and energy went out of their incredible run to the top of the table.

On Saturday, they needed to get straight back to the top of their game against the hapless Parramatta Eels.

Instead of being the brilliant Bunnies we have come to know over the last two months though, they stumbled, fumbled and struggled their way to a six-point win.

Two points are two points, but the competition leaders want more than just to be going past the Eels at the moment. They want to be smacking teams like the Eels to confirm their finals credentials.

Credit where credit is due to Parramatta as well, because they did play a solid game of footy, but South Sydney should have smoked them. Not only just got out of it at the end.

What Souths can’t afford is a rot of average footy to set in. They take on the Storm and Roosters in the next fortnight, and with those three teams (Souths included) likely to fight out the premiership between them, there probably isn’t a more crucial pair of games this season for the Rabbitohs.

Win those and they enter the finals full of confidence. Lose them and there is a real chance they drop out of the top four to Penrith or Cronulla, entering the finals straight into an elimination scenario on the back of some form which would suggest anything but a premiership favourite.

Roarers, what did you make of Round 20? Drop a comment below and let us know.