Twelve talking points from NRL Round 24

The eight teams who will play in the finals are set, but we are still no closer to finding a winner after another string of upside down results during Round 24. Here are my talking points from the weekend.

Dylan Napa’s tackling style has brought him undone again
When news broke on Sunday afternoon that the Roosters prop has picked up a Grade 3 suspension and is likely to miss three or four weeks, I can’t say I was surprised.

Some will say it was a headclash, but for mine, Napa led with his head, collected Andrew McCullough in the jaw and deserves every minute and then some he is going to spend on the sideline.

Regardless of whether he thought it was going to be an accident or not, and regardless of what anyone thinks really, the big front rower is going to cost his club while he isn’t on the field during the Roosters’ finals push.

What makes it even more frustrating for Napa, the Roosters and their fans is that this isn’t the first time it’s happened and he should have learnt.

When he did it Round 11, flying into Korbin Sims head first, the Broncos prop was left on the ground with a broken jaw.

While the injury (if any) for McCullough isn’t yet known, Napa needs to work on his tackling technique and should spend the time on the sidelines doing so.

There is no point him coming back and doing the same thing again. We have seen a major crackdown on players leading with their head and elbow into tackles this year, so it’s not as if Napa is going to come back next year and be able to get away with it.

It’s now happened twice, which is as good a reason as any to start thinking about the consequences of not flipping the obviously dangerous technique of leading with the head first.

(Photo by Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images)

Penrith have fallen in a heap, but could still win the competition
This competition has gone mad. Favourites are no longer favourites, underdogs are no longer underdogs and without a favourite, the term ‘it’s a new season,’ really does belong to this year’s finals series.

Penrith aren’t the only club who have fallen in a heap in the top eight (think the Dragons alongside them), but Penrith still have enough attacking weapons to win the competition.

While their defence in the last few weeks really hasn’t been up to NRL standard and their loss to the Warriors in Auckland was well below what should have been expected, they are still waiting for James Maloney to return from injury.

Even though Maloney isn’t going to help their defence in the slightest, the team we have seen in attack since new coach Cameron Ciraldo took over from Anthony Griffin hasn’t been anywhere near the best they can produce.

Nathan Cleary’s form is up and down, they don’t have a stable hooker or fullback, and it’s limiting the opportunities their outside backs are getting. Compounding issues, the forwards simply aren’t dominating teams like we know they can.

I’ve written previously about Penrith’s need to start games in a much better fashion than they have done for most of the year, but even without that, this is a club who can still turn things around come September.

We are moving into a part of the season where a team needs to simply string together four victories. With the attacking nous Penrith have across the park, you’d be foolish to draw a line through them (or any other team) at this point, based on what we have seen over the last fortnight.

I guess, what I’m really saying is that any team in the eight can win the comp, and Penrith just feel like the best example of a side who might shock everyone in September. A team who have written everyone off, but still have everything to prove.

(AAP Image/Michael Chambers)

Are Brisbane and Cronulla the new favourites?
While Penrith and teams like the Dragons can’t be written off due to the insane nature of this competition, the Broncos and Sharks are two sides who are starting to stick their hands in the air as premiership favourites.

It seems like just about everyone in the top eight is struggling for both form and energy at the back end of the season, but the Broncos and Sharks are starting to peak at exactly the right time.

The Broncos have now won two straight, picking up back-to-back victories over the Rabbitohs and Roosters, with the second of those a virtual shutout effort on Saturday night away from home in Sydney.

The Rabbitohs had their excuses for the loss away from home with players out all over the place, but the Broncos still had to get their attack right and take care of business for the full 80 minutes, as well as weathering a partial storm during the middle of the match to keep the Bunnies at bay.

The way their forwards played during that game, then backed it up again against the Roosters to restrict them to just eight points was superb.

Of course, there will be problems for Brisbane if Andrew McCullough is out for any length of time, but they are just starting to come into their own. While consistency has been the major problem all year, I wrote a few weeks ago they needed to win all their games to the end of the season in an attempt to ‘learn how to win,’ and I they are doing just that now.

On the other side, the Sharks have been going about their business quietly, avoiding being called favourites by anyone due to a string of injuries, the odd loss and a lack of confidence over what their spine will be able to bring against the top sides during the finals.

While they do need a fit Wade Graham along with the rest of their forward pack to do anything come the finals, things are ticking for the Sharks, who have now won three straight.

Over the years, the biggesgt ability for Cronulla has just been finding a way to get the job done, and they are now into the top four at the end of the round. With the club peaking at exactly the right time, it’s only going to take four (maybe three) games in September to get the job done, and at the moment, it’s hard to put a club ahead of them.

(Photo by Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images)

What is going on at Bondi and Redfern?
In retrospect to the two teams rising out of the bottom half of the top eight, there are two sides who are faultering out of the top half.

If there are two coaches who will be concerned by the last fortnight, it’s Trent Robinson and Anthony Seibold.

Their respective clubs, the Roosters and Rabbitohs, have gone from undisputable premiership favourites to wondering where their next victory will come from in the space of a fortnight.

As mentioned above, the Rabbitohs had their excuses with plenty of injuries, but the loss to the Raiders on the back of a second half capitulation this week raises plenty of questions.

While some of those players may not have been back up to full fitness, they should still have beaten the Raiders and beaten them well.

The Roosters lost to the Broncos, following a loss to the Green Machine the week before themselves.

Two losses in two weeks for both clubs are concerning. In all hoensty, both clubs are looking fatigued and like they are going to struggle to turn things around with only a week left to the finals.

While they will still finish in the top four and get that second chance, losing at this end of the season isn’t something you want to be doing.

(AAP Image/Dan Himbrechts)

Memo to the Cowboys: Where on Earth has that been?
I know the Cowboys had a heap to play for on Friday night. Johnathan Thurston was in his last home game, Matt Scott was playing his 250th, Jake Granville turned out in his hundredth and there was a full house in at Townsville.

But they didn’t look like the same team who have turned out during the rest of the regular season as they ran up a cricket score on Parramatta to send JT home a winner from the ground he has made his own over the years.

Instead of playing a one-out style which they have done for most of the year, the Cowboys got on the offensive.

They had their forwards rolling up the middle and then with creative hands Johnathan Thurston and Jake Clifford playing good footy, they were able to get the ball wide early and often, burning the Parramatta defence more often than not.

While their defence wasn’t overly pressured throughout the game, they didn’t need it to stand up the way they were attacking, with all 17 players getting involved and rolling up their sleeves to do the work which put the Cowboys in front early and never allowed them to look back.

You have to ask though – where has that been this season?

(Photo by Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images)

The Dragons need to get back to basics
That was embarrassing.

In fact, embarrassing doesn’t even begin to describe the horrific Sunday afternoon at Kogarah as the Bulldogs ran up a score on the Dragons.

The Dragons can look for excuses, but at the end of the day, there are none. They put on a woeful display, almost as if they never got off the team bus.

Canterbury deserve all the credit (and we will get to that shortly), but the Dragons, after their win over the Tigers last week needed to continue building on the effort they had displayed. The forwards last week put in their best performance for weeks, but this week, it was back to the same old.

What we have seen since the Origin window is nothing short of disgusting from the Dragons, and they now find themselves in a position where they are unlikely to finish in the top four.

On a day when there was so much to play for, including Jason Nightingale’s last game at Kogarah and of course, farewelling Lance Thompson, they put in zero effort.

When you think of Lance Thompson and the career he had, effort is the first word which comes to mind.

It’s unbelievable that the Dragons have fallen so far. They aren’t playing direct, look lost in attack and their defence is mind-bogglingly awful.

The clunky win against the Tigers last week restored some hope, but the door of light which had opened has been slammed shut with such force it probably won’t open again.

Old boys day up at Newcastle will be another challenge in seven days time, but that could be even worse. And if it is, and the finals follow with predictable certainty, Paul McGregor has to go.

Conceding 40 against the Eels and 38 against the Bulldogs within three weeks is unacceptable.

(Photo by Matt Blyth/Getty Images)

No one wants to play the Warriors in September, especially in Auckland
It’s not new information, but the Warriors are an extremely dangerous footy team.

With Shaun Johnson in the halves, Blake Green controlling the orchestra, Issac Luke in what appears to be the form of his line and Roger Tuivasa-Sheck chiming in at the back, they can be the best side in the competition.

In form and playing consistent footy with their defence holding up, this Warriors side could win the competition. Given how things are going with quite literally no top eight sides in form, there has been no better opportunity either.

At the conclusion of Round 24, the Panthers, Dragons, Broncos and Warriors (fifth through eighth on the ladder) are all on 30 points with only for and against separating them.

While the Auckland-based club have the worst for and against of those sides, there is only 29 points in it. Given the form of the Dragons and Panthers, there is absolutely no guarantee they will beat the Knights and Storm (both away from home) next week.

If that’s the case, the Warriors, who host the Raiders in the final round of the season, could easily leapfrog them and move into a home elimination final type scenario.

Forget about traveling to Melbourne, Brisbane or Townsville. Going to a packed Eden Park for a finals game against a team with so many weapons running around will be the toughest road trip in the finals.

Regardless of whether they get to host or not, the Warriors are dangerous. They could easily cause a few upsets on the road, so all the remaining teams will be feeling a lot better if they were to be knocked out in the first week.

(AAP Image/David Rowland)

The Bulldogs rebuild has begun and they could make the eight in 2019
As awful as the Dragons were on Sunday afternoon, Canterbury were absolutely superb.

Their attack is starting to fall into place, and while if you listen to those bemoaning their salary cap problem they are due to sit on the bottom of the ladder for the next few seasons, I’m not so sure it’s going to be that bad.

Of course, that’s not to say there won’t be bad days in the blue and white while they try to sort this mess out, but there are better days ahead.

The worst days are behind them. The releasing of Aaron Woods and Moses Mbye helped them greatly this season, with the club now looking to move into the future.

Lachlan Lewis and Rhyse Martin seem to be the guys you can build that around. They are the future of the Bulldogs and while a young squad will bring with it challenges, Dean Pay has done an excellent job in getting the Bulldogs on task to finish the season a lot better than they started it.

With players like Reimis Smith coming through on the wing, and Jeremy Marshall-King to battle the arriving Jack Cogger for a spot in the halves next year, the Bulldogs are on a positive trajectory.

If their forwards – young forwards that is – players like Adam Elliott, Martin and those who have been on their bench this season – can stand up, they won’t be a side to be taken lightly.

I’m not suggesting the Bulldogs definitely will make the top eight in 2019, because a lot of cards have to fall the right way for that to happen – but they won’t be all that far away.

(Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)

Melbourne need a fully fit Cameron Smith to win the competition
It would be absolutely 100 per cent fair to say the Storm’s win over the Titans on Saturday evening was clunky at best, particularly during the first half.

Their attack was all over the place and while the Titans played well, they went into the halftime sheds behind. That’s something the Storm aren’t known for, and while they are better at playing from behind than they once were, starting games well has to be in their arsenal during the finals.

Without Cameron Smith firing at full fitness though, that’s going to be a major challenge.

The Storm have a hooking crisis as it is with all their back-up players on injury watch, and while Smith was able to overcome a back injury and turn up to play on the Gold Coast, he didn’t look to be quite himself.

Regardless, if Smith isn’t at his best, he becomes impossible to replace, even if one of the youngsters – Brendon Smith or Harry Grant – were fit.

Smith is still the best hooker in the competition both from a playing and leadership front. The experience he brings to the Storm is invaluable, and without him playing at his best during the finals, the Storm will go nowhere near back-to-back premierships.

(AAP Image/Julian Smith)

David Fusitu’a is a freak
And of the good kind. The New Zealand Warriors winger has come on in leaps and bounds this year and alongside some of the other big wingers of the competition is starting to raise his hand very high to have a claim as the best of the lot.

He scored another hat-trick on the weekend for the Warriors, showing off his freakish finishing ability on more than one occasion.

It rises him back to the top of the try-scoring rankings for the season, sitting on 21 from just 22 games.

Fusitu’a has not just become one of the best wingers in the competition for his finishing ability though. There are so many other elements to his game which make him impossible to deal with.

Whether it’s his big running game out of the Warriors’ own end or his ability to take high balls without raising a sweat, ensuring other wingers simply don’t have a chance due to his height, size, strength and agility, he has become an all-round player.

When I first saw Fusitu’a struggling to lock himself down in first grade a few years ago, you knew the talent he was going to possess.

Now that it’s rising to the fore, he provides the Warriors with an X-Factor out wide. He needs virtually no space to work in, and with Shaun Johnson and Roger Tuivasa-Sheck playing on the inside, he can create tries out of nothing.

The season of what could have been: Ricky Stuart’s Raiders prove they would have been a threat
Back-to-back wins over premiership favourites the Roosters and Rabbitohs.

It shows you exactly where the Raiders could have gone at this end of the season, if not for a slew of frustrating losses and terrible finishes to games.

Ricky Stuart’s Raiders have the talent to do plenty of damage at this end of the year, but those wins, while celebrated by fans, will also be looked on with more than a slight tinge of sadness.

Unfortunately, it’s been a year of frustration in the nation’s capital. They have chopped and changed in the halves, had injuries here and there and had absolutely zero control at the back-end of games, leaving them to lose games they should have won all season long.

Of the games they have lost by doing crazy things in the last 20 minutes, they only needed three of those to fall their way and they would have been continuing their season beyond next week.

Given the fact they had dominated a number of those games, it leaves you talking about the season that could have been.

While the Raiders don’t want to make too many chances in their forward pack next week, they must think about combinations in the spine of the team. Not because they don’t know how to score points either, but purely because they have no game management at the back-end.

If they can sort that out, this is a team who are destined for better things in 2019.

(Photo by Hannah Peters/Getty Images)

Who should Manly chase as a coach?
There is no questioning the Sea Eagles are a bit of a basket case right at the moment, and with current coach Trent Barrett walking out the door at Brookvale come the end of the season, it leaves the club very little time to source a new head coach before pre-season gets underway.

They won’t have many options either, because at the moment, going there looks like it could be a death sentence for a coach, despite the obvious talent they have running around on the paddock.

From Martin Taupau to Daly Cherry-Evans, the Trbojevic brothers and the ever-improving Addin Fonua-Blake to go with hooker Apisai Koroisau, this isn’t a side who should be out of contention for the top eight weeks before the end of the season.

So who should the Sea Eagles chase?

I don’t doubt they already have someone lined up and the players are apparently backing John Cartwright to take over. That wouldn’t be bad option in the slightest either, with the coach having been through some stuff at the Titans. In the same vein, Neil Henry wouldn’t be a terrible option.

The other obvious option is Michael Maguire, who has been out of a job at NRL-level since he left the South Sydney Rabbitohs at the end of last season.

Manly landing a name like Wayne Bennett seems out of the question, so those three seem to be the ones who are most likely to land the gig, while fans also call for the return of former player and coach Geoff Toovey.

Roarers, what did you make of Round 24? Drop a comment and let us know.