Six talking points from NRL Round 16

The last of the bye rounds have come and gone, and the NRL is just about ready to commence the run to the finals, but first, let’s look back at the weekend that was with my latest talking points.

Just quickly – we are going referee-bashing free this week. Some ordinary calls were made, but let’s chat footy from this point on.

The Roosters needed Luke Keary back
Let’s get one thing really clear before we go any further here – The Roosters weren’t at their best against the Tigers on Friday evening.

But then again, in a game which is played in challenging conditions without Origin players, is any team ever going to be at their best?

The answer of course, is no, but the tri-colours had plenty of positive signs to take from the contest against the men in black and gold.

Before he went down with another severe concussion against Newcastle the week before Origin 1, he was undeniably the form player of the competition.

It wasn’t any single particular element of his play either, but rather, Keary just seemed to have it all going for him.

From his running, passing, kicking and play off Cooper Cronk, to the way he interacted with the forwards, everything was flowing for Keary who appeared to have a sky blue jumper locked up for the first game of the series.

History will show that didn’t happen, but he was straight back into it on Friday, and it was impressive to see his level of confidence in running the ball, taking the line on and putting himself in potentially dangerous situations given the nature of the injury he had.

He will only get better with every week back on the field, but with Keay at, or anywhere near his best, the Roosters just look a better side, and it’s the confidence of what he was able to produce steering the ship around in the 2018 NRL grand final which has sparked his form in 2019.

If he keeps it going and the forwards hold their own, then there is no reason to expect Keary won’t be playing in the biggest match of the season once again.

And while the return of the man who was robbed of an Origin jersey by concussion dominated the headlines out of Friday night’s topsy-turvy sort of contest, Latrell Mitchell also proved a thing or two about why he will be back in an Origin jumper sooner rather than later.

It was a really strong performance from the youngster – his best in weeks – and to be able to move on from the stuff that has impacted him over the past couple of weeks is really promising fo the gun centre.

Cameron Smith is still the best
Next week, the inspirational Melbourne leader will become the first man to play 400 NRL games when he runs out against arch-enemy the Cronulla Sharks.

The milestone is an absolutely staggering one, but it’s even more so when you consider he is still the best hooker, best captain and probably most influential figure in the competition at the ripe old age of 36.

In terms of longevity, there is no equal in his generation or maybe ever, although I’m sure rugby league historians would have a thing or two to say about that statement, and in terms of being able to read and control games, he has been the best for some years, and that doesn’t look likely to slow down.

The bottom line is that Smith has a feel for the game like few others ever have, and no matter your opinion on the way he is able to talk his way through a game with the referees, it’s worked for him and the Storm for years.

What’s even more impressive is the way he is still playing big minutes for the men from Melbourne, never lets up in defence and has found a way to still have the energy to work with a new, young version of the Melbourne spine, continuing to orchestrate the attack in spite of not having players like Billy Slater and Cooper Cronk playing alongside him.

You could almost say he has taken his game to another level in the past year or two, doing more kicking out of dummy half than ever, but also sharing the role with Brandon Smith and at times, playing like a third half.

We will never see another player like Cameron Smith in our lifetime, and when he runs out in game 400 next week, it’s a milestone which should be celebrated, even begrudgingly, by the entire NRL community.

(Photo by Michael Dodge/Getty Images)

Understrength Newcastle’s fight is a tick for Nathan Brown
If you had of taken the Knights 12 months ago, removing their three best players from the side, just about any club in the competition would have rolled them up, thrown them down the hill and run away with a huge victory.

But not this Knights, and it’s a really big tick in the right direction for Nathan Brown, who has got his side, and the wider squad, seemingly starting to believe they are on the verge of something special in the Hunter.

Ignoring for a moment the fact they did lose to the New Zealand Warriors by four points, if you sit there and take Kalyn Ponga, David Klemmer and Mitchell Pearce out of any NRL side, then they are going to struggle.

But the Knights attitude throughout the game, their tenacity to defend the goal line and attempt to put points on the board, playing an attacking brand of rugby league, demonstrates a couple of things.

Firstly, it’s that this is now Nathan Brown’s footy side and squad. He has had them humming this year, but to only go down by four with so many players out, and for replacements like Connor Watson and Mason Lino to stand up, that’s a positive.

Secondly, the Knights have depth. They have players who can come in and do the job for injuries, and the chance of having all three of those stars out again this year appears slim on the surface, so that’s another positive.

Thirdly, the Knights are playing with confidence. It’s something they haven’t done for years, but after a strong streak of victories in recent weeks, they are now looking like a side who know how to win.

It’s a bit of a cliche, sure, but it’s important. The difference between a side who know how to win and one who have forgotten how to win is immense, and it was on show for all to see on Saturday, even if they didn’t come away with the chocolates.

Can the Dragons take anything from their defensive showing?
In a word, yes.

The Dragons may not have come away with the victory over Melbourne at home in fairly horrid conditions on Thursday night (which, by the way, why on Earth do we need to have Thursday night games during Origin – they are a blight on the competition, TV ratings or not), but the Red V did man up in defence.

Missing what was virtually a full-strength forward pack with no Tyson Frizell, Tariq Sims, James Graham and Paul Vaughan to a mix of Origin, injury and suspension, as well as Ben Hunt and Corey Norman in the halves, the Dragons had a bleak outlook coming into the game.

But they held very strong during the first half. Things may have got away from them a little in the second half as the game evened up, but for the Storm to have 55 per cent possession during the first half an all the territory, but only coming away with a single try, it was a stunning effort from the Dragons.

There was a stat floating around that with the amount of chances the Storm had in the Dragons red zone, they normally would have scored three tries.

Now, that has to be taken with a grain of salt given Cameron Munster was out, but they still had a large chunk of their forward pack, as well as three-quarters of their first choice spine, so yes, the Dragons can absolutely take something out of it.

While the players are going to change between now and when the Dragons next take the field, the big thing to note is that the side need to look at it as an attitude reversal, and an acknowledgement that with season on the line in the coming weeks, they can play for the entire 80 minutes and hang with the best teams in the competition.

(Photo by Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images)

Jayden Brailey would be an excellent signing for Newcastle, but have Cronulla locked up the right brother?
Note: This hasn’t actually been confirmed yet, but it’s widely reported that it will, and makes a lot of sense, frankly.

Now, onto the actual analysis of the situation for both Cronulla and the Knights.

For the Knights, this is an absolute score if it comes off. Jayden Brailey has proven himself to be one of the best young hookers in the game, and while he is now 23 – so getting on just a little bit – he is really developing into a strong role, and as a coach, you know what can be expected out of him every week.

What’s more, he has proven previously he has the ability to play 80 minutes at high quality, providing good service to his forwards (which, as we have seen in Origin, is absolutely critical to a team performing well), and not getting lazy in defence.

What the Sharks did have was a major dillema though, given they signed Jayden’s brother Blayke to a new three-year contract earlier in the season.

It’s an interesting call from the Cronulla management, given Blayke is not nearly as proven at first-grade level as Jayden, but there simply isn’t room for both of them at the same club.

What Blayke has proven this year is that he is up to first-grade standard. There is not one single doubt about that.

What he hasn’t proven (yet), is that he has the ability to play big minutes and do it consistently, which is a must-have in the current NRL climate where defence and big minutes from hookers with reduced interchanges is oh so important.

I have little doubt Blayke will stand up and produce when called upon next year should Jayden’s move to the Knights go through, but with the untenable position at Cronulla of having two hookers who both deserve to be playing big minutes in the NRL, one had to move on for the good of both of their careers, and on the surface, with the evidence presented to this point, it looks like Newcastle may well get the better end of the bargain.

(Photo by Tony Feder/Getty Images)

Xavier Coates – mark the name
I first saw Xavier Coates play about six weeks ago when he ran out for the Queensland under 18 side against the Blues. On that occasion, he won man of the match from the wing.

Of course, the kid has had wraps on him before that performance, and having heard those wraps, it was exciting to watch him play.

Now, just a month removed from that, he had an excellent performance for Papua New Guinea in this year’s Pacific Tests, and while there were some hiccups, had a better than average NRL debut on Sunday afternoon against the Sharks.

For such a young player, he handles himself on the park effectively, and the try he scored was also a good one.

In short, it’s rare such a young player is able to make their NRL debut with so little experience in the lower grades and look like they just about belong.

Some of his runs made him look like he is going to have a long and prosperous career, and while it’s far too early to go about making any such assumption or call at this stage, he certainly deserves more chances at first grade over the next 12 months to really prove his worth in the outside backs.

The only real criticism you could have is that maybe he didn’t go looking for enough work, but he was solid, did a job and has a lot of learning to do and experience to gain before a real judgement can be passed.

Roarers, what did you make of Round 16? Drop a comment below and let us know.

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