The Canberra Raiders have done it again, going to Melbourne and emerging victorious over the Storm, only, this time, it was in a qualifying final and grants them the right to a week off. It was a crazy game and there is plenty to discuss, so let’s get into it.
Can we please use the bunker to get things right?
Let me state to begin that the decision at the end of this game, where Suliasi Vunivalu was ruled to have made contact with the sideline after a short restart, didn’t cost the Storm the game.
The attitude of some “experts” and “analysts” following the game being just that is a joke. And a bad one at that.
The Raiders deserve all the credit in the world. They let in one try across 79 minutes, and were hardly a sure thing to give up a second if the Storm had of been allowed to keep that short kick-off.
However, that’s where my disagreement stops.
If we have a bunker, who have every single camera available at the touch of a button, then there must be rules brought in to let them intervene and get that call right.
There has to be a balance where the game isn’t slowed down any more than it is currently, but when there is a stoppage with ample time to get the right call, then it should be made.
In other sporting leagues around the world, like the NBA for example, we often see a game stopped in the final minutes so the video can be checked and the right decision made, and just maybe, that should be the case in the final ten minutes of an NRL game.
At the very least, this is what a captain’s challenge could be used for. It doesn’t work in try-scoring scenarios, but it sure could in situations like last night’s.
When you have a decision that is near-on impossible for a touch judge to get right, we should be doing everything possible to not leave a black mark on the game, and that means getting the bunker involved.
(The Roar)
Raiders calmness under the pump could win them the competition
There was a lot that went wrong for the Raiders in this contest, but the way they fought through adversity and came away with the win was outstanding.
In fact, they could have fallen apart before the opening whistle.
It’s not every day – and nor should it ever happen again – that a player gets a piece of firework lodged in their eye.
Frankly, it’s a joke, and there should be a full investigation completed by the NRL into the issue, with extra safety precautions for players, officials and spectators introduced into the future.
But, back to the game. Bailey Simonsson didn’t expect to start, the Raiders didn’t expect to not have Joey Leilua out there for the first portion of the game, and yet, they started like a house on fire.
Reversing the trend of their previous two outings against the Storm where they found themselves 18-nil down in no time at all, it was the late substitute who scored first for the Raiders last night in what was a superb start.
And not just that. The Raiders then found a way to hold off the Storm, then keep in contact, and hold their nerve during a tense final ten minutes to score a try to come from behind, then hang on to take the game.
It’s that sort of coolness and calmness under pressure from the entire team, coaching staff and playing group that gets the job done in big games.
The Raiders had the talent, and now they have confirmed beyond all reasonable doubt that they have the cool heads under pressure to get it done as well.
Premiership dark horse? No, try grand final favourites.
(Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)
Is that “the loss the Storm had to have,” or something more sinister?
You never want to doubt the Melbourne Storm, because they are a professional, talented organisation who normally catch their knockers with their pants down due to the fact they, you know, don’t lose many games of rugby league.
But they now go into knockout footy a week earlier than they want to, coming off a physical game where they had to leave it all on the park, and to be brutally honest, they looked a little frazzled at times last night.
In fact, they didn’t look like the Storm at all.
You have to remember though, that this isn’t the Storm of old. No matter how good their season has been (and it’s been incredible), the Storm no longer have Bill Slater, they no longer have Cooper Cronk, and Cameron Smith, the ultimate professional, is well past his prime.
Apart from the fact Smith could have really done with the week off at his age, the Storm have a new-look spine in the last couple of weeks which didn’t quite fire in this qualifying final, and many members of their forward pack still trying to learn the game.
The Storm will still be at home next week, so that’s a positive, and they will be expected to beat the winner of today’s Broncos and Eels clash, but they then have to go on the road a week earlier than they would have wanted to as well, for a likely match against the Roosters.
If there is one positive for neutral fans, we will get at least one new team in the decider this year, but make no mistake about it, the Storm’s premiership hopes took a major hit last night.
(Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)
Why did Josh Papalii come off the bench?
This was a weird one, and I don’t want to debate Ricky Stuart too much, because everything he has touched recently has turned to gold.
Resting six players last week receives a big green tick, and given Papalii was immense off the bench, the Raiders started well and didn’t lose the game, this move gets a big green tick as well.
But, and it’s a bloody big but – Papalii is a freak. He is a giant of front row play, and has been one of the best in the competition this year as a crucial part of why the Raiders are where they are.
Now, the move has worked once, so again, hard to be too critical of the Raiders and Stuart, but I’d hedge my money against it working twice.
When you take on the top sides in big games, you want your best forwards on the field early on to set the platform for the side and make life easy for the halves as they try to settle into the game.
Papalii is what’s known as a best forward when you look through the Raiders roster, and while they have plenty of depth, there is no replacement for what Papalii provides as he illustrated when he came off the pine.
I’d be stunned to see him there for the preliminary final in a fortnight against either South Sydney or Manly.
(Photo by Hannah Peters/Getty Images)
Melbourne’s back five must fire for a premiership
If there is one thing that’s clear, it’s that the Storm are going to need near perfect performances from their back five, particularly Ryan Papenhuyzen, Josh Addo-Carr and Suliasi Vunivalu, if they are going to go anywhere near winning a premiership.
Should they scrape through next week, they book a date with the Roosters at the Sydney Cricket Ground, which, amazingly, will be their first-ever game at the venue.
But, when you look through the top teams, they all have ways of getting their sets off to great starts and capitalising on opportunities out wide.
When the Storm did look dangerous or on top of proceedings last night, it was because of this back three.
Josh Addo-Carr was particularly dangerous on the left edge, but Vunivalu and Papenhuyzen also contributed strongly, while Justin Olam was solid.
Will Chambers is the other in the back five, and he needs to be at his best for the Storm to mount a case over the next three weeks.
(Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)
Josh Hodgson is about to take the mantle as the NRL’s best hooker
Frankly, he may be already there when you look at 2019 form alone.
It’s always so hard to go past Smith as the best hooker in the game because of the leadership, professionalism and excellent service he provides at the rake position, but Hodgson is catching him fast.
What the English import lacks in any one area on Smith, he makes up for in incredible vision and raw talent. His passing game is second to none, he kicks the ball well, picks the right options and more often than not, makes everyone around him play at their full potential.
Sometimes, it’s the little things he does without them even being realised that make him so good. When you don’t notice the dummy half, he is doing a good job, and that’s so often the case with Hodgson as he just provides excellent, fast service and allows the big Canberra pack to get on a roll.
He, alongside the rest of the Raiders spine, was absolutely critical in the victory to book a week off, and you can bet every last dollar you have that if the Raiders go the distance, he will be a contender for man of the match in each remaining contest.
(AAP Image/Lukas Coch)
Roarers, what did you make of the game? Drop a comment below and let us know.
Chris Evans
Guest
And you can thank Ashley Klein for Raiders loss to Manly
elvis
Roar Rookie
If you have a game with 10 tries and it takes 3 minutes to stop and restart, that's an extra half hour on the game. Parra would still be thrashing the Broncos till the early hours.
zonecadet
Roar Rookie
Just so you all know, they were not STORM fireworks. The finals are all 'conducted' by the NRL, the fireworks run through was their idea.
zonecadet
Roar Rookie
Um, NRL site shows stats are about even for the game (including errors) so I'm struggling to see what Canberra did to 'stun' them. It was a close hard fought game that the Raiders were a little lucky to finish with 13 on the park and still had to wait until the 77th minute to score their 2nd try and that came from a rare fumble by Ado-Carr. You won't win too many game only scoring two tries.
zonecadet
Roar Rookie
Slow motion play the balls looks a lot like "taking a knee" to me.
zonecadet
Roar Rookie
How on earth would it stretch out to 3 hours. The guy only took 1 minute 24 seconds (from my count) because he was wasting time. If no advantage he would just kick it and move on.
zonecadet
Roar Rookie
So, take up 3 minutes? Oh no, that's too long. So we all agree wasting a lot of time is not good for the game but wasting a little (is 80seconds the correct figure?) is clever and all good? Stop the clock after every try and re-start it on the kick off as most other sensibly run sports would and should do. No problem then and the time it would take to play out a game would blow out by about stuff all. No one would be up past their bedtime as a result.
zonecadet
Roar Rookie
No it didn't as the referees head has now admitted - two sin-bin offences ignored by the head referee, both on a Storm break that had the Raiders scrambling. If the game had 3 Coaches Challenges available on dodgy calls we might settle such issues.
zonecadet
Roar Rookie
80 seconds from when exactly? The try scored or the ball in hand and kicking tee available?
zonecadet
Roar Rookie
"You've earned the right to an extra 90 seconds of time running down" why exactly? I thought games like Rugby League were so fantastic because there's so much football being played in comparison to say, American Football, where they are always stopping and the 60 minutes takes foreeeeeever to play (not my view but certainly the view of many NRL supporters I've heard over the years). And then we're apparently alright with actual game time being eaten up When there is no football being played. A conversion is hardly playing football. Clock should stop whenever they ain't running and passing. Any game, all the time.
zonecadet
Roar Rookie
about a 100 points of improvement to match the Storm for a start.
zonecadet
Roar Rookie
You hope.
zonecadet
Roar Rookie
Spelling mistakes and grammar aside, "the Storm are in decline" ?? Really, with a record of 20-4 and a Minor Premiership no-one tipped they are in decline? Dream on. One loss does not a season end (not yet anyway) nor does one win a season make. Last time the Raiders beat Melbourne they lost the very next week to an undermanned Manly side. At home.
Uhme
Guest
Actually it did. This is the reason why Klein has been dropped due to not listening or disregarding pocket ref Atkins that a Canberra player had taken Ryan Papenhuyzen out and ignored the professional foul from Croker. Wether or not it had made a difference, I don't know.
The Swan Street Stalker
Guest
Also for all those saying that call from the touchie didn’t cost the Storm the game (that would be point 1) Yep. Who knows? But may I suggest going back and watching the last 1 minute and 15 seconds of the first half. You know... let’s just see what can happen in that time period.
The Swan Street Stalker
Guest
I usually have a bit of a lark writing because it’s my actual job... Things like this I would usually not put up but after watching the NRL wheel out Graham Annesley for a bit of David Copperfield and reading all the brilliant comments from such enlightened minds may I present the following... Stalking Points: a Storm fans perspective. 1. How good is it to see all the other fans having a whinge/gloat about Storm fans having a whinge? We all know that the Melbourne Storm have had every single decision go their way ever since News Limited told the NRL “We’re News Limited and you’re going to do what we tell you” Well, now they know how it feels when a refereeing decision that is blatantly wrong goes against them! Haha! Now, it’s time to really lay the boot in! Let’s just try to forget that Storm fans are reacting the exact same way a fan of any other team (or fans of things like correct decisions and common sense) would when put into the exact same circumstances. By calling for this very easily solved problem to be given it’s very simple solution the fans, who probably don’t even know the rules because AFL, are simply cheats or Cameron Smiths a referee or Billy Slaters shoulder charge or they’re not even a real rugby league club or whatever b-!!$#|+ you want to use. And whilst they may be right about everything they’re saying they’re really just whinging. Which if you were a fan of any other team would be called “justifiably outraged” It’s the Storm! They’ve never ever even had a penalty blown against them ever! So, let’s enjoy this by really giving it to them for once. 2. Apparently, not even the refs can see Jarrod Croker. Does he even exist? For a very long time it’s been claimed that NSW selectors have suffered from the terrible disease of the eye Crokertoconus. This disease, if you’ve never heard of it, causes the eye not to process the viewing of anyone named Jarrod Croker. Apparently this disease has spilt over in an alarming display of cross-species transmission to the real cockroaches of the Rugby League World aka the referees. Apparently, they didn’t see Jarrod Croker or any of his professional fouls last night either. No truth to the rumour professional referee hater Ricky Stuart was seen offering match officials “already opened boxes of chocolates” in the tunnel before kick off. There’s also no truth to the rumour that Suli Vunivalu was seen stealing chocolates from out of the touchies bag that usually holds all the money the Melbourne Storm pay the refs with hence Suli not seeing Croker when he was tackled on suspicion and the touchie not seeing that Suli was half a foot in. Apparently, Crokertoconus has also mutated (maybe some sort of antigenic shift) to also hinder the hearing by “stripping” the inside of the ear of any common sense. See how that wraps up nicely? 3. Compulsory attempt to make everything about Souths... We all know that it wouldn’t be Roar League comment unless someone tried to make it all about Souths. Even if the whole article and every single comment underneath had absolutely nothing to do with Souths. Everything needs to be about Souths. And if it isn’t it should be. Souths. It’s not really, really, really annoying. 4. The Elbow... Listen here (why isn’t it hear) Bunker, that Nelson Asofa-Solomona try was a try. We all know that Big NAS is allowed to do whatever the hell he wants with his elbow! Geeze Louise, the natural hinged movement of the elbow? Not in this rugby buddy! Haha! Good call but I couldn’t not (double negative for a double movement) put this in. Comment in tribute to Mr P. Smurf. I’m so happy JWH has been given a week off despite it probably being a week too late for you. Especially, considering that the week he is having off will, referee willing, be when the Roosters are playing the Storm... 5. It’s cheating when Cameron Smith does it... professionalism when it’s anyone else. Simple. Those 80 seconds that came off the clock waiting for a kick from right in front? Cameron Smith = Cheating Anyone else = Professionalism and also the rules That goes for everything. Easy. 7. NRL still does one thing better than the AFL... Ah, what better way to bring up the intense rivalry between the NRL and the AFL than a comment pretending to be an article on a Rugby League article about a game played in Melbourne featuring a team many people in Rugby League don’t want in the comp because they’re based in the same place as AFL and people in Sydney don’t want those cooties. There’s one thing the NRL always does better than the AFL (except for that time Angry Anderson was in the Batmobile)... Pre Game Entertainment. How good was it? I mean AC/DC as Melbourne run out and Joey Leilua copping a sparkler in the eye! Couldn’t have happened to a worst bloke. Rock & Roll, Melbourne. Rock & f_€<in’ Roll. Can’t wait for the GF. 8. Ricky Stuart’s Press Conference in front of a helicopter is a complete rotation of 180 degrees... Usually, this kind of point would be followed by a lot of words about Ricky Stuart having a whinge about the referees but this week... Well, they didn’t make any really obvious blunders at all did they? So we will have to talk about something else... Do you think there’s a lot of players who once played (or currently play) for Ricky Stuart waking up today thinking “Yep. You’re nothing but a f_€<in’ weasel mate!” Let’s get one thing straight... Ricky Stuart has always been the ultimate rugby league coach! The best there ever has been. A really good coach. There might be a lot of coaches out there but when it comes to coaches Ricky’s the best. Trust him, he’s even going to get NSW to pay for the wall. Just wait and see. Ricky Stuart’s the coach who get things done. It’s just that in the past (including this year) he hasn’t had the talent (including the current 30) to fulfil he’s coaching talent (which he always had even when his teams were losing despite his talent). I reckon a few of those players Ricky threw under the bus last night, the Roosters, the Eels, the Sharks and his 49% winning record might not agree with him. Most people once they think about it wouldn’t either. Ricky Stuart has form. Nothing has ever been Ricky’s fault. He’s blamed everyone and anything for everything and anything. Except for the winning. The winning? All Ricky. He’s Making Canberra Great Again. Should we surprised that a coach steeped in the vast political wasteland that is Canberra is taking his cues from the politician who is also “really, really great”? Now, I’d hate to take sides on something like this but let’s just look at last nights game. Usually, the “right” thing to do in these circumstances is to give credit to the winners for playing so well and I am. Lets pay the lip service of “full respect” to the opposition. So here goes... Canberra played really well and barely beat a really terrible Melbourne. A red hot Raiders team playing at their absolute best barely beat a Melbourne Storm that hardly fired a shot except for 10 minutes at the beginning of the second half. The Storm were awful pretty much all night. Josh Ado Carr’s loose carry and then terrible defending in trying to make amends gifted the Raiders a try right in front with 3 minutes to go. If he had have simply held onto that ball odds are the Storm would have a week off this week. A lot can happen in 10 seconds... even more in 40 seconds. I’m pretty sure Bellamy won’t be banging on about how Ricky’s superb coaching beat them this week but instead he will probably concentrating on just how the Melbourne Storm managed to beat themselves. But fair play Ricky, with all that time you’ve got not having to carry on about how hard done by you are and the extra week it’s probably a good week to extend that contract... 9. A lot can happen in forty seconds... we just can’t predict what “There’s no guarantee that the Storm were going to score so it had zero impact” Yeah,nah. That’s not how it works. There was no guarantee they weren’t going to score either. Impact. Impact that can be easily avoided. 10. Roosters are all but in the Grand Final says Roosters Fans who will start watching the Roosters again this week... Oh wait! Why aren’t they playing this week? I thought they won? Last night a friend of mine who just happens to be a Broncos supporter text me to give me a bit of stick about the Storm losing. I replied that I didn’t mind because “we’ve still got next week off” He said I shouldn’t write off the Eels too early and should at least wait until the fireworks go off. Storm & Roosters on the same side of the draw... and the Eels who have somehow managed to give their fans hope. Again. Poor suffering things. I honestly feel for Parramatta. This finals series, like a lot of pundits have said before they ended up on the same side of the draw, is still a two horse race. The reality is we’re just going to find out who wins that race a week or two earlier. 11. Hate to be in Melbourne this week... The backsides Bellamy kicks this week will still be feeling it in Round 6 next year. 12. Sure... most of these points were just great satire rooted in some very serious truths but what do I really think? See Point 10. In all honesty, I don’t see anyone beating the Roosters. Sure Canberra won but they’re wood ducks. The Eels put a number on but like the team that they just flogged they’re lucky to be there. Manly played strong across the park and will make a good show against the Bunnies. Melbourne have been in second gear for most of the year doing the absolute minimum to beat sides. Can a team who constantly underperformed but still finish top still won it? Maybe. But the sensible in me is saying it’s a long shot. Souths have been hit and miss and while they look like they could take out Manly they will come up against it in Canberra. But the Roosters? They really do look unstoppable. The only way I see the Roosters not taking out the Grand Final this year is if Bellamy manages to get the Storm playing the type of football they haven’t played all year. They’re a side that are capable of it but it’s going to take a lot... and it could all be Bellamy’s half back problem that stops them from doing that.
maccaa62
Roar Rookie
Yep I agree can’t understand how he wasn’t binned. Melbourne would have scored easy.
maccaa62
Roar Rookie
Canberra to win the GF now that they have a week off and land on the easy side of the finals having to play Souths and or Manly. While Parra, Storm and Rooster slug it out on the other side. Had the not beaten Storm I doubt they would have gone on.
John
Guest
Biggest talking point has got to be neutral fans spared from Storm vs Roosters grand final rematch.
KenW
Guest
The decision was bad, and I understand why you're worked up, but I think you should re-read Scott's piece. He thinks they should have reversed the decision. He's agreeing with EJ because EJ is agreeing with what he wrote.