The NRL’s second Queensland-based round for the year saw a few predictable results, but there were some interesting moments that caught the eye too.
Here are your talking points for NRL Round 18.
WTF, Lachlan Lewis?
I’ve got absolutely no idea what was said between Bulldogs five-eighth Lachlan Lewis and South Sydney’s Cody Walker at halftime, but Lewis’ decision to tackle Walker to the ground as they exited the field was beyond baffling.
It really stung his team too. With him in the sin bin for the first ten minutes after the half the Rabbitohs scored eight points and turned a 10-12 halftime deficit into an 18-12 lead. The Dogs fought to the line, but a more idiotic on-field act you’ll be struggling to find in 2021.
Canterbury have enough problems without acts like that stuffing them around. Add on the possible reports of Dylan Napa and Jack Hetherington again hanging a lazy arm in a tackle, and you get a fair idea of why the Doggies are where they are.
Newcastle’s attack is anaemic against good teams
Sure, Newcastle aren’t the first team to get their soul taken by the Melbourne Storm. But the Knights’ 48-4 capitulation was a debacle.
This is a team who are supposed to be on the upwards trajectory after years in the mire. Right now, they’re tenth with a points differential of -137.
This differential is the responsibility of the Knights attack. They’ve scored fewer points than North Queensland, Wests and New Zealand. They’ve actually only scored one more point than the Broncos, who are regarded as a total laughing stock.
They’re 2-6 against teams currently in the top eight, averaging 10.6 points for and 28.5 against. The gameplan of ‘give it to Kalyn’ isn’t working.
The Knights’ next three are the Roosters, Raiders and Broncos. They’ll need at least two of these to stay in touch with the bottom spots of the finals.
Kalyn Ponga. (Photo by Jason McCawley/Getty Images)
Adam Doueihi should never play centre again
Many an eyebrow shot skywards when Wests Tigers coach Michael Maguire moved his best player from five-eighth to centre to give Moses Mbye a shot in the number six jersey. A lot of bad things have happened for the Tigers in 2021, but almost 100 per cent of anything good could be attributed to something Doueihi had done.
At the time, Maguire said “We’ve tinkered with how we’re going to play and I’m looking forward to seeing how it all transpires on the field. That’s the key.”
Well, now we know. Doueihi put on a masterclass against Brisbane. A staggering five try assists, four line break assists and 147 running metres of his own as his team hung a big number on the Broncos. His class helped the Tigers pull away when Brisbane were up for the fight.
There’s your answer, Madge.
How will Penrith cope away from home?
The Panthers did what they needed to do against New Zealand, controlling the majority of the contest to keep their opponent at arms length. Their 1fifth win solidified Penrith in the top two and most importantly gave Tyrone May and Matt Burton more game time experience in the halves.
Before packing up and heading north Penrith were 9-0 at Bluebet Stadium. Last year much was made of Penrith’s luck of the draw keeping them from doing the travel load a lot of their opposition faced in the COVID-19 impacted season. Will being away from home comforts have an impact or will class shine through in the end?
Personally, I don’t buy into any thinking Penrith will battle in Queensland. They’re too good. But there’s a lot of difference between playing in front of an adoring home crowd and playing in front of a couple of thousand interested spectators.
Xavier Savage is just what Canberra needed
The Raiders have been poor this year, their output much lower than what most expected them. They’ve been slow, unfit and pretty fragile when a team puts consecutive scores on them. So the last two weeks have been encouraging, with strong wins over Manly and Cronulla.
It has been especially good to see 19-year old fullback Xavier Savage get a shot, after Canberra lost their custodian Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad early in the season, gave Caleb Aekins a shot which didn’t work out, then winger Bailey Simonsson looked good at fullback until he hurt himself.
Savage destroyed Cronulla in his second NRL match, racking up 246 run metres, a massive nine tackle breaks and a charity try from teammate Seb Kris to boot. Savage is a player the Raiders have been excited about for a while. His speed and nose for an offload was a spark that got his team moving.
It’s not just Canberra’s wins that were notable, but the way Ricky Stuart is using his bench and speedy players like Tom Starling is keeping opposition off balance and making Canberra’s attack much more interesting. It seems the men in green are finally working out how to play V’landysball, but it’s surely too little, too late.
(Photo by Mark Nolan/Getty Images)
Kane Evans is easily inspired
Athletes across the world like to put motivational words or phrases they like on wrist tape, inside their caps, on their jersey or somewhere else where they can have a look and remind themselves to dig deeper.
Sometimes it’s ‘faith’, sometimes ‘courage’, sometimes ‘believe’, sometimes ‘focus’. A number of players including Canberra’s Sia Soliola often put the name of a sick child on their wrist tape to inspire them when things are tough.
Well, now thanks to New Zealand prop Kane Evans, we can add ‘fold some c**t’ to the list of inspirational quotes, shown to all and sundry on live television as the Warriors’ Warriors’ 18th man sat on the bench.
Seriously, does no one notice these things as a player prepares for a game? Maybe because Evans was ‘just’ the concussion substitute, no Warriors folks thought it was a big deal. Evans never took the field, and was only shown on camera because New Zealand had a big injury toll.
But it takes a special kind of moron to think you can write that word on your wrist tape without consequence. Maybe he learned it from his new teammate Matt Lodge, who copped a two-game ban in 2014 for writing the word in question on his wrist tape during an under-20s Origin game. Sometimes all you can do is just shake your head.
What did you make of Round 18? What were the interesting things that caught your eye? What motivational phrases adorn your wrist tape?
zonecadet
Roar Rookie
He's got an efficiency rating of 89% and has made 174 in limited appearances, the other halfbacks on their roster are either worse or rated about the same,...... Jerome Hughes, his replacement at Storm is rated 88% efficiency. Not sure on what basis you're saying he doesn't like tackling. Just for reference, super Teddy at the Roosters is only rated 82%.
Rob
Guest
DCE, Thurston and Keary didn’t really start nailing down a permanent playmakers roll until 23years and 30 games experience.
Rob
Guest
As a Cowboys supporter l would be happy for the Cowboys to sign Lewis. He would bring a strong kicking game and defence that the club needs especially on the edge. At 24 and with 40 games he’s at a perfect age and experience. I believe he could be an effective cover at centre.
Heyou
Roar Rookie
Believe me, I get it. The incidences of dangerous tackling techniques around the head has decreased it seems to me and that’s a big plus. The crackdown, although imperfect in many ways, seems to have achieved this positive outcome. However, what now constitutes a legal tackle has become somewhat murky, as I perceive different referees, bunker officials, match review committees and the judiciary making inconsistent judgements and handing out inconsistent penalties. It’s inevitable that inconsistencies of adjudication happen in an imperfect nrl world, but surely there must be an improvement in this area? An in-depth study of their rule book could help the officials revise, review and aid in retention of said rules to cement in their minds what actually constitutes an illegal tackle these days. I’d be thrilled to see greater consistency of adjudication and the imposition of penalties across the nrl. For me as an spectator and a keen observer, it all remains as shades of grey, when I’d much prefer a nice, clean, sharp black and white. I’m having a chuckle about my utopian dream. Imperfectly perfect? Yep but some effort at clarity from the nrl would be a fine thing indeed.
Rellum
Roar Guru
Ref make mistakes and get calls wrong so there will be mistakes with 6 agains. The refs give six agains because they find them easier to give but the 6 agains only work if there are sin bins for repeated infringements. Some of the blatant offsides and holding downs need to be stamped out and only sin bins will fix it. But the refs have shown over a long time they are EXTREMLY hesitant to sin players to the bin for repeated foul play or professional fouls outside holding down a player tackled near the line after a break and that needs to change.
Rellum
Roar Guru
Yes, I am saying it is getting better and the games are getting closer, which is what you want. But I am not saying the defences are good, but they are improving and hopefully they start to really excel next year.
Rob
Guest
What was Murray’s role in the melee? Honestly Lewis cuddled him and yes he should have got something for his actions. Murray went in with much more intensity. In Origin game 3 Murray took exception to Munster after he dropped the ball and it turned into a scuffle but Ponga got between the 2 players and focused on keeping Munster out of retaliation? Players say they’re defending their mate but they are actually taking an opportunity to attack an opponent which doesn’t really wash as a defence IMO. Helping your mate is stopping others and getting your player out off the situation. Also not sure you can give 10min when it’s technically something that happened outside the 80min playing time. Lewis should have faced a punishment after the game and so should others that dived in IMO.
Kilgore Trout
Roar Rookie
I agree .... The Lewis takedown didn't look too serious to me . He cuddled him to the ground and no one got hurt . He was always going to get 10 minutes but some of the reactions have been way over the top . Buzz wanted two weeks !!! So Lewis should get the same 2 weeks as Kaufusi got for his hit on Matterson ! C'mon ... get real . What's wrong with these guys ?
Rob
Guest
Randy, i find it interesting that the Storm have been criticised for many years about the wrestle slowing down their opponents and cynical play? Rules have been changed to speed the game up and punish the teams participating in this play apparently. On the weekend I watched a Roosters team deliberately holding down under pressure and constantly jumping the gun when they felt it beneficial. They walked off conceding only 2 penalties and won the game? The Storm’s play the ball speed was the slowest (3.99 sec) in the competition on the weekend? In comparison the Bulldogs had the fastest at 3.18sec whilst the Rabbits were 3.91sec. The rules are being abused more than ever and certain teams are benefiting?
Bee bee
Guest
You would think the lower teams are playing for draft picks they are so bad. No fight. No desperation. No working on how to get better. Just week after week of terrible Rugby League..... I would love to see relegation in this League. Something to put a heartbeat into the cold lifeless bodies running around in Bulldog and Bronco jerseys.
Bee bee
Guest
No Qld team won except the Qld team. Ponga/Hunt the greatest 1/9 combo since Slater/Smith.
Rob
Guest
I think it’s naive to think it’s as simple as running hard, tackling hard and not making mistakes. The difference between the teams at the top has never been greater due to the rules and their never ending inconsistent interpretations. Take the simple penalty count department. A team cannot control how, when or where they are awarded penalties? Sides at the bottom end of the table are all well behind the top teams in this number. Now I’ll just state from the top I’m not suggesting some form of conspiracy or agenda by powers high up. I’m simply saying all humans have bias and feel pressure. The officials are only human. Often people construe lack of leadership with teams struggling to win the tight contest. More often than not a couple of 50/50 will win a game or change momentum at a critical time. These calls fall to the more experienced player or higher profile teams. Teddy, Cleary, Reynolds or DCE, are viewed very differently to Proctor, Jackson or Turpin. Klein on the weekend dismissed a challenge from Drinkwater (your not the captain go away). Well yes he was after he had to explain Taumalolo was off the field. The week before against Manly Foran convinced the officials to review the in goal ruling they made? The ref obliged as the Cowboys were about to gallop away from the 20m restart. Foran wasn’t Captain nor did the officials take the challenge away from Manly? The officials care what Robinson, Bennett, Hasler and Bellamy say about the officiating. They care much less about Barrett, Payton or O’Brien. The non Sydney teams don’t get much mention in the Sydney papers or tv media. The noise is much loader if a Sydney team loses. White noise effects people and it effects officials. Home ground crowds proves this. The unfortunate part for a few clubs are the one’s up against the white noises in the officiating because they live in Sydney. The Roosters conceded on average almost 8 penalties a game. Against the Cowboys they conceded 2. They conceded the same amount of ruck infringements (4) as the Cowboys. But they received 3 of them on tackle 4 the Cowboys received 3 on tackle 1? The Roosters average ruck speed was the 3rd fast of the weekend the Cowboys the 3rd slowest? The Roosters conceded 4 inside the 10 restarts the Cowboys none? Why is an offside player not penalised. The Cowboys murder several opportunities under pressure the Roosters executed? Maybe one team was having far less time and space and maybe they were officiated a little differently.
Joey
Guest
At least picking up a Qlder is a better look than the desperate search for NSW players to pretend they bleed Bronco.
Joey
Guest
Not sure if Cody Walker is related to Mundine, but if not, he bloody acts like he is. Bragging about being the best when you haven’t really done anything, and Father Time’s old clock is ticking away. Has absolutely nothing to boast about, unless being outplayed in three straight prelims is something to hang your hat on.
Joey
Guest
Where do they have a problem playing away from home ? Need to wind back to 2019 the last time they lost in Qld. This year’s losses were to do with Origin. That’s done now. Luai and Cleary are making their way back. Giving their home game to the Broncos this week, but if they can win a home-prelim away to Souths, they can win a regular season home-game away to the Broncos.
matth
Roar Guru
Sorry, you are right. He was with Manly by then
Albo
Roar Rookie
Turbo's rest day !
Albo
Roar Rookie
:laughing: :laughing:
Albo
Roar Rookie
Can they really drop Hynes for Papenhuyzen if and when he comes back ? Hughes & Hynes have led their attack for most of the season now, and the results are outstanding. I would have Paps on the bench for now.
Albo
Roar Rookie
I don't mean to be overly harsh regarding Lewis, as he is a tremendous defender , he has a big kick , but then he is terribly slow, gives away too many penalties niggling in defence, and creates nothing with the ball outside of the occasional well placed bomb. It's no surprise to me that he is surplus to requirements for the Dogs re-build.