Trials, eh. Don’t read anything into them. Nonsense.
We’ve now seen every team – in fact, given the number of players on display, we’ve seen most of the NSW Cup and Jersey Flegg too. More than 60 blokes got a run in the final trial between Newcastle Knights and Canterbury Bulldogs, perhaps a new record for a rugby league game.
The last match of the weekend might have been the best in terms of drama, with a near-full Newcastle team starting and a decent Bulldogs side too. Even the second string made a decent fist of it after the break.
Here’s what we learned.
Newcastle Knights 16 – 16 Canterbury Bulldogs
Clifford and Clune could be the partnership that the Knights need
Newcastle had a big problem in the halves last year. When Mitchell Pearce was in, they looked like a clear top-eight team, but when he wasn’t, the drop-off was massive.
With Pearce now at the Catalans in France, the new combination is far less box office: Jake Clifford and Adam Clune. They’re not particularly experienced – 80 or so NRL games between them – and neither has ever really been first choice in first grade before, but they’re not rookies either, and on the basis of Monday night, they might have a little thing going on.
Clifford bossed the team around the park and kicked well. Clune set up a try for Dom Young off a characteristic long, floating pass – he’d already tried it once, and Young was bundled into touch, but had the confidence to go again and was rewarded.
In truth, if there is one side in the NRL that can get by without superstar halves, it might be the Knights. They are stacked for strike runners on the edges, with Bradman Best, Tyson Frizell, Dane Gagai and Lachlan Fitzgibbon on the edges, plus Ponga providing the X-factor from the back.
If the Knights end up with a pair of halves who can kick, pass and have an occasional dart at the line effectively, then it might not matter that neither are superstars – they can get the ball to those that are.
Bulldogs will be better in 2022 – but still have a long way to go
It’s hard for the Dogs to go much worse than last year, given they only won three games all season. It’s not the hottest of takes to suggest they will do a little better this time around.
On the basis of Monday night, they might have an unusual NRL distinction: the biggest gap between their best player and their worst.
The likes of Matt Burton, Josh Addo-Carr and Tevita Pangai jnr instantly up their quality, and it might be as important that half of the 2021 team that collected the wooden spoon have gone.
Burton – who didn’t play in Newcastle – is a massive upgrade, but one of Kyle Flanagan, Jake Avarillo and Brandon Wakeham has to play alongside him.
Addo-Carr is close to the best winger in the game, but Jayden Okunbor still might be on the other flank, and if you based your assessment on this trial, he’s arguably one of the worst players in the NRL. They might pick Declan Casey, who ironed out Kalyn Ponga at one point, but he’s never played a game of top grade before. Oh, and there’s Corey Allen, who was a mainstay of last year’s disaster.
The Bulldogs were truly rubbish in 2021, so much so that many forgot that they’ve actually been rubbish for ages: they last made the finals in 2016 and their next best was 11th in 2017 since then. If they go better than that, it should be seen as a success.
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