Skills are great, but brains help too: NRL Round 2 talking points

The NRL’s Round 2 is in the bank and after quite a few entertaining outings, there’s plenty to get stuck into. Here’s your talking points from the NRL opening weekend.

One simple email solved the play-the-ball issue
Last week we saw many play the balls penalised for being a version of incorrect. Fine and fair enough, but the much higher number of clearly incorrect play the balls that weren’t penalised drove the fans up the wall.

So how would the NRL solve the problem? I’m glad you asked. Prior to Round 2, NRL head of football Graham Annesley sent a proactive reminder to clubs that shoddy play the balls would not be tolerated (he also wrote about cannonball tackles – more on that later).

“No-one is asking for perfection, that’s the last thing we expect. But we just need something where it looks like people are genuinely trying to play-the-ball,” Annesley wrote as reported in The Sydney Morning Herald.

Lo and behold, all of a sudden the play the ball was cleaned up! Hardly any turnovers were whistled in Round 2 at the play the ball, even though things still looked suspiciously like Round 1.

What do Manly do?
Manly’s issues against top-four sides continued on Friday. The Sea Eagles were handled by the Roosters 26-12. A 22-0 start left them grasping at air and for the second straight week they were never in the game.

Last year, the Sea Eagles started the season 0-4, conceding 156 and scoring 34. History shows they fought to 16-8 and a top-four position but things look like they’ll be markedly more difficult in 2022.

(Photo by Mark Evans/Getty Images)

They’ll pick up their wins, sure, but they really need to innovate and figure out how to counter the now blatant opposition tactic of kicking deep to their right side and pinning them there.

The Sea Eagles have Canterbury next Sunday night in what shapes as quite a tricky game. Dessie’s boys really need to start moving through the gears.

As for the Roosters? They are what we thought they are. They’ll be just fine.

Brains of Stone
Cannonball tackles (the third tackler taking the legs of the ball carrier) were the talk of the rugby league town last week.

After several pre-season incidents, multiple on-field penalties in Round 1, Melbourne Storm forward Trent Loiero being fined by the match review committee for his low tackle on Tigers forward Luciano Leilua, and a week of media debate, it was definitely an issue.

As mentioned earlier Graham Annesley sent a warning to clubs ahead of Round 2, even going as far as including examples of what the tackle looks like and what referees will be penalising.

So it was with a large amount of stupidity that Parramatta hooker Ray Stone decide to dive in on the legs of Sharks halfback Nicho Hynes.

With his team leading 16-12 and barely two minutes left, Stone gave away a penalty, field position and ultimately the game as Cronulla used the benefit to score the decisive points as time expired.

(Photo by Matt King/Getty Images)

This kind of tackle is clearly in the gun. Maybe clubs need to make sure to tell their players, because some obviously aren’t paying attention.

Well played, Newcastle
They’ve stuck with their team through good and lots and lots of bad. But the 23,214 who turned out for the club’s men’s and women’s double header yesterday raised $116,070 for the Red Cross’ flood appeals for New South Wales and Queensland.

The Knights said they’d donate $5 for every person who showed up, the fans showed up, and a great outcome was reached. Well played, Newcastle.

A long season beckons
Two teams with plenty to prove this season are the Canberra Raiders and Wests Tigers and both well and truly laid an egg in Round 2.

Canberra followed up a gritty Round 1 win over a good Cronulla side with a shambles of a performance in Townsville.

They may have been undermanned but they were undisciplined, disjointed, panicked in attack and duly got what they deserved when the Cowboys beat them 26-6.

The Cowboys were hardly setting the field alight either mind you, but they did what they needed to do.

The Tigers had a much worse outing and if Newcastle weren’t missing a few key players the 22-point final margin may well have been doubled.

(Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)

The Knights weren’t fantastic, but the Tigers did everything they could to be a polite guest – turning the ball over 17 times, making bad choices in defence and even worse ones in attack, and showing sloppy basics, which left them nowhere. Tyrone Peachey’s sin binning was a special class of idiocy.

The Knights couldn’t have believed how willing their opponent was to help them out all day.

And let’s not leave out the Warriors, who were given more than ample opportunities by the Gold Coast to win their Saturday match-up. New Zealand coach Nathan Brown was rightly angry in his post game press conference, putting the blowtorch on his younger cohort (and fairly, for what it’s worth).

Sixth to 12th on the table is going to be a crowded space in 2022 and if teams want to be in the lower parts of the finals, they’ll need to play a hell of a lot smarter when the chips are down.

Get stuck into the NRLW final round
What a weekend’s NRLW, with two absolutely belting games out of the three. The Titans beat the colossus Broncos 28-26, Brisbane’s first loss since 2019, and the Roosters rode a late Zahara Temara field goal to knock over Parramatta 19-18.

The 2022 competition has been better than ever and the recent announcement by the NRL of more teams and more cash should consolidate growth in the women’s game.

Ratings are strong and the competition is great. Make sure you join in for the final round before finals.

Thanks again, Brisbane and Canterbury
There’s still many, many kinks to iron out on both sides but the Bulldogs and Broncos put on an entertaining show on Sunday night.

Brisbane fought off an 11-minute disparity in possession to take the points 16-10, Adam Reynolds started his Brisbane career a winner, Albert Kelly continued to be great and Matt Burton again showed why Dogs fans are so excited to have him.

Like last week, I’m not going to do something stupid and predict top-eight finishes, winning streaks or anything like that, but progress is progress and it’s good to see.

(Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)

To the next
If Round 1 meant nothing, Round 2 meant just a little fraction more and Round 3 is where you can start wondering a bit harder about how your team has come out of the blocks.


It’s still way too early to freak out about standings or form or call for the best players in the game to be completely rebuilt, but next week is becoming quite intriguing.

We start with St George Illawarra and Cronulla on Thursday, two mighty interesting sides who have shown they’re up for a fight.

Parramatta head to Melbourne, a team they’ve matched up well with in the last few seasons but are not a team to face with a misfiring attack.

Canberra and the Titans face each other in the nation’s capital on Saturday night and still have much to discover about themselves and whether they’ve truly changed at all.

After a close yet fruitless finish in Melbourne, a 0-3 start faces Souths unless they can do something special against the Roosters.

Newcastle will have a true test against Penrith and as always, the Broncos versus Cowboys derby will be must-watch no matter how scrappily both clubs are going.

What did you make of NRL Round 2, Roarers?