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Round 3’s NRL was quite an entertaining package, with a few great games between well-matched sides. Here are your talking points from the weekend.
Remove the Stone of shame, and attach the Stone of triumph
Last week I went pretty hard at Parramatta’s Ray Stone for a cannonball tackle which cost his side the game against Cronulla, so this week I have to pay the due respect for his match winning plays in Melbourne.
Stone’s effort and nous to follow up and gather a Mitch Moses field goal attempt to score the winner more than made amends for last week’s shocker. At the time of writing no official announcement had been made about the extent of the injury to his knee, but it sounds like an ACL injury, which would be a real shame.
Eels vs Melbourne was the game of the year
Stone’s late heroics won the day but the game itself was a high-quality, intense battle from the kickoff.
There were memorable moments all around – Waqa Blake lining up and steamrolling Ryan Papenhuyzen for a try, Reagan Campbell-Gillard and Junior Paulo combining for 389 metres and 60 tackles, Cameron Munster’s glorious cross-field kick for a flying Nick Meaney, Brandon Smith coming back early from a broken hand to make the break and set up the Storm’s last-minute tying score… I could go on!
Melbourne and Parramatta are putting together quite the portfolio of memorable clashes. Long may it continue.
They’re not ‘brain explosions’, they’re dirty acts
‘Not his go’, ‘something he’s worked hard to get out of his game’, ‘an accident’ – you name it, we heard all the usual excuses for Newcastle forward Mitch Barnett’s off the ball hit on Penrith’s unsuspecting Chris Smith, who left the field and didn’t return. Referee Peter Gough made the right call, Barnett has been sent straight to the NRL judiciary where he might be looking at anywhere from 4-8 weeks.
Melbourne’s Nelson Asofa-Solomona can thank the NRL’s preseason judiciary changes for only copping a $1000 fine (if he pleads guilty) to a ‘careless’ high tackle on Parramatta’s Makahesi Makatoa. Makatoa and Asofa-Solomona had been getting stuck into each other all game and if you can see this act and call it ‘careless’, then you’re a different judge to me.
Fans can complain all they like, but this is the outcome the judiciary changes were designed for.
Penrith take their chance, but the Knights showed plenty
Saturday afternoon’s Penrith-Newcastle matchup was all but decided by Barnett’s sendoff, but there were still plenty of good signs for both sides.
Penrith overcame a host of missing players again, showing they’re not so easily dismissed and their depth remains. Newcastle fought hard and showed plenty again, the start to their year has been encouraging and they’ve had their own injury problems too.
There’ll be more to come from these two as the rounds roll on.
(Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)
The Sharks are setting up nicely
Plenty of teeth were ground when Cronulla punted their coach John Morris early last year to bring across Roosters legend Craig Fitzgibbon, but so far in 2022 the Fitzgibbon appointment looks to be a great one.
Their dismantling of the Dragons on Thursday was efficient and thorough. They blew out early, absorbed pressure after halftime then ran away with the game 36-12. The performance answered a lot of questions about where the Sharks see themselves in 2022, but raised just as many about the Dragons, who had been good but not great in the first fortnight.
Cronulla’s next month is Newcastle, Wests Tigers, Melbourne and Manly, four tough but eminently winnable games on their current form. The Dragons have Parramatta, South Sydney, Newcastle and the Roosters – that’s a much, much harder challenge and they’ll need to find some cohesion fast before they’re dragging too far behind the finals peloton.
South Sydney wakes up
The Bunnies put in a great shift on Friday to knock over the highly-fancied Roosters and change the complexion of their season after two losses. You could argue the Roosters weren’t prepared for South Sydney to maintain such high energy for the full 80 minutes, but that undersells how well the Rabbitohs played. They’re still a good fun team to watch.
Cody Walker (Getty Images)
And as for concerns about the Roosters, there’s still nothing to see here. They’ll build into the season like they do any other, like teams who know how to time their efforts for when it matters most. Withhold the Rooster obituaries until they’re actually required.
The Cowboys go thump
Brisbane were whupped good and proper by the Cowboys, who are taking their chances when they’re offered to them. Valentine Holmes turned back the clock with a great game and there’s a potential star in the making with 19 year-old back rower Jeremiah Nanai, who scored three tries and ran strongly as well. Todd Payten’s men have two good wins on the trot and come up against a good test this week when the Roosters come to town.
It was back to the bad old days for Brisbane, but it’s unrealistic to expect a massive turnaround from so far back. Their fans can’t have enjoyed watching their former ‘great hope’ Tom Dearden carve them up though.
A miracle in Canberra, but the Titans were stiff
After an abject performance in Round 2, Canberra were again deplorable in the first half on Saturday, trailing the Gold Coast 4-22 and looking in complete disarray.
A 20-0 second half stole the win as the Gold Coast melted down, with the decisive score a converted try to Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad which was on the back of a highly questionable play the ball by Jack Wighton.
The Titans may have also had a case AJ Brimson lost the ball backwards when he was totalled by a flying Semi Valemei in the game’s dying moments but when you blow a 22-point lead, no one wants to hear about refereeing decisions.
So, Canberra remain the NRL’s true Jekyll and Hyde, and the Titans are still trying to understand who they are and what they have. Gold Coast welcome the Tigers next week and surely, surely they get that job done.
Wests Tigers beat themselves
Wests Tigers had chance after chance to beat a mediocre New Zealand on Friday’s early game but consistently blew them. They did everything except win – they only missed ten tackles, had a ten-minute spell with the Warriors a man down for a sin bin and were all over the Warrior’s try line, but still managed to bomb certain scores and hand back possession of the ball on the regular.
Wins are hard enough to come by without shooting yourself in the foot.
Parra’s NRLW horror show
Parramatta’s NRLW side had a shocker against the imperious Brisbane on Sunday, losing the game 38-4, losing their fullback Botille Vette-Welsh to a bad knee injury and losing their finals spot to the Roosters on points differential.
Next week’s finals see St George Illawarra play the Gold Coast, who had a good win over a fighting Newcastle. Brisbane take on the Roosters, with winners moving on to the grand final.
Sea Eagles stagger past Canterbury
They made 16 errors and scored just two tries from a lifeless attack, but a late Daly Cherry-Evans field goal pilfered a win and two precious points from a committed Bulldogs side.
Canterbury are working hard this year, particularly in defence. After three games they’ve only conceded 33 points which is good for second in the comp. The problem is they’ve only scored 28, which is worst in the comp.
To be fair, their clear focus is on defence while they try to get themselves back on their feet, and the big question will be how long can this intensity last if there’s no points to go with it.
To the next
Round 4 throws up some intrigue, particularly with teams who might have expected to be moving into the year a bit better than they are.
Thursday sees the Titans hosting Wests Tigers in a game both teams would fancy themselves. Friday night has a couple of beauties in Cronulla versus Newcastle and Penrith versus Souths, the Warriors and Broncos will play for a win that might matter more later in the year, Canberra and Manly are in a similar situation and Parramatta can consolidate a decent start to the year with a tough battle against the Dragons.
Over to you: what did you make of Round 3, Roarers?