Penrith and Melbourne stretch their lead at the top, while North Queensland and St George Illawarra notch three wins on the trot. Who’s shaping into the season and who’s falling off the cliff? Here’s your talking points for NRL Round 8.
Yes, Karl Lawton deserved to be sent off
Nothing makes me more annoyed than the idiotic responses to on-field foul play. Unfortunately, these are often led by the dinosaurs in the commentary box.
So let’s run through it again – sure, Manly’s Karl Lawton was unlucky his tackle on South Sydney’s Cam Murray went the way it did. But it doesn’t matter Murray got up and was okay. It doesn’t matter Lawton didn’t mean for it to happen. It was an illegal tackle and a send-off was a just decision.
The contrast between the Channel Nine and Fox League broadcasts couldn’t have been starker, as Nine’s team raged against the decision and wept for this new, soft future of the game while Fox understood what was happening and accepted it.
Now we’re going get half a week of garbage takes about how the send-off is too harsh, that it should be 20 minutes, that you should be allowed to replace the sent-off player, that it should only be a send-off if there’s a game-ending injury, and so on.
So goes rugby league.
What gives at the Roosters?
Canterbury weren’t world-beaters on Saturday afternoon, but they played with commitment and technique, which is more than could be said for their vanquished opposition.
The Bulldogs have shown glimpses this season of good times to come and the effort and energy they piled into the Roosters paid dividends.
It’s tricky to judge the Roosters too early because they usually only do what they need to do early in a season aiming to peak later, but they’re running out of room to move if they want to live up to their high expectations.
Trent Robinson’s post match comments showed a man who knows things aren’t going to plan.
“I know they’re working really hard and they’re sort of going why isn’t this coming together and that’s on the coach and that’s the job is to put it together,” Robinson said.
“You guys can see that the guys are working hard otherwise you’d see guys dropping off and not working on kick chases or not working behind the ball. That’s sort of all the work’s there, I haven’t found the key to put them together yet.”
That said, the mouthing off by Josephs Manu and Suaalii when they thought they’d combined for the tying score was unedifying stuff and born of frustration with how the Bulldogs were handling them – I’m sure Robinson will have that moment on repeat in the club’s review sessions this week.
(Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)
The Roosters should play finals, but their next month includes games against Parramatta, Penrith and Cronulla. That’s a stretch to define whether they play finals from the top four.
Who’s going to get anywhere near the top two?
North Queensland’s win over Parramatta was resounding and Cronulla had a stumble on Friday in Brisbane. Right now as it stands they’re teams three and four on the ladder. But how realistic is it to think they can challenge Penrith and Melbourne?
One thing is becoming apparent in NRL season 2022 (if it wasn’t already), and it’s there’s two teams who are light years ahead of everyone else. Penrith’s brutal defence and Melbourne’s spectacular attack are enthralling for different reasons and as the rest of the comp battled on this week, the teams at the head of the class continued on their merry way.
Canberra vs New Zealand was the worst game of the year
Move over Wests Tigers and the Gold Coast, your 8-6 Round 4 abomination has been overtaken by Saturday afternoon’s diabolical offering in Redcliffe.
The Raiders and Warriors combined for 35 errors and 15 penalties, and every single point scored by New Zealand was a direct result of a Canberran mistake.
The Warriors completed barely more than half their sets and ran for a total of just 1174 metres. A semi-competent rugby league club would have led them 30-0 at halftime instead of the Raiders’ wobbly 20-12 effort and Canberra have now been held scoreless in five of their eight second halves this season, an incredible statistic.
A couple of weeks ago, I said Canberra had a pretty decent team buried under all the errors and panic. I take that back, well and truly. The Green Machine is utterly broken and I don’t know if the club has the grit to carry out the internal analysis they so badly need.
Quick hits
– Newcastle are a complete disaster. Bottom of the deck and bereft of inspiration. Forget their next win, where is their next try coming from? They haven’t crossed the try line in a fortnight!
– If ever there was a time to penalise a player for staging, it was New Zealand’s Matthew Lodge for his Academy Award-worthy performance, laying down for the critical penalty to send their match against Canberra to golden point
– That screeching noise you heard on Friday was Bronco Kotoni Staggs pulling the handbrake on the Siosifa Talakai hype train
(Photo by Matt Roberts/Getty Images)
– Melbourne recruit Xavier Coates has scored seven tries in six days
– Ash Taylor is reported as set to retire due to the severity of his hip injury – the NRL grinder claims another victim. Go well, Ash.
– Parramatta have their concerns and selection curiosities, and we’ll see how serious they are when they travel to Penrith this week
– Brandon Smith again acts the clown and faces a potential sanction from the NRL. Who would have thought a fella with a reputation for being super loose and who calls himself ‘Hectic Cheese’ would act in a super loose way? Lucky for him, he can play…
To the next
Round 9 looks like a belter, with good match-ups from up and down the standings.
South Sydney look for vengeance for their Round 1 loss in Brisbane, Canberra and Canterbury battle for 14th in Friday’s early game, before a beauty between Penrith and Parramatta.
Manly will try to reboot against Wests Tigers, the Roosters and Titans battle for a desperately needed win, North Queensland welcome Newcastle, Melbourne face the Dragons, and Cronulla may well have a tricky time against New Zealand.
What did you think of the weekend’s NRL games, Roarers?
Randy
Roar Rookie
As soon as the 6 again rule was introduced I said it was a tool for the NRL/refs to help manage the outcome of games. Award teams a quick 6 more tackles without any justification or questioning, the audience will just let it slip - "oh at least we don't have as many penalties" c'mon.
Rellum
Roar Guru
We have a guy coming through that (as long as he is not poached) looks like the next coming of Cam Smith. These guys are really just holding the fort for the next two seasons.
The Barry
Roar Guru
Thanks Bernie I refer to the laws and interpretations documents pretty regularly to clarify things but never stopped to read that front page It’s amazing they’ve had the nerve to put that in writing. It’s basically admitting to game management. I guess they do it so if in a few years a whistleblower (literally and figuratively) comes out and says they were told to manage results, they can say “yeah, so? We never tried to hide it” It’s still gobsmacking…
The Barry
Roar Guru
I don’t think Fox are any better and I actually watch 9 over Kayo for games on both Ennis is an affront to listen to. I don’t particularly like Brandy. Blocker provides zero insight. Voss screams his head off when someone kicks a goal from in front and spends the rest of the game like he’s auditioning for a stand up comedy spot. Anasta and Parker are rubbish. I don’t dislike Ginnane as much as a lot of people do It leaves very few credible commentary combinations…
The Barry
Roar Guru
You don’t really have to worry about forward passes any more. Ask Keary and Walker at the Roosters…
The Barry
Roar Guru
Turpin was looking so good a few years ago. His passing out of dummy half bringing his forwards onto the ball was brilliant, but he’s stalled big time in terms of development I don’t know if they do it or not, but if I was an NRL coach I’d have a specialist dummy half coach… it’s so important and there are a lot of 9s like Turpin that come onto the scene with a lot of ability and potential but then flatline…
Fraser
Roar Rookie
Sharks had a 7 day turnaround, Broncos 6 days.
Dionysus
Guest
Just proves the old saying "A fool and his money........."
Adam
Roar Guru
My kids are obly in primary school but very much have the same concerns. Schools in the ACT are much better and I got my job through living in Canberra rather than finding it here. I'm lucky as well as the Mrs is a nurse with an in demand specialty so we can pretty much move when and where we want
MUCK
Roar Rookie
Maybe , maybe not at a new club. Would be interesting to see how long it would take him to turn a club like Newcastle or Tigers around
Rellum
Roar Guru
You and I must be seeing things very differently has I don't remember him throwing loads of forwards passes. Certainly not more than any other player in the comp.
Stephen Clarke
Guest
I've solved the mystery about why the Roosters are travelling so bad. They haven't actually got many good players on the field. The fullback is OK - at least the fourth best in the comp. But it would help if he didn't run almost as many metres sideways and backwards as forwards. Manu's a fine centre, among the best but not THE best as is often claimed for him. Keary appears to be a spent force . Tupou's a good jumper and an efficient finisher but hardly electric. In the forwards there's one explosive runner, Toupinuia, and that's about it. Crichton's trying hard but not getting any room because no offloads coming his way from the halves. The other winger's a teenager in his first season. The half's also a teenager, in his second season. The other centre's a journeyman who's pretty lost without the Origin halves inside him. The front rowers are largely unexplosive and unimaginative - I don't think JWH would have got two offloads away all season so far. Without Cordner to explode onto a pass, and the Morrises to straighten the attack in the backs, and Friend to organise the line defence, they're a lost legion low on actual talent. Talk of them coming good enough by round 10 to go with the Storm, Pantherss etc sounds pretty hollow in view of the roster they bring to proceedings and being done by acknowledged also rans in two successive weeks.
Rob
Guest
Yep, been saying for a while the grapple is encouraged whilst the good low one on one is a massive disadvantage?
Rob
Guest
I’m not sure we can gauge a few teams yet. This playing some teams twice whilst not playing others is really weird? Titans have pushed the Eels and Panthers but both got convincingly beat by the Cowboys? Sharks have dropped games to the Raiders and Broncos another 2 teams the Cowboys have beaten well? The Warriors have been very competitive Panthers are winning but they haven’t really beaten a strong or in form team. Beating the Bronco without Hass, Farnsworth, Carrigan at home is different to what the Cowboys did for instance? The Cowboys are obviously a different team this year simply on the back of decent kicking game and most of their best players being consistently available with youngsters gaining confidence. Outside of 12 on 13 against the Roosters the Cowboys are defending extremely well IMO.
WBGL
Guest
100% agree. Its time the NRL brought in a simple rule, the ref calls 'Held' once, no other references, all defending players (nowadays its anywhere between 1-4 players) must release the tackled player immediately and move/roll away (you have 4 seconds to release), not hang onto arms, not use the tackled player to get up, crowd the area ,stand over them to impede their ability to get up. Its annoying and time wasting. Apply that rule and we'll soon have better and faster 'play the ball'.
Bernie Vinson
Roar Rookie
Yeah Roy Masters has been saying this for years and its the only thing that he and Warren Ryan agree on but no-one does anything about it. I must say one of the worst I saw was the 2003 Rugby World Cup final when South African ref (who retired straight after) kept Australia in the game or a couple of RL refs starting with letter H that always seemed to get SOO for their exciting finishes (as Roy masters has said in print but never sued by those refs) and no matter how poorly the refs were officiating.
Geoff from Bruce Stadium
Roar Rookie
Fair enough - tough decision - cost of living sounds a lot cheaper in Tassie - Adelaide was the same but you had to wait for someone to die to get a job or promotion. If you can find and keep a job in Tassie its probably a decent place to live. I have a mate that moved to Tassie in his mid 50s four or five years ago and he still hasn't found a job - he's given up - luckily his missus is an accountant.
Geoff from Bruce Stadium
Roar Rookie
Median house prices are second highest of the capital cities and petrol prices are higher - but wages are very good. Great place to bring up kids. I have three - two have found permanent full-time work - one in a Australian Government department and another as a primary school teacher - and the third is studying engineering at ANU. They all have a nice set of friends. I'd be more worried for them if I was back in Adelaide.
kk
Roar Pro
'Saturday's Hero' Johnson did nothing all day but loves to get the spotlight.
Heyou
Roar Rookie
Makes it hard for the attacking side to get a quick play of the ball, giving the defence time to get lined up and onside. It’s left to go on…no tackle restart reward for the attack, and there is then the possibility of a strip - called a knock on, because four tacklers have it all covered up - and even a good possibility of a ‘legal’ one-on-one strip, although it’s made undercover, before the tacklers peel off. A faster ruck and thus a faster paced, more exciting game for spectators being the desired result from the change to ruck infringements (define ruck infringements again please NRL as I appear to have lost that plot) resulting in tackle restarts, is being somewhat negated by these three and four man tackles. Add some captain’s challenges, bunker interference at odd times and divas diving, with time out as trainers pop onto the paddock with towel and drink bottle…and I’m feeling a bit frustrated by my lack of understanding of the rules of the game. I would like to have the legal tackling techniques described in detail for my consideration because I’m lost when it comes to the definitions of some of the apparently illegal ones. In all probability I should forget all that stuff and try to enjoy the spectacle of the modern NRL brand of RL. It’s not all bad. I still watch every game, although mostly with the sound turned off. Fox? Nine? They are both a bit howz ya mother in their commentaries for me.