Another send-off, another Melbourne carnival act and a key win for Parramatta. A bit to get through for NRL Round 9 – here come your talking points.
Will Kennedy deserved to be sent off, but so did Jesse Ramien
Cronulla fullback Will Kennedy needed to take a seat for his high shot on New Zealand’s Reece Walsh, and I’d argue Sharks centre Jesse Ramien needed the same treatment for his high shoulder on Euan Aitken.
I’m not going to back over this whole send-off thing for two weeks in a row but I will say three things – it doesn’t matter there’s no injury from the act of foul play, Channel Nine’s commentary team seem to have learnt their lesson from last week’s hysterics, and it’s good to see NRL referees take stronger actions to punish foul play.
Parra might just matter
What a game on Friday night. We all wondered how Penrith and Parramatta would possibly top the 6pm barnburner put on by the Raiders and Bulldogs (yes, this is sarcasm) but the teams from the west delivered and then some.
Parra threw everything they had at the Panthers and hung tough as Penrith played their last ten minutes at a withering intensity which would have overwhelmed most.
Dylan Brown was immense at five-eighth where he should have been playing all along, Mitch Moses did his job, I’d love to have Clint Gutherson at my club and Parramatta’s entire forward pack put in massive shifts, one of the only ways you can keep Penrith off-balance. Not everyone can do it but the Eels have the talent in Junio Paulo, Ryan Matterson, Isaiah Papali’i and Reagan Campbell-Gillard who can make that huge impact.
That’s now Melbourne and Penrith the Eels have beaten and at their own homes, too. The Eels are fourth with a very winnable month ahead featuring Canberra, Canterbury and Manly.
(Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)
As for Penrith, one loss is hardly the end of everything. Let’s keep some common sense to mind as the premiers approach the State of Origin period. Don’t be that person who writes off a great team too early, because there’s a bit of that around.
Oh, and one last thing – while the Eels might cop a fine for their trainer running across the field, it had no effect on Nathan Cleary missing a conversion. It’s times like this I miss Tim Gore the most…
No one cuts your team apart quite like the Melbourne Storm
Many times an opposition supporter watches their team playing the Storm with a sense their mob is in the fight.
Indeed, often teams come away from a match against Melbourne thinking you played okay and sometimes stats for tackles, completions, metres gained and all that might match up pretty well.
But for all that, when you look at the scoreboard your team has still gone down by 30 because Melbourne are an insatiable, ruthless and unbelievably efficient point-scoring machine who attack your try line from minute 1 to minute 80.
After taking advantage of the V’landysball omni-shambles to break all sorts of scoring records last year they’re again racking them up, breaking the record for points scored after nine rounds which stood for 87 years.
In their last three games Melbourne have scored 162 points. More than what Newcastle, Canterbury, Brisbane, Canberra, Gold Coast, Wests Tigers, St George Illawarra and New Zealand have scored for the entirety of the season, three times as many games. That’s half the bloody competition.
What a team. When the Storm are on, all you can do is sit back and marvel.
Ride ‘em, Cowboys
North Queensland’s emphatic second half secured a 36-16 win over Newcastle, the Cowboys’ fourth win on the trot with the last three by a combined score of 101-24.
The Cowboys are third with six wins and while they’ve been taking care of business, pessimists may argue it’s tough to get a true line on them given their wins include Canberra twice, the Gold Coast, Newcastle and early-season Brisbane, although the Broncos are slowly finding a tune.
That’s a harsh take, because Todd Payten’s team are clearly better than previous models. Their defence is stout, on par statistically with the Storm and Panthers. Tom Dearden and the much-maligned Chad Townsend are a good halves combination and young guns coming through like Heilum Luki and Jeremiah Nanai create huge problems for opposition defences.
Quick hits
-A great win by the shorthanded Cronulla. New Zealand, however, are garbage
-Reports of the Sydney Roosters’ demise may have been somewhat overblown
-Debutant Trent Peoples was pretty decent on a bad Friday night for the Rabbitohs… but what kind of amateurish shambles of a setup was it that put him in the squad and on the field while ineligible for selection?
-Brisbane were good value for their third win on the trot, a 32-12 away win over South Sydney. If they can beat Manly in Magic round they’ll have a good break in the top eight
-Speaking of Manly, they continue to quietly accumulate wins where they should and unveil yet another good Trbojevic
-Ryan Papenhuyzen became the fourth player in NRL history to score in ten consecutive games… but he’s tweaked a hamstring and a knee and may not get the chance for 11
-A two-year deal for Kieran Foran on the Gold Coast from next year? Good for him
(Photo by Matt Roberts/Getty Images)
-Canberra finally won a game but it might have come at the expense of club legend Jarrod Croker’s career. Hopefully his injured shoulder is not as bad as it looked at the time, because he’d done good things up to then in his first game of the season.
To the next
Round 10, Magic Round, the most magic of rounds! What lies ahead for the good folk of Brisneyland and their assorted visitors?
To be honest, the game to make sure you’re in front of next week is Melbourne and Penrith on Saturday night. First versus second, no love lost, and a good match-up to boot. It’ll be a great game and a good test of both sides’ defence.
In other match-ups, Canterbury and Newcastle face off for 16th, Manly and the Broncos have a four-point game, the Bunnies and Dragons really, really need to beat the Warriors and Titans, Cronulla plays Canberra, the Roosters will get a workout against the Eels and the magic wraps up with Wests Tigers ‘hosting’ a rampant North Queensland.
What did you think of the weekend’s NRL games, Roarers?
mushi
Roar Guru
Because they've got "lesser" people negotiating? Not sure to be honest, the NRL isn't a transparent organisation
Panthers
Guest
The Panthers have a tougher second half of the season than any other club. Including the game against Parramatta just played. Penrith have Parramatta twice, Storm twice, Roosters twice, Cowboys twice, Cronulla & South’s to come in their draw.
zonecadet
Roar Rookie
So I'm puzzled as to why the 'lesser' clubs are not getting in on getting some handy cash as well. Melbourne is the home team every Magic Round and I'd rather they weren't.
zonecadet
Roar Rookie
I'm convinced there are 'factors' at play here that we can't fathom. How hard is it to alternate season by season if teams are only playing each other once?
Panthers
Guest
I disagree. You must have Nostradamus skills to know what the score would be given this or that? Amazing!!! Kikua did knock on & Penrith scored from it. However, Parramatta didn’t even score one of their tries. They were given the benefit of the box referees Nostradamus skills for a try. Plus scored from a mid field bomb. Which is just a very poor effort from Edwards. Given that Parramatta ran for less metres & made way less line breaks , even with a 6-2 penalty count. The 2 point win , doesn’t speak of any amazing forward dominance. I’ll use your all sewing skills now. If the Penalty count was 6-2 Penrith’s way. Penrith win.
Adam
Roar Guru
But the South Island!!! But also, silly idea
Adam
Roar Guru
They did beat them in the forwards. A big part of the Panthers game plan is getting 3-4 guys in most tackles and, for want of a better word, wrestle the ball carrier backwards, onto their backs, facing the wrong way etc etc. As the game went on the tackles area got less and less congested so the Eels managed quicker balls and had more scope to get offloads and spread the ball wide. The Panthers will almost always get more run metres than any other team through having the highest working back 3 in the competition. I'm also inclined to suggest that the game was only a 2-point win because the Eels pushed too hard for a final try with less than 5 minutes to go and gave up the knock on while heavy on attack. They should have been aiming for one more repeat set and would have won by 8 at minimum.
Panthers
Guest
I thought it was a terrible deal for Penrith, when they exchanged for Blacker from St.George , who had an ACL injury at the time. However, he’s been fantastic this year in NSW Cup. I hope Penrith keep him!
Panthers
Guest
Interesting… Where was the smashing them in the forwards? It was a 2 point win. The best things Parramatta did were more kicking metres, more offloads, with less missed tackles. With a 6-2 penalty count in their favour, Parramatta ran for 130 odd metres less in the game , with 52% possession. They also outdone about 8-2 in the line breaks. However, do agree about the packs size. It would be very useful to keep Blacker ( as he’s a huge forward ) that’s been getting lots of easy metres in NSW Cup , with tries & plenty of offloads. Just about the same story for his prop partner Smith. Eisenhuth’s stats are better than I’d have thought. However, Blacker & Smith are just better players. Let Eisenhuth go.
Pomoz
Roar Rookie
Good comments Adam and as a Panthers fan, you are spot on. Leota and To'oh were a bit underdone and with that Eels pack that's enough to lose. I think Cleary had a bit of an ordinary game too and didn't offer much in attack. As for NZ, as an organisation they make the strangest decisions. Cleary gets to the grand Final, they sack him. They hired Kearney, based on a 24% win rate at the Eels, go figure (top bloke, but his coaching record speaks for itself). Why hire Brown? He has a premiership in Super League, but St Helens is like the Roosters, you should win something with their squad and resources. He had half the NSW team as coach of the Dragons and couldn't get them to the big dance. At Newcastle he spent all his time blaming Bennett for leaving a mess and yet he didn't have to contend with players not being paid and the Tinkler saga and the McKinnon accident. He was hired on the back of a 26% win rate at Newcastle!! NZ is chock full of talent, (thanks NZ for giving us JFH) and yet they constantly struggle. The board should sack itself.
UAP
Guest
Hi Bernie, Bit precious there good mate ..
Rob
Guest
Some really big games for all teams leading into the Origin period. Not sure anyone can say who’s a lock for the 8 outside Storm and Panthers but even they could drop a couple of games and things may get more interesting. Storm, Panthers, Roosters, Eels, Sharks and Cowboys are really yet to cross paths. A couple of injuries with a couple of losses and things can change very quickly. Panthers have played the Eels and Manly and not much else.
Rob
Guest
The Pene and Paulo tackles are a little different as they were second into the tackle and attacking the attacking player was actually falling after initial contact. Mind you both Pene and Paulo was a minimum 10min and a send off wouldn’t have been an unacceptable action. If the NRL want to keep the contest 13 on 13 as much as possible maybe they need to bring a rule change. Where in the event of a send off you can replace the sent off player after 10min sin bin has expired. A send off isn’t that difficult TBH. Significantly forceful, reckless contact with the head your gone. Reckless is jumping into contact, racing up out of the defensive line or making no effort to lower your body height whilst swinging the arm or making intentionally point of shoulder to head contact.
farkurnell
Roar Rookie
Yeah well that’s a Mickey Mouse Game and there fans will accept anything - even knock ons .
Bernie
Guest
UAP, i'll swap "kids" for "rookies", meaning their lack of NRL experience not so much their age. i think you & I agree they should be given a go, but Hook is too old fashioned & conservative; he's under pressure to make the eight & he thinks the safest way is to keep picking veterans. Let's see when the comp is 3/4 way through & Dragons if still in the frame; if they are gone, will he play & stick with the young guys? Also, sorry, i don't like you're analogue between the First World War, Hornblower era teenage midshipmen and football - one is life & death, a lot of death, the other is a game for us to watch.
Nick
Roar Guru
That shouldn't matter The refs should have equal power and if one thinks there is a penalty, then that's enough. The AFL manages with three
UAP
Guest
Sloan, Amone and Sullivan are not kids but fully grown men .. there were 16 year old soldiers at Gallipoli. Also teenage naval commanders in the British navy. There seems to be some sort of age conspiracy to keep these players out of the side. I would also like to see Ramsay have another go. Just a voice crying in the wilderness .. won't happen not with this stubborn coach .. it is a young man's game
DP Schaefer
Roar Rookie
Might be strange but sounds like a pretty full life. The grandies add spice, well done, enjoy it.
Dwanye
Roar Rookie
The bunker could communicate with the touchies to not distract the refs, touchies then signal ref
JennyFromPenny
Guest
Hang on, I was there and I saw what I saw. I'm going to watch the replay and come back to you. Are the stats people saying that if you lose the ball in a tackle, you haven't knocked on, and you haven't made a handling error ? The play continues if the ball goes backwards, does it not ?