It’s Parramatta and Penrith in the 2022 NRL season decider, you all know that. But how did they get there? They had to win a preliminary final, and that’s what this week’s NRL talking points are all about.
What a win by Parramatta
What a game we got on Friday night as the Eels fought back against severe adversity in a pulsating Queensland Country Bank Stadium atmosphere.
Down 20-12 with 22 minutes left, it looked like Parra were dead and buried as the Cowboys rode strong runs from Rueben Cotter and Luciano Leilua, sparkling work from the backs and that crowd driving them to the line.
But the Eels scrambled again and again in defence to keep the Cowboys from delivering that killer blow, with some borderline miraculous work on their goal line for repeat sets before they worked the ball upfield and grasped a breath of life with a try to Reagan Campbell-Gillard.
Clint Gutherson was magnificent at fullback, Ryan Matterson was great, Campbell-Gillard and Junior Paulo were immense yet again and Shaun Lane played one of his best games. Lane was in everything, making critical plays to drag his team along.
A mention to Mitch Moses too, who missed the birth of his first child to play.
The reward for Parramatta’s stirring win is another crack at Penrith. Win or lose, making the decider is a credit to the team and coach Brad Arthur, who has been copping it from all angles this season.
What a win by Penrith
Down 12-0 after half an hour and with a vocal South Sydney crowd in full voice, for just a moment there it looked like the premiers were vulnerable to a good, old-fashioned preliminary final ambush.
But just like Parramatta in Week 1, the Bunnies didn’t have the tank or the discipline to keep at Penrith’s level for 80 minutes and when the Panthers started to rumble, the Rabbitohs just had no other gears to go to.
To be perfectly honest the Panthers had enough chances to win by much, much more than 20 points but four disallowed tries kept things interesting early on.
Penrith are in perfect knick for a tilt at back to back premierships. Viliame Kikau was great and rounded out a good weekend by escaping suspension for a shoulder charge. Nathan Cleary again tormented opposition backs with his boot. Api Koroisau lifted Penrith’s tempo and scored the try to settle them down.
(Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)
Brian To’o’s magnificent 80-metre bulldozer try in the shadows of half-time all but ended the game as a contest, as Souths yet again made a horrible error at the worst possible time.
But let’s hold the spotlight for fullback Dylan Edwards, who was spectacular yet again. His positioning, effort and ability to get the ball out of trouble is second to none.
Penrith are the most dominant side we’ve seen in the NRL since maybe Melbourne’s 2017 premiership side. Whether they can finish the job like that Melbourne squad did, time will tell.
Don’t put the Cowboys’ season down to a ‘forward pass’
North Queensland were rightly devastated in the aftermath of their loss but there’s no doubt at all they’ve made huge steps forward in 2022. After early growing pains, Todd Payten has the squad he wants and the time to ingrain his philosophy across the club.
The result was a jump from 15th and seven wins last year to third with 17 and a finals win. That’s experience that’ll set them in good stead when teams come for them next year.
As Payten put it post-game, “We have got a good foundation, if we don’t fall in love with ourselves moving forward, and we continue to work hard and want to get better, we will be back here again.”
As for the hysteria over that Mitch Moses ‘forward pass’ which led to Parramatta’s first try? Let’s calm down and leave the final say to Payten again: “My first instinct was I thought it was forward but looking back on replay a couple of times, I thought it was pretty tight,” he said.
“It happened early enough in the game to get over it. We went in 12-all at halftime and 20-12 after 55 minutes, so we moved on pretty well.”
Make sure to check out all of Payten’s press conference. It’s a great thing.
Souths need a bit of work
The Rabbitohs worked well early but like everyone else, just fell away when Penrith put the foot down.
Talking points has covered plenty of what South Sydney have done well this finals series but it’s the bad that reared its head Saturday night. The Bunnies were hardly on their own in being overwhelmed by Penrith, but the way they handled the last moments of the season was quite poor.
Frustration and angst was bubbling just under the surface until winger Taane Milne coathangered Spencer Leniu, sending Leniu from the field and putting his grand final participation at severe risk.
Milne gets 6-7 weeks’ suspension and to be frank is lucky it wasn’t more for one of the more shocking acts we’ve seen lately. We also had the sideshow of Cody Walker trying to get into it with a Panthers trainer after the game.
All things considered South Sydney’s year should be called a success. They’ve got the players in key spots to do well, now let’s see if they can start 2023 faster than they did this year.
The NRLW gave us a massive boilover
An unbelievable result on Sunday when Parramatta knocked out the reigning premiers the Roosters 24-10. This is made even more unbelievable when you consider the Eels won only one of their five season games, enough to sneak into the finals on points differential.
They’ll take the field against Newcastle, who made short work of last year’s Grand Finalists St George-Illawarra 30-6. The Knights are quickly cementing a spot as one of the premier squads in the NRLW and with Canberra, Cronulla, North Queensland and Wests Tigers joining next year, you’ve gotta win these when you get the chance before players move around.
Quick hits
– One of Penrith’s disallowed tries caused a few fits of the vapours in the Channel Nine commentary box. Is there any other sport which lets its broadcasters just run the game down like this?
– Further to the above, why do we have so many broadcasters in our game who clearly don’t know the rules – or even worse, know the rules, but choose to sook about refereeing decisions anyway?
– Reports over the weekend that Canberra re-signed key prop Joe Tapine for four more years on a deal worth $3.5 million, massive money for a prop but a well-earned extension.
– A quick burst of international footy was had on Sunday arvo, with the Prime Minister’s XIIIs of Australia and Papua New Guinea facing off in Brisbane. Australia’s women’s and mens sides saluted handsomely to the tune of 64-6 and 64-14 respectively.
– Got a quick hit of your own? Whack it in the comments.
To the next
Only one week left!
Grand final day kicks off with Penrith’s NSW Cup-winning team facing Queensland champion North Brisbane Devils in the NRL State Championship Grand Final.
Following that, we get the Parramatta versus Newcastle NRLW Grand Final too, which is shaping as a beauty.
The day concludes with Penrith and Parramatta in the ‘battle of the west’ in Sydney’s ‘reconfigured stadium in the west’. Can the Eels cause the huge upset, or will Penrith make it a clean sweep of the Jersey Flegg, NSW Cup, SG Ball and NRL competitions?
What did you make of the season’s penultimate weekend, Roarers?
Glory Bound
Roar Rookie
The truth is Tim if the Panthers didn't bend, twist and abuse the rules to their advantage and if they showed a modicum of humility I would say good luck to them. The Panthers players and some of their supporters on this forum have shown the opposite of humility, arrogance and conceit. Considering the Panthers lost to Souths in the qualifying final in 2021, beat the Eels by just 2 points after two intentional professional fouls denied the Eels 2 tries and denied them an opportunity for a late try by a cynical stoppage called by a trainer who was running on the field and had not even had time to assess the player. Then the Panthers only beat Souths (minus Latrell Mitchell) in the GF by 2 points courtesy of a late wayward pass against the run of play. All this when Cleary, Yeo and Martin should have been suspended from the GF but were allowed to play. Whose ploy of blocking defenders to shield Cleary's kicking game gave them a clear advantage all season. I would have thought these were sufficient reasons to show a little humility. Souths beat the Dogs 30 - 6 in the 2014 GF and the Rabbitohs and their supporters showed a lot more humility than that.
Glory Bound
Roar Rookie
"One thing I’ve learnt about the Roar is that you rarely ever ‘win’ arguments" Are you speaking in general terms or about me specifically? Because if the latter I can assure you that is often not the case. Misdirection in lieu of an argument doesn't count. "it’s always best to remain civil" When have I been uncivil if not provoked first? You might be unaware of the history with some of the more argumentative headstrong people on this forum. People who are quick to offer ad hominem attacks and play the man not the ball. In other instances it is just banter. But in most cases the people involved understand this and are not offended. It's all just in good fun.
Tim J
Roar Rookie
Success builds jealousy GB, and there is plenty to be jealous about with the Panthers… :happy:
Dusty10
Roar Rookie
Hi Glory, love your passion for the game. One thing I've learnt about the Roar is that you rarely ever 'win' arguments, and it's always best to remain civil. We all love the game, so at least we can agree on that! Anyway, for what it's worth, a few observations about the game that you may not agree with; 1) the obstruction call against Luai running behind his own player didn't disadvantage anyone, he was never going to be tackled before getting that pass away, and; 2) the call against Luai holding a player back in the lead up to Kikau's disallowed try (I think) was harsh, to say the least (the south's player took the biggest dive I've seen since Nic White's effort for the Wallabies against the Boks a few weeks ago). The Souths player was playing for the penalty from the second Luai's hands touched him. Now, technically, yes, i see that a penalty could (and was) awarded. But, I completely agree with the 9 commentary team re: a bunch of these calls; the question has to be asked whether the 'offence' actually changed anything? The answer in these two incidents was, I think, a resounding NO. Play on. I suspect you'll see it differently, and that's ok, but I despise the way the game is going and simple plays that we'd run all day in times past are now being outlawed. It's ruining the game.
Glory Bound
Roar Rookie
The "10 times out of 10" factor is irrelevant Rene. Back when the Eels beat Manly in 1983 Manly had beaten the Eels decisively twice during the regular season and once already during the finals. The only win the Eels had over Manly was the GF. That is the point of a Grand Final decider. It comes down to which team is better on the day. Souths were the better up until the wheels feel off with 4 mins remaining in the first half. The Panthers clearly had no answers on how to break Souths goal line defence. Had the Panthers first Try been called back for the Kikau voluntary tackle momentum would have stayed with Souths. Not to mention if Arrow and Graham weren't carrying injuries into the game and AJ, Burgess and Havili were playing with the jump on the Panthers I don't think Souths would have lost. Going into HT 12 - 12 instead of 12 - 0 when you are the clear underdogs down on troops certainty had a bearing on the second half. Most importantly the Panthers had found their confidence which they were clearly lacking along with their rhythm and having dodgy calls go their way in the first 36 mins.
Renegade
Roar Guru
Agree to disagree GB. I reckon 10 times out of 10 this year penrith would beat souths. That game a month ago where they basically beat souths with a reserve grade side shows they have their measure.
Glory Bound
Roar Rookie
Just like Api never grounded the ball because Latrell's hand was under it the whole time and there was no clear angle to overturn Klein's No Try call. The play shouldn't have even gotten that far. Kikau's voluntary tackle play-the-ball meant that possession should have gone to Souths.
Rellum
Roar Guru
Last night was not great. Heazlett has real technical issues. Bryant has not handled State cricket, he really is a one trick pony and may only find a career in the BBL the way he is going. That was the first game under lights at AB Field so there was intricacies to be learnt, but it is clear that the game required a traditional approach and to me Clayton should have played
matth
Roar Guru
Sorry I was talking about the Chrichton try from the kick, where it looked pretty obvious he had grounded the ball. I was fine with the obstruction call.
matth
Roar Guru
The Bulls batting was a shambles. Just like Redcliffe's attacking play - they were missing Cullen big time/
Albo
Roar Rookie
But in this case, it wasn't an obstruction / shepherd as Luia was well back from the defensive line & Fish. No one was obstructed , as Annesley admitted yesterday . Just another awful bunker error . Luckily it didn't matter to the result in the end.
Albo
Roar Rookie
My brother who was there called it the worst decision he had ever seen on a football field ! And seeing it captured on social media, I can't disagree with him. What was the referee looking at ??? The blond in row 12 of the Eastern stand ?
London Panther
Roar Rookie
Backfired? We must have been watching different games; the one I watched had Penrith winning by 20 points…
The Sporacle
Roar Rookie
Seriously.... I was using it as an example to show the ridiculous nature of the original Luai call (to be clear I thought the original incident was play on) Maybe instead of reading what you think was said, actually read the post and the couple around it. Or just keep doing what you do and try and fight everyone.
JennyFromPenny
Guest
Sporacle missing sprockets ? Luai ran to the defensive line, grubbered through it, Tago ran straight through to dive on the ball. If you can argue someone was obstructed there, you qualify to be the new Bunker official. You need to be the one that receives the weekly tomato throwing.
JennyFromPenny
Guest
Myxomatosis
JennyFromPenny
Guest
Pays to play to the whistle, I guess. Was fairly clear, the Cowboys stopped, made no real effort to make a tackle. What was curious though, was that the ref actually made a "all good/play on" signal with his arms like a soccer referee. No idea why a ref would ever need to do this. Mid-play, the ref, actually makes a call on the pass, declaring it all and sundry as fair. Was super weird. To me, it was an admission that the ref let it go, by his very act of feeling compelled to tell everyone it was ok.
A
Guest
What about the first finals send off since 1994
Tim Carter
Roar Pro
Slight tweak, but two captain's challenges that you can use in general play too. Refs would still be able to send foul play upstairs.
Glory Bound
Roar Rookie
I disagree Rene. The Ferrari got a jump start by a bad call from the ref and the bunker re the Kikau voluntary tackle and Api being held up. Then from a dumb play and keystone cops falling dominoes defence by Walker, Cook, Ilias and Latrell. All within 4 mins of HT!!! Before that the Panthers didn't even look like they could find the keys to start the Ferrari. If the Panthers had only played one game in the previous 4 weeks then whose fault was that? Ivan Cleary's for having the arrogance to rest 14 of 17 man starting squad. The point being Rene, that the 4 mins before HT changed the game. The 3 players missing didn't help, neither did losing Arrow in the 2nd half. But IMO if Souths had gone into HT 12 - 0 and started the second half with the same intensity I believe they could have won the game.