The Bulldogs’ Belmore rebuild is going to take time with the new-look team looking vastly inferior to the clinical Sharks in their final pre-season trial.
Canberra are facing a selection headache at fullback, the Wests Tigers look like they’ve regained their fangs in attack, the Storm are carrying average form into Round 1 while it’s not all bad for the new-look Warriors despite losing in Christchurch.
Cronulla needed extra line breaks and a bunch of offloads to overtake Manly for the Pre-Season Challenge winning bounty of $100,000 but the fact that star halfback Nicho Hynes was unaware of the statistical mathematics required when he was replaced midway through the second half showed that they weren’t particularly concerned with the new format.
The unbeaten Sea Eagles ended up being crowned the pre-season champs under the contentious rules set up for the trial matches.
Here are the key takeouts for each team heading into Round 1 from the two matches on Sunday so far.
Bulldogs 16 Sharks 36
Dogs’ defence diabolical
There was a large crowd at Belmore and plenty of anticipation for the Bulldogs to show they’ll be finals contenders again with their new-look side but the Sharks burst their bubble.
First-year coach Cameron Ciraldo will need time to get his new-look squad working as a cohesive unit but time is running out with their Round 1 clash with Manly at Brookvale less than a fortnight away.
Canterbury need to go back to the off-season drawing board when it comes to defensive schemes.
Ciraldo needs to inject some Panthers DNA from his time there as assistant coach because, based on what the Dogs dished up on Sunday, they will be leaking plenty of points again in 2023.
A couple of Cronulla’s tries down the left edge in the second half ripped through paper-thin defence from Canterbury’s outside backs.
Viliame Kikau. (Photo by Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images)
Kikau makes instant impression in debut cameo
Viliame Kikau was patrolling the left edge, wearing No.11 with his trademark blond-streak hairstyle but for the first time in his NRL career he was not wearing a Panthers jersey.
The Fijian forward crossed the try line inside 90 seconds when he collected a rebound from a kick from fellow new recruit Reed Mahoney.
Unfortunately he didn’t last long and after copping a head knock in the first half, was replaced and placed in cotton wool.
A not so new face but one at Belmore for the first time in several seasons, veteran five-eighth Josh Reynolds received an enormous reception when he came on midway in the second half.
And the biggest cheer of the day went up when Reynolds crossed for a try 10 minutes from full-time after backing up a break he had initiated down the right edge.
Tempers flare, Sutton could get suspended
Ronaldo Mulitalo roughed up Jake Averillo after putting a big hit on the Canterbury centre and new Dogs forward Ryan Sutton tried to square things up soon after with a shot on Blayke Brailey but his timing was terrible.
He smashed into the back of the Sharks hooker after he had passed and based on last year’s judiciary, Sutton should expect to be charged when the match review committee announces its findings on Monday morning.
Mulitalo was in the crosshairs when players rushed in on the sideline threatening to start a melee and late in the first half, the winger was again part of a bit of push and shove when Averillo pounced on him in the in-goal area.
The Kiwi speedster was booed by the Belmore crowd but had the last laugh with two tries in his team’s thumping triumph.
Sharks look better by halves
Nicho Hynes won the Dally M Medal last year because of his consistent excellence and he’s picked up where he left off.
Fresh off his Preston Campbell Medal-winning effort for the Indigenous All Stars, he combined with Matt Moylan for Cronulla’s first try to Sione Katoa and laid on another one for Ronaldo Mulitalo with a pinpoint kick.
Their other first-half four-pointer came from a Moylan grubber for Teig Wilton. Cronulla’s hopes of improving on last year’s finals fadeout hinge to a large degree on the support that Moylan can give Hynes as a secondary playmaking option.
This was his first hit-out of the pre-season and the veteran five-eighth also presented Wilton with another try to kick-start the second-half scoring.
Tigers 36 Raiders 4
Rapana set for ban over high shot
Seb Kris could suit up as Canberra’s fullback in Round 1 with Xavier Savage sidelined and Jordan Rapana facing yet another suspension.
Kris was switched from centre to the back in Sunday’s trial against the Wests Tigers at Belmore in a move that coach Ricky Stuart said he had been considering for a while.
Adam Doueihi is tackled high by Jordan Rapana. (Photo by Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images)
Rapana, who was named at fullback after Savage broke his jaw against Canterbury last weekend, reverted to the wing but he is now likely to be out of the running for the role at the back after he was charged by the match review committee for a high shot on Adam Doueihi.
He was sin-binned for the incident and Fox League analyst Cooper Cronk said it was “probably on the lighter side” but with his judiciary history he will likely have a fight on his hands to be available for the trip to Townsville to face the Cowboys in Round 1.
Levi’s in fashion at Canberra
Danny Levi will be Canberra’s first-choice rake for Round 1 after another strong display at hooker, laying on the first try and finishing it off after a Nick Cotric kick inward from the wing.
Tom Starling will probably retain a spot in the game-day squad as an energy player off the bench while Zac Woolford, who cemented a starting spot over the second half of last season, looks like being the odd man out.
Levi only signed with the Raiders midway through the off-season after the Kiwi international played in the Super League with Huddersfield last year following stints with Newcastle, Manly and Brisbane.
Tim’s Tigers giving ball air
Tim Sheens’ return as coach is already starting to have an effect with the attack-centric coach getting Wests to throw the ball around much more.
They went side to side for their first try then Douiehi exploited the advantage with Rapana in the bin for a Tommy Talau try as he blazes his way down the comeback trail from knee surgery.
The Tigers added a long-range try early in the second half after shifting the ball wide from inside their own 20 before Doueihi combined with another player returning from a season on the sidelines in Shawn Blore to send Charlie Staines over in corner.
Their defence also looked much improved, holding out the Raiders for four straight sets at one stage in the second half on their own line before getting the ball back from a tap-back on a short drop-out.
The joint-venture were the second-worst defensive team in the NRL last year, and conceded 42 points in one half against the Raiders in the final round of last season.
“I’m not saying we’re going to be an iron wall or something,” Sheens said. “But we will be tougher in that area than we have been, in so far as just getting into the right positions.
“They can tackle, but defence and tackling are two different things. (Assistant) David Furner has worked really hard on the defence.”
Former Bulldogs playmaker Brandon Wakeham put in an eye-catching performance at halfback with Luke Brooks (calf) rested and after laying on a couple of tries including the last one for winger Junior Tupou, he could be more than just a back-up option at his new club.
Warriors 6 Storm 24
Not much to write home about
The Warriors headed to New Zealand’s South Island needing to beat Melbourne and rack up a few statistics to steal the Pre-Season Challenge winner’s cheque from Manly but they fell short.
Neither team was particularly impressive with a raft of errors from the experienced campaigners who lined up at Orangetheory Stadium in Christchurch as well as the many rookies who were given a pre-season run by both coaches.
Both clubs started with line-ups heavy on NRL experience before emptying their bench in the second half with a host of youngsters getting some game time as Melbourne overcame a 6-0 half-time deficit to win 24-6.
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Storm looked clunky
Craig Bellamy has plenty of work to do before Round 1 to keep his flawless record in season openers alive.
With plenty of injuries to his squad – Ryan Papenhuyzen (knee), Justin Olam (arm), George Jennings (illness), Tariq Sims (calf) and Marion Seve (knee) – there are plenty of spots up for grabs for the opening assignment against Parramatta at CommBank Stadium on March 2.
The best-available spine of Nick Meaney at fullback, halves Cameron Munster and Jahrome Hughes, with Harry Grant at hooker, looked clunky, particularly in the Storm’s scoreless first half.
Meaney was not as involved as he should have been from the back while Hughes and Munster looked rusty in their combination with Grant.
Munster scored a try late in first half but was denied by centre Young Tonumaipea stopping in the defensive line after the five-eighth had caught a high Hughes kick, dummied and plunged over the line.
There did not seem to be as many wise old heads keeping the Storm cool calm and collected as there used to be with the Bromwich brothers and Felise Kaufusi gone to the Dolphins and Brandon Smith now a Rooster.
Niukore sensation
Former Eels forward Marata Niukore is just what the Warriors need. He could turn out to be one of the best buys in the NRL this season.
He produced a big hit to knock the ball loose from Melbourne’s forward Warriors forward Aaron Pene in the first half and from the ensuing scrum win, Dallin Watene-Zelezniak’s flowing mullet set sail for the line after running through a couple of feeble attempted tackles from Munster and Meaney.
Katoa, Warbrick step up for Storm
Eliesa Katoa is a certainty to be Melbourne’s right edge-forward for Round 1, a role filled by Kaufusi for several seasons.
The former Warrior showed he is ready to realise his potential at his new club, showing his size and strength and considerable pace to score after a Grant break in the second half.
Will Warbrick also impressed on the right flank, charging onto a Hughes pass to score the go-ahead try.
The 24-year-old, standing at 193cm and weighing 105kg, made two line breaks while running for an impressive 205 metres.
His first year after switching from New Zealand’s rugby sevens ranks was hampered by injury but he looks a fair chance of Round 1 debut with plenty of injuries out wide.
Warriors veteran Shaun Johnson. (Photo by Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images)
Trial form matters for Warriors despite defeat
There are green shoots sprouting at the Warriors under new coach Andrew Webster.
It’s tough to gauge too much from a trial when each team used well over 20 players but especially in the first half when each team fielded close to its strongest line-up, the Warriors’ defence was again strong on the back of their previous trial win over Wests Tigers.
Particularly in last 10 minutes of first half when the Storm were camped down their end, the Warriors showed actual resilience and some starch in defence.
Glory Bound
Roar Rookie
"That’s what you should tell the sports reporters" How do you know I'm not one? :stoked: To be honest I think the Dogs have a number of players with exceptional talent but nothing on-field to bring them together into an effective cohesive unit. Their spine for example has one of the games best hookers in Reed Mahoney, although I place him behind Harry Grant, Api Koroisau and Damien Cook. They have a quality player in Matt Burton who is simply not a 5/8 IMO. He is however one of the game's best left centres. Then the Dogs have a struggling (I want to say failed) HB in Kyle Flanagan who is still a better player than Luke Brooks. But who is their FB? (Hint: starts with "F" and ends with "xx") but they will never move him there. Matt Burton could do the job but he would be wasted IMO. Don't think of moving Jake Averillo there. Tried and failed. Besides he has finally found his best position at centre. Of course next year they will have FB covered when Stephen "break your heart with a late intercept Try" Crichton arrives at the Belmore. So in 2023 there are still massive question marks around the Dogs spine and nothing has changed in that department since they lost the 2014 GF to Souths. Then there is the problem with the Dogs forwards. Kikau and TPJ who are dangerous but incredibly ill-disciplined, injury prone and don't have a big engine. Most of the time both players often lose focus and go MIA. They also only seem to impact games when their side is ahead and not when they are struggling and behind. There are no Josh Jackson's or James Graham's left in the Dogs pack. Ryan Sutton appears to be the most consistent, quality forward in their side. But there is no one of quality to back him up. Kikau may dominate for a while but then he disappears. RFM may be club captain but didn't play like one on the weekend. In summary the Dogs pack, albeit without Kikau and TPJ, came up against a team that finished 2nd last year and were dominated by the opposition forwards. So, IMO there is a LOT for Ciraldo to work on before Dogs fans see the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Should I tell the sports reporters , who write these stories that as well, Westie? :silly:
Westie
Guest
That’s what you should tell the sports reporters , who write these stories. With the , last week Ciraldo the miracle man has succeeded already. I think the players have always liked him as a coach. Which means they’ll try hard for him as a coach. He’s still never been a head coach of a first grade side before. He’s also been given a much better squad of players than their last few coaches. So success is expected! Which way will it go?
souvalis
Roar Rookie
To be honest Souths look the team to beat this year.
Tom G
Roar Rookie
I wasn’t aware that I had? Nobody seems to be taking this anywhere near as seriously as you. The whole idea of making a competition up out of confected rules is always contentious and totally unsatisfactory. That’s why saying one team deserved the cash more than another is so dumb. For a start neither played the same teams nor each other so scores are misleading too.
Renegade
Roar Guru
Spot on mate. It’s a trial so results are meaningless but attitude is the key and exactly what I was looking at as well. The sharks defence yesterday and 1% in a game that meant nothing is what has me very excited…. The Will Kennedy try saver, tough forward Carrie’s, the additional effort in running shapes and decoy lines, the 40/20 save, etc you’d think the premiership was on the line with some of the intent yesterday. Bring on the season!!
RLFan
Roar Rookie
I would like to see Kiraz at Fullback - Perham does not instil confidence under the high ball and was ordinary. The backline defence was poor and so many easy tries were let in- Averillo is not a centre, I know he has been tried in many positions, but with his speed he could be a good winger. Cronulla are playing like a well- oiled machine and will go well again this year as Nicho Hinze, Moylan and Kennedy are up there with the top spines in the comp. A wake- up call for the Dogs, who need to sort out their defence.
Geoff from Bruce Stadium
Roar Rookie
I'll be honest Taree - I'm glad that we have been belted up by two teams in the Dogs and Tigers who showed plenty of energy, ticker and enthusiasm in defence - and were much better than us in attack. We deserved to be belted. Both opponents are trying to lift themselves out of the bottom 8 and have recruited well. They have a lot to play for. In contrast we have lost a few (Hodgson, CNK and Sutton) but have only recruited Saulo and Levi who I thought both went pretty well. Its a long season - and the Raiders usually come home with a wet sail - but those sort of performances which are devoid of interest and enthusiasm are simply unacceptable. Good wake up call that you can't take any NRL game for granted. Not sure what to expect from us in the first two games in Qld. My head tells me we could lose both but lets hope Ricky and Madge can get them up somehow. Agree about Ricky. We have a history of lethargic starts to the season for some reason. Not very inspiring for supporters. I'm sure we have enough talent to be competitive but you could just see these sorts of performances happening. The choice of Seb Kris at full back is interesting. He has some pace and some smarts as a footballer. I hope he can make a fist of it. Very unsettling for the spine again. And you wonder why we have no depth in our squad at full back and are very skinny in the second row with Young, Whitehead and CHN the most likely. And an absolute boat load full of forwards. Who is going to play lock? Hors looks unfit as usual. Maybe CHN or Joe Tapine? If we choose Joey are we sacrificing his effectiveness and meterage n the middle which was outsanding last year? Not sure who the recruitment person is but he has assembled a pretty unbalanced squad. I can see now why we are chasing David Fifita. We need him now! Not sure about the Rapana incidents. The one I saw he seemed to collect a Tigers player front on and hits his head with his chest and wraps his arms around him after. Was that the one he was binned for? Didn't seem that malicious - but unfortunately Jordie has form. I didn't see the other one. Might be good to have some younger fitter players in the Townsville humidity followed by Brisbane.
Taree Raider
Guest
I can't understand the lethargic nature of the players. We have a very good side, there isn't one of them that I would turf out. They just don't seem to be motivated. In my humble opinion there can only be one reason. The Coach. It stops & starts with Ricky, he has to be accountable. Jack Wighton played like he had a big night out before the game. For someone who does have a lot of ability, he doesn't often show it. Why? Is it that he's lazy & doesn't care or is it the fact that he's Ricky's little pet & doesn't have to account for poor performances. I've grown to accept as a very long suffering Raiders fan that if the team has a red hot go then I'm happy with that, regardless of the result. They haven't had a go so far this year. Every other year that this has happened, our season has been the same. POOR. Past behaviour is a good indicator of future behaviour.
CutOneLoop
Guest
Heheh. Should be a great battle at Shark Park. No disrespect to Dogs but Souths are a much harder proposition. They took care of the Sharks easily in last year's finals series and looked pretty sharp in their trial.
souvalis
Roar Rookie
Sharks are going to be a good watch again this year. They're all big humans who play the game fast, athletically and so hard. You can almost see a pod of Orcas circling prey. Run Rabbit run.
Albo
Roar Rookie
Yep ! The Dogs need to sort out that fullback problem for 2023. Perham looks way out of his depth there. Kiraz looks the best option, if they have another winger for that right side ?
Albo
Roar Rookie
Talented and very dangerous player ! But mad as a cut snake !
jimmmy
Roar Rookie
True , I don't have an answer. Look some young guys thrive on the challenge, see Special K, but others end up broken. It's a conundrum.
Albo
Roar Rookie
I'm pretty sure most teams gave little thought about the special pre-season points competition . I see that Nicko Hynes , whose team was a chance of winning it yesterday, didn't even know about points scoring system ?
Red Rob
Roar Rookie
Hard to argue with that, jimmmy. But anything more than 4 weeks of the attack being stifled at 5/8, for a side that will probably leak more than their share of points against? (And it’s not like Milf carries extra weight in D) That’s just resigning your team to defeat.
Glory Bound
Roar Rookie
Let’s all take a deep breath before writing the Bulldogs Hype Express off. They were always up against it yesterday playing the team that finished 2nd last year and only missed out on a preliminary finals appearance after losing to the Rabbitohs who have made it to the preliminary final for the last 5 years in a row! . Firstly, it was only a trial. Secondly, momentum is a huge factor in the game. The Dogs had it after Kikau scored early and lost it after he left the field soon afterwards. Even so, I still don’t think the Dogs were going to win that game. Nicho Hynes had to big an influence on the game and the Dogs had no answers for it. . Ciraldo needs time to settle in and the team needs time to gel together. Mahoney looked rusty as well as he tries to acclimate to his new teamnates. The Dogs lacked rhythm and adherence to the fundamentals of the game. It won’t take Mahoney long though to adjust IMO or for the team to adjust to him. . Also, the rest of the Dogs’ spine is problematic and forwards like Kikau and TPJ are ill-disciplined loose canons who only show up when their team has momentum and then only for 20 mins at best a game.
Bloke7
Roar Rookie
I was saying this before the preseason started...the whole preseason points system is an irrelevant unbalanced farce. What's your logic to say it's a good system beyond Manly winning?
Red Rob
Roar Rookie
Pork chop is putting it kindly. Wonder what the blokes doing the hard yards in the engine room think of him?
The Barry
Roar Guru
Also - looks like there could be big problems at the back for the Bulldogs I was unsure why they’d gone after Haze Perham - seemed like a back up utility player. Then there’s talk of him being our first choice fullback. He was ordinary in the all stars game and had an absolute shocker yesterday. Made soooo many errors - even when he didn’t, he looked like he might and didn’t seem to offer anything in attack Burns was solid last week but isn’t dynamic enough Kiraz was brilliant in the World Cup for Lebanon at 1. Don’t know how that disrupts preparations for the rest of the backline but I think they need to have a look at him or come up with another option…
jimmmy
Roar Rookie
Tough one. Look OSullivan looked good , Kanoa looked good, Milford looked poor. OSullivan should start but I don't think Katoa is ready for a whole season of NRL. Dolphins are stuck with Milford but Katoa gets 6 to 8 games imo . The best youngsters the Cows have had are ones we have brought on slowly. The young half need some experience but not 20 games. Think the long game.