The past month has given us one of the most exciting and unpredictable starts to the season in years. We have one outright winner, one outright …. um … non-winner, and so many teams in the middle surprising everyone.
Let’s see where all the teams finished up in this week’s Power Rankings.
Unbeaten. On fire. Seemingly unstoppable.
They remain at the top of the Power Rankings as well as the NRL ladder after their 18-12 win during the top-of-the-table clash and everyone’s new favourite grudge match against the Dolphins.
There is a confidence coming out of Brisbane that has been missing for so long, and they are firing in all areas across the park.
Their first loss of the season came in a 13-12 golden point thriller against the Bunnies, with many believing they were the better team.
Tommy Turbo has returned with a vengeance this year, and his stats were off the charts racking up 201 metres from 25 runs and three tackle breaks during the game.
Their perfect start to NRL life may have ended, but the fight they put up for 79 minutes, along with the effort and skill they showed after losing with so many troops helped them stay in the second spot.
Wayne Bennett summed it up perfectly after the match: “The scoreboard was the only place we lost tonight. Halfback gone, hooker gone, and we’re still in there at 14-12, incredible.”
They are in for one hell of a season.
Nicho Hynes returns, and the Sharks cruised to a 40-18 win against the Dragons.
Trailing 8-6 at halftime, Hynes kicked into gear in the second half, leading his side around perfectly to score 34 unanswered points. The whole team lifted in the Dally M winner’s presence, and despite the slower-than-expected start to the season, have been playing some good footy.
The emotion of the John Sattler passing and pre-game tributes no doubt carried them across the line, but the effort and execution from the Rabbitohs were enormous despite the motivations.
A gutsy team effort, Keaon Koloamatangi was once again enormous, while Cody Walker turned was able to bounce back from a poor performance last week and produce a brilliant and level-headed effort.
The rise of the Warriors continues, with their third win of the season coming from a 16-14 come-from-behind win against the Bulldogs.
Trailing on the scoreboard and losing workhorse Tohu Harris to injury wasn’t enough to deter the home side, who continue to show copious amounts of determination and reliance that have been missing for many seasons.
They’re not as clinical as they have been in the past season and were off the pace in their golden point loss to the Eels.
A close-to-perfect effort from fullback Dylan Edwards, along with a sensational two-point field goal from Nathan Cleary, just wasn’t enough to get the Panthers over the line. Poor discipline including the Mitch Kenny sin-binning and Cleary’s attempt at a sneaky line dropout that didn’t go ten metres saw Penrith pick up their second loss of the year.
Their weekend hanging out at Bondi Beach and drinking expensive lattes saw the tricolours slide down the rankings.
It was a better performance from the Cowboys during their 24-12 win over the Titans.
Along with missing some big names to suspension and injury, the Cowboys fought back from an 8-0 deficit to avoid their third loss in a row.
Some silly mistakes still snuck into their game, but they put in a gutsy effort after Jeremiah Nanai spent ten minutes in the sin bin, and then finished the game with a one-man left on the bench with injuries to Murray Taulagi, Gehamat Shibasaki and James Tamou.
It was a win the Storm desperately needed, but it was against a just as desperate side.
Melbourne are one of the most injury-hit teams in the competition right now, but the inclusion of Cam Munster back proved the difference.
Losing playmakers Kieran Foran and AJ Brimson hurt the Titans during their loss to the Cowboys. Losing those types of players made a huge difference to the side who were creating opportunities but just lacked the polish to finish them off.
The possibility of Foran and Brimson being sidelined for a while could hurt the Titans over the upcoming rounds.
Ok. Parramatta have won a game, and the world can go back to a bit of normality.
It was an impressive performance from the team, including halfback Mitch Moses who everyone thought had re-signed with the club before the match. His cool as you like field goal in golden point made him the hero of the day, despite his future still being up in the air.
The Eels were phenomenal with the hall-in-hand, finishing the match with a huge 95 per cent completion rate. Discipline was impressive as well, only making three errors for the entire match.
Despite a loss, the Dogs have moved up on the Power rankings after their effort in the loss against the Warriors.
Leading most of the game, the performance and effort in the two-point loss were more impressive than from last week’s two-point win over the last-placed Tigers.
Another gutsy performance from the Knights who are still missing some strike power. A huge come-from-behind effort to secure a 24-14 win against the Raiders.
Trailing at halftime, an explosive ten minutes early after the break along with a mountain of defence showed everyone what they can do when the chips are down. Lachie Miller stood up again out the back, with Tyson Gamble filling in for Kalyn Ponga well in the halves.
There would have been a lot of frustrated Raiders fans on Sunday afternoon. After their impressive win against the Sharks, they followed it up with a disappointing loss to the Knights.
A game they should have won against a side struggling for form and fitness, the Green Machine are now one win from four and looking quite lost.
That’s two weeks in a row the Dragons have been in the fight at halftime to get walloped in the second half and have their opposition end up on 40 points.
Poor discipline, taking the foot off the pedal and woeful defence currently see the Red V with the worst for and against out of any side on the NRL ladder.
Oh, Tigers. You don’t need me to add to the current pile on. But when you said last year after finishing in 16th place that the only way was up, you may have forgotten that there are more teams now.
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