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“So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past…”
Alright, we write on, fingers against the keyboard, borne back ceaselessly into the last five days of rugby league action, to rank NRL teams based on their recent performances and put that into the context of the season at large, making wild speculations about who might actually beat who come Finals time.
What did we learn? Souths and the Tigers put on an exhibition, not so much of rugby league football but more of this column’s long-standing opinion that completion rates are a load of tripe. Sure, we completed, but what did we see?
There was yer Panthers-Roosters, a massacre, and your Cowboys-Dragons, a last rites. The Titans forgot how to defend again, Manly forgot how to attack. No, Dolphins, though. Strange that you miss them even though they’ve only been about for two and a half months. Where was Valynce Te Whare?!
Anyway, there’s a-doings a-transpiring in that there NRL, so let’s get a-ranking.
Absolutely as good as they had to be against the Tigers in a game where they could only lose. A win to nil and no injuries was as good as the Bunnies could have hoped for, and they’ll surely arc up for Indigenous Round at a packed Allianz Stadium this Friday night.
Top of the league, too, which they’ll tell you means nothing at this stage. Top of the Power Rankings, however…that’s all they talk about down Redfern way.
The Panthers had been quietly achieving, even when their results didn’t match their performances. Though there had been a bad trot, losing to the Tigers in a freak event and the Bunnies in a close one, the feeling that this side was still strong and would be come Finals time.
Now, after a thrashing of the Roosters, they’re back, bay-bee. But did they ever go away? Not really. Losing by single points margins is the sort of thing that happens and, one suspects, will change later on.
It’s worth noting that the Panthers are very highly represented among the list of players who have played the most games in the last 18 months, with all their Samoan internationals – especially those who also play for NSW – right up the top.
It’s not surprising that it took them a while to get going, but going they are and it looks like they’ll stay around for a while.
(Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)
The Sharks were excellent on Sunday. The good news is that their goalline defence, for so long the Achilles heel, appears to have improved, but that probably has to be caveated by how awful Manly have looked with the ball at times in recent weeks.
It’s all there though: the attack is great, the defence is coming. A good week for the Sharks, who will likely only lose Hynes to Origin – and even then, he might not play – and run into Broncos and Storm sides likely missing far more, then a cakewalk of Dragons, Dogs and Tigers. It’s all looking up, up.
Bellamy is back and so are the Storm. Thursday was a reminder of the levels that young whippersnappers such as the Broncos need to hit to consistently battle at the top of the tree.
The issue this year has been repeatability, but when Melbourne get everyone on deck, they’re as tough as anyone, especially at home. The feeling persists that they aren’t quite on the same plane as Souths and Penrith, but when the whips get cracking later in the year, you wouldn’t bet against them.
Straight in with our ‘good defeat’ points for the Broncos, who were well in the fight on one of the NRL’s toughest assignments despite a raft of things going against them.
The knock on Brisbane has been that they’re flat-track bullies, able to load up at home on bad teams but prone to crumble when a half-decent outfit comes to town and has a crack. That wasn’t the story on Thursday night.
Granted, they also didn’t win, but that’s by-the-by. Come the end of the year, this loss in Melbourne is probably going to be worth more than a lot of easy wins at Suncorp.
Their first meeting with Bye ended with a typically confident, gritty win.
The season’s feelgood story – well, on a week where Redcliffe didn’t play – kept on going with another win for rookie coach Andrew Webster. With no Origin representation, the Warriors train can only accelerate from here. Let’s gone, as they say.
(Photo by Brendon Thorne/Getty Images)
Ricky’s Raiders are now level second on six wins, despite nobody knowing if they’re any good. The most impenetrable team in the NRL keeps going, keeps winning and get Manly at home next. Six on the spin is inevitable.
Robbo’s rabble hit a new low this week with a meek surrendering to the Panthers. Moreover, they lost Joey Manu and Jared Waerea-Hargreaves in the process.
Everything is going wrong at the moment for the Roosters, and while it is usually funny to bask in the schadenfreude of a side who are, politely, not widely liked, that isn’t the role of this column.
On their day, the Chooks are one of the best sides to watch and possess, in Manu, James Tedesco and Sam Walker, three of the most exciting players in the league. One is injured, the other is injured and dropped and the third is either knackered or bang out of form, or both.
Lucky for Robinson, they get the Dragons, the bye and the Dogs in quick succession, and even a second string Roosters side should be good for six competition points there.
Another week where Parra play alright and lose, which is surely becoming such a habit that it can’t be a coincidence. Dylan Brown was better, building on a good Magic Round showing, and Clint Gutherson just keeps on showing up.
Still, post-season football is going to take something really special at this point, especially when you factor in that the Eels still have to go to Penrith, Brisbane and Melbourne – and face Souths on Friday.
It’ll take 13 or 14 wins to make the Finals, which would require Parra to go 7-5, potentially 8-4, from here out. It’s not looking likely.
The Knights’ renaissance continued, aided by a classic tackling-optional Titans performance. Kalyn Ponga finally had a good game and the likes of Dom Young and Jackson Hastings were back to their best. A solid week for a team that will be looking to add wins during Origin – even if Ponga gets picked, they already know how to play without him.
Dominic Young catches a kick on his way to score. (Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)
Had the good fortune to play the Dragons, so we can’t read too much into their win. It was, however, a win. Good on them.
Manly have gone from a team that could attack but couldn’t tackle into one that can’t attack and can (sort of) tackle. On occasion they’ve been able to put the two together and beat a good team (Melbourne) but mostly they’re rubbish. Scraping into Finals is about as good as they can hope for at this stage, and that’s before they contemplate losing Daly Cherry-Evans and Tom Trbojevic to Origin.
They’re away four of the next five games and have won just once, at the Tigers, away from Brookie. Things could be about to get very messy on the Beaches.
That’s the Titans we know and love. Justin Holbrook must wonder why his side so frequently abdicates responsibility on the defensive front. Still, two wins from three always goes down well, and it’s the Bulldogs next Sunday too.
(Photo by Brett Hemmings/Getty Images)
Injuries are a decent excuse for the season writ large, but not for their performance against the Warriors. It’s far from panic stations, but the Dogs could really, really do with showing something better this weekend against the Titans if they want to have any hope of having anything to play for by the time they get bodies back on deck.
The Tigers have worked out that, if they play in the most boring way possible, they might not get absolutely flogged by good teams and might jag or two along the way. It’s the lowest building block, but still an improvement on Tigers teams of recent memory.
That said, Souths could have gone off and Wests wouldn’t have scored on Saturday. It’s baby steps.
Stop, stop, they’re already dead.