Round 21 Talking Points: Broncos loom as Panthers’ main threat, Souths in danger zone, Holmes binning 'massive over-reaction'

Brisbane are at the front of the queue for the contenders who will challenge Penrith for the premiership due to their combination of strength, speed and smarts.

Their win over South Sydney was the standout performance of Round 21 and they have all the ingredients to make a decent run at the title.

With Payne Haas and Patrick Carrigan they have two of the most damaging middle forwards in the NRL – so often the other night it was one than the other to build momentum in the middle third.

Their leg speed and their power is hard to handle. And it’s not just their size and strength in hitting the ball up and bending back the defenders. They’ve both developed late footwork just before the line and can find a pass too.

Haas is 23 and nearly has 100 games and Carrigan is 25 and not far behind him in matches – they’re coming into their own as far as knowing how to prepare well. They’re both Origin and Test players who know how to perform at a consistently high level.

Patrick Carrigan. (Photo by Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images)

One of Joey Johns’ many great strengths was he was never shy about demanding more from his forwards, whether that was an extra hit-up or a quicker play-the-ball and Adam Reynolds does the same thing for this Broncos side.

Reynolds has probably had conversations with them about how important it is for them to set the standards and they had the Rabbitohs constantly backpedalling.

And then when they’ve got that momentum, Reynolds directs the ball out wide to Brisbane’s quicker guys. He’s got the option of Herbie Farnworth or Kotoni Staggs on either edge and Reece Walsh popping up all over the place with his acceleration into space.

They have come through the Origin period fairly well and the squad seems pretty healthy.

It’s a pretty potent formula they’ve got going at the moment.

Rabbitohs leaving their run too late

Souths have dropped out of the top eight on the back of their loss to Brisbane and they can’t get Latrell Mitchell back into the team quick enough.

It’s a worry that he hasn’t played for them since May because of his calf tear. Souths have said that they were being cautious by giving him another week to get right but something is off with how long it’s taken to get him back on the field.

It’s nearly derailed their year as far as continuity, confidence and the team clicking at the right time of year.

He’s going to be underdone as far as match fitness goes and will probably take a week or two to get back to his best.

They had Jai Arrow and Campbell Graham back from injury and their NSW reps back on Friday night but they didn’t play well as a team.

Their usually slick combinations didn’t seem to be there in attack so Cody Walker, Lachlan Ilias and Damien Cook need to take ownership of that and get it right quick smart.

I saw that Jason Demetriou was quite critical of his team after the game which is unusual for him to do that publicly.

They’ve got some fundamental team issues with guys trying do things on their own and that is leading to them not completing their sets.

They’re losing touch with the top four now and it’s going to be pretty hard to get back in there given that the Rabbitohs are four points adrift now with only six more rounds to go.

After going to the Sunshine Coast for this game, they’ve got a lot of travel ahead with the Tigers in Tamworth, Sharks in Perth, Dragons in Cairns and Knights in Newcastle.

They’re treating it as like a camp by being on the road together but it’s going to be a bumpy period.

Souths still have time to turn it around and by no means am I writing them off but they need to show some urgency in these next few weeks to get back up near the top four.

Holmes sin-binning a ‘massive over-reaction’

The Cowboys celebrated Jake Granville’s 200th NRL game in style with Scott Drinkwater and Tommy Dearden once again outstanding as they made it six wins on the trot.

Coen Hess and Jordan McLean are rolling their sleeves up every week in the middle of the ruck and I was relieved to see Valentine Holmes only get a fine, no suspension, for his tackle on Eels half Mitchell Moses.

The decision to send Holmes to the sin bin was a massive over-reaction to a quality, ball-and-all tackle. All of those old players and coaches of my era would not be impressed.

A bloke I played alongside at the Bulldogs back in the 1980s, David Gillespie would have been sin-binned every 20 minutes of his illustrious career.

Roosters rise back into contention

That was a much-needed win for the Roosters on Saturday over the Gold Coast, easily the best they’ve played for a long time.

It’s funny how some clubs have the wood over other ones. The Roosters dominate the Titans and James Tedesco seems to always rip into them.

Although Newcastle are the reverse of Melbourne so maybe they were due.

Jackson Hastings had a few nice touches so it’s good to see him delivering for the Knights against a quality team like the Storm. And in demand Bradman Best has returned from Origin in a confident mood.

For the most part Melbourne have had a strong year but they’ve thrown in those poor performances from time to time, which Craig Bellamy spoke about after the game, and may still be feeling the effects of losing so many experienced players from their pack at the end of last year.

(Photo by Getty Images/Getty Images)

Just like Haas and Carrigan are laying the platform for Brisbane, you could see that the Titans looked less intimidating in the middle with Tino Fa’asuamaleaui out suspended.

Parramatta were a bit the same with Reagan Campbell-Gillard not around against the Cowboys because he was banned for dropping the knees the week before.

Those big forwards who can get your side some momentum are irreplaceable and their lack of discipline is going to hurt their sides for a few weeks.

On the back of Origin when you’re mentally and physically fatigued those sort of things happen.

The race for the top four has opened up a little bit with the Storm and Raiders losing.

I saw that Ricky Stuart was not happy about Canberra not getting a try to Seb Kris against the Warriors just before halftime but that to me looked like incidental contact and the dominant team on the night won.

The Warriors are up to third now and with their run home they should be able to stay in the top four.

(Photo by Tim Allsop/Getty Images)

Panthers pounce, Sea Eagles soar

Penrith got all their big guns back as they start to head for the home straight in their premiership defence with a comprehensive win over the Bulldogs on Sunday.

Nathan Cleary was quickly back on the pace and combined well with his normal accomplices. The Bulldogs looked a fair bit off the pace in the first 40 minutes as the Panthers set up the victory before cruising in the second half.

The Dogs scored a few late but that will have done little to console their diehard fans.

The Sharks are in freefall and the number of team changes did very little to change the quality of their performance against Manly.

A lack of execution and some poor discipline at that start of the game invited Manly to take control and Daly Cherry-Evans accepted the invite and put his stamp on the game.

After a couple of sub-par efforts from his team, the Sea Eagles are now back in the playoff hunt even though they nearly threw it away late with the Sharks scoring 26 straight points to only lose by four in the end.