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Opinion
Parramatta lived up to the Indigenous meaning for the name of their city as “the place where the Eels lie down” when they did just that at Magic Round.
Their 48-16 flogging at the hands of Melbourne was a repeat of their second-half capitulation they dished up in Darwin a month ago.
Brad Arthur’s hopes of remaining coach hinge on Mitchell Moses’s return from injury so insert whichever biblical messiah reference you like here because it’s pretty much going to take miracle for the halfback to turn this rabble around.
North Queensland ended their five-game losing streak at Magic Round but couldn’t have been less impressive in just edging out South Sydney. If it was any other opponent apart from the bumbling, browbeaten Bunnies.
Those three teams just missed out on the finals last year and talked a good game heading into the 2024 season but have been a collective trifecta of tripe.
Canberra were the opposite heading into the season with no one outside of the national capital giving them a chance of a finals return but even with rookie halves calling the shots, they keep proving the doubters wrong.
You still wouldn’t put too much money on them making the playoffs but the more other supposed contenders fall away, the Green Machine thoroughly deserve their sixth-placed status after going 6-4.
Team by team, here’s how the Power Rankings stack up after Round 11.
1 Sharks (last week 1): For a team that supposedly can’t beat the top teams they are doing alright in that department, knocking off the Storm in Melbourne and now the Roosters.
It was the manner in which they kept clawing back in this contest to run down the Roosters which was most impressive – they can win gritty or flashy, dual traits that only title contenders possess.
2 Panthers (2): They’re still trucking along in third spot on the ladder so it’s a case of weathering the storm until the end of next month when Nathan Cleary comes back.
They were uncharacteristically flat against the Warriors and maybe the cumulative effect of four lengthy seasons that have gone the distance is starting to finally have an effect.
3 Broncos (2): They were below their best against Manly for most of the contest and seemed to only awaken from their slumber when the Sea Eagles drew level.
Selwyn Cobbo was superb at fullback, which could send the slightest sliver of panic through the Brisbane front office – he’s never going to get the No.1 jersey with Reece Walsh in the Broncos’ stable so how long will it be before a fast-talking rival CEO to throw a lucrative contract and a fullback vacancy towards Cobbo?
4 Storm (5): The Cameron Munster injury situation means they are likely to be without three-quarters of their first-choice spine on Friday at Brookvale with Jahrome Hughes’ calf likely to need another week and Ryan Papenhuyzen out for another month with his broken leg.
Considering he missed the opening month of the season due to the same groin problem, his Origin hopes and short-term Storm forecast are both looking bleak.
5 Roosters (3): They are a tad unlucky to slide a couple of spots down after going toe to toe with the Sharks for the full 80 on Saturday night.
They look a more potent team with Connor Watson at hooker – he played the entire match in the narrow loss to the Sharks while Brandon Smith got just 36 minutes from the bench, which was more than enough time for him to come up with a couple of poor options which cost his team in the final wash-up.
(Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images)
6 Dolphins (6): Jeremy Marshall-King started his NRL career at the Tigers, had a few years at the Bulldogs and is now one of the best hookers in the game. A bit like how Damien Cook bounced around the Dragons and Dogs before becoming a rep star at Souths.
The 28-year-old late bloomer torched brother Benji’s boys on Sunday with his creativity out of dummy-half.
7 Raiders (10): The team that has caused tipsters more grief than any other this season.
Two wins so you start tipping them, then two losses and you think you were right in the first place to not rate them and then they win two more, lose two more and now register back-to-back victories.
There’s a pattern emerging here – if it holds true, they are no chance the next two weeks against the Roosters and Dolphins.
8 Sea Eagles (7): They were pretty ordinary in the first half against the Broncos then got the upper hand, drew level and looked like swamping their opponents only to fall to a late field goal.
It’s been that kind of season for Manly. Hard to see them finishing higher than seventh or lower than 11th.
9 Knights (9): It was a bold strategy, Cotton, to let the Titans score 24 points to their 10 in the first half, safe in the knowledge that the Gold Coast have been notorious for giving up massive leads.
They dodged a bullet by winning this one with an unanswered three-try flurry in the second half – David Armstrong’s hat-trick is further proof that he needs to stay in the side somewhere, probably on the win, when Kalyn Ponga is fit again later in the season.
(Photo by Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images)
10 Warriors (11): They were teetering a few times against Penrith but despite a host of stars on the sidelines, or back home in Auckland, their rousing victory in the biggest cliffhanger of Magic Round could be a turning point for their season.
They are still a long way from being out of the woods or being back to a clean bill of health and they need to carry this momentum to another victory this Sunday at home against the Dolphins before getting a much-needed bye.
11 Bulldogs (8): They had a golden chance to show they are deserving of their newfound status of playoff possibilities (which is a leap given their results in recent years).
But they couldn’t unveil a knockout punch when needed against Canberra and despite making six line breaks to their opposition’s four, they didn’t finish off those crucial moments and it proved their undoing.
12 Dragons (13): The NRL stuffed up deluxe by not putting St George Illawarra on the bill at Magic Round.
One of the competition’s biggest fan bases was not invited to the three-day festival of footy? Makes no sense.
13 Cowboys (12): On the bright side, they won for the first time in six weeks but in the fair dinkum department, both North Queensland and South Sydney deserved to lose that stinkfest on Saturday night.
If the Cowboys think they’ve turned a corner they’re kidding themselves and nothing short of a comprehensive win this Friday at home against a Tigers team on a five-day turnaround will suffice.
(Photo by Hannah Peters/Getty Images)
14 Eels (14): In the words of Cletus Klump, that’s strike two. The Dolphins demolition in Darwin was clearly not a one-off with Sunday’s surrender to the Storm another abomination of alliteration.
The next embarrassing scoreline could be Brad Arthur’s last as Eels coach.
15 Titans (16): In simple terms, Des Hasler just doesn’t have the talent at his disposal to lift this team up the ladder.
They can compete when they line up against sides of similar standard, like a Knights team without Kalyn Ponga, but there are more than a few players on the Gold Coast roster who would struggle to get a start at another club if they were on the open market.
16 Wests Tigers (15): They have the most sin bins this year with eight, including two in the Sunday night loss to the Dolphins.
Benji Marshall has tightened up their defence and they are no longer getting monstered in the running metres battle but their discipline is well short of where it needs to be.
17 Rabbitohs (17): With the match on the line, Souths needed one of their remaining big names to stand up to steal victory but it was telling that when they were down by six with their final attacking set, Latrell Mitchell threw a poor pass which was toed ahead by the Cowboys and he virtually gave up on the chase straight away.
Then Mitchell, Damien Cook and Cody Walker were nowhere to be seen when they had one final fling at the line – this was a point where they should have been taking control of the attack for the inexperienced Bunnies as they tried to conjure up a late equaliser but it was left in the hands of rookies like Tallis Duncan and Peter Mamouzelos.