Round 6: Heritage Round: Weird Jumpers and Weird Happenings

The 100th anniversary of the first game of Rugby League in Australia saw every team return to their roots in garment form. While the outfits of some teams largely resemble their 2008 look, others were markedly different to their week-to-week garb, due to either significant uniform changes down the years or acknowledgment given to a long-distant precursor from that region.

But accompanying the unusual attire were unusual results or occurrences in most games over the weekend. Some of these were due to the wet weather, but others were…once-in-100 year events (sorry).

Heritage Round kicked off on Friday night with two close games, but two barely believable outcomes. After a relatively solid first few weeks, Parramatta has struggled mightily, as glimpses of their awesome potential have been overwhelmed by their lethargy. They took on the points-challenged but hard-working Sea Eagles. Manly fought hard (and took advantage of some lazy Eels’ play – more on this later) to lead 14-4 in the second half, but within minutes, several of the aforementioned glimpses saw Parramatta take a scarcely deserved lead.

Still, Manly was enduring a major injury toll. At one stage, they had the bare 13 on the field and no reserves available. The speed and intensity of today’s game means that such an impact from injuries means victory is almost impossible. Manly never looked like getting near the Parramatta tryline…until Grothe struck again.

Eric Grothe junior is a mighty ball-runner, but his decision-making in defence and general in-game intelligence is almost non-existent. Throw in several instances of in-game apathy – including his insipid and ultimately futile effort in getting to what should have been a harmless Jamie Lyon bomb before it bounced – and it is not a stretch to say he cost Parramatta what should have been a certain win.

The harmless Lyon bomb became potent once it hit the ground. Manly regained the ball and scored soon after, before holding on for an unlikely win.

Meanwhile, on the Gold Coast, the locals – wearing a bizarre mix of their current uniform and the uniform of the 1988 Gold Coast Giants – jumped to an early 16-0 lead over Brisbane. Gold Coast is playing some of the more impressive rugby league so far this season, but their 3 early tries owed more to very rare Brisbane incompetence than to Gold Coast skill.

The argument could have been made that Brisbane was tired after backing up from a difficult match against Newcastle just 5 days earlier, but this argument held little water as the game went on and the brave Broncos almost came back to snatch an unlikely win. They fought back to 16-8 down at half-time before a length-of-the-field special cut the Titans’ lead to just 2.

The Gold Coast extended their lead back to 12 points, as they again took advantage of Brisbane mistakes, but a late Brisbane comeback – including a try from a rare Scott Prince fumble – came up just short. Prince was again the man of the match, but the contribution from Preston Campbell – who played a Matt Bowen-like role filling in at five-eighth in attack (in place of the suspended Mat Rogers) – was also very important.

More weird jumpers and weird happenings were seen at Cronulla on Saturday night. Cronulla (who looked more like NSW) had a 20-10 lead over Penrith (who brought the Chocolate Soldier look back after a 17-year absence) midway through the second half. However, despite having a significant advantage in possession to that point in the game, playing their first game at home for the season, running with a strong breeze at their back, the incentive of sending Lance Thompson off into retirement with a victory and Penrith repeatedly choosing poor last tackle options, Penrith hung around and eventually came back into the game. What looked like being yet another poor last tackle option was salvaged by some desperate keeping-the-ball alive and a try to Michael Gordon was the result.

Cronulla could have tried for a field goal in this period to extend their lead to seven points, but their failure to even consider this option gave Penrith further impetus. As their pressure mounted, another try was scored and the ensuing difficult sideline conversion from Jarrod Sammut meant Golden Point. After a booming Brett Kimmorley field goal attempt went just wide, Penrith’s momentum looked to be too much. Cronulla charged down their first field goal attempt, but the second from Sammut gave Penrith the win.

To be fair though, a Penrith win against the odds is not really a “weird” happening: they continue to exhibit the seemingly perverse trait of playing much better when most expect them to lose.

That said, Penrith failed to overcome the Roosters last weekend despite most expecting a Roosters win. The Roosters’ size and consistency meant they were strong favourites to win their 4th in a row – and, in doing so, send Newcastle to their 4th straight loss – at the historical Rugby League stronghold of Gosford on Sunday.

Once again, Newcastle’s awesome attacking potential was on display: their sweeping passes combined with their above-average speed and size at most positions. However, they were let down for most of this game by unforced mistakes, poor decision making in attack and conceding too many penalties. The less skilful but smarter and more consistent Roosters took advantage and deserved to lead 20-12 at half-time, much to the enjoyment of the quite vocal band of Roosters’ supporters. Why do these supporters not make as much effort in most other Roosters’ home games?

The game took a curious turn in the first 20 or so minutes of the second half. Newcastle gradually took control of the game – Brisbane was somewhat lucky they built a more significant buffer against the Knights last week – but the scoreboard didn’t change. Almost every time the Knights had the ball, they seriously threatened to breach the Roosters, but a number of tries were squandered due to questionable attacking options. Sure, Newcastle’s second-rowers are skilful, but their supporters (and coach) were understandably frustrated to see them putting in attacking kicks before the last tackle in somewhat normal attacking situations.

But the Roosters’ normally solid game was coming apart at the seams. Their error count was unusually high, meaning they were unable to put any sustained pressure on Newcastle (and therefore unable to give much of a rest to their tiring defence) and they started conceding penalties at important times.

With 12 minutes left, the Roosters looked increasingly likely to hang on, but finally Newcastle’s attack clicked and how: 4 tries in the final 12 minutes. Admittedly, the Roosters tackled themselves into the ground: they barely saw the ball in the game’s final 15 minutes, but it was an impressive end to an entertaining game.

However, the best game of the Heritage Round was played last night in Canberra. The home team (who was missing a host of regular and important players) gave a textbook display of physical rugby league in the first half: they led Melbourne 16-4 at half time. Melbourne should not have been disgraced: few, if any, teams would have survived such an onslaught and while they were not quite at their best, they certainly were not playing poorly, although they should have been concerned at the dominance of Canberra’s Colin Best over their right-side outside backs.

It became apparent in the minutes after half-time that the proud Storm was playing at a higher level, but Canberra was still comfortably in the lead and repelled the Storm’s early efforts. They threatened to put the game out of reach – history shows that once Melbourne concedes 20 points, they are next to no chance of winning – when the aforementioned Best caught a high kick and went towards the corner. But Melbourne’s Billy Slater – who had a relatively poor game (in stark contrast to his career-best form in the early weeks of this season) to that point – made a great effort to just push Best into touch.

This Best no-try possibly showed the limits of video technology – could a more sophisticated recording device have shown continuous footage in between the two frames where Best was poised to put the ball down and when the ball was placed down (with his elbow on the sidelines)? – and it ended up being Canberra’s last chance.

From here, Melbourne’s effort and intensity lifted several notches. Their defence wrested the momentum away from the Canberra forwards, while Melbourne’s attack became more incisive, with Slater assuming a much more dominant role. In addition to moving into dummy half, he constantly looked to exploit gaps in the middle of the tiring Canberra defence.

Slater eventually scored and Melbourne looked a chance of running away with the game: an extremely unlikely possibility in the first half. But Canberra’s effort – and a bit of luck – kept the score at 16-all until a Melbourne field goal. Even after finally assuming the lead, Melbourne’s defensive effort didn’t relent. Canberra was next to no chance of gaining attacking field position, so they gambled with several attacking kick plays, which almost paid off.

When a Cooper Cronk – in the middle of a rare off-night – finally produced an attacking kick which hit the intended target (and a try for Israel Folau), perhaps the best game thus far in 2008 was decided: a 7-point Storm win. They rarely have had to work harder: who would have thought such an effort would be required against an almost second-string Canberra team?

There were three other games in Heritage Round. On Saturday night, it was a rare display from the Dragons. Instead of losing despite showing glimpses of their significant talent, they produced one of the worst efforts seen in many years. The Bulldogs won easily.

Also on Saturday night, the Cowbores thrashed the Warriors in a similar vein to their semi-final mauling from last season. The Warriors showed some signs early on, but were overwhelmed: while their halves (Witt and Rovelli) were unable to do much at all, the Feral / Bowen partnership (back after a two-week absence) dominated.

Lastly, the Wests / Tigers overcame a slow start to beat Souths. Souths may be due, but any team capable of scoring two tries or more looks likely to defeat Souths until their injured stars return.

Read More...

Summary only...