Round 11: Dé ja vu all over again

Even though Round 11 was played over the weekend after State of Origin 1, the scaled-back round meant only about half of those who played on Wednesday night were required to back up for their club team.

As a result, this was not your typical post-Origin round, especially given that almost half of this smaller than usual pool of Origin players backing up plays for the same team.

However...5 of the 6 games played looked very similar to past encounters between Round 11 combatants. As Yogi Berra - or maybe Rex Mossop or Benny Elias - might have said, it was dé ja vu over and over again.

Despite having one of the best minor premiership records in recent history in 2007, Melbourne struggled when playing days after major representative games. Two of their 3 losses came in these circumstances and they almost lost to a gallant Souths effort at Gosford. Souths once again took their fixture against the Storm to the Central Coast and once again they were scheduled to meet after a State of Origin. Like last year, Melbourne won a close, low-scoring game, but unlike last year, the main reason behind the tight scoreline was not stingy Souths' defence. Rather, Souths dominated possession for much of this game but lacked composure and execution for end-of-set plays.

Or, to put it bluntly, their last tackle plays sucked. Melbourne was not that much better - they couldn't even bring out their standard cross-kick for Folau play they usually use in tight games - but they did enough. Neither team would have been happy after this game. Melbourne looked more vulnerable after a representative game than they ever have, while Souths missed a golden opportunity. Jason Taylor can continue to spout clichés about effort, but they should have scored more than 10 points in this game.

Last night's game (between the Bulldogs and Cronulla) was far more entertaining and had many more points than the Souths Melbourne game, but both teams have plenty to work on in upcoming games. After establishing a reputation of being a fundamentally sound defensive team over the last year and a half, Cronulla's defence was horribly exposed. The Bulldogs have a number of skilful and smart attacking players, but for the most part they are not a great attacking team. When Daniel Holdsworth can find a gaping hole in your defensive line (with the smallest amount of sleight of hand) and race almost 50 metres to score and when Corey Hughes and Cameron Phelps (of all people!!) cause havoc around the ruck after quick play-the-balls, your defence has a LOT of work to do. Even noted defenders such as Pomeroy, Gallen and Bird were found out.

The Bulldogs were brilliant between minutes 10 and 45 of this game, but in the other 45 minutes of the game, they were sloppy. To be fair, any team with a 20-point lead over Cronulla has every right to feel the game is in the bag, but the Bulldogs' intensity dropped off to such an extent that the result was in doubt until the final 5 minutes of the game.

That said, for the Bulldogs to identify a gameplan against what seemed to be a strong opponent and to carry that gameplan out almost perfectly is an extremely positive outcome for a very inconsistent team. The aforementioned Hughes, Phelps, Matt Utai and others utilised their speed against the large but quite slow-footed Cronulla pack (especially after quick play-the-balls: this was more good work from the under-the-radar Bulldogs forwards), while continued attacking of Cronulla's defence out wide - where injuries meant several new combinations - led to all of their tries.

While many expected this game to be a low-scoring bore (with the poor playing surface at ANZ Stadium contributing), it should have come as no surprise that the points flowed: in the previous 4 meetings between these teams at Homebush, the average total points in each game was 55. The feelings of dé ja vu were enhanced as these teams had played at Homebush in the previous 2 Mays and on all 3 occasions Cronulla came into the match on the back of a solid winning streak. The 2006 Bulldogs Cronulla game at Homebush saw the Bulldogs understrength (due to Origin commitments) but they raced to a 24-6 lead before letting Cronulla right back into the game.

The Gold Coast Titans will be hoping the dé ja vu ends there for Cronulla: they play Cronulla in Round 12 and their last journey to the converted swampland of Woolooware Bay saw a very poor effort late in 2007. However, if their effort at the Home of Rugby League - aka Leichhardt Oval - on Sunday is any indication, they should be a good chance against Cronulla.

The Titans endured a fast start from a typically fired-up Tigers to be down by only 8 points at half-time. Not only were the Tigers motivated by their sub-par overall effort against Newcastle last week, but they felt their disciples were owed significant reparations after their meek capitulation to the leporine invasion in AD 2007, Chapter 25 on the Sabbath. That said, many of the disciples felt happy for the leporine invaders: after all, they spent what felt like 40 years in the wilderness and now must make bi-weekly journeys to lodgings far removed from their spiritual home. This is not due to all alternatives being booked out but solely to take advantage of the 40 pieces of silver on offer.

The Gold Coast sensed their chance, much like they did against Newcastle a few weeks back (despite being well behind at the half). Alas, committed Tigers defence kept them out and when Hodgson scored from a well-worked set play, the situation looked grim for the Titans.

Still, they didn't give up. The Tigers must have figured such an effort would break their back; the Gold Coast came back as their resilience and continued effort finally started to wear the Tigers down, especially in the middle of the field. Preston Campbell had a sensational final half-hour: his speed and side-stepping ability tested the tiring Tigers forwards and eventually saw the 14-point lead cut back to just 2.

The Tigers held on for the 2-point win. Since the Tigers' resurgence in 2004, they have enjoyed many a win over big-name opponents at Leichhardt, with many of these being sealed only in the game's final minutes. Meanwhile for the Titans, this was their 2nd straight close loss in a high-quality game in NSW. Their reputation as strugglers out of Queensland looks set to be on borrowed time.

The Queensland State of Origin team had a similar reputation for many years - even after securing a famous draw in Sydney in 2002 - before finally breaking their duck in Sydney in 2007. They entered the first State of Origin game of 2008 as favourites, with their highly rated backline and solid forward pack expected to be too good.

Meanwhile, the NSW team looked to have an edge in the forwards but ongoing uncertainty over the ideal halves combination and an inferior set of backs. In other words, this was much like 2006, and just like in 2006, NSW jumped out to a strong half-time lead. But unlike 2006, NSW won quite easily. Their defence in the heart of the second half was key and when Bird put Gasnier into a gap to set up Laffranchi, the game was won.

Two nights after this success, Gasnier led the St George Illawarra Dragons into battle at a venue where they have had much success in recent years: Brookvale Oval. While this success came with the much stronger Dragons team prior to 2007 (and against a weaker Manly team), it became evident from early on that the Dragons were a strong chance of winning this game. Their pack was enjoying an edge over the highly vaunted Manly pack, they were getting more attacking field position and they looked more likely to score when they had attacking field position...at least, when they could hold on to the ball.

Despite a high error count, the Dragons never lost touch with Manly and even though Manly had the lead for much of the game, they were not able to put the Dragons away. It came as no surprise when the Dragons took back the lead for good inside the final 5 minutes. While this try was the Dragons' first not coming from a Manly error or involving some degree of controversy, there was no question the right team won the game.

There were a number of similarities between this game and the meeting between these teams at Brookvale in 2006. In that game, the talent-laden Dragons always looked the better team and defeated Manly in the final minutes. In both games, Manly tried very hard, but their self-belief against the Dragons must be called into question. Coach Des Hasler called the Dragons "our bogey team" and Manly's collective attitude was not quite up to their usual standard for a Brookvale game. The mind is a powerful instrument...

Roosters Coach Brad Fittler would most likely concur with the above statement. His team made an emphatic statement both early and later in the first half in their defeat of the Warriors in Auckland. Firstly, they kept the ball for over 10 minutes as they put on 3 consecutive tries to start the game. The Warriors didn't give up and narrowed the deficit but were forced to endure several minutes of bruising Roosters' defence in the late minutes of the first half.

It was only a 20-12 half-time lead (just as it was in Gosford when Newcastle finished over the top of them) but they were never seriously threatened in this one. Shaun Kenny-Dowell had a hat-trick, but Braith Anasta starred, even scoring a rare win over referee Ben Cummins (when Cummins conceded Anasta had been elbowed by Brent Tate in an incident which preceded a push-and-shove between these players). Some may remember Anasta and Cummins came together in Round 26 last season when Souths' David Fa'alogo hit Anasta in the mouth with a right hook, but Souths received the penalty.

In the end, the Roosters thrashed the Warriors, showing what can be done despite the obstacles of having several important players backing up from Origin, being without other important players altogether and taking on a team undefeated at home so far this season.

So ends this week's dé ja vu Tuesday Roast. One can only hope the similarities end next week (especially the hastily cobbled-together Biblical metaphor). See you next week.

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