Round 1: Even More Evenness

In a competition where parity has become the holy grail over the last decade or so, Round 1 of each NRL season generally provides more hope to the underdog than in most other situations. This is largely due to the salary cap but also to the more traditional Round 1 levellers: a lack of match fitness, adverse weather conditions and, of course, the best and worst teams all being on an equal number of competition points.

However, Round 1 2009 was the most even first-up round for many years. The aforementioned factors contributed here but in a more extreme form (in most cases) than normal: almost all teams experienced either a significant overhaul of their playing roster, a major loss of depth (worsened by pre-season injuries), an almost irreplaceable loss of leadership/experience or a combination of these due to the salary cap. Also, the rather extreme weather in most games gave another leg-up to lesser teams (or weakened superior teams).

But the introduction of two on-field referees was another factor making for more even rugby league. It diminished the advantage enjoyed by those more physically dominant teams as well as those teams who push the envelope when it comes illegal methods of slowing down the play the ball. But the main impact of the second referee was to lessen the influence of the video referee and hence speed up the game (further). A number of teams were aided in their comeback efforts by momentum aided by the second referee (in combination with warm weather and lack of match fitness).

Curiously, the even faster game speed was warmly received by almost everyone, even though it came with a side-effect of an above-average penalty count at most games. I guess that shows the extent of dislike for the video referee in non-try situations.

In the end, six of the eight games were quite close while the other two games saw highly rated teams on the end of a thrashing. Also, most games featured a number of exciting passages of play. Close games where the outcome is uncertain, the potential resurgence of previously lowly teams, much excitement and surprisingly strong crowds: it was a very successful round for the NRL.

The opening Friday night of the NRL season is now quite the eagerly anticipated event, especially with two games taking place. However, it is perhaps most appropriate to start with these two games as they were the most even of the round.

In previous years, placing the notoriously slow-starting St George Illawarra into an opening night slot would only have resulted in an even game if they were playing someone with far less talent than them (such as the Tigers, or the Gold Coast).

But these are the new Dragons. They no longer have an over-abundance of talent or a coach far too familiar with the playing roster but not familiar enough with getting the most out of his team. The addition of Wayne Bennett to this chronically under-achieving club will almost certainly result in a more consistent performance and a much better chance at ultimate success...but could they perform in the very difficult environment of Olympic Park?

The Dragons' cause was helped by facing a much weaker Melbourne Storm lineup than in past seasons. The Storm have kept their mega-star players, but as a result, have had to wave goodbye to many (just) star players (or excellent complementary players). Players such as Folau, Crocker, Geyer, Kaufusi, Jeremy Smith, Tagataese, King, Newton and Aubusson. Throw in a few injuries and the Storm looked rather less threatening than in years past.

While the Dragons looked a bit less flashy than they have, their competitiveness and determination against a still-difficult opponent stood out and Melbourne realised they were in a struggle. Traditionally when this happens, Melbourne would fight hard then cross-kick for Folau, but without this option, they had to reach deeper into their bag of tricks.

They also quickly discovered the second referee would make their various wrestling techniques harder to execute without being penalised. After six seasons of wrestling from the Storm, almost everyone within rugby league is now familiar with the wrestling jargon. Or at least referee Gavin Badger assumed everyone was familiar. He would certainly have been forgiven for thinking Melbourne captain Cameron Smith - one of the league's worst offenders - would be an encyclopaedia on the subject, but Smith's Fat Tony-esque question to Badger ("What's a Chicken Wing?") was unexpected to say the least. To Badger's credit, he took Smith's devious question in his stride and Melbourne realised they needed something more.

This initially came from their bulked-up superstar Greg Inglis. On one of his trademark arcing runs, he brushed of Jamie Soward's attempted upper body tackle with ease as Melbourne took an early lead. But the Dragons responded - as did Soward, who stood up to Inglis next time he aimed himself at the diminuntive Dragons five-eighth - and had a half-time lead.

Melbourne enjoyed a second-half possession advantage and ground their way to a six-point lead with only a few minutes left, but a late Wendell-inspired run saw Matt Cooper score and Jamie Soward convert to send the game to Golden Point. Once again, the monotony (of the game) and the fear (of the referees) of Golden Point was seen, but thankfully the "face of the game" Inglis ended the pain just four minutes in.

The field-goal shootout was also seen in Friday night's other game, where Brisbane hosted the Cowbores. However, these teams are still quite a long way from being the finished article, so even what is normally quite a predictable part of the game was uncertain and interesting.

The rest of this game could also be described in this way. Since winning the competition in 2006, Brisbane's playing roster has undergone a major transformation and they would run on to the field on Friday night with their second-ever coach. Even though they had Lockyer, Hunt and Wallace to guide the team around, this team is much different. They showed glimpses of being a very good team, but not just yet.

For the Cowbores, Feral Thurston welcomed back Matt Bowen (from injury) and Neil Henry (from Canberra) but realised again that his team is a graveyard for semi-talented backs (except Ashley Graham, who missed this game due to injury). The latest corpses to be added to the Cowbores backline were Shannon Hegarty and Willie Tonga. Travis Burns came to life at various stages of this game to make a vigourous tackle or scream at someone, but he remained comatose for most of this game, especially when the Cowbores had the ball.

While the Cowbores, like the Dragons and Broncos, will almost certainly be a better team after their new coach has had more time, their problems will not go away overnight (like Parramatta's). The most important of these is their still-soft defence, especially in their back-row. Luke O'Donnell had a solid game after a horror 2008, but Ben Harris and Manase Manuokafoa are unlikely to spend much time this season in no.'s 11 and 12 if the Cowbores hope to have a good year.

But, as the Cowbores have in many games, Feral set up a few tries (with the standard try involving Matt Bowen that wasn't nearly as brilliant as described by the Ch 9 commentators) and was perfect with his conversions giving his team a very good chance of victory. To Brisbane's credit, their collective poise whilst under adversity is almost as strong as when their team was full of experience and they probably should have taken a late lead but for Steve Michaels' poor hands.

In the end, the field goal shootout was mostly filled with mistakes from both teams, but Peter Wallace gave Brisbane the win before we had to endure another period of Golden Point.

Speaking of mistakes, enduring poor play and late points to secure a win, Cronulla against Penrith on Saturday night provided a brilliant display of each. The early minutes of this game showed some strong running, a well-constructed Cronulla try and a Gallen head-high tackle (in Cronulla's first tackle of the season no less!) before the torrential rain started.

Penrith actually scored their only try in the game as the rain was near its worst (a side-stepping effort from Michael Jennings). However, for the rest of the night, their game consisted of inexplicably poor (even allowing for the conditions) handling, repeated bizarre logic of placing attacking kicks behind Cronulla's backs early in the tackle count (when these backs showed no signs of pushing up too quickly or being unsettled by these kicks) and poor combinations between Lewis, Sammut and whoever was playing dummy half (despite these four players being teammates for over a year now).

Cronulla tried to match Penrith in handling errors - especially Misi Taulapapa - but they were excused for exhibiting less-than-perfect combinations, given their five-eighth (Barrett) and hooker (Hughes) are new signings. They also had to cope with an injury to fullback Brett Kearney. Injuries to outside backs (which most teams do not allow for under the limited interchange system) can turn a game as the injured team has to make significant adjustments, but even with Taulapapa's poor handling at fullback, Cronulla survived.

Despite having much attacking ball, Penrith never seriously threatened and a late penalty to Cronulla meant this trying game wouldn't go to Golden Point. The several thousand fair-weather Cronulla supporters who adjourned to the Leagues Club when the rain started were very happy at this outcome.

The weather was a bit too fair on the Gold Coast at 1pm Sunday afternoon; in hindsight, this was a silly time to schedule a rugby league game on the Gold Coast in early March. Many supporters were probably at the beach and when the Gold Coast fell behind 14-0, the small group of Newcastle supporters was the dominant noise at Skilled Park.

Despite having a strong possession advantage to that point, Newcastle wilted in the final 10 minutes of the half as the Gold Coast attacking machine got going and incredibly the Gold Coast led at half time. While Isaac De Gois was one of the form hookers of last season and seemingly a very good replacement for Knights legend Danny Buderus, De Gois had a so-so game: Newcastle missed Buderus' leadership noticeably.

While Newcastle missed leadership from Buderus, they missed something more tangible from their new five-eighth Ben Rogers early in the second half: tackling. Scott Prince scored a very easy try through Rogers' porous defence to extend Gold Coast's lead. From here, the heat really affected both the quality of the game and the welfare of the players. Newcastle stayed close but when William Zillman ran 80 metres to score, it secured the win for the Titans.

It was also a near 80 metre run by a new fullback which secured the win for the Wests Tigers in last night's exciting game against Canberra. In a strange game where both teams showed glimpses of brilliance but also some very poor play on a very warm night, the Tigers' dominance of possession in the 2nd half saw them hold a slim 2-point lead as Canberra's Terry Campese chipped over the top for the flying Phil Graham.

Graham's soccer skills rescued Canberra several minutes when the Tigers were mounting attack after attack on the Canberra line and he reached the chip kick first and tried to put the ball down near the tryline, but Tigers fullback Tim Moltzen was in the way. The ball ricocheted from Moltzen into Campese back to Moltzen, who sprinted away to score. In a game full of momentum swings, the tiring but gallant Raiders were never going to be able to bridge an 8-point gap in limited time, although their enterprise in attack was seen until the game's last second.

While Campese was the best player on the ground, unfortunately Canberra's right-side defence was, to put it nicely, quite unsure of itself and was a frequent target of Tigers attacking raids. They also made a number of unforced mistakes throughout the game, most of which were punished by the Tigers. With Brett Hodgson's poise and experience, the Tigers may have been able to thrash the Raiders, but if Canberra had Colin Best or Lincoln Withers, the thrashing might have gone the other way. Another entertaining but perhaps low-quality game, with both teams capable of much more.

Most people seem to think the Warriors are capable of a very good season, even without Ruben Wiki. The signing of Stacey Jones may prove to be a masterstroke in giving leadership to a young team, but even without him, the Warriors were generally far too good for Parramatta on Saturday night.

That said, Parramatta showed glimpses of being a better team than in 2008: the more disciplinarian coaching style of former Warriors coach Daniel Anderson should improve Parra's end of season position, but he would LOVE a bit more strength in the forward pack. Parra's backs are amongst the league's best (especially with the return of Ben Smith...even with the liability known as Eric Grothe) but the platform they are given by their forwards is usually sub-par. The Warriors threatened to run up the score on them in the second half, but Parramatta responded well (albeit when the Warriors were suffering with several injuries).

The best has been saved for last: victories for Souths and the Bulldogs were emphatic and surprising all at once. In the second half of 2008, Souths was one of the NRL's better teams, but their thorough dominance of the Roosters was still something of a surprise. Who knew Sutton could be so dominant at five-eighth? Who knew Nathan Merritt could outjump noted Roosters leaper Shaun Kenny-Dowell? Who knew they could play so well without Craig Wing?

That said, the Roosters played quite poorly. You know you've had a bad game when the opposition coach says so. What was even more disheartening for the Roosters was that they were not that many players away from their full-strength team.

But Manly's poor attitude and preparation on Saturday night at Homebush was perhaps the most surprising event of the weekend. Sure, they had to deal with being the hunted (instead of the hunter), any residual effects of their England trip, the scars of their tumultuous last week and the absence of some key players due to injury.

Still, Manly frequently overcame obstacles in recent years with their intensity and a solid team framework: there was little evidence of this on Saturday night. While the Bulldogs had a much better team than in 2008 and were definitely rejuvenated, Manly's ill-discipline and, alarmingly, their soft defence (who lets David Stagg be a ball player and set up a try?!?!) meant the Bulldogs received maximum reward for their effort.

However, similar to the Souths-Roosters game, credit must be given to the Bulldogs despite the poor performance of their opposition. Their forward pack stood tall against the usually very strong Manly pack (players such as Andrew Ryan and Gary Warburton, who looked almost useless on last year's team, appeared to be the most thankful for the influx of new talent) and their backs cashed in. Much was made of their 7 new players, but a healthy Luke Patten is pretty much a new player too (given his absence with back problems for much of last year).

It's only early days at the moment, but if the Bulldogs and Souths can have strong seasons, you'd imagine the parity-obsessed NRL wouldn't mind too much.

See you next week.

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