Round 7: Extra! Extra! Headline Edition

After once being mere observers, the media is now a pivotal figure in today’s game. The media’s influence on Rugby League comes in many forms, including various issues with the scheduling of matches, constant highlighting of negative off-field incidents, petty squabbles between journalists and ex-players or coaches taking up far too much column space and, of course, that a major media organisation owns half of the NRL.

As a tribute to the various forms of media who cover (and create…?) all NRL happenings, the Round 7 recaps will be accompanied by newspaper headlines.

Parra tried hard to matta, but Brisbane continued in their Hunt for success

How the mighty have fallen: this fixture was once one of the highlights of the season, no matter how each team was travelling. How grim were Parramatta’s chances? This game was relegated behind what looked like being an extremely boring game (Souths v. Cronulla) and Ray Warren had such little faith in his team getting up he chose to commentate aforementioned potentially very boring game over commentating his beloved Eels.

While Parramatta did show signs of pride, effort and their true ability for periods of this game, they failed to take many of their chances and when their effort dropped off, Brisbane was more than happy to use this time put points on the board. Led by Karmichael Hunt, Brisbane was far too good, but their display should not be written off as a much too easy win against a struggling team. Since losing to St George Illawarra a few weeks ago, Brisbane had struggled for consistency against some of the NRL’s weaker teams, so this thrashing of a weakened Parramatta was welcome.

Speaking of media and headlines though, it appears Parramatta will soon be without Brian Smith and Denis Fitzgerald. Luckily for the Telegraph, new coach Daniel Anderson has rubbed them the wrong way in the early period of his tenure and seems certain to inherit the status as Parramatta’s whipping boy in the Murdoch Rag.

A Gallen effort by Cronulla, but Rabbitohs hold on to send Cronulla’s season further South

In contrast to Brisbane versus Parramatta at Suncorp – a traditionally exciting fixture which failed to deliver – Souths versus Cronulla at ANZ have seen two lifeless affairs, but this time a fast free-flowing game was seen. This was the result of two somewhat dysfunctional teams matching up. Both teams were desperate to win and put a lot of effort into scoring points but both were relatively unconcerned about defence.

Cronulla started strongly but failed to put any points on; when Souths finally saw some good ball, they easily put on several tries. As Cronulla have several times under Ricky Stuart, when they fall behind early and hence need to score plenty of points, their dormant attacking game comes to life. They almost reeled Souths’ large lead in but then let Souths through for some easy tries after half time.

Souths obviously thought a 16-point lead against Cronulla was more than enough and mentally clocked off for the night but Cronulla had other ideas and responded with a combination of well-run attack and some rarely-seen improvisation. The result was two tries, a third try not taken after an inexplicable dropped ball by David Simmons and a Souths team which couldn’t wait for full-time to arrive to secure a tougher-than-necessary win.

Cronulla was well led by Paul Gallen, who returned from a two-game suspension extremely eager to help his team to a rare win, but appears to be set for yet another sideline stint after a quite bad tackle on Craig Wing. Throw in another charge for Greg Bird while he’s back in Oz: making Gallen feel he has to do too much every game for Cronulla to get a win.

Roosters Soward by ANZAC experience, but Sgt Bennett says his weapon not ready for bigger battles

The annual ANZAC Day clash between the Dragons and Roosters has become one of the more anticipated clashes of the season, with a major reason being that whichever team is not in the best of form often lifts significantly to make it a memorable game. However, on further inspection, Dragons-Roosters matches in recent years favour the team who gets off to a good start, largely due to both teams being quite similar in makeup and in how they play.

A lucky bounce, a broken Roosters defensive line and some blistering Soward speed saw the Dragons jump to an early 6-nil lead. The game was basically over at that point. The Roosters tried hard but never seriously threatened to score and the Dragons carried on from their fast start.

This momentum never manifested itself in threatening attacking structure, but it didn’t really matter: Soward took more chances to push the lead to 11 then increased Roosters’ effort was repelled and returned with interest by the Dragons’ speed: Soward, Morris and Nightingale cashed in on great defence and some sloppy Roosters kick-chase to make the final score 29-nil.

And just in case the somewhat shy Soward felt like feeling too good about his effort, Wayne Bennett killed off any enthusiasm by rightly saying Soward was not ready for State of Origin. Bennett’s comments may have been partly motivated by the fact that the Dragons will have a number of Origin players already, but there is little doubt he knows the best way to get his players to keep performing. The commonly held view of some time back that he rode the coattails of some great Broncos teams is becoming more and more untrue as each day passes.

Firing of blanks in ANZAC field goal shootout left Victorians Cross

The “true” ANZAC Day match (pfft) in Melbourne looked to be an intriguing affair. Melbourne are obviously far from what they were in 2008, but when they turn up with requisite intensity, they are still a tough opponent at Olympic Park. But the Warriors are as close to Melbourne’s bogey team as there is in the NRL: could the Warriors win again at Olympic Park despite this not being the challenge it once was?

Melbourne looked a far better team than the pathetic outfit which was seen last Monday night. Part of this was due to the return of Brett White (from injury) and the first game of Brett Finch.

But while the Warriors fell behind, they were never out of the game, especially when they got the ball down their left hand side to Vatuvei against the overmatched Steve Turner.

The effects of a short turnaround after Monday night and the loss of two players to injury gradually sapped the Storm of energy as this game went on and New Zealand sensed their chance. As the game neared 80 minutes and the tied scoreline persisted, the field goal shootout began, but the wet and windy conditions – as well as poor execution – meant Golden Point.

Melbourne’s tiredness was increasing and a number of poor decisions and mistakes meant the Warriors had the best chances to win. Incredibly, Stacey Jones missed a simple field goal and botched another good chance and the game ended in a draw.

However, the “excitement” of Golden Point was once again ruined by the officials. There was the usual reluctance to get involved (no penalty against Melbourne when the final pass to Jones was affected by defenders lying in the ruck) but then far too much involvement. Did Jones dropping the ball really require video referee intervention? It was a farcical end to a good game. For the millionth time: golden try is the solution.

Cowboys back in the saddle, but Manly was all too impotent once again

The final game on Saturday night presented Manly with a wonderful opportunity to silence their critics. Had their game improved enough in the last few weeks to get a win against the struggling Cowbores without the most potent fullback in the game (a terrible pun, I know) Brett Stewart?

In hindsight, the answer to this question was Yes, but somehow Manly failed to convert a number of excellent try-scoring opportunities early in the second half. Of course we’ll never know what would have happened if Manly took the lead during this time, but their momentum looked such that a win was very possible from there.

For Manly, that they actually created all these opportunities without Stewart has to give them hope (although Robertson once again proved how poor he is at getting involved in attack from the fullback position), but…how the likes of Lyon, Matai and Stewart (Glenn) screwed up very good chances cannot be explained here.

The Cowbores did make some improbable defensive plays to hold the lead, but there is little doubt luck was on their side. When Manly fell for Feral Thurston’s dummy with 15 minutes remaining, Manly had every right to drop their heads.

In all, despite the continued questioning of Manly’s ex-Stewart ability, this was a rare game where both teams took something from it. The Cowbores showed some heart and determination whilst under attack and this was Manly’s best ex-Stewart game so far this season – by far.

Bulldogs’ ex-Qld talent creates enough warmth in icy Canberra; this BrisConnection a great investment!

You know winter is rapidly approaching when a game at Bruce Stadium contains crowd members dressed as though they just got back from the South Pole. The tough conditions and a lowly Canberra team desperate for two points threatened to make this a very tough game for the Bulldogs on Sunday.

The Bulldogs started slowly, but most importantly, gave up a number of penalties which gave Canberra good momentum and resulted in three early tries. The much-hyped Terry Campese had a foot injury and a virus but this didn’t stop him again from setting up one try and almost setting up another.

This disallowed Canberra try (where a knock-on – eventually – was correctly ruled) came just before the Bulldogs’ comeback. While Brett Kimmorley guided the Bulldogs around the park well, it was former Broncos Ennis, Hannant and Stagg who worked together and created a number of holes in Canberra’s defence, both up the middle and on the edges. By halftime, the Bulldogs incredibly had the lead, despite Canberra having the better of the half overall.

The second half was tighter than the first, but the Bulldogs gradually got the better of the game. A fairly soft try to Ennis gave the Bulldogs an eight-point lead, but Canberra’s inspirational leader Alan Tongue shrugged off a number of tackles to give his team hope. However, the experienced Bulldogs steadied up to get the win, sealed by more involvement from Ennis and an El Masri try.

Sadly, for those looking forward to a battle of the titans, it looks as though Ennis may be suspended for the Bulldogs next match against the Tigers and Robbie Farah, but as much as some may hate the Bulldogs (and Ennis), it is hard not to like their style of play at present.

Benji Marshalls Tigers to amazing win, while Newcastle is Mullen over what might’ve been

The game of the round was seen on Sunday when the Tigers hosted Newcastle. While the Tigers had given a promising effort – although the quality of their play was shabby at best – in defeating Melbourne last Monday, Newcastle was in the midst of a solid run of form after a slow start to the season, culminating with an excellent win over the Dragons.

A win for the Tigers looked to be a tough ask. They were coming off a Monday night game, consistency has rarely been amongst their main qualities for several years, they were without one of the key forwards (Heighington) and were facing a tough opponent. But you wouldn’t have known the Tigers were facing such obstacles in the early play; their size and intensity surprised and bothered Newcastle and the Tigers took an early lead.

But Newcastle came back. They had a touch of luck receiving a good run of penalties and with some chancy kicks coming off spectacularly, but they thoroughly deserved their 24-10 lead after an hour of the game. A Newcastle win looked certain.

Somehow, the Tigers lifted. Perhaps sensing Newcastle was vulnerable (they had several injuries; this was probably why they over-celebrated Mullen’s try, they thought it was enough to hold on for the win) and feeding off those rare few minutes every few months when Benji Marshall’s performance comes anywhere near his hype, the Tigers put significant pressure on the tiring Knights. A wildly side-stepping Benji set up Beau Ryan, but Newcastle’s lead was still 8 approaching ten minutes until full time.

Then the Tigers lifted again and, with some very useful assistance from the officials, completed an amazing comeback win.

How helpful were they? Collis’ second try (to cut the deficit to 4) came after Ryan interfered with Naiqama’s attempt to catch Marshall’s cross-kick. Collis’ third try came after a dubious penalty for stripping the ball against Macmanus (he merely released his arm and Tuiaki let the ball go). After Newcastle fell behind, Dureau, in attempting a bomb, was tackled after he kicked the ball and in mid-air. This was a penalty EVERY time in previous weeks and despite this happening centimetres in front of the pocket referee, there was no penalty (5 metres out, in front of the posts, which would have tied the game) for Newcastle.

Then, in the game’s final minute, as Newcastle frantically kept the ball alive in search of a late winner, Fa’aoso’s long pass (which put his team into space) was called forward. It went half a metre BACKWARDS (but looked forward due to Fa’aoso stepping back after the pass).

There is no doubt for the Tigers to even put themselves in a position where the officials could get them over the line is a significant accomplishment, and that Newcastle have every right to be disappointed in themselves for letting the Tigers get close enough. But there is also no doubt Newcastle was robbed of victory in this game.

Penrith half a chance of success with their new good Luke charm

The final game of the round saw the high-flying Gold Coast travel to Penrith. It has been a very good month for the Panthers, but a loss in this game would have seen them receive precious little reward for their, at times, excellent play.

Despite the Gold Coast looking quite threatening with the ball, both near Penrith’s line and elsewhere and making a comeback early in the 2nd half, Penrith scored a quite comfortable 14 point win. The Gold Coast certainly helped Penrith out with a number of errors and the absence of Bailey and Rogers, but Penrith’s cause was massively helped by first-gamer Luke Walsh.

The former Newcastle halfback was extremely highly rated in his rookie year of 2007, but a number of injuries and some stiff competition in the halves ranks at the Knights meant Walsh had to move elsewhere to increase his chances of a starting spot. Penrith look to be the perfect fit for him: a team with much talent but little in the area of structure and on-field organisation. If Walsh can stay fit, then the likes of Lewis, Graham and Sammut can focus on their areas of expertise, instead of trying to be playmakers and Penrith just might have a very good season.

Read More...

Summary only...