Round 24: Round of The Decade: Several Wrongs Can Make A Right.

Round 24 in the NRL saw a number of pivotal matches (with respect to the shaping of the premiership ladder) take place, but what made the round memorable was that several of these games were amongst the best seen this season (or, in one case, many seasons). Obviously the NRL would be feeling great about such an outcome — however; this exciting lead-in to the finals is more in spite of (rather than because of) the efforts of the NRL.

While recent NRL rule changes (e.g. reducing the number of interchanges a team can make during a game, doubling the number of on-field referees and generally cleaning up the play-the-ball) have made for a faster and generally more attractive game in recent years (and, of course, in Round 24), it is probably too fast given that most teams find it quite difficult to achieve much consistency over the course of a season.

This problem is exacerbated by the gradual degradation of depth and experience in most NRL playing rosters, which, in turn, is largely due to the stubbornly low salary cap and the NRL’s failure to secure a much better deal from the game’s broadcasters.

However, these problems are somewhat offset by a finals series which allows half the teams to participate. Most teams (12 out of 16) have had problems putting together a sustained level of strong play during 2009, but for 8 of these 12 teams, the finals series was still a legitimate possibility entering Round 24: a quite silly outcome when you think about it, but it compensates somewhat for some games over a season when a lack of depth or experience makes a win nearly impossible.

But the major factor behind the exciting end to the minor premiership — and the factor which helps convert the NRL’s wrongs into a big right — is the generally very high level of intensity and competitiveness across the playing ranks of the NRL. If it wasn’t for this, representative games would not have the effect in evening up the competition that they do, some teams on the fringe of the top 8 would present less than the whole-hearted efforts we are currently seeing and we certainly wouldn’t be seeing some of those teams further down the ladder giving higher-up teams really tough games.

Friday night provided two top-shelf games, where intensity and competitiveness were at semi-final levels, but we also saw some brilliant skills and an extremely determined effort from a team which looked well-placed to have a fork stuck in them just a few weeks ago.

Wests Tigers against Parramatta was one of the more eagerly anticipated minor premiership games in recent memory. Two teams on long winning streaks with large supporter bases meant a bumper crowd at perhaps the best stadium for big games in Sydney…and no-one went home disappointed.

The game started slowly; both teams were perhaps a bit wary of the other’s attacking capabilities and wanted to establish a solid foundation, but the Tigers were first to threaten with points. A few minutes later, they had sensationally scored two tries (albeit with a bit of help from the referees) and an amazing game looked a real possibility.

Parramatta responded with some strong defence and then a well-worked try, which became an eight-point try, so the teams were equal at half-time; the Tigers could have felt somewhat unlucky to be in this position. But they were lucky to remain within touching distance of Parramatta in the first 10 or so minutes after half-time, after several errors and then Jarryd Hayne’s first significant involvement in the game; a big Parramatta win looked quite likely.

However, the Tigers hung on grimly to a chance of winning the game. They snuffed out several promising attacking raids from Parramatta due to a combination of strong defence and adequate desperation after Parramatta breaks, before the makeshift Tigers backline finished off some good work from their playmakers and the score-line narrowed once again.

This pattern — Parramatta try, Parramatta threatening to run away with the game, Tigers just doing enough to prevent a Parra-lanche then scoring themselves to threaten a comeback — happened again over the following 15 minutes, but the Tigers made one too many errors (when Ayshford took the ball too close to the sideline) which eventually led to the final piece of Hayne brilliance and a Parramatta win.

There have been chip-and-chase plays before, but this one took a wicked bounce, which fooled everyone…except Hayne. Hayne is not quite the perfect rugby league player — his play-acting after his misjudged elbow to Morris’ head and his bizarre behaviour in the game’s final play left a bad taste in the mouth of many — but he’s as close as anyone has been in recent memory.

Parramatta’s turnaround has been incredible, but Friday night also saw the continuation of another amazing turnaround in form, from a team with some history in this area. In Wollongong, Brisbane played their best game (by far) this season to beat the Dragons. It was only 3 weeks ago when they played their worst game when they were thrashed by Canberra. While they have welcomed some important players back from injury in recent weeks, the magnitude of improvement in this time is far more than could ever be explained by returning players.

Brisbane conceded 56 points against Canberra. They conceded 24 points in the first half just last week against Penrith. Since then…2 points conceded in 120 minutes. Players who looked remote and listless for several months while Brisbane struggled were breathing fire on Friday night; St George (Illawarra) couldn’t slay these dragons from the north.

The 2009 Broncos are not nearly as deep or talented as the title-winning 2006 Broncos, but there are similarities about the late-season turnaround both teams experienced. The 2006 squad lost five in a row before blanking the Bulldogs and Parramatta and using that as a springboard to a premiership. The upcoming opposition for the 2009 team looks quite friendly; a Broncos run, as inexplicable as it seemed just a few weeks ago, is certainly on the cards.

Meanwhile for the Dragons, the landscape has changed considerably. After bullying teams and using their speed for easy points for so long, they have run into two inconsistent teams in the last two weeks who have played their best (and most physical) game of the season. It can be a good wake-up call for them — assuming they can lift their game and defeat a similar effort if/when it comes during the finals — but Canberra and Brisbane might just have shown the rest of the NRL how to beat the Dragons. History may ultimately say the Dragons overachieved through much of 2009…a very interesting next few weeks for those following the Red V awaits.

Saturday’s early game was another cracker, as Newcastle stormed back after half time to overhaul the disappointing Cowbores. This was a must-win game for the Cowbores, and after a slow start, their attack got going and put on three impressive tries (and a try for Feral Thurston, where he fooled the defence, who were waiting for a penalty kick for touch, by taking a quick tap and scoring easily).

But everything went for Newcastle in the second half. They showed few signs of fatigue after a tough game last Monday night, the Cowbores defence proved to be quite charitable, another bad knee injury to Matt Bowen hurt the Cowbores across the park and Kurt Gidley had a successful night, not missing a single attempt for goal.

Newcastle’s comeback was so good they had overhauled the Cowbores’ 14-point lead within 25 minutes. There were some last-minute nerves as the Cowbores scored to cut the Knights’ lead to 6 but they held on for an impressive win. Not only did they put back to back wins together inside five days, but they virtually ended the season for the Cowbores: this alone is worthy of the highest praise.

It’s a rare event that a late-season grand final re-match is relegated to being only the fourth best match of the round, but this was the case in Round 24 where Manly outlasted Melbourne in the battle of the robots. Manly had NEVER won in Melbourne before Sunday and it appeared they would never have a better chance to do so. Melbourne’s attacking capability was severely limited with the continued absence of Inglis, while Manly should have thanked Channel 9 for choosing this as their Sunday game: Olympic Park holds far fewer demons on a dry Sunday afternoon (as opposed to a dewy Friday or Saturday night).

However, someone forgot to tell Manly that it was very windy in Melbourne on Sunday. Actually, given the way Manly played with the wind at their back in the first half, you’d have thought they had never played on a windy day before. ‘Dumb’ would be a polite way to describe Manly’s approach. Their kicking game was pathetic; Matt Awful showed his intentions to kick early in Manly’s first set for field position and the chance of a 40-20 but he dropped the ball. Rarely for the rest of the half did Manly show any signs of thought or strategy when kicking with the gale at their back.

Luckily for them, Melbourne was not in much of a position to punish them. On such a windy day, long-range attack (i.e. good passing and player movement opening up a gap from outside the opposition’s 20-metre line) was always going to be more successful than having to put a kick up near the goal-line and with Olympic Park’s shallow in-goal areas, but only in the second half did Melbourne display any sort of threat from distance.

Manly’s defence largely repelled them and luckily responded with a try after a kick pinballed between players. When Awful put in his first good kick of the half, it gathered pace as it neared the sideline for a 40-20 and Manly scored soon after through some typically feeble Brett Finch defence: how easy was that?! (Speaking of Brett Finch and mistakes, for those with a long memory, Fox Sports will be playing his poor error in judgement from the 2001 match between Canberra and Newcastle at 9.30pm tonight. How bad was it? Finch was in tears after he gifted Newcastle the win….Andrew Johns famously felt quite sorry for Finch).

More luck came Manly’s way in the second half as Melbourne’s kicking game with the wind at their back was almost as bad as Manly’s: a highly surprising result given that Cronk and Cameron Smith are considered quite intelligent players. However Melbourne did use the ball quite well from long-distance and threatened to overwhelm Manly with two tries and a brilliant Smith conversion to take a 16-12 lead.

But Manly held true and somehow took the lead back after Melbourne failed to deal with a Jamie Lyon kick. Awful’s conversion and a later penalty goal gave Manly a four-point lead (and 20 points…the historical barrier for success if you’re an opposition team playing in Melbourne). Despite some nervous moments (e.g. makeshift fullback Farrar’s brilliant tackle on Slater probably saved the win for Manly), Manly held on for what could be a very important win.

The other ‘Round of the Decade’ matches were not quite so awe-inspiring. Penrith took a while to get going, but had far too much for Souths (who had played their grand final against the Titans last week). Canberra also had their grand final last week when they beat the Dragons. Not surprisingly, the Warriors found them to be quite vulnerable and defeated them easily. The Gold Coast did their usual against rubbish teams and produced little more than was necessary to beat Cronulla, while last night, the Bulldogs were solid in easily defeating the Roosters.

This game featured a continuation in the late-career renaissance of Brett Kimmorley, as he toyed with the Roosters and looked a lot like himself from 10 or so years ago. Some have called Kimmorley an ‘evergreen’; these people need to check some press clippings (or, ideally, some Monday Roasts) circa 2004-2006 when Kimmorley stunk it up for Cronulla. His combination with Adam Dykes was one of the least successful (in terms of win-loss percentage) in history (for a combination which stayed together for so long) and Cronulla almost perennially played horribly in the second half of each season. Full credit to Kimmorley, of course, for turning his career around (and not running off to England and a big paycheck) but despite the nice story and his affable on-screen persona, his execrable form for a number of years for the worst team in history should not be forgotten.

See you next week.

Read More...

Summary only...