On Friday night, the winning runs of two of the NRL's better teams came to an end...
Parramatta was not at their best, but an excellent game from soon-to-be-ex-Eel Feleti Mateo, another strong game from Jarryd Hayne and a solid debut capped off by a late try from Anthony Mitchell was enough to get them home over the Broncos. Brisbane missed Darren Lockyer, but possibly also suffered delayed effects from the tough game against the Dragons and tricky Cowboys game from recent weeks.
STAT!: Friday the 13th has not always been so unlucky for Brisbane and the Roosters. Brisbane had a 3 win, 2 loss record in their 5 previous Friday 13th games, winning all 3 at 'home' (one loss came against the Titans at Suncorp, but this was a Titans home game). Meanwhile, the Roosters had never lost on Friday 13th, winning all 4 games. However, these had all been home games. For Cronulla, their win was a (small) measure of revenge against the Roosters for a Friday 13th loss in week 1 of the finals in 2002. For Parramatta, this was only their second Friday 13th game after winning at Penrith in 2007. Avid followers of NRL scheduling will watch for which teams are drawn to play on Friday 13th May 2011...
On Saturday night, the Gold Coast looked to be doing it easy against an understrength Cowbores, before the Cowbores shockingly struck back with 3 tries in 10 minutes. Ultimately, the Gold Coast won well but it wasn't as easy as it might have been. In Sydney, the understrength Bulldogs somewhat surprisingly reached a 14-6 lead against a Canberra side which looked far better on paper but had to overcome the obstacle of backing up from Monday night. A mounting Bulldogs injury count and strong play from the Raiders saw them come back strongly and record an impressive win.
STAT!: Steve Michaels played only his 4th game for the Titans after switching teams mid-season from the Broncos, but at the risk of reaching a premature conclusion, Michaels has transformed his game significantly. In 59 games for the Broncos between 2005 and 2010, Michaels scored 22 tries and enjoyed a win-loss percentage of just above 50%. In his 4 games with the Titans, he has scored 4 tries and the team won all 4 games (after losing their previous 3 games). But his renewed career can't be expressed in tries and wins. Michaels was a defensive blubbering mess in his final days with the Broncos, routinely being abused by even medicore right-sided attacking players. Now...he is a defensive hitman and is playing a key role in a team which was searching for defensive intensity and guys to play centre competently. He might not yet be 'buy of the year' but he is probably great value for money for the Titans.
For Canberra, this was their 5th away win of the season: only the third time they have passed 4 away wins in a season since 1999. Usually, whenever a Canberra team wins close to half its games away from home, they're a lock to play in September, but their scratchy home form (just 5 wins and 5 losses; their equal 3rd worst home record after 10 games in their history) means they probably need to win each game until the end of the minor premiership. Lucky for them they play the Dragons this weekend...
On Sunday, the Warriors got a much better game from Newcastle than they were expecting but the Warriors did just enough - thanks to a bit of help from some dubious refereeing decisions and a lucky bounce late in the game - to get away with the win. Next up, Melbourne gave another brief reminder of better days as they looked on track to soundly defeat Souths, but the resilient Rabbitohs almost made it two huge comebacks in a row. The tired Storm held on for the win. Finally, Wests bounced back nicely from their embarrassing play of recent weeks to dominate Penrith in the forwards - a rare feat - and win comfortably.
STAT!: New Zealand's Manu Vatuvei continued his great run of form with 3 tries. He now has 11 tries in his last 9 games and 10 tries in his 10 career games against Newcastle. Melbourne continued their pattern of home wins and away losses since news of their salary cap breaches: they have won their last four games in Melbourne and lost their last 5 away from Melbourne. For the Wests Tigers five-eighth Benji Marshall, Sunday's game was his first success against Penrith after 7 losses. This game was also Benji's 37th consecutive NRL game - a noteworthy achievement for a player who has suffered so much injury.
Finally last night, the Dragons were clinical in their 32-10 defeat of Manly. Manly enjoyed some good field position but their limited attack and some excellent Dragons defence made it difficult for them to cross the line. Meanwhile, Manly errors meant the Dragons scored much too easily.
STAT!: Despite suspicions of Mark Gasnier's try not being legitimate due to the bouncing of the ball just before the line, under-fire referee Bill Harrigan has assured the Tuesday Roast this was the correct decision. Hence, the stat from this game is Bill Harrigan's self-confessed error count over the course of his career - zero.
See you next week.
Tuesday, 17 August 2010
Round 23: Get Me 1 Good Stat from each game...STAT!
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