The Synopsis - NRL Round 3

After 10 wins at home the Manly Sea Eagles finally lost 12-16 to the Canterbury Bulldogs at "Fortress Brookvale". Sadly we learnt almost nothing about the two teams who battled it out at Brookvale Oval, chiefly because the ground was in such a pitiful condition. I am almost certain that the players (rightly) played without leaving low gear. After watching the game twice I would say that over 90% of the game saw players run from dummy half or one pass off the ruck. It was awful.

Simultaneously up at Lang Park the Brisbane Broncos showed that they do have something to offer with a comprehensive 44-22 win over the Nth Queensland Cowboys. With a score of 12-6 in the first quarter, a close match seemed in the offing, but by half-time the Bronco's led 32-6 and the match was basically over. Over the next three successive Monday nights, with matches against the Storm, Panthers and Rabbitohs, the Townsville club's season, might be declared over, even before they give up Thurston, Scott and co for the rep season. Any reader who can see a different outcome for the Cowboys season is invited to explain how and why!!

Last week I committed to watching the NZ Warriors and Canberra Raiders having largely missed their first two weeks of football. Well I kept my promise and watched both on Saturday afternoon/evening.

The Warriors were at home to an understrength Parramatta Eels and rewarded their fans with five tries in the first forty six minutes to lead 28-0. Parramatta fought back but the final score of 29-16, flattered the Eels who had just 42% of possession and were very much off their game. Warriors debutante centre Solomone Kata scored two tries and was heavily involved in the work of the home team. Ryan Hoffman (newly arrived from Melbourne) has added starch to the NZ pack and coupled with work horse and captain, Simon Mannering, lead a 10 man forward rotation that missed just 3 tackles in the match. By comparison the Eels forwards missed 16. Winger and local Hero, Manu Vatuvei ran for 230 metres and scored a try in a team that never looked like losing. History tells us that the Warriors are a confidence team and they were on this week. If they take this type of game on the road against the Broncos and Storm in the next two weeks, league lovers are in for a treat.

With time for a cuppa and a bite to eat, I was back in position at 5.30pm to watch the Canberra Raiders, who have beaten the St George Illawarra Dragons regularly in Canberra. For the first 20 minutes the local fans could not have been happier. English Hooker, Josh Hodgson pushed over from dummy half, second rower Sia Soliola strolled over without a defender touching him and then 5/8 Blake Austin, dummied his way through the Dragons line from a scrum and ran 25 metres to score, taking the score to 18-0. Even when Saints perennial bench forward Trent Merrin arrived and scored a try from close range at 37 minutes, it was still hard to see the Dragons overcoming their Canberra hoodoo.

However, the second half was nothing like the first. Instead of the Raiders, it was the Saints running 60-80 metres in a set. Instead of the Saints, it was the Raiders missing tackles and giving away penalties. With lots of opportunities, St George were able to claw their way back, but they were still behind 20-16 with 10 minutes left. As Coach Stuart lamented at the post-match press conference, Canberra invited St George back into the match and at the 75th minute they hit the lead 22-20 and held on. It's easy to find 8 teams who will finish ahead of these two in 2015.

The last Match on Saturday night saw the Melbourne Storm defeat the Cronulla Sharks, 36-18. A furious Melbourne Coach, Craig Bellamy, was visibly bouncing expletives off the walls as his team let Cronulla score twice after they lead 36-6 at the 60th minute mark. No one who supports Cronulla (your correspondent included) should take any heart from the final score, but there are too many good players on the books for the Sharks to not click at some stage - but when is anyone's guess.

Sunday Afternoon Football.

I hope NRL head office noticed that the Sunday afternoon matches in weeks 2 and 3 have been wonderful exhibitions of Rugby League. Did you notice Mr Smith? The sun was still shining, no dew on the grass, a big noisy crowd and BINGO!!! excellent football resulted. Of-course we need to give due regard to the South Sydney Rabbitoes and Wests Tigers for their contribution but all the ingredients came together to produce a great product. While the free to air and pay TV Executives are addicted to night football, most fans hate it and they do so for the most obvious reason, the football just isn't as good.

With that out of the way, South Sydney won 20-6 but the score flattered the premiers. Importantly for us fans, the Wests Tigers will improve as the season progresses and barring injury to Farah, Tedesco or Brooks, they will be around in September. These two teams play again in Round 14 and the Rabbitoes will need to bring their 'A' game on that day.

The Gold Coast Titans (finally close to full strength) welcomed Newcastle Knights to CBUS stadium Sunday night. It was a tight struggle from go to wo, with 8 points the biggest gap between the teams. The final score went Newcastle's way 20-18. With both teams completing almost 80% of their sets and possession split 50/50, it was no surprise that the difference turned out to be a Penalty Goal by Tyrone Roberts, just on half time. The Knights have started better than many predicted and their missed tackles and error rates are low compared to many. They may well jump a tired Panthers at home on Saturday afternoon.

Mentioning the Panthers, brings me to last night's match-up with the Roosters. In a quality match Eastern Suburbs never really looked like losing but also couldn't shake off a determined Penrith team, finally winning 20-12. Rooster's halves Mitchell Pearce and James Moloney provided their team with a far superior kicking game and without Jamie Soward, the Panthers lacked similar capacity and seemed disjointed. They should get better each week as replacement 5/8 Isaac John fits in to his team's plans. Despite this result Penrith look the real deal this year and like the 'Bondi Boys' will give their fans much too cheer about as the cold weather sets in.