The Synopsis - NRL Round 24

Some readers have complained/advised that the ratings discussed in recent articles seem to provide an analysis that is out of date. They argue that the ratings for Manly-Warringah (for example) are not an indication of their team's most recent performances and thus (to them) seem irrelevant. To combat this problem, I have recalibrated the ratings to assess performance over the last 8 weeks of competition. Thus, the ratings shown this week are based on the previous five weeks and every week they will be adjusted based on performance.

Dragons (97) v Panthers (111)
This match in Wollongong was a scrappy affair considering that one team, St George, is fighting to keep their place in the top 8, while the other is not yet certain it will avoid the wooden spoon. Both teams made too many errors (13 by the Dragons and 15 by the Panthers) and the combined missed tackle was higher than previous matches involving the home team.

In a conservative start St George 5/8th Gareth Widdop kicked a penalty goal (9th min) rather than launch a try seeking attack. There is a vocal discussion amongst pundits and commentators as to whether teams (in the first quarter of the match) should accept these relatively easy Penalty Goals or go on the attack seeking a try. The goal tactic seemed to pay dividends as St George centre Peter Mata'utia (14th min) went on to score a simple try just 5 minutes later. With conversion the score became 8-0, putting more than one converted try between the teams.

Penrith hit back as handling errors by the Dragons rebalanced possession. A chip kick by Jamie Soward presented David Simmons (27th min) with a try and the conversion reduced the margin to just two points. Six minutes later Lewis Brown put Josh Mansour over in the corner with a beautiful flick pass and although the difficult conversion went wide, Penrith led the match 10-8. As half time approached Gareth Widdop kicked a 2nd Penalty Goal to lock the scores at 10-10.

The third quarter saw the teams exchange penalty goals, Penrith at the (50th min) and St George after 55 minutes. The outcome hung in the balance and the question was will the Dragons do enough to get the points. After numerous false starts and numbers of dropped balls Benji Marshall kicked a field goal to break the deadlock. With 11 minutes left St George led 13-12 but they came close to giving up the lead as Lewis Brown attempted another flick pass to Josh Mansour, only to have the ball fly over the touchline. Possession transferred and St George marched down the field setting up for a last tackle option. Gareth Widdop took the responsibility and chipped the ball through the defence line and touched down to give his team a 5 point lead and with conversion, a 7 point win. Final Score. St George 19 - Penrith 12.

Souths (58) Bulldogs (77)
The Good Friday loss to Souths that upset the progress of Canterbury's season back in Round 5 has been avenged. Many pundits are saying that this Friday's win has the 'dogs' season, genuinely, back on track. Regardless of how it's described, the 34-18 score was a dominant display by the biggest forward pack in the competition. James Graham, Sam Kasiano, David Klemmer and the rest of the forwards were relentless. The first 40 minutes was all Bulldogs and their 4th try, right on half time, was the perfect demonstration of a team playing well attracting good luck. The charge down of a Trent Hodkinson kick, 24 metres out from Souths line, rebounded of a Rabbitohs player, into the path of Bulldog hooker Damien Cook who kicked the ball and chased it. At the last available second he launched himself over the dead ball line to drag the ball back into the hands of team mate Sam Perrett who scored his second try for the match. The Bulldogs led 22-0 and the 34 players left the field to a muted stadium. The Souths fans were stunned into silence.

After what must have been a serious ‘talk' by Souths Coach Michael Maguire, the first 10 minutes of the 2nd half were extremely tight, ending with a try to Bryson Goodwin (50th min). Canterbury responded 8 minutes later with Curtis Rona grabbing his 20th try for the season. Souths reduced the gap to 14 points when Alex Johnston (64th min) scored but the ‘dogs' would not be denied. Huge forward Shaun Lane (68th min) scored his 4th try in his debut year and he's likely to be suspended from the Front Rowers union if he keeps grabbing four pointers with such regularity. At 32-12, with 10 minutes left, the Bulldogs could be confident of victory, especially as the Rabbitohs, Qld and Australian representative Greg Inglis was off the field with a knee injury and would not return. Jason Clark scored for the Rabbitohs (75th min) but the final score 32-18, flattered the home team as they were never in the hunt.

Sharks 96 Tigers 136
Half time at Remondis presented a set of figures that NRL Coaches dread or love, depending on what end of the stats they are on. The visitors made 7 errors (4 inside their own half) and ended up with a completion rate of just 58%. The result was 63% possession for the home team and a 20 - 6 score after 40 minutes. Luke Lewis (4th min) scored Cronulla's first try, running into a gap created by a pass from Jack Bird. Against the run of play Tiger cub Luke Brooks (17th min) scampered 80 metres with a ‘stolen' ball and Tim Simona scored un-touched.

Cronulla 2nd and 3rd tries can be attributed to dummy half Michael Ennis. He went the blind side and set up a one man overlap for Sosaia Feki (22nd min) to cross in the corner and then barged over from 2 metres out to score himself (31st min).

The 2nd half started with a try to Cronulla winger Valentine Holmes (43rd min) stretching their lead out to 18 but the Tigers would not give up. Martin Taupau (50th min) and then Curtis Sironen (59th min) scored and the difference was just six, with 20 minutes left. Cronulla's Valentine Holmes (66th), Wade Graham (74th) and then Michael Gordon in the 77th minute demonstrated just how much their team wanted this win. Given Monday night' loss to Melbourne many commentators thought the Sharks would struggle but they were on from the first kick. The Tigers (despite the two tries) did not improve on their first half, totalling 13 errors and finishing with just 42% possession. The wooden spoon might be heading to Campbelltown based on this effort. Final score Sharks 40 - Tigers 18.

Warriors (126) Cowboys (72)
How much, did the injury to James Tamou and subsequent long break in play effect the outcome of tonight's game in New Zealand? At the time of the tackle and injury, the Warriors were "on a roll" having scored three try's in the first 12 minutes (Tuimoala Lolohea 6th, Ken Maumalo 9th and Dominique Peyroux 12th) and leading the high flying Cowboys 16 - 0. We will never know, but, momentum in the match most definitely changed and how!!!

Replacement Cowboys Winger Kyle Feldt scored the first of his three try's at the 19th min and the Cowboys (on average) scored a try every seven minutes thereafter. Jonathan Thurston scored 18 points with one try and seven goals and 7 out 9 try's were scored by the Cowboys backline (Kyle Feldt 3, Justin O'Neil 2, Kane Linnett 1 as well as Thurston.

Whatever happened in that few minutes the Warriors fell apart there-after. Possession ended up 30/70 against them. They made 9 errors leaving them with just 21 completed sets in 80 minutes (half the average for an NRL match). Their defence wilted under the pressure missing 29 tackles and allowing the Cowboys to make 8 line breaks. It was a massacre. Final score Cowboys 50 - Warriors 16.

Roosters (38) Broncos (75)
If this match was a prelude to the quality of football we can expect in the finals this year, we are in for a treat.

In a low scoring match both teams completed sets at 80% or higher and the Roosters finished with just 14 players after losing Jared Waerea-Hargreaves, Mitchell Pearce (1st half) and Kane Evans (2nd half) with game ending injuries.

The first half finished at 8-0 to the Roosters after a try to Brendan Elliot at the 30th minute and a James Maloney penalty 2 minutes later, but the Broncos were amazing as they faced a team that had 60% of the ball. With possession, the Roosters ran for 1200 metres compared to Broncos 600 and had 54 tackles in the Brisbane half compared to 15 that Brisbane had in theirs. That Brisbane only allowed just one try in was an extraordinary demonstration of their commitment to defence.

Jordan Kahu scored for Brisbane just 7 minutes into the 2nd half but Boyd Cordner hit back for the Roosters 2 minutes later. It was punch and counter punch and with half an hour to go, the score was Roosters 12 - Brisbane 6. Brisbane Winger Corey Oates scored in the corner with a spectacular dive at the 60th minute and the crowd went silent as they waited on the normally very accurate Corey Parker to attempt the conversion, from the sideline. He missed but with 20 minutes to play the 12-10 score line meant that one mistake would change the result.

Two tries each, one conversion each, possession at 53/47 and errors equal at just 9 each. This was as close as a rugby league match gets and the only unhappy participants were the fans of tonight's losing team, but even they know, this is just round 1 of a contest that will be played out in September, with at least one and maybe two more matches to be played. I can't wait. Final Score, Roosters 12 - Broncos 10.

Titans (145) Raiders (89)
There can be matches where commentators think there is nothing to play for, but, history is full of examples where it's obvious that the players think differently. The question was, would today's match offer another example.

On a hot and humid day on the Gold Coast, the home team started with a bang, grabbing try's in the 7th minute (Kalifa Faifai Loa) and the 10th minute (Kane Elgey). Neither try was converted but 8 - 0 was an unexpected advantage for the locals who (as the statistics reveal) are poor defenders. Canberra hit back with a try to Sam Williams (17th min) but Ryan James crossed for the Titans to extend their lead back to 8 points. Unfortunately, for home fans, the Raiders grabbed a 2nd try in the 33rd minute (Jarrod Croker) and the teams went to half time separated by just two points, 14-12.

As the match continued into the 2nd half, it became clear that neither team had their mind ‘on the job'. The evidence was the errors and poor completion rates. Compared to matches like the clash between the Broncos v Roosters in Sydney, these two teams were horrendous, but, whichever team was able to hold the ball for a few full sets would get the points.

To the delight of the long suffering locals, the Titans ended up scoring two second half tries to run out 28-12 winners.

Manly (82) Eels (119)
Manly welcome Parramatta to Brookvale on an afternoon when they were expecting to continue the run from cellar dwellers to finals participants. The visitors having given the Roosters a fright last week had (it seemed) regained some pride in the jersey.

The match started with the locals (via poor ball security) offering Parramatta a mountain of possession and they capitalised with a try to wing sensation Semi Radradra (11th min) who scored on the back of a 45 metre play. As the rain poured it was clear that any lead was going to be crucial as the match progressed. Steve Matai revived the Sea Eagles fortunes when he crossed at the 20th minute (6-6), but at the 24th minute Semi Radradra took a cut out pass to score again but the conversion was missed. As the match see-sawed Peta Hiku crossed for Manly to even the scores at 10-10. However when Parramatta's second rower Manu Ma'u (38th min) scored from a perfect set play, the seeds for a set play were sown.

Given the passion we've seen from sacked coach Geoff Toovey we might have imagined that his half time talk would get his team back on the rails. After all, this was a match they were supposed to win, while they prepared for the crunch match against the Roosters, next week. Sadly for the fans at Fortress Brookvale the crunch came six days early.

Two minutes after half time, replacement winger Bureta Faraimo scored for Parramatta and this team of the unknown and the un-heard of (with a conversion by Luke Kelly) jumped out to a 20-10 lead. But, just as fans were praising Parramatta and watching injured Manly hooker Matt Ballin march into the sheds, a dropped ball on their own 20 metre line saw, Sea Eagle James Hassan (47th min) kick ahead and score untouched. With the conversion the match hung in the balance at 20-16.

There would be no more scoring by either side as lounge room fans and those at the ground cringed their way through 33 minutes of alternative error and heroic defence. The frustration in the Manly team became obvious as the minutes ticked away and Parramatta (who seemed to have a death wish) played as if it was dry sunny day at home, when in fact it was a sodden Brookvale with pouring rain. Between them the teams made 28 errors and missed 50 tackles. The closeness of the score, not the quality of the play, kept everyone watching till the final whistle. Final Score Parramatta 20 - Manly 16.

Storm (45) Knights (130)

This match had a strange likeness to the match at Brookvale this weekend, as the favoured team made error after error gifting possession to (in this case) the team running last.

In the 4th minute Kurt Gidley broke through and got his team to a 6-0 lead. Melbourne despite struggling to keep possession hit back when Cameron Munster (9th min) crossed after bursting between two defenders 5 metres out, (6-6). However the Storm could not maintain momentum and the Knights took advantage of a penalty to go to an 8-6 lead, but, it was the try to Tariq Sims two minutes later and then the intercept try to halfback Tyrone Roberts (33rd min) that set the scene for a huge upset.

At half time the score was Newcastle 18 - Melbourne 6 and a very un-Melbourne performance was on show. The team with the fewest mistakes and a low missed tackle rate had given up possession 7 times and as coach Bellamy said at half time, missed 16 tackles through poor technique and lack of desire.

The 2nd half was a disaster for the home team and the score remained unchanged until a 74th minute penalty to Tyrone Roberts took Newcastle to a 14 point lead, leaving no way back for Melbourne. Everything that was right about Melbourne was wrong tonight and the only consolation for the Coach was, that this disaster happened three weeks before the finals and not during them. Newcastle, with a final score of 20-6 showed that self-belief and desire to win can overcome any opposition, even on a wintery night, a long way from home!!