NRL Round 15 – Prop by the Sea: You gotta love footy

 

 

 

 

You gotta love Footy – Round 15

 

The Courier Mail Bronco headline ‘Better in Black’ was lacking a little superlative given some of the previous weeks. After last week they could not have been worse! Could they? I mean they beat the team that is 17^th and the way you get to 17^th is by losing games and in the Titans case that is 9 losses from 12.

Round 14 started with the Knights at home against Manly. Given the Knights were booed off the field by their supporters at half time it was an incredible second half for the Knights where they scored 26 points to 6 to beat a very disappointing Manly. Manly have to wonder where their season is heading as that loss saw them drop out of the 8 and into a very congested bottom end of the table.

On Friday night the first game had the Storm up against the Cowboys and they were comprehensive winners 38 points to 14. The Cowboys were disappointing in many aspects of the game and the Storm were just too good for them. The second Friday night game saw the very impressive Dolphins flog the Dragons by 56 points to 6. The Dolphins are showing plenty in their attack and their defence is solid. They might not be a top four side but certainly are competitive and can beat sides who don’t turn up with the right attitude. In saying that, the Dragons were poor and got what they deserved.

There were two games on Saturday and the first saw the Warriors up against the Sharks. Again, the Warriors comprehensively beat the Sharks who were also very disappointing given that they were at home and attempting to hold onto a top four spot. They now fall to the bottom half of the top 8 and if they continue to play like they did against the Warriors they will fall out completely. The Warriors on the other hand were impressive winners. The halfback, Metcalf (a Cronulla junior by the way) had a terrific game and completely outplayed Hynes for whom he was booted. The final Saturday night game saw the Broncos running out 44 points to 14 winners over the Titans. They led comprehensively at half-time and really started with a bang and the Titans had no answers. I’m not sure where the Titans go from here but their first 25 to 30 minutes of this match was below the standard that you need to play to be competitive in the NRL.

The first Sunday game predictably saw the Raiders being too strong for the Rabbitohs. At home, the Raiders were able to control the game from even though Souths grabbed a nice early 12 point lead. But the Raiders, as is their way at the moment, ground their way back into the game and took control running away with it. Papali’i scored 10 points in the match celebrating along with his players given he now has the record for the greatest number of games for the green machine. Young hooker Pattie was good as was their young half back Saunders. The Raiders are almost certain top 4 material as they have 2 byes and play Newcastle and the Tigers twice. The final Sunday game was a very entertaining match between the Panthers and the Tigers. The Tigers are certainly a better side than they’ve been for the last couple of years and really put it to Penrith but at the end of the day Cleary’s ability to continually box the Tigers deep into their back corner limited the Tigers attacking opportunities late in the game. Luai tried hard for the Tigers to win and nevertheless they certainly put up a good fight.

The final game of the round was a very entertaining match one by Canterbury 30 points to 12 on Monday and the game was a lot closer that. Parramatta went with Canterbury for a long time, it was 12 all halftime, and it really wasn’t until the last 10 minutes that Canterbury got away with it. The Bulldogs are playing aggressive football in defence and really move the ball around in attack. They look like a side that is going to be in this competition for a long time. If you have to feel for any player it is Toby Sexton who had to face all the pressure with Galvin coming to the club, however he performed well and played the full 80 minutes spending the second half as much of the second half as hooker.

Round 15 starts is a very tricky short round missing the Origin players. Thursday night has the Dragons up against the Sharks and both of these sides played very poorly last week. The Dragons are slow and lack any real attack and the Sharks just did not measure up. It is hard to see which of these sides will play well enough to win the game but I’m thinking maybe the Sharks as I their season is on the slippery slope.

On Friday we have the Titans up against the Sea Eagles and again both of these sides played poorly last week. The Titans were blown off the field in the first half by the Broncos before recovering in the second half while the Sea Eagles toyed with the Knights in the first half and were poor in the second half. With Cherry Evans back my view at this point is expecting that Manly will win this one against the Titans at C Bus Stadium.

There are two games on Saturday with the first one being the Knights at home against the Roosters. The Roosters welcome back Walker and I think they will be too strong for the Knights who interestingly have recalled half back Hastings for this match, The Knights won well last week in the second half but I can’t see them upsetting the Roosters this week. The second Saturday game has the Cowboys playing the Dolphins at home. The Cowboys have a number of players involved in the origin series, likewise the Dolphins have Hammer out- which is a blow but have been hit by injuries and I was saddened to see the injury to Plath last weekend meaning he’ll miss the season. Katoa has been in good form but without the Hammer I think the Cowboys have a slight edge. The Dolphins have shown they will tough it out so it should be a very tight clash.

The final game on Sunday has the Rabbitohs up against the Bulldogs and this will be another very entertaining match. The Bulldogs do have a number of players in Origin and Souths are missing Mitchell. The way that the Bulldogs have been playing lately means I just can’t see the Rabbits troubling them.

This weekend is also important for the Raiders as they get there first bye and are the only team that hasn’t had one yet. As I mentioned earlier this is critical for them in terms of their actual position on the ladder as they have won more games than any other team. Very interesting indeed.

 

Top Eight (in order)

4 Melbourne 5 Cronullaargh 6 Cowboys 8 Broncos 9 Manly 9 Souths 10 Roosters 12 Rabbitohs 13 Penrith

Fact / Stat for the day- Well in the last round Reynolds played his 300^th game and enjoyed his first milestone win whilst Papalii played his 319^th game and the most ever for a Raider and scored 10 points!

Tipping Stats – 6 out of 8 is more respectable than my last couple of efforts but spare a thought for Grubby Half Back. He was so proud of his Knights selection he phoned me at 10 pm to let me know he was coming to get me but come Monday arvo he was back comfortable in his last placed slippers, dressing gown and knee strapping! The Councillor and even my Mum have moved further away. Keep it up GHB and you might be able to pass Rusty Mattress Springs and Rabbit in the Vineyard!!

Finally, I’m off to Perth next week for the second State of Origin match where I’m expecting to see Queensland level the series.

You gotta love footy!

 

 

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