NRL Round 7 – Prop by the Sea: You gotta love footy!

 

 

 

The Courier Mail’s sports headline on Monday, believe it or not, was all about Gout Gout! He not only went under 20 but removed the Broncs from the back page. But all is well as Tuesday blurted out ‘It’s Just Two Hard’, with legendary Broncos hardman Greg Dowling calling for the other forwards to aim up, but more on the Broncos later.

 

Round 6 started off with a game most of us thought would see Penrith kick-start their season. However, the Dolphins and especially the Hammer showed they were not about to let this game slip away from them. The Hammer was at his outstanding best and the three tries he scored were all fantastic displays. The third was the best as it looked like he knew 70m out that he was going to score! I am not sure where Penrith go from here but, as they say, the only way for them has to be up. They are making uncharacteristic mistakes which continually hurt them and all of a sudden their attack seems clunky. Add to this the leakage out wide and their season is on its last legs in Round 7.

The first of the Friday night games saw the Dragons put away a very disappointing Titans. You just cannot back the Titans with any confidence and the resurgent Dragons put them away. The second game saw the Broncos up against the Roosters and most pundits expected to see the Broncos win at home against them. However, the Roosters, with some positional changes and a great deal of enthusiasm, outplayed the Broncos in most facets of the game, burying the memory of the first round shellacking. Certainly, on that performance, the Broncos are no sure thing to be the winners of this competition and Maguire must address this type of insipid performance immediately if they are to stay as one of the big guns in the competition.

Saturday had three games, the first of which saw the Sharks clinically dispose of the Sea Eagles. It ended up as a close game for the Sea Eagles but again they too made too many mistakes and, in the end, the score most probably flattered them. Manly’s season seems to be slowly derailing. The second Saturday game had Souths up against the Cowboys and the Cowboys proved to be too strong. The Cowboys are running into a bit of form at the moment, and they look a lot better side than the one that was playing three weeks ago. Their hooker Robinson was outstanding. Given he is moving on next year, he will be a loss. Young Purdue was particularly good for them again as well. The final Saturday night game had a rampaging Raiders dispose of a poor Eels outfit to the tune of 50 points to 12. The way the Raiders are playing at this stage of the season has them looking like a definite Top 8 side. Hudson Young has been particularly good. They play fast aggressive football and certainly are playing at a level that allows them to compete with the top sides.

Sundays had two games, the first which was a clinical exhibition of perfect footy by the Storm who led the Warriors 36 – nil at half-time. It was as good a half of football that you would see, and the Warriors had no answer. Fortunately for the Warriors, the Storm turned off the afterburners and coasted in the second half. Coates was dynamic, their big 4 outstanding, and their pack hardworking and full of offloads. As we approach 1/3 of the season completed, the Storm look like the team to beat. The final game of the round did not reach any great heights where the Tigers, and good luck to them, ran out winners 20 points to 4 in what can only be described as a very ordinary game of rugby league.

 

Round 7 begins on Thursday night with a clash between the Manly side and the Dragons. Manly are coming off a poor match and the Dragons are coming off of a reasonable win, so it is a tough pick. At home the Sea Eagles are generally tough to beat and after their last home game performance, I think that they will come back this week.

Friday has two games, the first of which is a Good Friday clash between the Bulldogs and Rabbitohs. The NRL is expecting a crowd of 70,000 at the stadium which should really make this a clash to watch. The Rabbitohs have been good, but Canterbury have shown that they are not to be underestimated. They are also expecting Burton and maybe Kikau back and that is a massive plus for them. I think they will be too strong. The second Friday night game has the Dolphins home against the Storm. I know that the Dolphins have been playing well but you cannot see them beating Melbourne in this match.

There are two games on Saturday with the Warriors at home to the Broncos. The Broncos are really under pressure to win this game given their poor performance last week. They need to match up against the Warriors who will still be shell-shocked from last weekend’s Storm blitz. The second game on Saturday night is also interesting because it has an in-form Rooster side up against the Panthers. The Panthers are welcoming back a number of players and surely cannot play as bad as they did last week. Both sides desperately need to win this game to stay connected and it is hard to believe team 15 v 16 has so much interest.

The second Sunday match has the woeful Knights from last week up against the Sharks. I just cannot see how the Knights can turn their season around. I’m expecting the Sharks to win this one much more comfortably than the golden point win last round.

Finally, on Monday, we have the clash between the Tigers and the Eels. Normally we would expect the Tigers to win this match but, given the issues around Galvin during the week, who knows what will happen? It could ‘Galvinise’ the side. Congratulations to the Tiger’s management for dropping Galvin because it does seem a little ridiculous that a player would decide this early that he does not want to be there and does not think they can offer him the skill set that he requires! Interestingly, the Eels have Moses back and he definitely will need to be a positive miracle making machine to turn the Eels season around.

 

Top Eight (in order)

2 Melbourne 3 Brisbane 5 Souths 8 Manly 9 Cronullaargh 13 Cowboys 15 Roosters 16 Penrith

 

Fact Stat for the day – Fullbacks seemed to be all the rage last week. They took the points in a number of games. Thursday night we had the Hammer. What a performance, and Edwards was at the other end. Tedesco was outstanding for the Roosters. Kennedy was a star for Cronulla and should have had 2 tries not 1, and Kaeo did not miss a beat for the Raiders. Drinkwater and Gray were both good and what can you say about Papenhuyzen at the Storm? Bula was also particularly good. Connor Tracey had the bye and Trbojevic is injured. I have not even mentioned Ponga or Walsh who are both on over a million a year and along with Gutherson and Hopoate didn’t have a major impact.

 

Tippin Stats – A poor 4 in another tough round has me back in second spot along with another 4 tipsters and a drop of 10000 positions in the overall comp. Mattress–ide, Souffs and Smithy_65 continue to creep up and even The Crabman is starting to fill the pots. GHB needs to have a long look in the mirror because in this comp it is almost impossible to be that bad!

 

You gotta love footy!

 

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