Monday Bunker: Six wins in a row but Cronulla have more to give
WITH Round 12 of the competition now done and dusted, our team of rugby league writers analyse the NRL’s talking points in the latest edition of the Monday Bunker.
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WITH Round 12 of the competition now done and dusted, our team of rugby league writers analyse the NRL’s talking points in the latest edition of the Monday Bunker.
BRONCOS BURST BACK INTO TITLE RACE
BRISBANE 18 PARAMMATA 10: Broncos tough it out against Eels
The Brisbane Broncos are back in NRL premiership contention.
The Broncos record their fourth win in five weeks with an ugly 18-10 victory against Parramatta last Thursday night.
It wasn’t a win for the ages, but it was enough to edge the Broncos back into the top eight for the first time in six weeks.
Wayne Bennett’s Broncos have had a tough first half of the season.
They were slow out of the blocks on the back of injuries to key players during the pre-season and have struggled for continuity.
Even in the Eels game, at least six first-choice Broncos players were missing, but they managed to get the job done.
The Broncos have a crucial bye this weekend and need to navigate the tricky State of Origin period with a decent record before launching a late-season charge.
Brisbane has been written off as a title contender, but Bennett has done the impossible before and will be quietly confident if he can get his best team on the park.
The rest of the NRL will be watching closely.
— Travis Meyn
GOOD NEWS TO ROLL ON FOR RAIDERS
CANBERRA 21 MANLY 20: Hail Sezer! Field goal ends Raiders curse
The Canberra Raiders have had more than their share of bad luck this year so it was about time things turned for them on Friday night.
And more good news is just around the corner.
Plenty of people were blowing up post-match about Jack Wighton’s forward pass to Nick Cotric in the lead up to the late try that helped locked the scores.
But the Raiders also had a rotten call go against them earlier when Elliott Whitehead was penalised for an alleged trip on Joel Thompson.
While Whitehead was placed on report, replays clearly showed all he was trying to do was trap the kick with his foot but it still cost his team two vital points.
In the end this game could have gone either way and Canberra probably was lucky to get away with it.
If the Raiders had lost another tight game it would have crushed their confidence to the point I don’t think they would have recovered.
But Trent Barrett made a valid point following the game that Manly’s performance highlighted how much they rely on Api Koroisau’s direction from dummy half.
The Raiders have been without their own star hooker Josh Hodgson all season and yet have been afforded little sympathy for their inability to close out tight games.
The word is the crafty Englishman is now only weeks away from returning from the ACL knee injury he suffered at the World Cup.
It’s going to be a huge bonus for the Raiders heading into the back end of the season.
— Paul Crawley
PAIN TO CONTINUE FOR BATTLING COWBOYS
NORTH QUEENSLAND 6 MELBOURNE 7: Smith wins final battle over old pal JT
THE Cowboys’ season of pain could become a whole lot worse this week.
Tipped as pre-season favourites for the premiership, North Queensland notched up their ninth loss from 12 rounds on Friday night, when they were edged out 7-6 by Melbourne.
They now have to win at least nine games from their remaining 12 rounds.
But the showdowns are only going to get tougher from here on as the dreaded Origin period hits.
North Queensland will head to Sydney this week to take on Manly but could lose four players to Origin, including Matt Scott, Gavin Cooper, Michael Morgan and Coen Hess.
It is the expected loss of the three forwards — with Scott also facing a one-week suspension — that could hurt the Cowboys the most given they are already running low on depth in their pack.
Jordan McLean (foot) and John Asiata (pectoral) are still sidelined through injury, while Scott Bolton could also be in doubt after picking up a rib cartilage problem in Friday’s loss.
The Cowboys hardly need any more curveballs thrown their way, but the next month is do or die football for them.
If they cannot spark up a stunning string of wins, they will miss the top eight and Johnathan Thurston will retire without the hope of another premiership ring.
— Rikki-Lee Arnold
PRETENDERS OR CONTENDERS? CHOOKS CONTINUE TO BAFFLE
SYDNEY ROOSTERS 34 GOLD COAST 14: Mitchell tears Titans to shreds
If defence is attitude, then the Titans have attitude problems.
The Gold Coast will be in danger of finishing with the wooden spoon if they don’t urgently fix a defensive line that continues to haemorraghe points. The Titans have now conceded a whopping 327 points at an average of 27 per game — the worst record in the league — and their defensive fragility is eroding a lot of the good work they are doing in attack.
Titans coach Garth Brennan also had to make a tough call on Bryce Cartwright.
The former Panther looks devoid of confidence and he produced another horrendously soft miss against the Roosters.
The Chooks, meanwhile, continue to baffle. They lacked energy in the first half but their second stanza suggested they can be a grand-final contender if they are in the mood.
James Tedesco is beginning to find his feet at fullback and is starting to develop a slick understanding with halves Cooper Cronk and Luke Keary.
The Roosters need to find ways to get Latrell Mitchell more involved. He made just two runs but such is his talent, one of those led to a barnstorming try.
— Peter Badel
GENUINE CONCERNS AS WARRIORS WOES RETURN
NZ WARRIORS 10 SOUTH SYDNEY 30: Burgess brothers run riot for Rabbitohs
The Warriors bubble has burst.
That’s the feeling after Souths comprehensively defeated the men from New Zealand on Saturday night.
The Warriors have defied their usual early-season struggles to open 2018 in fine form.
The look fitter then ever before, which has resulted in a host of dominant performances.
In the past month, though, the Warriors have returned to their inconsistent ways.
This was on display in spades against Souths, with poor handling and lacklustre defence costing them dearly.
History says the Warriors struggle to start the year, before picking up the pace during the Origin period with limited players involved.
This may well happen again in 2018, but from what we’ve seen in the last month, there a genuine concerns they possess the mental capacity to win enough games at the back end of the season.
— Matt Logue
PANTHERS PUSHING STRONG PREMIERSHIP CLAIMS
PENRITH 28 ST GEORGE ILLAWARRA 2: Panthers put cleaners through Dragons
Penrith rightly sit at the top of the premiership ladder after hammering the Dragons on Saturday night.
The James Maloney and Nathan Cleary combination continues to grow while the speed generated by Dallin Watene-Zelezniak has added a new dimension to their attack.
They belted St George Illawarra in the middle of the field and the rest of the side fed off that.
With a string of players still sidelined, the Panthers have emerged as a genuine premiership threat.
For the Dragons, you sense that their performances in the past month were going to lead to a heavy loss.
They are battered and after such a strong start to the season, a performance dip was inevitable.
State of Origin is now looming as a major obstacle but they are too good of a side to replicate last years dramatic fall from grace.
— Michael Carayannis
CRONULLA STILL HAVE MORE TO GIVE
NEWCASTLE 10 CRONULLA 48: Moylan destroys Newcastle
THE Sharks have more in them and that should be the most worrying thing for other NRL teams.
After a slow start to the season with a 2-4 record, they’ve now won six straight, but there’s improvement to be had.
Their 48-10 finish over the Knights on Sunday overshadowed some early sloppy play and errors, but their second half would be a huge confidence booster heading into Origin.
Matt Moylan was outstanding and is out of the Origin mix for now. And players like Wade Graham and Josh Dugan are finding form after stints on the sideline with injury too.
It means the Sharks could run near full strength as other teams lose players to representative duties.
Friday night’s game against the Rabbitohs is a battle for outright third and a chance for Cronulla to really make their mark on 2018.
They’ve been getting the job done for more than a month, but with their big name players starting to return and their spine getting set, the rhythm is also coming back.
Moylan said his six try assist effort against the Knights wasn’t down to ad lib brilliance from himself, but rather set plays coming off.
Which means another team is putting its hand up for consideration in 2018, and they’re poised to bite in a crucial part of the season.
— Fiona Bollen
EFFORT IS NOT ENOUGH FOR CANTERBURY
WESTS TIGERS 14 BULLDOGS 10: Reynolds get last laugh
The Bulldogs put in, they really do, and that’s what makes their fall from grace all the more difficult to watch.
Sunday’s 14-10 defeat to the Tigers was Canterbury’s fifth defeat in their last six games and their seventh loss of the season by eight points or less.
It was a defeat typical of this season for Canterbury — they scored an early try then failed to trouble the scorers again despite honest efforts from the likes of David Klemmer and Josh Jackson, who were again their best.
The Bulldogs complete their sets and defend stoutly, but that is not enough. Their complete inability to score points has reached epidemic status.
Moses Mbye is their most dangerous attacking player, but is still learning fullback play and isn’t as involved as he should be. Everything Canterbury do with the ball should be aimed at getting Mbye the footy in good positions.
Kieran Foran is slogging his guts out but can’t carry the team completely and his physical style is coming back to bite him.
At least a few of the new breed, like former Rabbitohs and Titans centre John Olive and promising backrower Rhyse Martin, have a little bit of go about but on the whole the drab, dour Dogs are about as threatening as a littler of puppies.
With their salary cap a complete nightmare and even Aaron Woods rumoured to be on the market, Dean Pay and company face a long fight back to competition relevance.
— Nick Campton
Originally published as Monday Bunker: Six wins in a row but Cronulla have more to give
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