NRL Round 6 news 2023: Rabbitohs win 44-12 over Manly Sea Eagles, Dylan Edwards scores four tries
Manly may have been the ‘pre-season premiers’, but they’ve been given a brutal reality check by the actual premiers, with Penrith exposing the Sea Eagles as pretenders.
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Manly’s poorest performance of the year could get a whole lot worse with Tom Trbojevic requiring a needle to get through Saturday’s shellacking which has him in doubt for next week’s showdown with the high-flying Storm.
Trbojevic was barely sighted in a horror first half, with the rep star appearing to be hobbled by a left hip issue as the Panthers piled on the pain to win 44-12 thanks to a stunning four-try haul to opposite number Dylan Edwards.
Shots from the sheds at half-time showed him being strapped, with reports Trbojevic needed a needle to get back on the field with his side already down 32-0.
It was a strange decision to put him back on but coach Anthony Seibold didn’t have much choice with Karl Lawton forced off with a shoulder problem, while winger Reuben Garrick failed an HIA in the first half.
Trbojevic was clearly hampered by the injury and only managed 70 metres on the night, although he did score a consolation try after he fell on a loose ball at the death.
They won the pre-season challenge and carried that form through the opening three rounds, but the chat about Manly being a premiership threat is set to go away after an ugly night in Penrith.
The Sea Eagles haven’t won since their hot start, and while this was their first defeat in regulation time, the signs aren’t good for Seibold’s side.
Their first 40 minutes on Saturday night was simply terrible, with the visitors having just 27 per cent of the ball and 19 per cent of the territory as the Panthers ran in five tries before the break.
The Sea Eagles ran for just 257 metres in the first half compared to Panthers centre Izack Tago who had 147 of his own as he gave Morgan Harper flashbacks of the night Siosifa Talakai destroyed him in the Shire.
A string of penalties prevented things from getting really ugly in the second half, but it’s hard to see things getting any better with the Storm coming to town next week.
BREAKING!
— Karate Warrior II (@me_dc) April 8, 2023
Rugby Australia table $4.6 million (per year) offer for Brad Parker off the back of these two elite demonstrations of Rugby skills. pic.twitter.com/068XDhwlzI
The ugly night was perfectly summed up when Brad Parker inexplicably volleyed a Cleary bomb instead of catching it, with his kick landing in the lap of Tago before Penrith made them pay a couple of plays later with another try.
“I didn’t see it coming,” Anthony Seibold said.
NRL’S NEXT MILLION DOLLAR MAN?
from Latrell Mitchell scoring a treble just a day prior Penrith No.1 Dylan Edwards put on a clinic of his own as he pushes his case to be rugby league’s next million dollar player.
By 52 minutes Edwards had four tries as the Panthers raced to a 38-0 lead. The Panthers and Edwards are about to have serious talks about extending his time at the club and for the sake of Penrith they want to lock him down as soon as they can. Hot off the heels of Cronulla’s Nicho Hynes doubling his wage there is a strong chance Edwards could do the same if he wanted to hit the open market.
The million dollar figure is not impossible given his hot streak of form. He is about to enter the final season of his deal worth about $500,000 with the Panthers having already kick-started negotiations to keep him at the club.
And they need to do so before November 1 otherwise rival teams will circle and make him their highest paid player as a genuine marquee.
Panthers coach Ivan Cleary praised his performance.
“He stopped flying under the radar a long time ago,” Cleary said. “It’s good for him to get rewards
“He is a very competitive guy. He is pretty similar most weeks.”
In another generation Edwards would be a walk-up start for representative honours. While he easily out-played opposite and million dollar man Tom Trobjevic on Saturday night he still sits behind the likes of Trobjevic, Mitchell and James Tedesco in the line to play for NSW.
There is little doubt he could handle the step up. Off the back of walking away with last years Clive Churchill Medal, Edwards is no longer able to fly under the radar.
He scored a first half treble before kick-starting the scoring in the second half. Edwards has never been a noted try-scorer. In his previous seven seasons his best was nine tries last year. This year he already has five and plenty more to come.
He fell one short of Penrith’s all-time try-scoring record held by Peter Langmack in 1974
SOUTHS PRAISE HIP-DROP CRACKDOWN AFTER CONTROVERSIAL SIN BIN
—Matt Cleary
Following injuries to Tevita Tatola and Izaac Tu’itupou Thompson in South Sydney Rabbitohs’ 50-16 demolition of Canterbury Bulldogs on Good Friday, Souths coach Jason Demetriou has called on his fellow NRL coaches to stamp out the hip drop tackle.
With 20 minutes to play in Friday’s match at Accor Stadium and the Dogs down 26-12, second-rower Jacob Preston attempted to strip Tu’itupou Thompson, in the process performing what appeared to be a hip-drop tackle.
Referee Bernard Sutton sent Preston off for 10 minutes as Tu’itupou Thompson was helped off the field, limping.
While Bulldogs coach Cameron Ciraldo wouldn’t be drawn on whether he thought the tackle warranted a sin bin, Demetriou left nobody in doubt, saying “if it had happened at training, your teammates would be filthy”.
“I think there were a few hip-drops, yeah. I think there were at least four of them in the game.
“We keep saying it’s not a problem in the game. But you know, Izaac Thompson, Junior [Tatola].
“If that [Preston] tackle happens on the training field, I can guarantee you teammates aren’t happy about it. Your own teammates are filthy if you do that.
“I don’t know why if we’re not doing it at training we’re bringing it on the field,” Demetriou said.
Demetriou added that he understood that “there are circumstances where it’s an accident, when there’s momentum”.
“But when you’re side-by-side and you’re losing your legs to drop your hips down, it’s not the way to take people to ground. It’s a lazy way,” Demetriou said.
Demetriou called on every NRL club to take ownership of the issue.
“I think the game’s doing a great job trying to do what they can. It’s up to the clubs to show some onus on it.
“It’s going to affect your team somewhere. You’re going to lose a high-quality player to a hip-drop, which is a tackle that can be avoided in my opinion.
“We don’t practice it. There’s no way that would happen at training. I can’t stress that point enough: it does not happen at training.
“Coaches and teammates would not let that happen. So I don’t know why we’re accepting it on the field,” Demetriou said.
Iszack Thompson will go for scans on a left ankle/foot injury - tackler lands on lower leg causing foot to roll in + compression through foot. Video brings concern for lateral ankle sprain with ankle roll + midfoot sprain/fracture with compression (hopefully avoided). pic.twitter.com/iwmKO1wPoY
— NRL PHYSIO (@nrlphysio) April 7, 2023
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Greg Alexander speaks on the Jacob Preston hip-drop tackle.
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Demetriou also stressed that he wasn’t having a crack at clubs or individuals.
“I don’t think any player is going out there to do it intentionally. And it’s not me having a crack at anyone or Canterbury.
“It’s just that as a game, we can do a bit more to avoid it,” Demetriou said.
Bulldogs coach Cameron Ciraldo didn’t want to expand upon the sin-binning of Preston for a hip drop.
“That sin bin, I don’t know if it killed our energy or killed our belief. But we just didn’t handle it.“And you just can’t give South Sydney that many cues. Wasn’t ideal, no,” Ciraldo said.
Asked did he think the tackled warranted a sin bin, Bulldogs coach Cameron Ciraldo had the face of an Easter Island statue.
“Did you?” he replied. “I’ll have to have a look at it again.”
ROOSTERS ENFORCER CHARGED FOR LATE SHOT ON MUNSTER
—Matt Encarnacion
Sydney Roosters star Victor Radley can escape suspension for his late shot on Cameron Munster in their loss to Melbourne on Thursday night.
Radley was hit with a grade one dangerous contact charge for whacking Munster after he passed the ball late in the first half at AAMI Park.
Radley, who has had two previous charges, can avoid a sideline ban and cop a $3000 fine if he takes the early plea.
However he will risk being rubbed out for two games if he contests the charge at the judiciary and loses.
The Roosters face Cronulla and St George Illawarra over the next fortnight.
SUPER STORM MAKE RADLEY, ROOSTERS PAY
—Lance Jenkinson
Melbourne Storm was brutal in its punishment of Sydney Roosters lock Victor Radley’s first half sin-binning in a 28-8 win at AAMI Park on Thursday night.
The game turned on its head when Radley was marched for 10 for a dangerous late tackle on Storm five-eighth Cameron Munster.
The Storm piled on 12 unanswered points in the time Radley was on the sidelines.
Roosters coach Trent Robinson said the Radley sin-binning was on the “lighter” side, but did not protest the decision to give him 10 minutes in the bin.
“You can’t do that,” he said.
“If that happened to ‘Kez’ [Luke Keary], I’d be really frustrated there, it wasn’t necessary and it wasn’t the end of the world at the same time.”
Robinson said the Roosters being down a man was not the only factor in the Storm taking control from that point on.
“I guess we were up 8-6 there when ‘Rads’ went off but there were still quite a few errors coming out of our own end,” he said.
“End of sets are vital in those times and then we gave them field position and they really controlled where they gave us the ball and end of sets they kicked well, they outclassed us there, so it’s disappointing.
“8-6 to 18-8, two tries during that time, it [he Radley sin bin] obviously was [a factor], but the things that were happening up to the time, we had to really be disciplined in that period of time and get down that end and kick well.
“I think we kicked out on the full during that time as well, I think we had an error, we gave them field position at 12 men on a wet night and they had a really good game plan and they executed it well against us.”
A hat-trick of tries to flying winger Xavier Coates and a masterclass from five-eighth Cameron Munster, who had 177 run metres and seven tackle breaks, saw the Storm make it three wins in a row in the rain.
It was the Roosters first defeat since their shock season opening loss to the Dolphins, which snapped their three-game winning streak.
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