NRLW tackle: All the likes and dislikes from round 8 of NRLW
North Queensland prop Makenzie Weale and Dragons star Alexis Tauaneai could miss the rest of the season after a shocking hip-drop tackle. All the likes and dislikes from the latest NRLW week.
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Pamela Whaley reveals her likes and dislikes from round 8 of the NRLW season.
ROUND 8 DISLIKES
MORE HIP DROP DRAMA
North Queensland prop Makenzie Weale could miss the rest of the NRLW season for a horror hip-drop tackle that has ended the season of another.
The 21-year-old Weale has been hit with a grade three dangerous contact charge for a tackle on Alexis Tauaneai in Saturday’s 48-16 loss to the Dragons in Townsville.
Weale faces two weeks on the sidelines with an early guilty plea, or three weeks if she challenges the charge and fails at the judiciary on Tuesday night.
With two weeks left to go in the NRLW competition and the Cowboys out of finals contention, the suspension would be curtains on her season.
Tauaneai was taken from the field in the 32nd minute after the contact, which trapped her leg under Weale’s weight and left her in agony on the ground.
The Dragons have since confirmed Tauaneai suffered an MCL injury as a result of the ugly tackle, and will miss the final two games of the season.
Dragons coach Jamie Soward was direct when asked about the danger of the hip drop in the post-match press conference.
“That’s probably the worst hip drop I’ve seen, in men’s and women’s. And I’m not being disrespectful, it’s not a personal attack. But I was very disappointed in that as a coach and as a club,” he said.
“For a young girl like Alexis who has been our best forward all year, I was really disappointed in that tackle.”
It’s followed a concerning trend of hip drop tackles in the women’s game with at least one every week.
Serious injuries are bound to happen if it isn’t addressed immediately by clubs and the NRL.
NEW TEAMS FEELING THE HEAT
The four new NRLW teams introduced this season are struggling, which was sadly expected.
After the Broncos surged into the top four with a 32-28 win over Cronulla on Saturday, it pushed all four newcomers into the bottom six.
They overtook the Raiders, who copped a 20-12 loss to Newcastle, and now sit fifth.
They’re the best of the new sides so far with four wins, while the Sharks, Cowboys and Wests Tigers have won just two with two rounds to go.
The Cowboys were also smashed 48-16 by the Dragons, their third straight loss.
A few factors could play into this, including the very limited time clubs had to build a roster and the free-for-all signing spree that sent the game into a frenzy once all players became available to sign.
Hold ups with the CBA are to blame for that.
But now that multi-year contracts have been introduced into the women’s game, clubs can work on building a squad with depth and a plan for future seasons.
Squad numbers are somewhat of an issue too, but any increase needs to be balanced out with growth of talent who are ready to play at the top level.
As it is, 24-person squads mean many clubs are naming injured players in their 21-person squads on Tuesdays, knowing they won’t play, just to be able to fill out the numbers.
New clubs also need to adapt to the massive workload added to staff by taking on an NRLW side and all the little contingencies that need to be considered.
The availability of training grounds, gym time, media responsibilities, post-training catering, recovery equipment. Everything.
The nine-round NRLW season too, which is almost double that of last year.
We’ve come a long way but we’re only at the start of the growth of NRLW and the ladder reflects that at the moment.
ROUND 8 LIKES
ALI NOSE BEST
There’s been few tougher things in the NRLW this season than Ali Brigginshaw suiting up with a broken nose to help steer Brisbane into the top four.
In a desperate pitch to save their season, the Broncos skipper ran out with two black eyes and a sore schnozz and turned in four goals, a tacklebreak and 19 tackles in Brisbane’s 32-28 win over the Sharks.
Now with four wins for the season, the Broncos sit fourth on the ladder with Canberra chasing hard.
FINALS HUNT IS ON
Newcastle (12pts, 6 wins, 1 loss), Roosters (12pts, 6 wins, 1 loss) and Gold Coast (10pts, 5 wins, 2 losses) all look set to play finals with two rounds left.
The Broncos (8pts, 4 wins, 3 losses) and Raiders (8pts, 4 wins, 3 losses) are fighting it out for fourth over the next fortnight to grab the last spot in the finals.
Broncos will play Wests Tigers this week and Dragons in the final round, while the Raiders have Cowboys followed by the Titans in round 9.
After their huge win over the Cowboys, the Dragons can also throw a spanner in the works if someone slips up.
They sit sixth on six points, but if they can snare a win over the Sharks in the local derby at PointsBet Stadium on Saturday, it will set up a blockbuster last round clash with a desperate Broncos side.
REAL LIFE TITAN
Gold Coast forward Shannon Mato doesn’t get many plaudits but she’s one of the best props in the game.
On Saturday she led from the front in the Titans’ 16-4 win over the Tigers with a massive 263 running metres from 21 runs, four tacklebreaks and 27 tackles without a miss.
It was the most metres of any player across the round.
GRUDGE MATCH
The Roosters and Knights have been the best two sides of the NRLW season sitting first and second on the ladder, and finally they’ll face off on Saturday.
It’ll be the first time premiership winning co-captain Millie Boyle returns to Newcastle as a Rooster after helping orchestrate last year’s title with the Knights.
Not everyone at the Knights was thrilled about her move to the Roosters this year, where she signed a multi-year deal despite still living in Newcastle.
Boyle maintains it was the best decision for her personally, and both the Knights and Boyle have flourished individually since.
But it sets up a blockbuster return for the former skipper on Saturday afternoon at McDonald Jones Stadium in front of a parochial home crowd of devout Knights fans.
HOT CHOOKS
The way the Roosters are winning games is so impressive.
Queensland and Australia five-eighth Tarryn Aiken has to be their best recruit in a hot field. So much of what they do well in attack comes from her.
So far this season the Roosters have scored the most tries in the competition with 47, and they have an incredible points differential of 156, which is 87 points better than their closest rivals Newcastle.
They’ll take some beating for the title.
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Originally published as NRLW tackle: All the likes and dislikes from round 8 of NRLW
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