Monday Bunker: New season, same question for Dogs, Cowboys burst back to life
WHY St George Illawarra need to bounce back quickly, South Sydney return to proven formula, proof Newcastle believe and more — our NRL writers analyse the Round 7 talking points.
NRL
Don't miss out on the headlines from NRL. Followed categories will be added to My News.
WITH Round 7 of the competition now done and dusted, our team of rugby league writers analyse the NRL’s talking points in the Monday Bunker.
The Monday Bunker show will be live streamed on our website and Facebook from 12.30pm.
If you have any questions for the Monday Bunker crew, leave them in the comments section below.
MONDAY BUZZ: Weekend highlights and lowlights
MONDAY BUZZ: Burgess needs to ditch the thug act
NEW SEASON, SAME DOUR DOGS AS POINTS DRY UP
Bulldogs 0 Roosters 6: Chooks down toothless Dogs
New season, same question: Where are Canterbury’s points coming from?
While incoming coach Dean Pay is working with a revitalised Bulldogs backline in 2018 — Kieran Foran at halfback, Moses Mbye fullback, even young Jeremy Marshall-King in six — the Belmore Boys are struggling with an attack that has scored over 20 points just once.
And that came in Round 6, against North Queensland.
Yet just when it seemed the Doggies had found some type of attacking mojo, they wake today with the same headache that plagued them last year, and eventually saw coach Des Hasler axed.
Against the Roosters in Thursday Night Football, Canterbury had nothing.
In every sense.
Despite earning 52 tackles inside the opposition 20m zone, they couldn’t earn a point.
Not a try. Not a penalty goal.
Nothing.
According to Fox Sports Statistics, Canterbury were also tackled 107 times inside the opposition half, compared to the Roosters 47. The Tricolours, too, boasting only 14 tackles inside the Dogs Red Zone.
And still, they won.
Indeed, late in the game, the Dogs were so bereft of ideas that Marshall-King simply grubbered through without a chaser in sight.
All of which follows on from a 2107 season where Canterbury finished last in the NRL for points scored (360), tries scored (65), try assists (44), goals (50) and line breaks (77).
Even Wests Tigers, who were the second worst attacking team, outscored the Dogs by 53.
— Nick Walshaw
TESTING TIME AHEAD FOR DRAGONS AFTER FIRST LOSS
Warriors 20 Dragons 12: Red V suffer first defeat of season
It’s hardly panic stations at St George Illawarra in the wake of the first loss in seven rounds.
But after going down to the Warriors, the Dragons now need to bounce back quick or their great start to the season could be forgotten very quickly.
They now take on Sydney Roosters on Wednesday followed by reigning premiers Melbourne in round nine.
The Roosters will be every bit as desperate to back up their performance against Canterbury while the Storm are appear back on track after their impressive win over Brisbane.
The Dragons were hardly embarrassed in the loss to the Warriors but they had enough opportunities to win that game yet really struggled in attack.
Not only were the Warriors without Shaun Johnson, but they lost in-form backrower Tohu Harris midway through the first half and Blake Green to the sin bin.
The Dragons also had a first-half possession rate that swung 59-41 per cent in their favour on the back of a 10-3 penalty count yet still went to the sheds trailing 10-0.
Don’t underestimate just how important that next few weeks will be for the Dragons.
After the Storm the Dragons play South Sydney, Canberra and Penrith before the bye heading into State of Origin I.
By the time we get their will know exactly where the Dragons stand as a premiership force.
And this is also an opportunity for the players who are being spoken about as Origin contenders to stand up and show they deserve to be picked.
— Paul Crawley
KEY INJURY LEAVES HUGE HEADACHE FOR BENNETT
Broncos 20 Storm 34: Slater stars as Brisbane lose McCullough
No team wins a premiership with a shocking injury toll and alarm bells are ringing for the Broncos.
First Matt Gillett fractured his neck. Now key hooker Andrew McCullough is sidelined for at least a month with an elbow injury.
That is a massive setback for a Broncos team which fell apart last season when McCullough snapped his ACL, leaving them without the defensive glue that holds the side together. Brisbane’s hooking depth is their weakest link so Wayne Bennett has a huge headache deciding on his Plan B for this week’s clash against the Rabbitohs.
The Storm, meanwhile, are beginning to find their mojo. Ryley Jacks has given Melbourne the steadying hand at halfback that allows the classy Cameron Munster to service an electric Storm backline.
Is there a better wing pairing in the comp than Josh Addo-Carr and Suliasi Vunivalu?
They were magical at Suncorp Stadium and will be a handful for the Warriors this week, although the Storm will have to overcome the loss of No. 1 prop Jesse Bromwich to a knee injury.
— Peter Badel
BRUTAL BUNNIES RETURN TO GREATEST STRENGTH
Rabbitohs 42 Raiders 22: Burgess, Inglis fire as Bunnies belt Canberra
South Sydney rode all the way to the premiership in 2014 on the back of raw, unadulterated forward power. It was their Plan A, Plan B and Plan C, their jab, left hook and uppercut.
If any question was posed to South Sydney that season it always had the same answer — hammer the life out of the opposition up the middle of the field. Do this, and all good things can be yours.
It’s a step too far to say Souths have recaptured that form, or if they ever can, but under Anthony Seibold they have returned to their greatest strength. The Burgess twins have been resurrected, and are once again playing like a pair of ogres. Not only that, they’re making the kind of efforts in defence they haven’t made in some time.
Add in their older brother Sam, who had one of his best games since his return to league, and the speed of Damien Cook and Seibold has unlocked an effective, simple style that will give the Rabbitohs a shot against any team in the competition.
Once again playing behind a top level platform, Adam Reynolds looks like a top class halfback again and the likes of Cody Walker and Alex Johnston haven’t enjoyed such luxury since they came into first grade.
The looming suspension of Burgess is a blow but not a crippling one. The exciting Cam Murray will return to the side and soften the blow. But Burgess must curb his more violent tendencies — his aggression is the backbone of this side, but the offences are rapidly piling up.
— Nick Campton
BELIEF IS BACK FOR REBORN NEWCASTLE
Tigers 20 Knights 22: Kenny-Dowall steal match in Tamworth
The Knights are still very much a team on the up but their evolution was clear to see during their last-minute win against the Tigers.
There is no doubt the Knights do not win that game last year. Having squandered a 10-0 lead, they crawled their way back to score two tries in the final two minutes.
The belief is back for a side who have finished last the past three years.
As for the Tigers, they will walk away deflated but not in panic station mode.
After a stellar start to the season they were going to dip at some points and that happened on Saturday night.
Their defence was the most brittle it has been this year while they could not generate any pressure in attack. But they will bounce back quickly from that performance.
— Michael Carayannis
TOO EARLY TO WRITE OFF COWBOYS TITLE HOPES
Cowboys 26 Titans 14: North Queensland get the job done, but it wasn’t pretty
Can the Cowboys produce a miracle?
North Queensland burst back to a life with a gritty 26-14 win against the Gold Coast Titans at 1300SMILES Stadium on Saturday night.
This was not the clinical Cowboys we have seen over the past few years.
They were a world away from the slick unit that won the 2015 premiership and featured in last year’s grand final.
However it was a step in the right direction.
The Cowboys started the season with a 1-5 record, something no team in the NRL era has been able to recover from to win a premiership.
But it would be stupid to write off a team that possesses Test stars Johnathan Thurston, Matt Scott, Jason Taumalolo and Michael Morgan among many other elite NRL players.
The Cowboys have the ingredients to go all the way in 2018.
They just haven’t find the right way to bring it all together yet.
If they do, the rest of the NRL will be watching intently because coach Paul Green has a serious team at his disposal.
It is still far too early to write off the Cowboys.
— Travis Meyn
MANLY’S MASSIVE WORRIES AFTER EELS HAMMERING
Eels 44 Sea Eagles 10: Moses inspires Eels to first win of season
Manly is in serious danger of having its season go into freefall, with Sunday’s embarrassing loss to Parramatta perfectly encapsulating every shortfall in Trent Barrett’s side.
Having already lost key forwards Curtis Sironen and Kelepi Tanginoa to season-ending ACL injuries, Manly’s forward pack stocks look thin – and they were bashed all over the park by a Parramatta team that had gone winless through six rounds and hadn’t dominated a forward contest all year.
Not one Manly player cracked 100m for the match, as Trent Barrett’s men continued their sloppy handling and ill-discipline by making 10 errors and conceding 13 penalties.
As a result, the Sea Eagles backs were starved of possession and field position – and when they did get a chance, they fluffed their lines.
How they respond will sum up Manly’s season – they have a quick turnaround to take on a resurgent Newcastle, minus Mitchell Pearce (pec), before a horror three-week stretch on the road against the Sydney Roosters, Brisbane Broncos and Melbourne Storm.
By contrast, Parramatta looked everything but a team that had started the year as a rabble, with the likes of Manu Ma’u, Tim Mannah and Tony Williams producing their best performances of the year to show there is life in the Eels’ season yet.
The return of Clinton Gutherson has given Parramatta’s attack more structure and allowed Corey Norman more freedom to run the ball – leading to him notching season-highs in metres gained (97) and tackle breaks (six), and his first try since round one.
— Joe Barton
SHARKS ATTACK STARTING TO CLICK AS COGS FALL INTO PLACE
Sharks 26 Panthers 22: Fifita stars as gritty Sharks roll Panthers
Shane Flanagan has shifted spines like he’s a chiropractor so far this season and the result has been a disjointed, stuttering attack that hasn’t gotten going at all.
Before this victory, Cronulla had failed to pass 20 points this season but against the Panthers they pulled together their best performance of the season on the back of sublime performances from Josh Dugan and Jesse Ramien.
Dugan has his limitations as a fullback, but when deployed in the right fashion he’s still very effective. His kick returns were on point and the grubber he put in for Valentine Holmes was as sharp a piece of playmaking as he’s produced in recent years.
A lack of ball-playing nous dogged Dugan through his final years at the Dragons — he recorded just nine try assists in his final three seasons — but he does have playmaking skills buried in there somewhere. During his Canberra days Dugan was a fine secondary ball-player and if he’s to continue to be a success at the back for the Sharks that’s a skill set he must recall.
Ramien, who is bound for the Knights next season, has been a real find. Rangy, powerful and light on his feet, Ramien is the prototypical modern centre but appears to have none of the teething problems of other young centres, particularly in defence.
Dugan was recruited to be a strike centre, but if he’s better suited to be a fullback then Ramien immediately becomes an important cog. Getting him early ball should be a cornerstone of their attacking game plans.
— Nick Campton
LIVE stream the 2018 NRL Telstra Premiership on FOX SPORTS. Every game of every round LIVE in HD, with no ad-breaks during play! Get your free 2-week trial now
Gus’ ‘doctored’ claim ignites NRL conspiracy
The NRL Grand Final’s controversial no try scandal has taken a wild turn despite the game releasing the angle the decision was based on.
Kangaroos selection shocks: NRL legends’ Test careers appear over
Mal Meninga has dropped a major selection bombshell by overlooking both James Tedesco and Kalyn Ponga for Kangaroos selection, with the list of surprise omissions and debutants not ending there. See the full squad.