NRL 2021 The Tackle: Likes, Dislikes and best players from round 24
While Corey Norman wasn’t particularly poor, he just didn’t offer what the Dragons desperately needed from him. Likes, dislikes and votes from Round 24.
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Our rugby league writers reveal what caught their eye — good and bad — in Round 24 of the NRL.
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Like: Newcastle’s clunky attack did enough to get the job done and book a finals spot but it was the Knights’ 80-minute effort that kept them in the game. Coach Adam O’Brien believes that effort is enough to ensure his side can be competitive in September despite the pundits claiming Newcastle are making up the numbers.
“We’ve got heart, we showed that tonight and if you’ve got that that goes a long way towards winning rugby league games,” O’Brien said. “But yeah, I feel like we’ve got the personnel and we’ve got the juice in our legs to get a bit better and we’ll see where it takes us. If you get the finals you’ve got to be really, really good for a month. Yeah, so they can say what they want about us, I don’t really care.”
Dislike: The use of David Fifita. His minutes have dropped significantly since the barnstorming start to his career as Titan and has been resigned to mostly a bench role since round 14. With that game plan, Fifita is never going to yield the Titans the return on their big money investment. The powerhouse forward was held until back until the 32nd minute with the match deadlocked at 6-all. Fifita was injected with immediate impact, scoring a try to put the Titans in the lead. It was Fifita’s 15th try for the season, the most of any Titan and the most from a forward in a season in 20 years. Titans coach Justin Holbrook insisted the game plan was always to hold Fifita until late in the first half. But with the club’s season on the line, the decision to leave their most dangerous player on the line for over 30 minutes raises questions about whether Holbrook is using Fifita to his potential.
Fox Sports key stats: Newcastle secures consecutive finals appearances for the first time since 2003.
Player of the year: 3 Kalyn Ponga 2 Mitchell Pearce 1 Jayden Campbell
– Fatima Kdouh
Like: Jordan Rapana can’t have done more to secure a contract extension for next season. The Raiders veteran has been in sensational form, finishing Friday’s contest with a game-high 251 metres, two line-breaks, a try and an assist. He’s been brilliant at getting sets started with weaving runs, and his finishing remains up there with the best in the competition. But he’ll probably have to shift to the wing given how well Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad has played since coming back from a serious neck injury. He started on the bench but still ran for 170 metres, scored a try and set one up. It’s why whoever finishes fifth will be sweating bullets if the Green Machine can sneak into eighth spot.
Dislike: The Warriors have lost seven games this season by six points or less, and while this match didn’t quite fall into that category, scores were level after 78 minutes. Their inability to close out tight games has cost them a spot in the finals, and they haven’t helped themselves with poor execution and odd decisions in clutch moments. The game could have been over in the first half when Sean O’Sullivan spilt a grubber over the line that would have made it 22-0. Instead, Canberra went downfield and scored to give them momentum at the break. Also, did Reece Walsh’s second conversion attempt go in? It sure looked like it, but the touch judges waved it away. It could have been a crucial two points in a close game.
Fox Sports key stats: Back-to-back losses for the Warriors which sees them miss the finals for the third straight season. Canberra has a better record this season when not scoring after 20 minutes, winning six of eight when not scoring, but just four of 15 when scoring.
Player of the year: 3 Jordan Rapana 2 Hudson Young 1 Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad
– Martin Gabor
Like: The Rabbitohs forward pack set up this win with some finals-style intimidation. Mark Nicholls, an unsung prop but a valued one, ran for 217m and scored a double. Jaydn Su’A, who Wayne Bennett has likened to former Broncos hardman Tonie Carroll, was at his brutal best. Thomas Burgess and Jai Arrow combined to bash the Roosters out of it. Throw in the link play and smarts of Cameron Murray and Bennett mostly got the kind of complete game from his forwards that he relishes. If the Rabbitohs are to win the title without Latrell Mitchell then each player must bring an A-plus game to the table. It wasn’t quite that, but hat-trick hero Alex Johnston was in that echelon with another slick display of finishing.
Dislike: Latrell Mitchell could have walked off the field against his former club as man of the match, such was his dominance. Instead he walked off a footy field for the last time this year after copping a six-week suspension for a reckless and totally unnecessary high shot on his friend Joey Manu. Mitchell, as his former coach Trent Robinson said, plays the game “on the edge”. With that comes the risk he will go over the edge, which is what happened here. The cost of his actions could well be no title for Souths and none for the Roosters either. Spare a thought for Manu. The agony of a fractured cheek and the prospect of missing the finals series when he loomed as one of the few gamebreakers the Roosters had left.
Fox Sports key stats: First time the Rabbitohs have won three straight games against the Roosters since the late 1980s. That’s 10 straight losses for the Roosters against the Storm, Panthers and Rabbitohs.
Player of the year: 3 Mark Nicholls 2 Jaydn Su’A 1 Alex Johnston
– Joel Gould
Like: Some players have a rough month – poor Tom Dearden has had a rough couple of seasons. A junior star, Dearden has endured a tough start to his NRL career in terms of results and the win over the Dragons was just his fourth victory in 34 first grade appearances since his debut back in 2019. Dearden is still finding his way as a first grade halfback, but his effort never wanes and that’s a good sign – this was his first win in the top grade since Round 3 and was easily his best game in a Cowboys jersey.
Dislike: The Dragons young trio of Junior Amone, Tyrell Sloan and Jayden Sullivan did their best to drag the team home and keep their faint finals hopes alive but Corey Norman, in one of his final games for the club, showed why the Red V are right to invest in the future. Norman wasn’t particularly poor, he just didn’t offer the steady hand the side needed. A Ben Hunt-Amone halves combination, with Sullivan also on the scene, will be exciting for the Dragons in 2022. Norman might have to accept a back up role if he’s to stay in the NRL.
Fox Sports key stats: Cowboys snap a 10-game losing streak to record their seventh win of the season. Seven straight losses for the Dragons, equalling their club record set in 2015.
Player of the year: 3 Tom Dearden 2 Jeremiah Nanai 1 Tyrell Sloan
– Nick Campton
Like: The Sharks deserve to play finals football and have a potential playoffs X-factor in fullback William Kennedy. If Cronulla can remain in the top eight, they are more than capable of claiming at least one scalp in the opening week of the finals. Kennedy teased the Broncos with some sublime touches from the back, while Jesse Ramien and Briton Nikora ran some lethal lines on the edges. For the Broncos, Selwyn Cobbo can be Brisbane’s version of Latrell Mitchell. The 19-year-old has a long way to go, but the Indigenous rookie has eerie physical parallels to Mitchell with his 100kg frame and the way he glides across the turf.
Dislike: Broncos big-name recruits Adam Reynolds and Kurt Capewell won’t save Brisbane next season if they can’t get some mongrel in defence. The Broncos have conceded a club-record 116 tries and 673 points this season. Finals campaigns are built on defensive resilience and the Broncos must spend the off-season getting serious about their defensive structures or they will miss the playoffs again in 2022. Tom Flegler is a prop of promise but the Broncos firebrand needs to fix his discipline.
Fox Sports key stats: Brendan Piakura became the first Broncos sin binned on debut since Shaun Berrigan in 1999. Just the seventh time this season Cronulla have conceded fewer than 18 points in a match.
Player of the year: 3 Braydon Trindall 2 William Kennedy 1 Tesi Niu
– Peter Badel
Like: If the Eels could bottle a performance and replicate it throughout the finals series, then their sensational upset win over the Storm would be it. The pack – brilliantly led by Nathan Brown, Junior Paulo and Isaiah Papali’i – was brutal, relentless and hungry. Halves Dylan Brown and Mitchell Moses played off the back of it, linked brilliantly and outplayed their gun opponents. This was a Moses masterclass. Under pressure for patchy form over the last two months, it would be sweet indeed for coach Brad Arthur if his team has in fact timed its title run to perfection. Sudden-death finals most likely await but this win, achieved on the back of desperate defensive resolve, will give the Eels belief they can break a 35-year premiership drought.
Dislike: Craig Bellamy said he was embarrassed by his team’s display. “Didn’t give a yelp,” was how he described it. They are rare words from the Storm coach. Apart from the lack of discipline that saw Harry Grant, Brandon Smith and Jesse Bromwich put on report there was a tired look about the Storm. When they needed some inspiration there was none. Throw in a hamstring injury to Josh Addo-Carr and Melbourne appear vulnerable. What upset Bellamy was that his team couldn’t find the motivation to lift in Felise Kaufusi’s 150th club game. Cameron Munster said recently the team needed a loss before the finals to get a reality check. If that is right, then the Storm got it.
Fox Sports key stats: Melbourne’s first loss in 20 games – their streak ends at 19 with the 1975 Roosters. The Eels have won all five games when two-try hero Blake Ferguson has scored this season.
Player of the year: 3 Mitchell Moses 2 Isaiah Papali’i 1 Cameron Munster
— Joel Gould
Like: Tom Trbojevic got Manly out of a real bind and in to the top four with his second half hat-trick. In his first game back after a cheek injury he was absolutely hammered by the Bulldogs defenders but kept putting his body on the line and working his magic. The Sea Eagles may not have won without him. There are games when Turbo Tom wills Manly to victory and this was one of them. Canterbury’s spiritual leader Josh Jackson gave his pack real punch and they followed to a man, before Trbojevic put the game beyond reach. It has been a tough year for the Bulldogs but there was fight in them. Sea Eagles skipper Daly Cherry-Evans (pictured) has stepped up since Origin and he was right in the thick of the good things.
Dislike: The Sea Eagles will need to be ruthless to beat the Storm and Panthers in the big games, but they were far from that against Canterbury. The Bulldogs gave them a major scare and it was some slackness in defence, with Haumole Olakau’atu missing four tackles in quick succession on the edges in the first half, that cost. To the big back-rower’s credit he didn’t miss any after that, but better teams will not let Manly off the hook. It’s a shame that Lachlan Lewis and Adam Elliott let their teammates down with off-field antics because the Canterbury side that took the field did not deserve to be the ones to lose a 10th straight game, the worst losing sequence in the one season in the club’s history.
Fox Sports key stats: Manly’s 15th win of the season, 11th by 18 points or more. Reuben Garrick is the first player in history to score 20 tries and kick 100 goals in a single season.
Player of the year: 3 Tom Trbojevic 2 Josh Jackson 1 Daly Cherry-Evans
— Joel Gould
Not good to see a significant right knee injury for Matt Doorey. Unfortunately video brings concern for an ACL/MCL injury with non-contact (to the knee itself) planting & inward collapse of the knee. Best case meniscus/bone bruise but didn’t look good. Fingers crossed for him pic.twitter.com/fTuhCnzMoF
— NRL PHYSIO (@nrlphysio) August 29, 2021
Like: It wasn’t as comfortable as many would have expected, but Penrith’s win sets up a fabulous Friday that will decide the minor premiership. The Panthers head into the final round level on 42 points with the Storm, which had its 19-game winning streak snapped by the Eels on Saturday night. The Panthers now take on the Eels, who will be without a number of their stars. The question is whether Penrith will decide to rest some of its stars as well. As for the Tigers, this was the sort of resolve their fans wanted to see when the season was on the line against Cronulla last week. Michael Maguire’s men did well to keep a premiership heavyweight to five tries and fought hard late to score a few of their own.
Dislike: Alex Seyfarth’s rotten luck looks set to continue. The promising Tigers forward returned from a knee injury on Sunday but didn’t last long. He was helped off the field with what looks to be a recurrence of the same issue. It’s a sad way for his season to end, but hopefully he and teammate Adam Doueihi will return better than ever in 2022 as the Tigers look to break their lengthy finals drought. It was great to watch, but the other seven coaches in the finals won’t like Penrith’s new ploy of starting Viliame Kikau (pictured) on the bench with Tevita Pangai Jr. They bullied their Tigers opponents and will be a handful for tiring defences in the finals.
Fox Sports key stats: Brian To’o cracked 250m for the ninth time this season – already three more than the next best (Roger Tuivasa-Sheck, 6 in 2015). To’o has won all 17 games he has played this season.
Player of the year: 3 Viliame Kikau 2 Brian To’o 1 Stefano Utoikamanu
— Martin Gabor
Originally published as NRL 2021 The Tackle: Likes, Dislikes and best players from round 24
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