NRL Conclusions: Refereeing chaos, Sharks shambles and Perth future

Round 5 brought some real clarity to the NRL table – and some succour at the bottom.

We’ll get to the frontrunners in a second, but the main story of Saturday was that we no longer have any winless teams following a dramatic Golden Point win for Parramatta over the Dragons and an all-too-predictable collapse under pressure from the Titans, allowing the Dolphins to get on the board.

Beyond that, it was all about who wasn’t on the field, whether through an increased number of sin bins or a proliferation of muscular injuries.

First up, though – the good guys.

A good week for…

The top, where things are starting to take shape.

Melbourne bounced back from their surprise defeat to the Dragons with a resounding 48-24 win over Manly – snapping a three game losing streak at Brookvale Oval in the process.

This was statement stuff from the Storm, not least because the Sea Eagles would certainly have considered themselves among the potential contenders. On this evidence, only one of these two can make the Grand Final.

Canterbury remain unbeaten and top, all the more impressive for the continued absence of their best playmaker, Matt Burton, and main strike weapon, Viliame Kikau.

They got a little lucky with Newcastle losing two players in the first two minutes to injury, but the hallmarks of their success – namely line speed and intensity – made up for what was, at times, a pedestrian attacking performance.

Brisbane were the third team to record a big win, though theirs comes with a caveat: while the attack was very good indeed and put 46 on the Tigers, their defence was very soft at times.

Both they and the Storm conceded 24 points, but Manly are one of the best attacking sides in the league and were forced to earn every try they got, while the Tigers are not and were not.

A bad week for…

Hamstrings, which took a battering this weekend.

Souths began the party with three in the same game, including both starting halves, which will at least increase English interest next week as Lewis Dodd looks certain to debut on Saturday.

That was compounded on Saturday night as Adam Reynolds, who is held together with sticky tape at the best of times, did his while kicking a goal in the Broncos’ win over the Tigers. Most cruelly, he had just scored a classic kick and chase try before, without incident.

The Manly-Melbourne game ended with both Ryan Papenhuyzen and Xavier Coates on the Storm bench with hamstring tightness, and Jason Saab on Manly’s following a similar sprinting issue.

Luke Garner went down for Penrith, Mikaele Ravalawa also departed for Souths and there’s a raft of players already out.

So why is this happening?

The obvious answer is the increased speed of the game, which has brought with it a commensurate increase in fast twitch muscle injuries such as hamstring pulls.

An alternative might be in the description: several were described as ‘hamstring tightness’, suggesting a feeling rather than an actual tear in the muscle.

With a torn hamstring worth four weeks on the sidelines, it might be that teams are much more cautious in withdrawing a player at the earliest moment, losing them for a match rather than a month.

Standout…

The refs.

The NRL has a tendency to think it’s the only competition in the rugby league world, and therefore the arbiter of all truth in the sport.

It certainly is the best and most powerful league, but that doesn’t make it immune from the rest of the globe. Certainly, it doesn’t make Australian heads any harder.

Remember, Liam Watts was sent off more times in a year than the whole of the NRL sent off in five years, which tells you how unseriously these things are taken at times.

After last week saw a few egregious head shots unpunished, enough of a fuss was kicked up in the Sydney media to force the NRL into one of its periodic crackdowns.

For those not au fait with how this works: about four times a season there is a moral panic about something or other in the sport (high tackles, blockers, roll balls, field goal offsides) and the NRL goes hard at it for, say, two weeks. Then we all forget and move on.

This week was all about high tackles, and for those of us who watch the Super League, it was refreshing.

Refs not only took action, but also explained their decisions properly. Mitigation and force were discussed. They acted on foul play, empowered to actually do something about it.

The highlight was an all-timer press conference from Des Hasler, who insisted that he was not moaning before launching into a full ‘the game’s gone’ rant.

It won’t last, of course. That’s too much to ask.

Washout…

Nicho Hynes and Brayden Trindall.

The Sharks had absolutely everything they could have wanted in the second half against Canberra, with 56% of the ball and 67% of the territory, not to mention ten minutes with Hudson Young in the bin.

It wasn’t just that Cronulla didn’t score – they barely fired a shot. It was all very side to side, with barely any deception, allowing the Raiders to slide and make their tackles with relative ease.

Cronulla have Addin Fonua-Blake this year and play for him to crash over like he did so often at the Warriors, but don’t put on the smart plays that enabled those tries.

They have Briton Nikora, arguably the best line runner in the comp, but barely gave him the ball. They were so seduced by kicking at Kaeo Weekes, a genuine bomb scare at the back under the high ball, that Ronaldo Mulitalo, their own weapon, was neglected.

All of this comes back to the halves. Trindall had a few darts at the line, but Hynes offered so little creativity. It was plodding in the extreme.

Ricky Stuart’s men are a solid defensive outfit, and they push every limit on rucks. In the previous two weeks, that came back to bite them with too much defence to cope. This time, it worked – helped enormously by their opposition’s conservatism.

Everyone is talking about…

Souths, and where they might play their footy in the years to come.

The Rabbitohs hierarchy met with the New South Wales authorities last week to discuss the state of Stadium Australia in Homebush, which has hosted their home matches since 2006.

Back then, Sydney’s largest venue was at least new, but now, it’s in dire need of a revamp – and that’s just the structure, without factoring in the logistical problems of getting to and from a ground totally detached from the rest of the city, or the lack of local amenities.

Oh, and the slightly silly nature of a team called South Sydney playing in the heart of Western Sydney, some 20km from their spiritual home.

The club with the most supporters in the city average 14,000 fans per game in an 80,000 seater venue, and just 10,000 turned up to a theoretically massive clash with Penrith last week.

The Bunnies would dearly love to play at the new Allianz Stadium, which is newer, nicer, better connected and, crucially, also close to South Sydney.

The Roosters, who act like they own the new ground despite sharing it with Sydney FC and the Waratahs, aren’t exactly keen on their main NRL rivals moving in, but it’s owned by the taxpayers and ultimately the government will decide.

Souths were promised upgrades when they signed their tenancy with Venues NSW, who manage both stadiums, on the proviso that Homebush would get a lick of paint.

A change of government put the kibosh on that, and there is an acceptance from all parties that the deal has changed.

Then again, the Government are already saddled with a massive stadium that nobody likes – they’d hate to have it sit empty, too. If they let Souths walk, the other tenants – Canterbury –

But nobody mentions…

Perth, which is seemingly dead on its backside for the next few years at least.

The story dropped on Friday teatime, just as Penrith were losing to the Cowboys, ensuring that it failed to get the airing that it might otherwise have received, but it is potentially seismic.

Reports are that the NRL will walk away from Perth, unhappy that the Western Australian Government is sufficiently willing to back the project.

If you put yourself into the WA shoes, it’s easy to understand why they’re not exactly enthralled.

They were forced into a marriage with the North Sydney Bears – why would anyone in the West care about a suburban Sydney club that left first grade 25 years ago? – then given a laundry list of conditions, including a $120 million investment into the new club and upgrades to the intended stadium in Perth, which the NRL would then get to use rent-free.

Western Australian leader Roger Cook described the NRL as seeing the state as a “cash cow”.

His view was that the NRL needs them, with their deep, mining-filled pockets and TV-friendly time zone, far more than their taxpayers need rugby league.

Tellingly, one of the few stories on this in Eastern Seaboard media told it entirely through the prism of how it would affect the North Sydney part of the deal, not the Perth bit. Therein lies the tale.

Forward pass

Speaking of the West, we’ll get to see that story unfold first hand this weekend as two games are taken to Perth.

Manly face Cronulla at 3pm Sydney time – 1pm in Western Australia, a time that they would never schedule a Sydney match – followed by Souths v North Queensland, also in Perth.

That was done to facilitate a 7.35pm kick off in the heat of Darwin for Parramatta v Canberra, a game that could have been scheduled on Thursday, Friday or Sunday.

All eyes will be on the Friday night clash between Redcliffe and Penrith, which is almost a spoonbowl, while Pommy interest will be in Lewis Dodd’s likely debut for the Bunnies.