NRL Talking Points: Woeful Wests, next Kangaroos coach: and DCE’s still got it
The NRL has reached its midway point.
Backing up is never easy – just ask Dylan Edwards.
The NRL’s Duracell Bunny scored the clincher on Wednesday night in the closing stages, having run himself into the ground before that, and by half time on Sunday afternoon in Parramatta, it had all caught up with him.
Yet by the end of that game, he was the hero again. Edwards threw the pass to Brian To’o – perhaps his nearest competitor for rugby league’s peak Stakhanovite – which sealed the deal against the Eels.
They were just two of the standouts who doubled down. Daly Cherry-Evans had his best game of the year, Tom Dearden dominated and, in defeat, Zac Lomax was also excellent.
The back-up rounds can often be disappointing, as the only thing worse than the best players not playing is when they play hurt, or tired, or both. But this week: not the case.
They delivered big time – here’s how.
A good week for…
Penrith, who showed all their class to grab the two points in a ding-dong Battle of the West against Parramatta.
This was 17th v 15th, not that you would have known it. It was a great game, played with finals-like intensity at a rapid pace.
As much as they have struggled this year, the Penrith old firm was back for the clincher: Isaah Yeo went to the line, fed Nathan Cleary, who held up the line for Dylan Edwards, who looped a pass to Brian To’o.
If you’re counting, that’s four Origin players, four quadruple Premiers, four absolute champions.
Edwards’ part was particularly impressive, not just because passing hasn’t always been his strong point but also as he was patently knackered, but still produced the play.
In the past, Penrith didn’t generally ask their stars to back up, but they are where they are and needed this win.
The difference in 2025 has been the inability of the rest to keep up with the best, but that wasn’t there tonight. Casey McLean set one up and scored another, Tom Jenkins was excellent up against Zac Lomax and, from the bench, Luron Patea added plenty.
If Ivan Cleary can keep the key man on the field and elevate the rest, this team only needs to make the eight to be in with a chance. Despite this being just their fourth win of the year, they’re only three points shy of the top half.
A bad week for…
The Wests Tigers, who not only lost Lachlan Galvin, but also found an entirely new way to lose in Townsville against the Cowboys.
For an hour, this was a classic of the nothing-went-right genre.
Jarome Luai was binned for repeat offences and Adam Doueihi for an escort. They lost a key try just after half time to Jeremiah Nanai, who profited from a clear disruptor that wasn’t called.
John Bateman, who left the club under a cloud last year, was laughing all the way to the tryline as he twisted the knife on his former club.
Perhaps most annoyingly, the Tigers put together their best showing of the year, almost turning around an NRL record deficit with four tries in 14 minutes at the end of the game.
They ruthlessly targeted Jeremiah Nanai, never the best defensively but even worse than usual after backing up from Origin. Having been so far behind, it was even more frustrating to know that they came so close.
At 13 v 13, it was 28-6 to the Tigers – unfortunately for them, at 13 v 12 it was 26-0 to the Cowboys.
Just when you think you’ve seen every way that a team can lose, the Tigers find another you’ve never even thought of.
Standout…
The ongoing uselessness of the Broncos has been covered widely in these pages, so let’s instead pay tribute to Manly – and in particular, their much-maligned halfback Daly Cherry-Evans.
The halfback has been under the pump for months after publicly calling time on his Manly career and sparking extensive speculation about where he will land.
His performances since announcing his departure have been largely poor, and that criticism was doubled by a meek showing for Queensland in their defeat last week, which has seen more than a few question his place in Origin at the age of 36.
DCE responded with his best performance of the year, tearing apart the Broncos with the intelligence and class that he has made his calling card for over 15 years.
There were three try assists, but even better was the control from deep. Jesse Arthars, in his first appearance at fullback in the NRL, didn’t know what had hit him.
Cherry-Evans sent him scuttling from touchline to touchline with aggressive kicking that aimed at 40/20s and when they didn’t make it, forced Brisbane to start their sets in the worst possible place.
The relationship between DCE and Manly’s supporters has remained strong despite his impending exit, but there have been rumblings about his form. This was a huge step in the right direction.
Washout…
This week is tough.
We can’t keep going for Adam O’Brien, who is inexplicably still in a job, the Broncos have been covered in depth above and the Titans have been washouts for most of their existence.
Of the sides that lost, the Tigers were actually really good and Souths weren’t bad either, almost coming back late on to almost win it.
It might actually be the Melbourne Storm. They got the two points on the Gold Coast, but that’s not really worth much, as everyone wins there.
The performance was far from excellent, struggling past a Titans side that made 15 errors, several of which gifted points to their opponents. Without that generosity, the result might have been different.
Craig Bellamy was filthy in the coaches’ box, perhaps conscious that his side have won just twice on the road this year, and were lucky to get the points on this occasion.
Everyone is talking about…
Mal Meninga, who is now in pole position for the Perth Bears job after both Brad Arthur and Sam Burgess were overlooked.
It’s hard to see where the sense in this lies beyond name recognition value.
Mal has been a good rep coach, but that might not be worth much: rep footy is totally different to clubland, and Mal’s record within it is coaching a Queensland team stacked with generationally great players and then a Kangaroos side that is always miles better than any team they face.
How does that prepare him for week-to-week footy with an expansion side? Answers on a postcard.
Moreover, Mal’s record in the NRL is pretty bad. He hasn’t coached a club side in 24 years and has a 52% record with Canberra over a pretty big sample, putting himself in the same bracket as Arthur, who did it a lot more recently.
It’s strange that Meninga even wants it, given that he has the cushiest job in rugby league as a TV personality on the weekends and the national team coach at the end of the year.
He’ll be 66 by the time the team enter the league, but clearly the fire still burns inside.
But nobody mentions…
If Mal goes to Perth, who takes over as the Kangaroos boss?
The names floated are basically a line-up of one of the midweek panel shows: Kevvie Walters (Fox League), Cameron Smith (100% Footy) and Brad Fittler (Freddie and the Eighth). Has anyone asked if James Bracey or Yvonne Sampson fancy the gig?
Walters is probably the best candidate in that he recently coached an NRL team, albeit quite underwhelmingly, whereas Fittler was a disaster with NSW and Smith has never coached anywhere.
It does speak to the way that the Kangaroos have devalued their own brand to the point that the coach is seen as a figurehead, someone to turn up well on TV rather than the face of the sport nationally.
It’s difficult to imagine the Socceroos picking Mark Bosnich because he’s good on the telly, or Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher battling it out to coach the Three Lions.
The theory might well be that, given the talent, almost anyone can coach the Kangaroos successfully and, even if they lose, it’s a result for the international game anyway. It’s deeply unserious, however.
Forward pass
There’s a public holiday this coming weekend, celebrating the colonial weirdness that has resulted in the November-born King Charles giving everyone a Monday off. Look, it makes no sense, but a long weekend is a long weekend.
It’ll be a big one, too, with Lachlan Galvin a potential Bulldogs debutant in the showpiece Monday afternoon game.
In a perfect piece of narrative, Canterbury face their traditional rivals Parramatta – who Galvin turned down.
You can expect a huge crowd to pack into Accor Stadium. The record for this fixture was set last year at 45,000, which is very much in doubt.
With a decent weather forecast and some buy-in from the Eels, the 65,000 NRL record regular season attendance, set as recently as Easter Monday, isn’t unreasonable.
