NRL Wrap: The late show, sacking season.. and why the Knights should ditch Ponga

Where do you even start?

The last four games of the weekend were decided by two points, two points, one point and five points – with the last, the Warriors’ win over Newcastle, perhaps the most bonkers finish of all time.

Jack Cogger had just sent over a miracle field goal to put Newcastle up 15-14, which itself would have been remarkable, had it not been for what followed.

Tanah Boyd missed a return attempt, was then given a shot at a penalty goal after the Bunker found a Jackson Hastings offside that everyone missed. He sent that wide, then had another field goal charged down straight to Leka Halasima, who ran it in from 45 metres out. 

The Knights had won it, lost it, won it and lost it again. In the process, Adam O’Brien likely loses his job, with the finals now almost impossible for Newcastle. Who’d be a coach?

A good week for…

The Wests Tigers, who got themselves up off the canvas and grabbed a dramatic last minute victory over the Titans at a packed Leichhardt Oval.

It was one of the days that make you realise why everyone loves the old girl: sun shining on a winter’s Sunday afternoon, the Tigers coming from behind to win it late, the chaos on the hill.

In truth it was a terrible game, befitting two bad teams, and the Adam Doueihi field goal that secured it was as shonky as anything.

But if you squinted, you could see what the Tigers were doing. 

With Doueihi in the 13 jumper, Latu Fainu playing run-first and the experienced combination of Jarome Luai and Api Koroisau playing like it’s 2022 all over again, there’s the formation of a spine.

It’s a way off yet, but there’s something there. The seven wins Benji Marshall’s men have gained this year is already their most since 2021. 

They won’t be planning the Premiership parade yet, but it’s encouraging nonetheless.

A bad week for…

South Sydney, who aren’t officially done for the year, but are.

They lost to Penrith, which all but ended their hopes of making the eight, but really, that came earlier in the day when Latrell Mitchell was ruled out for a month with a quad injury.

He joins Cody Walker, Brandon Smith, Campbell Graham and Cameron Murray as long-term, high-value outs. Later in the day, Keoan Koloamatangi, who has been Souths’ best player all year, did an ankle and will miss a chunk of time too.

Throw in Jayden Sullivan, Davvy Moale, Peter Mamouzelos and Mikaele Ravalawa and you’re looking at well over half the salary cap sitting on the sideline. 

Wayne Bennett is a supercoach, but he’s not a miracle worker, and Souths have had the most men out all year. 

Spare a thought for Jack Wighton, who moved to Souths to win Premierships and has instead not won a game at all since the start of April – a personal streak of nine consecutive games, the longest in the NRL for at least a decade.

Standout…

Blayke Brailey, who hasn’t just been the Cronulla Sharks’ best player for the last month, he’s been just about the best in the NRL.

The hooker is the epitome of understated: imagine what his voice sounds like. You can’t. Nobody knows. But ever-so-quietly, he’s become one of the best dummy halves around. 

The best ability is availability, and Brailey plays 80 pretty much every week, and has done for more than five years. The next priority for a 9 is defence, and he has that covered: he’s been in the top five tacklers in the comp since 2021.

This year, and this month in particular, it’s been all about attack. Brailey has begun springing from behind the ruck more readily, using his exceptional reading of the game to pick moments when markers are shirking.

That led to two tries on Friday night in the win over the Roosters, one a dart close to the line with an offload to Will Kennedy, the other a more traditional break through the centre for Nicho Hynes.

Brailey now has five assists in his last five games. Pity for him that Origin is over, because if they picked it today, he’d start for NSW.

Washout…

Todd Payten is on his last legs at the Cowboys after copping another thrashing at the hands of the Dolphins, who have now put 101 points past his side this year.

The 42-24 scoreline was bad, but actually makes it look better than it was for North Queensland. 

They salvaged some pride with a second half burst when the Phins had put the cue in the rack, but as soon as a scintilla of doubt came into the game, Redcliffe went right back up the other end and scored again.

They did so because they could, and they could because the Cowboys’ defence was nonexistent. The Dolphins have great attacking shape and superb speed, but didn’t really need it to make mincemeat of what was in front of them.

North Queensland now average 30 points per game against, seven more than last year, which was more than the year before and the year before that. In fact, that 30 is now double what they conceded per game in 2022, when they finished third. 

It’s not the trajectory of coaches that keep their job. The finals are pretty much impossible now, and when it becomes a mathematical certainty, expect serious questions to be asked.

Everyone is talking about…

The refereeing, just for a change.

This was a pick-your-own-adventure of controversy: the Dragons’ defeat and Manly’s win were obvious places to start, as well as the return of the rollball.

The NRL loves periodically applying a rule for one round to wind everyone up, then forgetting it exists. They live for a crackdown. 

We had the high tackle edition where everyone got sin binned, so that’s ticked off, and now we’ve had a second run at playing the ball properly, a penalty that could be given 50 times a game if so inclined.

It’s most egregious because, once you’ve seen one or two given, you then see them everywhere and rage at why those ones were called and others weren’t. Cracking down on something that nobody really cares about is the definition of a fool’s errand.

Manly were the beneficiaries of a late penalty after Harry Grant made contact with Luke Brooks’ leg as he unsuccessfully attempted a field goal, gifting Reuben Garrick two easy points from the penalty goal. 

It was softer than soft, though any Sea Eagles fan would point to a similar incident that cost Manly a win in Auckland last season, and Melbourne might instead rage at losing a try for unrelated foul play when Nelson Asofa-Solomona elbowed Cory Waddell after the ball had gone. 

St George Illawarra were stung by a series of calls late in their defeat to Canterbury, too, including a forward pass, a ball-plant and a knock-on missed. 

Shane Flanagan’s side have now lost eight times by eight points for fewer – including all of their last three – and five times by less than a try. Had they won any of those, they’d still be in finals contention. 

No wonder Flanno blew up in the press conference.

But nobody mentions…

The Ewing Theory, which might be about to get a major run in the NRL.

The theory dates from Bill Simmons, the famous basketball writer, who coined it to describe how the New York Knicks got better in the 1990s despite – or because of – losing their best player, Patrick Ewing.

One might think of PSG, who just won the Champions League after Kylian Mbappe left, as a recent example, or if you prefer, the Boston Red Sox winning their first World Series in a century despite trading Nomar Garciaparra halfway through the season in 2004.

The rugby league equivalent might be about to happen in Newcastle with Kalyn Ponga. 

The fullback sucks up a huge part of the club’s salary cap, and good as he is, there’s really no way anyone could argue that the Knights are getting value for money. Ponga won a Dally M and is still overpriced.

Throw in that they have another, cheaper fullback in Fletcher Sharpe and chronic issues elsewhere in the team – not to mention almost certainly a new coach with a new philosophy – and the time to cut their highly paid superstar is probably here.

Ponga has denied links to rugby union, but there’s a strong whiff of smoke that suggests a fire.

With Dylan Brown, a career five eighth, arriving on megabucks and Sharpe, shunted to 6 so Ponga can play fullback, already in his position, the argument that Newcastle should ditch the captain, buy a halfback and suddenly have a complete spine is pretty overwhelming.

Forward pass

We lost Souths, Newcastle, the Cowboys and the Dragons this week, as teams with six wins would be required to win out from here to make the eight. 

There’s still six sides between eight and ten wins, of whom the Roosters are the lowest – and they have the Storm coming to town on Thursday night. Lose that and they are on life support.

Manly’s upset win in Melbourne keeps them well and truly in the hunt, but must now face the Bulldogs on Sunday afternoon.

Were both they and the Roosters to lose, there’d be a loser-goes-home clash the week after at Brookvale Oval. Forward pass to a forward pass? Sure.