Gold Coast pulled off one of the biggest upsets of the season with a shock 24-16 win over the Warriors at Go Media Stadium on Saturday afternoon in coach Des Hasler’s 500th game.
Milestone man Hasler has been under immense pressure after two failed campaigns on the Glitter Strip with his frustration boiling over in a televised tantrum following last week’s defeat but the upset gives the veteran mentor some hope of avoiding a first-ever wooden spoon.
Penrith cruised to their seventh-straight victory, hammering Wests Tigers 36-2 at CommBank Stadium as Benji Marshall’s men failed to score a try in the heavy defeat.
Climbing to fifth, the Panthers are now within three points of the top four, while the Tigers remain mired in 13th-placed mediocrity with their finals hopes long gone.
South Sydney were gutsy but ultimately lacked quality in an honourable 14-12 defeat at the hands of Cronulla at Polytec Stadium.
The Rabbitohs have slumped to rock bottom, literally, in a heavily injury-affected season, finishing the round in 17th place.
Gold Coast lift for desperate Des in Titanic upset
The chances of Des Hasler going across the Tasman for his 500th match as an NRL coach and coming away with a victory were grim but his Titans side refused to wilt after yet another poor start and sealed a surprise 24-16 win in Auckland.
When Adam Pompey and last Sunday’s match-winner Leka Halasima crossed for tries within the first eight minutes a cricket score was on the cards at Go Media Stadium, but to their credit Gold Coast stayed in the fight and held on for a victory that could help them prevent Hasler’s first wooden spoon, considering South Sydney’s incredible injury toll and Newcastle’s attacking struggles.
“It’s got nothing to do with the 500, that had nothing to do with it,” Hasler said.
“I’m just really proud of the boys. It was probably how we’ve wanted to play, been building towards for the past months. We got through our sets and played really disciplined footy.”
AJ Brimson impressed at the back as Jojo Fifita and Phillip Sami scored try doubles. Fifita’s second came straight after Warriors winger Dallin Watene-Zelezniak was sent to the sin-bin for a professional foul, and the hosts, missing talisman Luke Metcalf for the rest of 2025, could not find any more points against the second worst defence in the NRL to get back into the contest.
Premiers marching towards title tilt
With premiership favourites Melbourne losing halfback Jahrome Hughes for up to six weeks, and the other premiership contenders with considerable flaws of their own, the Panthers’ seventh straight win has lifted them to fifth with their chances of an incredible fifth straight title increasing by the week.
The latest victory over a struggling Tigers outfit was not exactly their best work but Ivan Cleary’s side nonetheless built momentum as their considerable winning streak continued in Parramatta.
Despite three tries in the opening stanza, their attack looked clunky against the brittle Wests defence with Blaize Talagi having a first half to forget.
Plenty of pundits have backed Penrith to give the premiership a real shake even from the bottom half of the top eight but they may not need to take the scenic route to Accor Stadium on October 5th if they can maintain this winning run with the Warriors and Broncos both stumbling this weekend against lowly opponents. If stars Nathan Cleary, Dylan Edwards and Isaah Yeo remain fit, it’ll be difficult for challengers to put the brakes on the Penrith train.
Tigers toothless as Luai can’t rise to occasion
The victory over Gold Coast probably was enough to ensure the Tigers avoid the ignominy of another dreaded wooden spoon but with Hasler’s side picking up two points on Saturday, and the Eels causing a big shock against Brisbane, Benji Marshall’s team may not be totally safe from a bottom-placed finish just yet.
The average margin in their latest two wins is 1.5 points and as further evidenced by this latest loss, there just aren’t enough points in this team to offset their very questionable defence. It would be difficult to label Jarome Luai’s first campaign at Concord a success and the NSW Blues playmaker again failed to make a difference against his former side. Latu Fainu has shown signs he will become a quality playmaker but the 20-year-old is far from the finished product.
It took a shonky last minute Adam Doueihi field goal to topple the Titans and with difficult assignments against Canterbury and Manly coming up, Wests could find themselves slipping further from 13th place unless their attack significantly improves.
Sharks overcome slow start to keep rolling
The Sharks did enough on Saturday night to seal their third win on the bounce, lifting them to seventh as they jostle for a top-eight finish with the Dolphins, Manly and Roosters.
Despite boasting 34 red zone tackles to the Rabbitohs’ three, Cronulla failed to cross the stripe in the opening 40 minutes and to make matters worse for Craig Fitzgibbon, Addin Fonua-Blake was forced off due to an ankle injury. They couldn’t take advantage of their huge possession advantage and a plucky yet severely depleted South Sydney line-up and it took until the 60th minute to build a decent lead through in-form rake Blayke Brailey.
It was far from a polished performance but the wins all count the same, and with a soft run-in to the finals it would come as a surprise if Cronulla were unable to secure a top-eight finish from this point.
Rabbitohs defiant but slump to cellar as unwanted history looms
At this point in the season, with a mounting injury toll that is by far the worst in the NRL, you could forgive Rabbitohs fans for losing faith. But the way Wayne Bennett’s team repelled the Sharks in a lopsided opening half was to be applauded, giving supporters some hope and it got even better when Tyrone Munro crossed for the first try.
Munro had been tormented under the high balls off the boot of Cronulla playmaker Braydon Trindall but finished off a dynamic play to give South Sydney an unlikely 6-2 lead at half-time. Their advantage wouldn’t last long, however, as Ronaldo Mulitalo scored in the corner, and things soon got worse when Belinda Sharpe sent five-eighth Jack Wighton to the sin-bin for a shoulder charge that knocked out Toby Rudolf.
They held on until the 60-minute mark but when Brailey crossed for a four-pointer there was a sense of inevitability about Souths’ 13th loss of a season to forget.
The Kick: Wahs let rivals back into top-four hunt
At home against the competition’s cellar dwellers, a big New Zealand win seemed to be a fait accompli but the combination of poor defence and the conspicuous absence of a top-quality No.7 sunk the Warriors.
“It does (hurt),” Warriors coach Andrew Webster said.
“We just weren’t good enough. That’s what hurts most, it’s nothing to do with where they sit on the table.
“The biggest thing is we weren’t where we wanted to be, and that’s always frustrating.”
This defeat could prove costly come the conclusion of Round 27 even despite Brisbane’s own shock loss to Parramatta on Friday. Michael Maguire’s side missed their chance to bank an ostensibly easy two points at Suncorp Stadium but still boast a superior differential and certainly have the quality in them to go on a big run into September on the back of Adam Reynolds, Payne Haas and Reece Walsh.
Four-time premiers Penrith are three points back of the Warriors, giving them a decent chance of leapfrogging the Warriors if they can remain pretty much perfect in the remaining six fixtures and Nathan Cleary remains injury-free.
Unlike the other two sides, however, even if Andrew Webster’s men hang on to fourth, there are still pretty big questions marks over the Wahs’ finals credentials with Tanah Boyd being a huge downgrade on Luke Metcalf in the halves, and the loss of important prop Mitch Barnett.
with AAP
