Normal service resumes with your weekly talking points – after a fantastic week on the tools in The Roar’s NRL Power Rankings division, I’m back where I belong.
I learned a lot, had great fun, made lots of lifelong friends, but it’s great to walk back across the hall into talking points central.
And what a round of rugby league we’ve encountered! Upsets, bad injuries, close wins and perhaps the most terrifying question of all … have Penrith woken up?
Let’s dive into this week’s talking points.
Food for thought
It’s worth noting that the Dolphins-Newcastle game drew a crowd of 10,077 in the rain at HBF Park in Perth.
The Friday night prime time game in Campbelltown between Wests Tigers and Canberra had 9,328, Parramatta and Gold Coast at Parramatta Stadium 8,074, and South Sydney and Melbourne 10,093.
Next time someone tries to say there’s no appetite for rugby league in Perth, just remember these numbers.
Catching upsets is going to break some seasons
This weekend saw a few teams fumble golden opportunities which might come back to punish them later, while others barely avoid being embarrassed by less fancied opponents.
The fourth-placed Warriors now have a three-game gap on Brisbane in 5th place, while only two games (and assorted point differentials) separates 5th from 16th. Winning home games has never been more important.
Cronulla blew a handy lead to be run down by Brisbane 34-28, who moved into 5th and knocked the Sharks to 6th. For all their public disaster and bad press, Brisbane are a couple of decent wins away from being entrenched in the top eight and they’re starting to find their attacking feet as Reece Walsh comes to life.
The Dolphins and Warriors really flubbed their lines – more on them a little further down.
Melbourne had to dig deep to stop Latrell Mitchell feeding Alex Johnson and sneak a golden point 25-24 win. They rode their luck and then some.
If they’d dropped that one, there may have been a chance to be caught in fourth, but now any challengers will have to do a lot of work and hope for some other results to fall their way.
Canberra won ugly in Campbelltown against a Wests Tigers team that had its chances to overturn the 16-12 final score. The Raiders are now four games clear in the top four, but have a tricky one against Newcastle next.
The Tigers really could have used that win. They’re dropping too many games, but are still well in the hunt for a finals berth.
The Roosters took care of business early to avoid any issues with North Queensland, ending up 42-8. The Cowboys have now conceded 166 points in their last month of games, and God knows how they pull out of this tailspin.
Danger close! Danger close!
Let’s be clear – everyone had written off Penrith’s chances across the ditch. Only diehard lunatic Panthers fans thought they had a chance.
Five Origin players in Sydney, away overseas to a raging favourite third-placed Warriors … and Penrith put them away 28-18 in a performance that terrified anyone who is hoping for some new blood in the finals and premiership contenders.
They’re in the top eight, they’re settling down a bit, and most importantly, the other finals contenders around them are floundering.
The Panthers are a genuine shot at a home final, and while this sounds a bit hot-takey right now, if New Zealand and Melbourne slip up a couple more times, Penrith might pinch a top four spot.
Among all this terror though is a big question: have Penrith got the taste back, or was this a classic Warriors outing where they fall on their face instead of winning a game they’re supposed to?
Next week will show us. Penrith and Canterbury, Thursday night. An absolute ripper is on the books.
Can miracles happen?
Newcastle won a third game from their last five, and it was impressive, 26-20 over the high flying Dolphins.
The Knights got out of the gates fast but were quickly reeled in as the Dolphins took a 20-16 lead with 20 minutes left.
Another Newcastle implosion was on the cards, but Bradman Best tied it, then Brodie Jones finished it.
Guess what? They are now just two games away from 8th spot.
A horrible setback was a bad injury to Fletcher Sharpe, who lacerated his kidney and stayed behind in Perth to recover. He might be out for quite some time.
Newcastle have probably got the most effective defence of the bottom eight challenger – who’s to say they can’t string a few more wins together?
As for the Dolphins, it was a brutal loss that might well cost them a home final if they can’t keep working around their injury woes.
In a similar predicament to Newcastle are Parramatta, 36-20 winners over the Gold Coast Titans, who did battle to keep it close until the last 10 minutes.
The Titans stay rooted at the bottom of the table, where many thought the Eels would be, but Parramatta now have five wins and are a very credible shot at beating St George Illawarra this week.
Good games next week
For me it’s all about Penrith and Canterbury on Thursday night. Bulldogs off the bye, Penrith bringing in five of the game’s best players. Let’s rumble!
Also worth a look next round will be Brisbane taking on New Zealand on Saturday afternoon, then the Dolphins and Rabbitohs on Saturday night.
There are potential trap games for Canberra and Melbourne too, as they front up against Newcastle and Cronulla on Friday night and Sunday afternoon respectively.
Round 16’s random thoughts
– All rugby league fans salute referee Wyatt Raymond, and we salute Adam Gee in the bunker for not buying Nicho Hynes’ NIDA audition to ‘accentuate’ contact as Josiah Karapani scored for Brisbane. May there be much more of this to come!
– It wasn’t just Fletcher Sharpe who got hurt badly this round, the Dolphins copped another body blow with one of their most reliable attacking weapons Jack Bostock tearing an ACL and needing a knee reconstruction.
– Zac Lomax was a perfect 6/6 with the boot this weekend.
– If Latrell Mitchell had hit his 45-metre last-gasp field goal attempt on Saturday night would have been one of the greatest winning field goals ever seen … but he didn’t, so it wasn’t. What a player Mitchell is. I’ll never shut up about him.
What did you make of round 16, Roarers?
