Newcastle are on top of the pile looking down
Four wins on the trot for Rick Stone’s men now and even having to play on Saturday whilst kitted out in hi-viz orange like a crew of miners on their smoko couldn’t prevent them from putting in a shift. No shovel leaners here, Newcastle adopted a one-in, all-in approach, and they caught the prettier Panthers — really missing Jamie Soward and James Segeyaro — on the hop. The game was won on the back of an 18-4 first half and the 20,000-odd fans at Hunter Stadium were certainly treated to a day out. Only the especially foolish among them, however, will be getting ahead of themselves. Yes, Newcastle have made their best start to a season in nine years, but only time will tell if they end up like the young wag in a bear suit who squirms to the front row of the starting line in a 15km fun run and, at the gun, goes pell mell down the opening stretch (thus getting himself on TV) before doubling over and vomiting into his muzzle as the elite runners pass him by. After last year Newcastle will forgive us for remaining circumspect despite their impressive start to the year.
Going undefeated? Not a chance
OK, it wasn’t as if there were a critical mass of pundits declaring that South Sydney could go through 2015 undefeated — which no team has done since St George in a 10-team, 18-game competition in 1959 — but it was mused about here and there, and I admit I did ponder it myself earlier this week in the five minutes I allocate every week for whimsy. But as Parramatta showed the Rabbitohs on Friday night the NRL is not so uneven that an “unbeatable” team can afford to have a bad day and still win. Even without Semi Radradra, Beau Champion, Junior Paulo and Tepai Moeroa the Eels — inspired by their determined defence and the barrelling wit of Chris Sandow — fought back from a deficit to push clear and hold off the premiers (themselves down a few regulars). And once again Parramatta Stadium shifted and heaved as in days of yore. A sign of things to come for the Eels, or just one of the many upswings they will have in a season that may be peppered with just as many downswings (see rounds two and three)? As for anyone going through a season undefeated (yes, even Newcastle), let’s never talk of it again.
Dragons have a pulse as Manly get ’Gonged once again
There was no current powerful enough to spark St George Illawarra as they lay lifeless through their first two and half games. But after what we can only assume was a life-affirming half-time talk by Paul McGregor in the nation’s capital (“Tackle harder, boys, and don’t drop the ball”) the Dragons have shown signs of health, crawling out of the grave to beat Canberra last week and now, on Saturday night, holding out Manly with a defensive demonstration that would have made their old coach Wayne Bennett curl his mouth up ever so slightly in the corners (as long as no-one was watching).
To keep a side with Daly Cherry-Evans, Kieran Foran and Jamie Lyon to four points is no mean feat, even when you consider Manly don’t like coming to Wollongong, having failed to win in New South Wales’ answer to St Tropez since 2003. The Dragons’ attack is still a worry — one try was all they could manage against the Sea Eagles — but generally they straightened up their attack and with Josh Dugan having his best game all year and Trent Merrin showing he’s not planning on just phoning it in this year, they showed signs that they do actually train together. And even Gareth Widdop, who has fast become the NRL’s worst goal-kicker (about 65% over the past 12 months), managed four from four. McGregor had every reason to enjoy his Sunday morning.
Dogs may be hard to like for some, but admiring them is easy
Only those at Canterbury hold on to any notion of Canterbury still being this avuncular, working-class “family club” (though, fair’s fair, they’ve managed to reunite the Morris brothers and have the Mata’utias on speed dial). Indeed, many on the outside find the Dogs hard to like, although the departure of Michael Ennis to Cronulla may have changed that. What’s less contentious, however, is that the Bulldogs have mongrel, the type that is not willing to roll over when things are tough, the kind that more often than not wins in golden point (as they did last season four of five times).
On Saturday night the young Tigers were cutting them up with youthful pizzazz, and Luke Brooks and James Tedesco were smiling from ear to ear. The future looked bright, for the Tigers, the future looked here. But down 24-6 with just 22 minutes remaining the Dogs dragged themselves back into the contest and after, among other highlights, a gem of a cut-out-pass from Sam Kasiano to Curtis Rona and, later, Josh Morris’s first try in a year, they took the game to extra-time — where Josh Reynolds’s fill-in Moses Mbye added the important point and made you think that maybe Reynolds may not be an automatic inclusion when he returns to health. Des Hasler, who knows ornery when he sees it, liked what he saw. “We have got that ability in us to play catch-up footy but it’s something that we don’t want to do too often because we’re not going to get away with it all the time,’’ he said. “The boys showed composure and that was probably the best passage of football we played the entire game at the back end. They showed plenty of courage to stay in there and finish it off and get the points.’’ Curiously, the Bulldogs have now scored 66 second half points this season to just 24 first half points. Are they serving camomile tea for pre-game hydration?
The Broncos show some buck
After a forgettable season opener against the Rabbitohs the Broncos have regrouped and quietly strung together three consecutive wins. The third of these came on Sunday across the ditch against a New Zealand Warriors side weakened by the absence of Sam Tomkins, Konrad Hurrell and Ngani Laumape. Broncos fans should be encouraged by Anthony Milford’s best performance of the year in the No6 jersey, while Jordan Kahu at the back made some telling contributions, not least a try-saver late on against Solomone Kata. Wayne Bennett being Wayne Bennett, it was the Broncos’ defence that most pleased him; when they repelled a fast-finishing Warriors, and in the first half when they kept the home side scoreless. On that, that’s four times now in four games the Warriors have failed to score a try in a half. Not what you’d expect given the Warriors’ talented backs.
