And then there were four. And two of them were pleased to be watching from the couch. For even with recent press about what warrants suspension and what does not, Souths, Manly, Storm and Parramatta tested boundaries in super-physical fixtures spiced up with a dash of sudden death.
The last four standing are the final four on the ladder, though each team will play preliminary finals against unexpected opponents at unexpected venues. Melbourne’s loss to Canberra in the first week of finals means that instead of Storm playing at AAMI Park on a Friday night they’ll face the Roosters at the SCG. It’ll be the grand final you have when you’re not having a grand final. And like Canberra versus Souths in Canberra, it will be brutal.
Souths and Manly played out a belter at Homebush on Friday night. Five tries each, action for 80 minutes. Souths stormed out early. Adam Reynolds ripped off a 40/20 and his team led 12-0. Manly came back through tries to Brad Parker and Corey Waddell. Cody Walker was sin-binned for a slap. Daly Cherry-Evans profited from the impressive Moses Suli’s hard charge down the right. At half-time it was 18-16 Souths.
Second half, more action. Suli scored after a typically blockbusting run. Jorge Taufua ripped off two of his patented come-in-from-the-wing-and-bend-into-a-half-open-pocket-knife-whatever-damned-fool-has-chimed-into-the-backline tackles, both on Ethan Lowe. The teams traded tries. Sam Burgess threw himself about. Fans exulted. Fans fretted. Neutrals thought, What about this game!
Then, contention: Parker was sent to the sin bin for a trip then Jake Trbojevic was sent there too after bringing down Dane Gagai who was supporting Cameron Murray, bolting down the field. Manly fans – and there are few more passionate than coach Des Hasler – were indignant that it was a match-defining call. Vision of Hasler in the sheds at full-time barking into his phone at referees’ boss Graeme Annesley was great television. In the post-match press conference there was this exchange.
Reporter: “Des do you win that game if Jake Trbojevic stays on the field?”
Des: “Of course we do.”
Asked what Annesley said on the phone, Hasler said: “He said, ‘Tell your player not to give away the penalty’.”
During Wayne Bennett’s turn he was told that Hasler said Manly were “dudded”. Bennett blew air over flapping lips and replied, “Well that’s a harsh term”. Then he ripped off that trademark lop-sided smirk that declared all was sweet in red-and-green. “You roll the dice,” Bennett reasoned. “Don’t touch the player, don’t run the interference, you’ve got nothing to worry about. If you do, you’ve got yourself a problem.”
Hasler had a problem – he didn’t think Trbojevic should have been sent off. Yet it was a professional foul. Trbojevic grabbed Gagai’s jumper to stop his progress, to take him out of the action. It was a conscious act. Gagai was tripped when Trbojevic clipped his heels. But the jumper tug damned him.
Cherry-Evans said: “I understand there was a line break but to call it a try-scoring opportunity 40 metres off the try line, that was the part I was frustrated at. I could understand if there was five or 10 metres between the play unfolding and the try line but it was a long way back. I felt like we had enough players in the picture to justify coming up with a play to stop that.”
Yet the foul didn’t need to happen 10 metres from the line for it to be deemed a deliberate foul aimed at stopping a try. There was intent. If Gagai stays up and in support of Murray, fullback Brendan Elliott has one other attacker to worry about. Reynolds was in support on the inside. Souths fans would’ve had justification in pleading a case for the sin bin, as Storm fans had the week before when Canberra’s Elliott Whitehead tackled Josh Addo-Carr on suspicion.
Souths scored two tries while Trbojevic was off. John Sutton stepped through, as did the super-impressive Murray. A short drop-out gone wrong gave Reynolds his seventh goal of the night and the Bunnies won 34-26.
In Melbourne on Saturday night, Parramatta’s pretensions were quashed 32-0 by a rampant Melbourne Storm. The Eels’ 58-0 flogging of Brisbane Broncos on a dry track in the afternoon at Bankwest Stadium proved poor preparation for Storm at AAMI Park at night-time in the wet.
The Eels began terribly. There were shoulder charges, a tackle in the air. For Storm, Felise Kaufusi was immense. Addo-Carr scorched the earth for one of the Storm’s seven tries. Cameron Smith had an unusual evening: he landed two goals in eight attempts. He was sin-binned for a slap and fined $1500. At half-time it was 24-0.
Second half there were head knocks. Ryan Papenhuyzen scored a try in the corner from a scrum move that was telegraphed last Tuesday. Yet the Eels hung in with nothing going their way. Unlike Brisbane the week before, they did not give up. They can take that away and store it in muscle and other memory. But it’s Mad Monday for them.
