Finally a weekend that followed the script in the 2023 NRL premiership, with all eight favourites winning – and covering the line – in Round 11.
Four matches were decided by 20-plus points, leaving some teams reeling. But parity remains the name of the game with just five points separating first and 12th on the NRL ladder.
Just for kicks
The boot ruled a high-scoring Round 11, with 18 tries coming from kicks.
Three of the four tries scored by the Warriors – clinical 24-12 victors over the Canterbury Bulldogs in Sydney – and the Canberra Raiders, who outlasted Parramatta Eels 26-18 at home, featured players putting it on the toe.
The vast majority weren’t hit-and-hope high balls or fortuitous mad scrambles, either.
The vision and execution displayed by the likes of Shaun Johnson, Jahrome Hughes, Chad Townsend, Tom Starling, Isaah Yeo and Kalyn Ponga produced some of the most memorable tries of 2023 to date.
Meanwhile, Valentine Holmes landed a booming two-point field goal in the shadows of halftime in North Queensland Cowboys’ 42-22 defeat of St George Illawarra Dragons.
Emphasising the them, the competition’s goalkickers boasted a weekend strike-rate of 82.1 percent, up from the Round 1-10 average of 76.57.
Roosters on the ropes
Sydney Roosters’ lacklustre attack has been under the microscope in recent weeks – but at least their trademark defensive reputation had remained intact.
That all changed on Friday night in a 48-4 beatdown handed out by fierce rival Penrith. Jarome Luai, Tyrone Peachey and Scott Sorensen tore the Roosters’ right edge to shreds in an embarrassing capitulation.
It ranks as the 11th-biggest loss in the club’s 116-season history and the second-highest score conceded by the Roosters since three-time premiership coach Trent Robinson took over in 2013.
Compounding the Roosters’ woes ahead of a crunch game against the Dragons on Friday, Jared Waerea-Hargreaves (pectoral) and Joseph Manu (ankle) left the field with worrying injuries, while demoted half Sam Walker (knee) is out for the next couple of weeks.
Stubbornly sitting on the second line of premiership betting at around the $6 mark for most of the season despite their up-and-down form, the Roosters – currently in 10th with a 5-5 record – have skidded to sixth in the market at $12.
Ponga leads timely Origin auditions
With selection for the 2023 State of Origin series opener just a week away, a clutch of players demanded inclusion via Round 11 blinders.
Kalyn Ponga led the way, putting an unhappy season to date behind him to inspire Newcastle to a 46-26 victory over Gold Coast with three brilliant try assists and a dazzling 60 metre solo try in a vintage 21-minute burst.
Ponga’s virtuoso display should be enough to see off the compelling challenge of Reece Walsh – who was again impressive in Brisbane’s loss to Melbourne – for the Queensland No.1 jumper.
Despite finishing on the losing side on Sunday, Titans back-row powerhouse David Fifita – overlooked by the Maroons in an indifferent 2022 – virtually booked his ticket to Adelaide with two tries, including a remarkable 90-metre effort.
Towering Cowboys forward Heilum Luki could be in the frame for a debut call-up for Queensland at some point during the series, relishing the opportunity with Test back-rower Jeremiah Nanai sidelined to score two tries against the Dragons.
On Friday night, under-fire Jarome Luai made a huge statement with a man-of-the-match performance in Penrith’s demolition of Sydney Roosters, producing a try, two line-breaks two try assists and 135 running metres.
Luai is locked in a battle with reigning Dally M medallist Nicho Hynes – the yet-to-debut people’s favourite, who was instrumental to Cronulla’s 20-14 win at Manly – for the NSW five-eighth spot, but his well-timed renaissance may be enough to retain favour with Blues coach Brad Fittler.
Campbell Graham all but clinched a debut at centre or wing courtesy of another standout performance in Souths’ 20-0 shutout of Wests Tigers.
Veteran second-rower Tyson Frizell is reportedly in line for a recall after a three-year absence from the NSW side, continuing a superb campaign for the Knights with a crucial try in their win over the Titans.
But the 31-year-old is competing with the likes of uncapped Blues tyros Haumole Olakau’atu, Keaon Koloamatagi and Hudson Young, who is peaking at the right time and was best on ground in the Raiders’ win over the Eels on Saturday.
On the debit side of the Origin ledger, Canberra enforcer Corey Horsburgh’s punching sin-bin won’t have endeared him to Maroons coach Billy Slater, while Manly fullback Tom Trbojevic looks way off the pace and is surely out of the running for a wing or centre spot in the Blues’ line-up.
Resurgent Cowboys force Saints’ hand
Second-last just a fortnight ago, the Cowboys have climbed to within a win of the Top 8 with convincing back-to-back victories.
Todd Payten’s embattled outfit stopped the rot with a gritty 20-6 Magic Round defeat of the Roosters, then rediscovered their attacking mojo in a freewheeling 42-22 home win over the struggling Dragons.
There wasn’t a great deal of difference in most stat categories – except for the Cowboys’ 10-3 advantage in the line-break department as Scott Drinkwater, Tom Dearden, Chad Townsend and Valentine Holmes found their 2022 touch.
The Cowboys are still $4 outsiders to qualify for the Top 8 but they suddenly look among the best-value teams in that market.
St George Illawarra, meanwhile, is the new $2.10 Most Losses favourite thanks to their sixth straight defeat. Their previous five losses were tight – albeit bungling – results, but the Dragons sunk to rock bottom in Townsville.
It’s a given Anthony Griffin won’t be coaching the club next year, but Saturday’s thrashing will surely exacerbate a decision to cut ties with the crusty mentor sooner rather than later – with initial speculation suggesting he could be retained until the end of the season.
Griffin’s decision to start tyro Jayden Sullivan at halfback and move Ben Hunt to hooker, only to leave Sullivan on the bench for the rest of the game after his 19th-minute sin-bin, is indicative of a backward style under which the Saints will struggle to improve in a worsening 2023 trainwreck.
Craig Bellamy’s decision to go around for at least one more year in charge of Melbourne has slashed current Roosters assistant Jason Ryles’ odds of becoming St George Illawarra’s new head coach from 2024.
Coaching contrasts
In the face of three weeks of baffling, highly controversial and downright incorrect calls against his team, Warriors coach Andrew Webster stoically, maturely played a straight bat, refusing to be drawn into any criticism of the officials (despite the CEO of the club’s major sponsor creating a firestorm).
Contrast that with some of the ridiculous press conference meltdowns witnessed in Round 11.
After being the beneficiary of one of the sketchiest penalty tries of the NRL era and a shoulder-charge non-call on Reece Walsh that denied Justin Olam a try, Brisbane coach Kevin Walters painted a picture of the hardest-done-by team of all time after a 24-16 loss in Melbourne.
Walters pinpointed the Broncos’ three sin-binnings, of which only one was contentious and another – with just three minutes left and the result a foregone conclusion – also saw a Storm player despatched.
Meanwhile, both coaches got behind the wheel of the whinge-mobile in Canberra on Saturday night.
Parramatta’s Brad Arthur highlighted a 10-3 penalty count as the chief reason behind his side’s 24-16 loss, suggesting the Eels’ previously tidy discipline made it impossible for them to be so ill-disciplined – and ignoring an appalling 68 percent completion rate as a potential contributor to their dearth of possession.
Not content with a fifth straight Raiders victory, serial press conference attention-seeker Ricky Stuart howled about Corey Horsburgh’s clear-cut sin-binning for a rash punch on Ryan Matterson.
Stuart, the most fined coach in NRL history and the only coach to be suspended, also complained about the failure to bin Junior Paulo for a ‘cannonball’ tackle…that Arthur had argued shouldn’t have even been a penalty.
It’s petulant behaviour from some of the game’s more experienced figureheads – and is highly unlikely to get as positive a response on the field as level-headed rookie Webster does from his Warriors.
The Broncos are on the fifth line of title betting at $9, while the 4-7, 14th-placed Eels are $34 for the premiership and $3.20 outsiders to make the Top 8. The Raiders have shortened in the premiership ($31) and Top 8 ($1.70) stakes after climbing to seventh.
The eighth-placed Warriors – who have a bye followed by a home game against an Origin-depleted Broncos side – came in to $34 in the title market and are $1.80 to end a five-year finals drought.