Comebacks, astounding clutch plays, golden point draws, controversy, upsets and a record-equalling beatdown – NRL Round 10 provided more rugby league drama per square inch than most codes could hope to muster in an entire season.
Greatest round of all?
The Dolphins’ nail-biting 20-16 win over Parramatta – featuring some of the season’s best tries and a thrilling finish – was a mere Thursday night entrée to the succession of outrageous matches that unfolded across the next two days.
Gold Coast produced its biggest-ever comeback to snap a demoralising five-match losing streak, rallying from 20-0 in Newcastle with some late Alofiana Khan Pereira and AJ Brimson brilliance snatching an improbable 24-20 result at the shellshocked Knights’ expense.
Later on Friday, Souths clawed back from 14-0 behind against Brisbane before Latrell Mitchell’s astonishing 48-metre field goal in the 77th minute broke a deadlock. A last-second try to Mitchell clinched a 22-14 win and the end of the Rabbitohs’ four-match slide.
The top-of-the-table clash in Canberra on Saturday afternoon lived up to all expectations, but the Raiders were left crestfallen after letting a 20-0 halftime lead slip. Canterbury Bulldogs slapped down their premiership credentials in a second-half blitz, silencing the 23,867-strong crowd 32-20.
The second-placed Warriors became the fourth straight halftime leader to be held try-less in the second half as St George Illawarra drew level from 14-0 down. But burgeoning halfback Luke Metcalf’s 70th minute field proved enough for a dramatic 15-14 Warriors triumph in Wollongong.
Super Saturday climaxed with a Townsville rollercoaster, the Cowboys refusing to throw in the towel at 18-6 and 30-18 down against the Panthers. Two tries in the last 10 minutes sent the match into golden point, where agonising missed chances and missed calls consigned it to a 30-all stalemate.
Melbourne ended the run of barnburners with a 64-0 massacre of Wests Tigers at AAMI Park, equalling the Storm’s club record winning margin.
Ryan Papenhuyzen, who had a hat-trick inside 16 minutes, produced the equal-fourth-highest individual tally in premiership history with four tries and 10 goals (36 points).
Another remarkable comeback was materialising in the round closer at 4 Pines Park as Manly deleted a 14-0 halftime deficit, but a Nicho Hynes-inspired Cronulla clicked back into gear with three tries in the last 15 minutes to grab a crucial 30-14 win.
What a weekend.
Latrell’s timely Origin statement
He may have been wearing the No.1 jersey, but on Friday night Latrell Mitchell provided an irresistible case study for why he is an absolute must for the NSW centres.
Mitchell is arguably third or fourth in the Blues’ fullback queue, but his versatility and sheer match-winning brilliance is too valuable for Laurie Daley and his selection panel to overlook altogether.
Incredible try-saving tackles on Payne Haas and Deine Mariner set the tone for Souths spearhead Mitchell to dominate the final quarter against Brisbane.
After being denied a freakish try by a marginal call, he stepped up to kick one of the greatest field goals of all time with two minutes left – a 48-metre stunner. A sneaky, controversial try on fulltime was a mere victory lap for one of the modern era’s truly unique individual talents.
All eight of Mitchell’s Origin appearances to date have been as a centre – including a sensational representative return in game two last year – and it now seems a fait accompli he will partner in-form Stephen Crichton in two weeks’ time.
Bulldogs bite back
Speaking of Stephen Crichton, the Canterbury-Bankstown skipper was untouchable in Saturday’s spectacular comeback in Canberra.
The Bulldogs’ blazing start was dampened by a heavy loss in Brisbane a fortnight ago, but after getting back on track in low-key style in Magic Round against lowly Gold Coast they are again the talk of the NRL.
After trailing 20-0 at halftime, the Bulldogs’ 32 unanswered points in the second stanza against an in-form Raiders side in front of a baying GIO Stadium crowd was their most emphatic premiership statement yet.
Reigning Dally M Captain of the Year Crichton was at the heart of it, scoring a try and laying on two more in a classic centre’s performance.
As always, Crichton’s presence and leadership was just as prominent as his game-breaking ability – and he is emerging as a Blues captaincy smoky, though Panthers duo Nathan Cleary and Isaah Yeo are probably next in line if NSW decides to move away from 2024 leader Jake Trbojevic.
The 24-year-old is a red-hot 2025 premiership captain candidate, however, with ladder-leading Canterbury second favourites for the NRL crown at $4.75 behind Melbourne ($2.70).
Panthers a-Blaize
The dramatic 30-all result overshadowed individual performances, but Blaize Talagi’s breakout five-eighth showing for Penrith against North Queensland was a massive boost to the slow-starting Panthers’ bid for a fifth straight premiership.
The Parramatta recruit, who only turned 20 in March, finally earned his first run-on appearance for Penrith in Round 6 and has been gradually easing into the No.6 jersey vacated by the mercurial Jarome Luai.
The silky Talagi exploded in Townsville with four try assists and a try, combining beautifully with Nathan Cleary and Isaah Yeo, and showing his full range of skills to lay on four-pointers with offloads, passes and kicks.
Still second-last on the ladder with only three wins on the board and conceding an uncharacteristic 24.6 points per game, the Panthers are holding steady on the fourth line of title betting at $10.
Talagi’s improvement shapes as a critical factor through another arduous Origin period for the champs.
Tigers struggle to change stripes
The Wests Tigers revolution suffered a crushing setback on Sunday afternoon, met with brutal Storm resistance in a 64-0 rout at AAMI Park.
Only 11 times in premiership history has a team suffered a worse loss (the joint venture accounts for two of those), while long-term Tigers fans would have received a harrowing case of déjà vu – it was the same scoreline they went down by in Melbourne in their Hopoate-impacted 2001 campaign.
“We’ve built standards that we want to live by, and today we didn’t live by any of them,” was coach Benji Marshall’s post-match assessment after watching his team leak 11 tries.
How the 5-5 Tigers respond is far more important than that result itself, however, and a Campbelltown showdown with South Sydney on Sunday shapes as a pivotal moment in their season.
Teams beaten by 40-plus points in 2024 went 4-4 in the next round, suggesting a strong bounce-back opportunity for the Tigers in a pick ’em clash with the Rabbitohs.