5 Lessons Learned – NRL Round 15

The second five-match round of the NRL regular season ahead of Origin II provided a double-digit comeback, a blowout upset, Bunker controversy, a points avalanche and a half-hour weather interruption.

With seven teams on the bye, every club placed sixth to 14th changed ladder positions over the weekend.

Slumbering Sharks bite back

After leaking 82 points in consecutive upset losses to Sydney Roosters and the Warriors, Cronulla was staring into the halftime abyss against St George Illawarra on Thursday night – 18-6 down at Shark Stadium.

But a sizzling three-try burst in eight minutes soon after the break – with Briton Nikora marking his 150th NRL game in style, Braydon Trindall bagging his second and Sione Katoa crossing for his first of an injury-hit season – put the would-be top-four contenders in front.

Katoa sealed a much-needed 30-18 result and consolidated outright fifth spot with another try six minutes from fulltime. The Sharks are solid on the fifth line of title betting at $15.

Far from convincing from last year’s preliminary finalists, but the performances of ever-reliable hooker Blayke Brailey and a powerhouse Addin Fonua-Blake, who was disappointingly quiet against his former club the Warriors five days earlier, underpinned the heartening revival.

The 5-8 Dragons, though – after a 50-point hiding from the Dolphins in Round 14 – are a team on the brink.

For all the class and impetus veteran recruits Clint Gutherson and Damien Cook have provided, they remain largely directionless in the halves following Ben Hunt’s departure.

Titanic turnaround as Sea Eagles sink

Gold Coast submitted an entry for the NRL’s biggest form turnaround of 2025 to overwhelm struggling hotshot Manly 28-8 on Friday night.

The Titans – on a horrific 1-8 run in which they’d conceded 36 points a game – conceded after just four minutes.

But despite the absence of Queensland props Tino Fa’asuamaleaui and Moeaki Fotuaika, the Titans gained a foothold and surged to the lead through the brilliant finishing of Allan Fitzgibbon and the irrepressible Alofiana Khan-Pereira.

Jayden Campbell gave the hosts a handy 22-8 halftime lead by converting his own try at the half-hour mark, while an uncharacteristic defensive clean sheet after the break secured a pressure-relieving result for Des Hasler’s last-placed outfit.

The Titans may be overstocked in some spine positions and underserviced in others, AJ Brimson’s star turn at fullback was a timely reminder of his best spot – which only creates another conundrum for Hasler with Kiwi Test No.1 Keano Kini due back in six weeks.

The Sea Eagles, meanwhile, remain the NRL’s most baffling team: contenders at their best, bottom-four fodder at their worst. They’ve blown out to $41 in the premiership market.

The most worrying aspect of their limp effort at Cbus Super Stadium was Daly Cherry-Evans’ Origin axing and Tom Trbojevic’s return barely provided any hint of a spark in a crunch game, while Haumole Olakau’atu’s dislocated shoulder added to Anthony Seibold’s headaches.

Whether Manly is a squad divided in the wake of DCE’s contract bombshell is pure conjecture at this stage, but there’s little question home assignments against Wests Tigers and Souths in between Round 16 and 19 byes are must-win in terms of the Sea Eagles’ teetering finals hopes.

Teddy, Bunker slay Knights

Sydney Roosters produced another gritty statement minus a raft of Origin absentees, clawing back to beat Newcastle 12-8 at McDonald Jones Stadium on Saturday.

The Knights scored the only try of the opening hour in just the third minute, before ageless Roosters skipper James Tedesco exploded.

A sensational offload set up an unforgettable maiden NRL try for Salesi Foketi, with the teenaged prop producing an audacious sidestep on a 45-metre charge to the line.

Tedesco then threaded a magnificent grubber for second-rower Siua Wong to pounce for what would prove the match-winner with less than 10 minutes left.

Agonisingly for the Knights – and excruciatingly for the NRL and its maligned Bunker’s credibility – everything about Wong’s grounding screamed ‘no try’.

Nevertheless, the efforts of Tedesco – who also saved three tries – and the controversial result lifted the Roosters into the Top 8.

After their hot start, the 15th-placed Knights were left to rue their sixth match in a row featuring a try-less half of footy – and their 11th in 14 games in 2025. They have finished six of their last 12 matches with one try or less.

Dominant Dolphins knocking on the door

Now sixth on the NRL ladder and on the eighth line in the premiership market ($26), the Dolphins are making huge waves during a period of the season where their 2023-24 campaigns hit the skids.

The Dolphins have piled on a staggering 158 points in their last three matches and conceded just 18, culminating in a 58-4 destruction of North Queensland that saw winger Jack Bostock score a club record four tries (and bomb a fifth on fulltime).

The caveat, of course, is the landslides against the Bulldogs and Cowboys came versus Origin-ravaged opponents, either side of their 50-point rout of the erratic Dragons.

Twenty-one-year-old halfback Isaiya Katoa is pulling the strings like a veteran, the Dolphins’ outside backs are swimming in tries and a relatively unheralded pack is outperforming expectations – which they’ll have to continue to do without Felise Kaufusi for the time being after an ugly late and high shot.

Warm favourites to account for the battling Knights in Perth this weekend before a Suncorp Stadium showdown with Souths and then a bye, a maiden finals appearance is the Dolphins’ for the taking.

The Cowboys can write than one off with so many top-liners out, but it was nevertheless a jarring night for Todd Payten and the club. They have won just one of their last six – conceding more than 34 points a game in that stretch – and have spiralled to $91 in the title stakes.

Sexton’s statement

Canterbury retained top spot on the ladder with a relatively comfortable 24-18 defeat of South Sydney on Sunday, building an 18-0 lead before a lengthy break due to a lightning storm late in the first half.

The Rabbitohs rallied with four of the five tries scored after the interruption, though two of them came in the last 10 minutes when the game was all but out of reach.

The headline performer for the Bulldogs – who were missing Origin stars Stephen Crichton, Max King, Matt Burton and Kurt Mann – was halfback Toby Sexton, the player most likely to be deemed surplus to first-choice 17 requirements following Lachie Galvin’s mid-season arrival.

Paired with Galvin against Souths, Sexton seized the initiative with an outstanding try to open the scoring in the seventh minute, having a hand in the Bulldogs’ next two tries and steering his team around with aplomb.

Galvin looked good, too, but the unavoidable reality for coach Cameron Ciraldo is the teenage phenom and Burton are both natural five-eighths, with questionable ability to lead a side in the No.7 – at least not to the standard required by a premiership contender.

The 11-2 Bulldogs stay well clear on the second line of premiership betting at $4.25, behind only Melbourne ($2.60).