Only one round remains in the 2024 NRL season. For the Dolphins and Knights, there is still everything to play for.
The dull yet annual discussion around resting players late in the NRL season kicked off Round 26. Still, an understrength Melbourne Storm put up a strong fight against a relatively full-strength North Queensland Cowboys while going down 38-30 in Townsville.
A bumper crowd for 6pm on a Friday welcomed the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs and Manly Warringah Sea Eagles to Accor Stadium. However, the Bulldogs failed to turn up with the best version of themselves. The Sea Eagles cruised out to a 34-12 lead after 50 minutes, and while the Bulldogs played right to the very end, the 34-22 final score somewhat flatters them. Regardless of the result, another injury to Tom Trbojevic is the big news out of this one.
Tom Trbojevic came off with a significant facial laceration & shoulder injury.
Positive news is he passed his HIA – not so positive news is he will go for scans on a suspected AC joint injury. Had previous instability episode in right shoulder (2020) so adds to the concern. pic.twitter.com/teWgEuJETx
— NRL PHYSIO (@nrlphysio) August 30, 2024
Later, the Penrith Panthers made it look easy in beating the South Sydney Rabbitohs 34-12 on Friday night. These are two teams at opposite ends of the NRL ladder and it looked like it from the first whistle.
Neither the Parramatta Eels or St George Illawarra Dragons played with any interest in defence on Saturday afternoon. The two teams both cleared 40 points as the Eels claimed a rare 44-40 victory. The 40 points the Dragons scored is the most in a loss in NRL history. The Dolphins continued to pile up 40s as they thrashed the Brisbane Broncos at Suncorp. Kevin Walters claimed the Broncos will play finals football but this shocking defeat has put an end to that idea. The New Zealand Warriors haven’t been in contention for a few weeks now, but they wrote the best storybook ending they could to Shaun Johnson’s career. Down 22-4 at halftime and in a spot where so many would phone it in for the last 40 minutes of their season, the Warriors mounted a comeback to beat the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 30-28 at Shark Park.
The Newcastle Knights kept their season alive with a 36-14 win over the Gold Coast Titans. Working their way through an early arm wrestle, the Knights put their foot down either side of halftime as Kalyn Ponga ran riot. Meanwhile, the Sydney Roosters failed to lock themselves into the Top 4 in going down to the Canberra Raiders 14-12. The result means little now, though. The Chooks lost a lot more than the game, with Sam Walker snapping his ACL while Brandon Smith was also helped from the field.
Player Spotlight: Kalyn Ponga
Kalyn Ponga is always a talking point with the Newcastle Knights.
He’s either underperforming in a sizeable contract or is considered the most influential player in the game. There is rarely any in-between when it comes to Ponga. There never has been since he made his debut. This week, he’s in the ‘most influential player’ discussions.
Ponga touched the ball 46 times on Sunday afternoon. He has only recorded more touches once this season and played a leading role within the Knights attack in this one. Notably, he scored only his second and third try for the season.
Rather than camping on the edges where he does his best work, which he did at times again on Sunday, Ponga put himself at first receiver. He tested the defence through the middle of the field, which can open up space on the edges. Ponga’s push support translated into one try and could have been another. The Knights fullback seemed to be involved in everything even when he didn’t touch the ball.
Ponga has always had the potential to be the leading man in a finals team. This season could be his chance if the Knights can get past the Dolphins in Round 27.
NRL Team of Round 26: The Dolphins
The old boy still has a few tricks left in him…
Eyebrows were raised as Wayne Bennett made significant changes to his side ahead of an all-important clash against the Brisbane Broncos on Saturday. Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow’s move into the centres made some sense. However, the benching of Isaiya Katoa for Sean O’Sullivan is a swap nobody saw coming. Try assists aren’t an accurate measure of influence in attack, but O’Sullivan finished without any creative attacking stats despite the Dolphins scoring 40 points. He’s not the reason for their big win, but the proof is in the pudding.
With their season on the line, Bennett pulled the right strings, and they’ll now fight for the finals against the Knights in Round 27.
The Broncos had no answers for the Dolphins on the edges. Whether it was stripping them for numbers and taking the space on the outside, or dropping a player back underneath at a slow-sliding defence, Bennett’s team did as they pleased with the ball.
Herbie fully loaded 🏎️ #NRLDolphinsBroncos pic.twitter.com/qvnoBm5nuy
— NRL (@NRL) August 31, 2024
Most coaches will stick with a winning team in times like these, but it won’t be a surprise to see Katoa back in the starting 13 next week. The staff will look closely at how the Dolphins piled up 40 points and measure how much came from their approach against what as a poor Broncos defence on the night.
Whatever the case, the Dolphins are flying at the right time of the year and look set to feature in the NRL Finals for the first time in their short history.
Highlight Reel
He was put under the spotlight here after Round 25. In Round 26, the last of Shaun Johnson’s NRL career, the Kiwi legend orchestrated an incredible comeback capped off with a try assist in his very last play.
The Warriors scriptwriters would have had it in the Grand Final. Nonetheless, it’s a fitting sendoff for one of the greats of the game.
Match Highlights 🎥 – #NRLSharksWarriors
Shaun Johnson engineered a fairytale end to his illustrious career after laying on the match winning try in the dying seconds to complete a stunning Warriors comeback to down the Sharks. pic.twitter.com/GOjyzV8wgt
— NRL (@NRL) August 31, 2024
Numbers Game
Melbourne did Melbourne things on Thursday night. They won a lot of the numbers on the stats pages: Possession, running metres, line breaks, tackle breaks, play-the-ball speed, and tackle efficiency. The only area they seemed to fall behind North Queensland is on the scoreboard.
Bronson Xerri is becoming a problem for opposition NRL defences. He finished up with 254 running metres, two linebreak assists and five tackle breaks against the Sea Eagles. The Panthers are one of the best yardage teams in the NRL. They’re relentless in how they get up the field. But what makes them most impressive is how they stop the other team from doing the same to them. South Sydney managed only 1,235 running metres to Penrith’s 1,749 metres on Friday night.
Maika Sivo has had an up-and-down year in the NRL but is playing well to finish. The 30-year-old was back to his destructive best to run for 154 metres and break five tackles while scoring three tries. The stats pages aren’t pretty for the Broncos. They conceded nine line breaks while only breaking through twice themselves. Their 1,280 running metres is almost 400 metres less than their season average. However, one number sums up their afternoon: 42% possession.
Shaun Johnson in his final game: 176 running metres, 2 linebreaks, 1 linebreak assist, 3 try assists, 3 tackle breaks. Vintage.
He doesn’t always need to do a lot on the end of a shift, but Fletcher Sharpe knows how to find the line. Only 10 games into his NRL career, the 20-year-old has already scored 10 tries, including eight in his last four games. Finally, missed tackles aren’t always the way to measure defence. The eye test told us the Raiders were incredible in defence. The scoreboard said the same. However, they missed a whopping 59 tackles on Sunday afternoon.