I must admit. I didn’t give Penrith much of chance against the Roosters. I was of the belief that the Roosters would be too strong for their relative unknown pack given their dismantling of Sam Burgess’ Rabbitohs the week prior.
But that’s the beauty of the NRL year after year. Upsets occur as regularly as Taylor Swift breakups. The Bulldogs too surprised the perennial champions Melbourne at AAMI Park.
Here’s our take on week one of the finals.
Rabbitohs v Manly
Riding the pocket of a dominant forward performance Adam Reynolds dazzled in scoring 20 of Souths’ 40 points. Centres Dylan Walker and Kirisome Auva’a wrecked havoc on the edge and Greg Inglis enjoyed space in freedom in an impressive running display.
For Manly it appears the in-house fighting that has been widely reported involving Watmough, Cherry-Evans, Matai and Glenn Stewart has started to affect their footy. Cherry-Evans and Jamie Lyon had their worst games for some time and they’ll need to find a quick fix if their to have any chance against the Bulldogs in week 2.
Penrith v Roosters
In what can only be described as a freakish last minute play Dallin Watene-Zelezniak tiptoed the touchline to provide an assist for Dean Whare to tie the scores and lay the platform for some Jamie Soward field goal heroics. The heavily religious Watene-Zelezniak who is considering an NRL hiatus to head out on a Mormon mission, epitomized the Panthers new found dedication under Ivan Cleary. The unheralded Panthers could match their 2003 efforts and go all the way.
Cowboys v Broncos
The Broncos have always been my favourite Fantasy NRL team. Their forward pack is made up almost entirely of Fantasy keepers. Parker, McCullough, McGuire, Gillett are all heavy scorers, but it counted for nothing in Townsville on Saturday. The Cowboys started quickly and could not be caught. Thurston paved the way and expertly guided big forwards Jason Taumalolo and Gavin Cooper through a weak Broncos right side. The 18-0 lead after just 18 minutes was a bridge too far the Broncos who will turn their attention to the return of Wayne Benefit (and probably Darius Boyd too who is never far from his Skeletor lookalike father figure). The Cowboys on the other hand are one step closer to giving future immortal Thurston a deserved Championship ring.
Storm v Bulldogs
All the talk before the game was whether Cameron Smith would front for the Storm. He did but he couldn’t prevent a dominant Bulldogs side from piling on 24 unanswered points before the Storm finally crossed some 50 minutes in. They crossed shortly after in one of the all time great tries only for it to be ruled out in contentious fashion. It’s a shame the video ref took the wind out of their sails just as the Storm were starting to wrestle back some momentum.
The rest is Tim Lafai (hat-trick).
Next Week sees the Roosters v Cowboys in one Semi-Final and the Sea Eagles v Bulldogs in the other. Check back in at the end of the week to see a detailed preview of the matchups, and some useful predictions.
