We had a delayed start to round 14, with play between Penrith and Canberra not getting underway until the Friday pub slot. The Raiders faded, as they are wont to do, and let Nathan Cleary slot the winning field goal in the closing minutes, securing two wins in the week for the young halfback. Souths were run a lot closer by the Gold Coast than anyone anticipated with the rain making play difficult and the game degenerating into a mess. The Warriors got home comfortably against the Sea Eagles in Christchurch, only letting in tries in garbage time.

Sydney, despite their high dollar roster, made a meal of yet another game against lowly opponents. A late try to Kalyn Ponga almost snagged the Knights the win but it was too little, too late. The Eels jagged a surprise win against the overcooked Knights in Darwin while the Sharks gagged the Tigers and continue to smother opponents out of games. The Broncos played well for about sixty minutes against the Storm before being blown off the park once again by the Melbourne side after weakly defended tries were conceded.

With the long weekend in Sydney, the final game wasn’t played until Monday afternoon while I was cruelly at work, hating on life. The Dragons apparently won that but I also used the delay recap to publish a long form piece about failed rugby league clubs. If you haven’t already, you should read it.

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A shortened round 13 began on Thursday and reminded me what life was like outside the NRL bubble. The Cowboys looked a little like their old selves on their way to beating the Sea Eagles. Souths, despite losing their top four players to Origin prep, managed to keep a lack lustre Cronulla side at bay and take an important win. Newcastle thrashed Parramatta and put the final nail in the coffin of the Eels’ season. The weekend was capped off with an exciting but extremely chaotic bout between the Roosters and Tigers, with some desperate defence in the dying minutes sealing the win for Sydney.

Given it’s a half round, this recap will be, as they say, an “express” post.

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The Broncos kicked off round 12 with an extremely flat win over the Eels in a game that excited no one. Canberra managed to avoid fading away in the dying minutes by taking the lead only in the dying seconds of the game over Manly. The Storm kept the Cowboys at bay with a single try and a field goal, despite fumbling away most of the game. Sydney smashed the Gold Coast, as Cronulla smashed Newcastle. Souths and Penrith won the two games featuring top four teams to cement their credentials as potential premiership winners in 2018. The Tigers won a scrappy affair over the Bulldogs on Sunday afternoon, riding an injection of Josh Reynolds enthusiasm to victory.

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I spent the weekend in Melbourne – drinking beer at GABS Festival, which Sydney peeps should get around when it comes to town – so I didn’t watch a whole lot of rugby league compared to a usual weekend. Look, it was probably not quite four games with the second half of Toronto-Toulouse thrown in from the Magic Weekend at St James in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Which, on paper, is still an insanely large amount of rugby league.

I won’t go through the results, which are below, but the obvious talking point was the sheer number of sin binnings. While the weekend saw some genuinely bad calls (players let back on the field without serving a full sin binning, conversions given when the ball missed…), it is good to see the refs continue with their crackdown and re-establishing some authority over the game. Eventually, the players and coaches will respond and the game will be better for it.

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I’m not going to sugarcoat it: it wasn’t a great round of football by any stretch of the imagination. I think the see-sawing battle between the Panthers and the Cowboys, with North Queensland picking up a much needed victory, was the closest we could come to enjoying the on-field product. As if we needed a reminder that close is not always entertaining, three games ended 22-20 (the first time ever that the same score has been racked up three times in one round) and all were closer to waterboarding to watch than entertainment. Brisbane won off the back of a late penalty goal, although realistically should’ve put 40 past the Bulldogs. Cronulla took their foot off the gas way too early and let Parramatta back in before a missed Mitchell Moses conversion attempt after the siren ended that dream. Sydney and Manly flailed at each other for roughly eighty minutes with neither impressing anyone that matters.

The Bunnies were all over the Knights in front of another big Novocastrian crowd. The Raiders comfortably defeated the Titans at home while the Warriors were imperious in their meticulous demolition of not only the Tigers but the Wests fanbase’s spirit. In what was supposed to be the match of the round, the Dragons had no trouble putting away Melbourne in the second half. The Storm left frustrated after the referees refused to allow them to break the rules in order to score points.

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The Anzac round stretched over an enormous five days and feels like it has been running since the Gallipoli landing. Nonetheless, on the day itself nearly a week ago, the Dragons carved out a convincing win over the Roosters while in front of sell out crowd in Melbourne, the Storm completely dismantled the Warriors with an embarrassingly easy 40 point win, placing the Storm back in to the top four. On Thursday, a see-sawing battle between the Broncos and the Rabbitohs resolved in Brisbane’s favour thanks to Milford’s short kicking game.

Newcastle surprised the Sea Eagles with their biggest win of the year and Penrith came from behind against a fired up Bulldogs side to win on Friday. The Titans looked uninterested in winning as they were ground out of their game by the Sharks and the Raiders had an easy enough back 60 minutes against the Cowboys with the latter not posing much of a threat to anyone. Finally, Parramatta may have their season starting to point in the right direction with a close fought win over the Tigers. That takes the Tigers to 5-3, having lost all three games by a total of six whole points.

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Round 7 opened with a dour, and that’s being kind, affair between the Roosters and the Bulldogs, resulting in a single try to Easts which was enough to win the game. The Warriors were the better team on the day of their top of the table clash with the Dragons. Melbourne were able to run riot against Brisbane, who struggled with defence on both wings. Souths won a high scoring affair against Canberra while Newcastle were able to just edge out Wests in a see-sawing battle in Tamworth. The Cowboys are trying to get their season back on track with just their second win over the Titans. The Eels smashed the Sea Eagles beyond recognition for a 88 point swing on their previous rendezvous in round 2. Finally, Cronulla won a tough battle with Penrith in the Shire on Sunday afternoon.

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For a weekend of footy that didn’t contain any close games, the product on display was pretty much as good as it gets. A 2-out-of-3 Burgii Souths upset Easts in their local derby on Thursday night, comprehensively outgunning their more fancied opponents. Melbourne showed what they can be capable of if they put their minds to it, smothering Newcastle. The Dragons continue an unbeaten run taking down the Sharks for the second time in 2018. Brisbane went to New Zealand and beat the Warriors, showing some signs that last year’s team isn’t yet dead and buried. North Queensland are in real trouble with an incredibly poor outing against a barely competent Canterbury outfit. Penrith went behind early, only to steam roll the Gold Coast at home and Manly were never in the contest against Wests, taking their first L of the season at their council park.

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The Commonwealth Games has thankfully directed a lot of local attention away just from how woefully Queensland’s two main teams are travelling right now. The Gold Coast Titans, otherwise known as the Milhouse of Queensland NRL clubs, has stepped through the gap and is winding up to take a very long sprint to finish as the top team in the state for the first time since 2010. The Raiders finally registered a win, as we knew they would eventually, leaving the Eels languishing in last on 0-5. Wests toppled Melbourne with a Benji field goal, Sydney crushed Cronulla and it was a little surprising to see how hard St George Illawarra had to work to put away Souths.

For your info, I’ve started including the jury’s percentage from the round tips against each winner, just to give a bit of feel for how we saw the likelihood of that event coming to pass.

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Funny game, rugby league. It’s a funny, funny game.

I will say that what’s not funny is the Titans beating the Broncos at Suncorp for the first time in eleven years. I mean, it’s probably funny to people who hate Brisbane but to them I say: sitting in the stands, surrounded by kids and being unable to unleash a torrent of swearing is the height of tedium. I did teach a small girl to boo though, so there’s that. At least there was somewhere open to get a beer afterwards this year.

I’m keen to see how long the Warriors and Tigers can keep their streak going. I know the Tigers have lost but going 3-2 (or even 4-1!) after the first five rounds they’ve had is unexpected to say the least. The Dragons look like the real deal this year, mostly because it doesn’t hinge on one half but both Hunt and Widdop tearing the place apart.

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