Some teams need to look in the mirror, the NRL needs to fix interchange rules pronto and the Bulldogs win without playing

We thought Round 15 would be tough to tip, and hooo boy was it rough. Here come your talking points for NRL Round 15.

Take a good look at yourselves

Canberra hosted North Queensland, they were rested off a bye and massive favourites against a Cowboys team who had lost by 30 at home last week and were visibly exhausted. A genuine finals team would chalk those two points up without much trouble but the Raiders were given a bath. Down 28-0 at one point in the second half before a 34-18 final, Canberra blew themselves up with braindead play and are now more than likely going to miss finals on account of a horrendous for and against.

New Zealand should be even more ashamed of themselves after going down to Melbourne 38-24. This was a genuine shot to break a 15-game losing streak, at home, with a weakened opposition and leading 14-0 after 20 minutes which frankly could have been double that with the amount of play the Warriors had.

But penalties, lapses in concentration, two sin bins and disastrous defence saw the Warriors comprehensively belted in the end. Some will look for comfort in referee blaming but the finger of blame should be pointed firmly in one direction.

Brisbane needed to beat a lowly-ranked opposition to get themselves right after a sputtering first half of the year. But the Bunnies blew right past them with another good performance, cruising to 22-0 then keeping the Broncos out of it for the 22-12 final. Brisbane have a few injury concerns but this is a team who are supposed to be one of the competition’s best and they should be able to deal with what Souths have got. Maybe we all came in too high on Brisbane after they were 40 seconds away from an unlikely premiership in 2023.

St George Illawarra scored 44 unanswered points in the second half last week. They’d started a journey of maybe changing people’s minds about their long-term prospects. On Sunday at Brookvale, their hosts Manly lost Reuben Garrick, Toafofoa Sipley, and Taniela Paseka after 15 minutes, couldn’t bring on their reserve player then lost Corey Waddell into the bargain. How did the Dragons take advantage of this? By copping four tries to one in the second half to lose in a shambles, 30-14.

Wide open opportunities presented themselves to these clubs and man oh man did they bottle it.

Things that make you happy

Cronulla narrowly avoided being in the above talking point because they were beaten by a good opponent in the Dolphins. The Sharks still can’t shake the haters and results like this do not help but let’s focus on the Dolphins, who were spectacular.

(Photo by Jason McCawley/Getty Images)

Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow’s length of the field effort after taking a kick was the try of the season so far, Herbie Farnworth has started showing why he was chased so hard to come over from Brisbane and Kodi Nikorima reached borderline ‘evergreen’ status with another solid outing. We keep waiting for Wayne Bennett’s men to fall off the cliff, but they keep dishing up performances like this.

The Roosters and Eels put on a pretty good contest, with Parra fans riding the genuine cycle of a sports supporter – angst, frustration, happiness, hope, frustration, angst. We’ve all been on it!

Good win too for the Panthers, who got past Newcastle by eight points to bank a result before half their team goes to Origin. For their end, the Knights keep battling on but just aren’t able to get past quality teams.

Everything is starting to click into place for Canterbury, who for the second time benefitted highly from a bye as results helped keep them in the eight and would you believe it, with a whiff of the top four in their nostrils. The Doggies have the best defence in the comp (it’s true, I looked it up) and everything is starting to click into place.

Good games this week

State of Origin rumbles in again, swiping the best NSW and Queensland locals and sending seven clubs to a bye week for Round 16.

We do get some games though, starting with a really interesting one on Friday when Melbourne head to Suncorp Stadium for a battle with the Dolphins. Origin will impact this one massively, but it’ll still be fun.

Saturday has a triple header starting in Robina as the Gold Coast welcome New Zealand, then the Roosters play the Bulldogs in what would be a cracker if both squads were at full tilt. What might have been… hopefully they square up again later when it matters.

South Sydney and Manly play Saturday night and it could be a sneak attack by the Bunnies – they’re hopeless on for and against but if they keep winning, who knows.

One game on Sunday when the Tigers and Raiders face off in Campbeltown. Canberra would expect to win this one but should they? The Tigers are off a win and anything could happen in this one.

Round 15’s random thoughts

– The Grade 1 concussion ruling on Manly’s Reuben Garrick once again highlighted the need to fix the NRL interchange rules. Manly couldn’t bring on their reserve player and were shorthanded. So let the reserve come on for any reason, make the bench bigger, name a gameday squad and use it however you want in game – these are all simple solutions that could be done in a heartbeat.
– Any respect the Gold Coast had been building through a series of honourable efforts is gone after their last fortnight. Blasted by South Sydney, then beaten by the incredibly shorthanded Tigers, Des Hasler’s men are now dead last and any bright indicators have disappeared. What happens now?
– Crowds were pretty poor in the main until Sunday. Decent crowds for Parra-Roosters and Warriors-Storm were offset by only 12,207 watching Souths-Brisbane, 8,035 at Cronulla’s construction site and for all the usual fuss about how everyone loves it so much, Leichhardt Oval housed just 8,147 as the Tigers pulled off a great win against the Titans. Sunday saw 27,966 turn out in Newcastle and 17,187 at Brookvale.
– New South Wales announced their squad for State of Origin game two in Melbourne on Sunday night and Queensland should have done so too by the time you read this. For all the best analysis and opinion, check out The Roar’s ‘League’ tab.

What caught your eye this weekend, Roarers?

Dolphins

Melbourne Storm