With round 1 in the books, here's my first of what will be a weekly update on how I have the teams in the competition ranked and an update about how they've gone over the past week. My first time doing these so expect my approach to change overtime, but here we go.
#1 Rabbitohs – 2 points
Got the 2013 season underway with a big opening night game
against the Roosters. Let in a quick try only three minutes in, but it was one
way traffic from there as they piled on five unanswered tries, three to winger
Nathan Merritt. With few personnel changes in the offseason the Bunnies looked
like an upgraded version of the strong side they fielded last year. Great
structure in attack, size and strength all over the field, Greg Inglis looking
like a Dally M candidate. Completed 84%
of their sets, 10 offloads and just 7 errors tied for the best of all teams in
the first round.
#2 Storm – 2 points
Business as usual for the defending champions, running in
three unanswered first half tries against the Dragons and five in total.
Completed just 64% of their sets but had far too much firepower and missed just
13 tackles. The big three were all on form, Slater opening the account for the
Storm and making 7 tackle breaks, Smith lead all players with 40 tackles and
Cooper Cronk once again was named man of the match. This was the 4th
successive game that Cronk has been recognized the best player on the field,
including the 2012 Grand Final and World Club Challenge, he had 328 kicking
metres including a 40-20.
#3 Cowboys – 2 points
It was an arm wrestle early on but the million dollar man
Johnathan Thurston turned in a stunning effort in leading the Cowboys to a
first round win. The teams traded 4 tries in the opening 19 minutes, but the
Cowboys would run in 3 unanswered en route to a 12 point win with Ash Graham
grabbing a double. Matt Scott and James Tamou combined for over 300 metres and
had some great support from impact forward Jason Taumalolo. The forwards laid a
great platform and the brilliance of JT would capitalize, unleashing his
talented backline by making 7 tackle breaks and 3 try assists, along with 186
kicking metres.
#4 Sea Eagles – 2 points
Fell behind early in the game down 14-6 at the half, but
fought back with some valiant play in the second stanza to spell a bad night
for Tom Waterhouse and the Broncos. 79% completion rate, missing just 13
tackles from 318, and only 7 errors in a very strong performance despite missing
Glenn Stewart and Jason King. Matai won a fantastic duel with Hodges crossing
over for 2 tries and 177 metres. Lawrence, Kite, Buhrer and Watmough all eclipsed
100 metres, Kite particularly impressive with 127 metres and 32 tackles in 54
minutes. Daly Cherry-Evans scored a great try, 5 tackle breaks, a gigantic 418
kicking metres and still managed to find time to make 32 tackles.
#5 Knights – 2 points
Unleashed an offensive onslaught on a hapless Tigers outfit
putting up 42 points. The Tigers struck
early with a try in the 6th minute, but then the Knights simply
could not be stopped, piling on 7 tries. The Knights completed 85% of their sets
and starved the Tigers out of the game, limiting them to just 27 sets. Fullback
Darius Boyd began his 2013 campaign looking back to his best, injecting himself
into the backline adding his playmaking nous, 148 metres and 5 tackle breaks in
a man of the match performance. Akuila Uate scored a blistering hattrick, 162 metres, 11
tackle breaks, 2 offloads, 4 line breaks in an ominous display.
#6 Eels – 2 points
Put on a dazzling display against the Warriors to get their
campaign underway in fine fashion. Started off rusty with some poor ball control
and a couple of silly penalties, but righted the ship to snare an 18-0 lead at
the break. The Warriors mounted a second half comeback with 2 tries but the
Eels showed great character responding with 4 unanswered to seal the deal. Hayne notched 3 tries with 6 tackle breaks and
171 metres. The enigmatic Chris Sandow had 5 tackle breaks, 2 line breaks, a
try, a try assist and 339 kicking metres. Sandow sliced up the defence with
ease and his kicking early in the set stabilized things for the Eels, letting
them play the game where they wanted to be.
#7 Sharks – 2 points
Grinded out a hard fought 2 point win in front of a
passionate Sharks Stadium. Captain Paul
Gallen made a big statement with 25 runs for 202 metres, 31 tackles and 4
offloads in 68 minutes. Great support from Wade Graham with 137 metres and 22
tackles in just 48 minutes and rampaging prop Andrew Fifita with 110 metres, 27
tackles and scored the match winning try. Todd Carney had a huge day with the
boot kicking 414 metres including a 40-20. The Sharks didn’t look particularly
threatening on attack, but prized fullback recruit Michael Gordon had a strong
debut with 151 metres and 4 tackle breaks.
#8 Titans – 0 points
Went toe to toe with a fired up Sharks outfit and came away
just a conversion short. Made more metres than any other team with 1555 along
with 15 offloads. Eight players who went over 100 metres, along with Idris who
had 99 and Harrison 98. Their forward pack is the real deal, all 4 Origin
second rowers stood out, none more so than Myles with 105 metres and 42 tackles.
Winger David Mead was explosive with 188 metres and 3 tackle breaks. The new
halves pairing of Sezer and Kelly showed a lot of promise, Kelly providing some
spark on offence, they could form a very dangerous duo on the back of all these
gun forwards.
#9 Panthers – 2 points
Put in a real blue collar performance and were rewarded for
their hard work with a 22 point win. Completed 83% of their sets and made 13
offloads en route to 1462 metres. Winger Josh Mansour followed on from his
strong rookie campaign with 173 metres and 8 tackle breaks. Showed a great team
mentality despite a roster that hasn’t been together for very long. There were
few individual standouts, this was the type of effort where the forwards score
4 of your 5 tries. But everyone did their job, everyone pitched in and they
played a relatively mistake free game and in the end that was enough to get
them home comfortably.
#10 Bulldogs – 0 points
Missing Barba, Kasiano, Graham, Pritchard was already a big
blow, taking on one of the elite teams of the NRL in the Cowboys didn’t make
things any easier. Despite losing by 12, the Dogs showed they were still
capable of competing despite the big losses. Completed 75% of their sets and
made only 8 errors but an uncharacteristically high missed tackle count proved
costly as Thurston turned it up and let his backs start running wild. 19 year
old monster David Klemmer made his debut dipping his feet for 17 minutes but
didn’t look out of place. Tolman put in a tough nights work trying to fill the
void of the missing front rowers with 102 metres and 37 tackles.
#11 Roosters – 0 points
Scored after just 3 minutes through new recruit James
Maloney, but let down by a poor completion rate of just 60%, 27 missed tackles
and 12 errors. The Chooks looked threatening at times and produced 6 line
breaks, but ultimately looked like a group of players thrown together compared
to the cohesive Rabbitohs outfit. Jennings made a couple of fantastic breaks
but failed to capitalize on them. Waerea-Hargreaves had a strong night with 109
metres and 37 tackles. The much anticipated return of SBW didn’t live up to the
hype, nor was it ever going to, but he looked solid making 26 tackles and a consolation
try. Will likely need time to the chemistry to develop.
#12 Broncos – 0 points
Looked good early against Manly taking a 14-6 lead into the
break before the Sea Eagles smoked them 16-0 in the second half. Had an 81%
completion rate in the first half with 5 errors and 5 missed tackles, but fell
off drastically in the second with a 50% completion rate, 9 errors and 20
missed tackles. Hodges was fantastic at centre despite being outshined by his
opposing man Steve Matai, putting up 150 metres with 2 offloads, 2 line break
assists and 2 try assists. The battle between those two alone was worth
watching. Alex Glenn had a good night with 147 metres and 22 tackles while
Parker was his usual self piling up 43 tackles. The lacklustre second half
performance ultimately proved far too inviting for a classy Manly team.
#13 Dragons – 0 points
The reality of facing Melbourne is that if they are in the
mood then they are probably going to run you off the park and that’s what
happened to the Dragons, down 18-0 at the break and once Melbourne shuts the
gate it very rarely opens back up. Had a far better completion rate (79%) and
error count (8) than Melbourne but as was the case last year, the Dragons do
not have the firepower to gun it with a team like Melbourne. A number of Dragons forwards put in some hard
graft, most notably Merrin with 109 metres, 30 tackles and 3 offloads. Sadly yet another Stanley injury this time
Chase going down in the 77th minute with a knee injury
.
#14 Raiders – 0 points
Didn’t want this one as bad as their opposition did at a
very hot Centrebet Stadium. Completed just 68%, restricted to 1042 metres and
had 26 missed tackles. A really tough day at the office for Sandor Earl with 6
errors. Dugan and Croker made surprising starts after many expected them to
miss round 1. Dugan would put up 124 metres but didn’t offer up anything too
threatening, Croker had minimal impact with only 8 metres though he did make 15
tackles. No player other than Dugan would go over 100 metres, Shillington
leading all forwards with 78. With Dugan and Ferguson stood down this week for
off field issues this could be a testing early stretch for the Raiders.
#15 Warriors – 0 points
Looked no different than the Warriors of 2012. Completed
only 20 sets and had 31 missed tackles. Showed some character early in the second half
as they mounted a comeback before the Eels put their foot on the throat and
stomped down repeatedly. The defence parted far too easily and the Eels walked
right on in. Lacked direction on attack and put up a paltry 1069 metres but
weren’t helped by the early loss of Vatuvei. Ikahihifo ran the ball incredibly hard
for 113 metres and 17 tackles, did himself really proud. New recruit Dane Nielsen
snagged a try in his Warriors debut and looked every bit the player he was
advertised to be.
#16 Tigers – 0 points
Looked strong for 10 minutes before it all fell to pieces
for the Tigers. Familiar problems from last year with too many missed tackles.
Completed only 67% of 27 sets as the Knights dominated possession. By far the
lowest amount of metres of all teams in round 1 with just 812, for perspective
the next lowest was 1042. Just one Tigers player went over 100 metres, the
starting backrow combined for just 73. Captain Robbie Farah put on a fabulous
effort that went under the radar with 53 tackles, try assists, line breaks,
line break assists, no errors, no penalties. One of the best performances of
the round setting a strong example that few in his team seemed interested in
following.
and there we have it for week 1. Disagree with how I've ranked them? let me know on Twitter @WellsNorthShore
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