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Monday, 17 May 2021

Late Mail: NRL Round Ten

 It's Magic, you know! The NRL continued this week with Magic Weekend at Brisbane's Suncorp Stadium. Here's my round-up...

Things kicked off on Friday with a rare win for Wests Tigers, as they overcame the challenge of Newcastle Knights. The home side, Brisbane Broncos, were pummelled by Manly, who got their fifth win of the season, hitting 50 points on the way. The action continued on Saturday, Canberra overcoming a fierce effort from Canterbury to finally snap their losing streak. Souths fought off a scare from Cronulla to earn a valuable win, before Sydney did the same against the Cowboys. Parramatta picked up another win as they dismantled the Warriors, before reigning Champions Melbourne Storm continued their run of victories after overcoming the Storm, despite an early injury to Ryan Papenhuyzen. Finally, the magnificent Penrith Panthers made it ten wins in a row to start the year, as they routed the Titans. The round was dominated by the new purge on high contact, with no fewer than fourteen sin-bins and three red cards shown across the weekend.

Round Nine Results
Wests Tigers 36-18 Newcastle Knights
Manly Sea Eagles 50-6 Brisbane Broncos
Canterbury Bulldogs 18-20 Canberra Raiders
Cronulla Sharks 22-32 South Sydney
Sydney Roosters 30-16 North Queensland Cowboys
New Zealand Warriors 18-34 Parramatta Eels
Melbourne Storm 44-18 St George Dragons
Gold Coast Titans 12-48 Penrith Panthers

The Panthers still lead the way on 20 points, with their perfect ten, ahead of the Eels on 18. The Storm and Souths are tied on 16 points, with Sydney just behind on 14. The Dragons and Manly are both on ten points, ahead of Canberra, Gold Coast, the Warriors, Knights and Cowboys, all of whom are on eight. Wests' win lifts them above the Sharks and the Broncos, with the Bulldogs still stuck on two points.


Top Five Players of the Round

5) Daly Cherry-Evans (Manly)
Definitely his best performance of the year so far. Ran the game with his passing and combined well with Trbojevic.

4) Nicho Hynes (Storm)
Did an admirable job after moving to full-back to replace Papenhuyzen. Kicked the goals well too.

3) Stephen Crichton (Panthers)
An outstanding performance from the centre, who used his passing game to perfection, helping the Panthers get up the pitch time after time.

2) James Tedesco (Roosters)
The world's best player has had a quiet few weeks but was influential for the Roosters this weekend, playing a number of killer passes to set up breaks and scores.

1) Nathan Cleary (Panthers)
An absolute masterclass of a performance. His passing game caused all manner of problems, he got three tries of his own and ran the game from minute one.


Top Five Tries of the Round

5) Tom Trbojevic (2nd try)
Brilliant attacking structure from Manly, as they unlock the Broncos with their passes out wide and then back inside.


4) Scott Drinkwater
A sensational run from Valentine Holmes, who puts Sam Walker on his backside before setting up Drinkwater for a score.


3) Alex Johnston
A beautiful pass from Benji Marshall, who launches it over the top into AJ's hands.


2) Jahrome Hughes
The Storm throw some great attacking structure, passing the ball around until Hughes finds space and crashes over.


1) Charlie Staines
Nathan Cleary sends a delicious pass over the top, delaying it before putting it on a sixpence for Staines.



Team of the Round

Full-Back: James Tedesco (Roosters)
His running game was back to its best this weekend, with no fewer than ten line breaks.

Winger: Josh Addo-Carr (Storm)
It wasn't quite the six tries from last week, but another hat-trick to take him top of the scoring charts.

Centre: Adam Doueihi (Tigers)
A move to centre this weekend, and it worked, with two tries and an assist for the Wests man.

Centre: Stephen Crichton (Panthers)
Five tackle breaks and an assist for the centre, who was one of the key players to the Panthers' structure.

Winger: Charlie Staines (Panthers)
With To'o on the other side, it can often get forgotten how good Staines is. So composed near the line.

Stand-Off: Benji Marshall (Souths)
Much better back in the halves this week, with two assists, including a glorious pass for the first.

Scrum-Half: Nathan Cleary (Panthers)
One of the best individual performances of the year - three tries, two assists, three line breaks and nine tackle breaks.

Prop: Reagan Campbell-Gillard (Eels)
A monster of a prop who got over the line twice. The Eels forwards are the best in the country.

Hooker: Tyson Smoothy (Storm)
The 21-year-old had his first game for seven weeks and was excellent, making 36 tackles and not missing one.

Prop: James Fisher-Harris (Panthers)
A try and four tackle breaks. A monster of a forward.

Second Row: Luciano Leilua (Tigers)
A very good showing in the back row, with two tackle breaks and 103 metres made.

Second Row: Angus Crichton (Roosters)
The Roosters were on fire on Saturday, and it was their second rower who was one of the stars, getting two tries and hitting 179 metres.

Loose Forward: Nathan Brown (Eels)
A try and three tackle breaks from Parra's loose forward, who also notched up 162 metres.


Next Time Out...

Round 12 kicks off with the Cowboys against Newcastle, before the Warriors host Wests. The Dragons travel to the Sharks, with the Titans looking to bounce back against the Bulldogs. Sydney host Brisbane, with Storm taking on the Raiders in a big game. Undoubtedly the match of the round is on Sunday, with Souths hosting unbeaten league leaders Penrith, before Parramatta and Manly close the round out.


@ALooseWire

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