Round 6 was brought to you by the Qantas Frequent Flyer programme – we went from Perth to Darwin to Melbourne and Newcastle on Saturday and Sunday, artfully skipping Sydney entirely on the way.
We started with another Panthers disaster. The ignominy of losing five on the spin – and to the Dolphins at that – was lessened by the disastrous showing from Brisbane on Friday. We should credit the Roosters, who were excellent, but really, the Broncos are no great shakes on this form at all.
On the far flung fields, Cronulla downed a poor Manly and the Cowboys recorded a third straight win over Souths, while in the Top End, Parramatta recorded their now annual defeat.
Canberra, on this occasion, were the lucky side to get the chance to travel north for the most guaranteed two points of the year.
The Tigers grabbed some revenge on Newcastle for their Round 1 defeat, too, increasing the league’s most fragile confidence, while in Melbourne…well, let’s start there.
A good week for…
The Storm, who underlined just how much better they are than everyone else by crushing the previously rated Warriors.
In isolation, we shouldn’t be that surprised: Melbourne have now won 17 on the spin against New Zealand, the longest such streak in the entire NRL. Last time the Wahs downed the Storm, Sam Tomkins was in the side and the first Minions movie was in cinemas.
As ever, it’s the manner of these things. It was 36-0 at half time, a true beatdown. The only question was how much the Storm would win by and, really, they put the cue in the rack to only finish 42-14.
Canterbury got the bye this weekend, so we can’t judge them, but at the moment it does seem like it’ll be those two in the Grand Final and Melbourne winning it. Everyone else isn’t close.
A bad week for…
Penrith, obviously.
Every red pen available has been put through the Panthers for 2025 following a fifth successive defeat.
While that is a little premature given their status as the best knockout team in living memory, it’s not without reason.
For a side that has always been system first, they look like a team of individuals. Nathan Cleary remains the best player in the world, with Isaah Yeo second place, but the supporting cast is now sufficiently poor that it doesn’t really matter.
Cleary is now trying so hard to lift the other blokes that he’s making errors that he’d never otherwise make. Yeo made 20 runs and 51 tackles, but you can’t help but think it limits the other good stuff he can do to have to make so many efforts.
Izack Tago, who looked like a world beater previously, has fallen off a cliff. Isaiah Papali’i was the premier backrower in the competition in 2022 at Parramatta, but looks half the player he was.
Then you chuck in all the young guys who are still finding their feet.
Not to single Tom Jenkins out, but that he plays now tells you a story. The Panthers were more than happy to let him go once upon a time.
