Monday Morning Halfback: Round 14 ReviewSunday, 3:22 PM Australian Eastern Standard Time - You, the hardcore footy fan, have been flicking between the concurrent games and both are as good as over. The Warriors have just scored their 5th try in a row and are threatening to mount a cricket score. The Raiders' bodies may be at Suncorp Stadium, but their minds are a million miles away as they trail 24-0 after playing their worst half of the season (and that's really saying something given their abominable year).
It's a Public holiday tomorrow. The footy's been poor the last few weeks with Rep games taking their annual toll on the competition. Origin's on Wednesday. The wife's nagging you to cook the Sunday dinner for a change. You could ALMOST be forgiven for switching off the telly and forgetting about Rugby League for the rest of the afternoon.
Undoubtedly, there were dozens (if not hundreds) of fans who found themselves in this situation yesterday afternoon and did exactly that. Oh ye of little faith! Are you not aware of the miraculous comebacks our great game is famous for?
Eighteen minutes. Two teams. Eight tries. Between 3:23 PM and 3:41 PM, the Wests Tigers and Canberra Raiders launched an unbelievable offensive onslaught that surely set a modern-day record (or came mighty close) for the most tries in an eighteen minute time span.
But before we delve into the comebacks, let's take a look at two hidden plays that had a hand in both resurgences occurring.
It's the final minute before halftime. Brisbane are up 18-0 and are demolishing the pathetic Raiders - the romp is on. After Jarrod Croker is penalised for stripping Jack Reed of the ball, the Broncos are awarded a penalty 15 metres out and 12 metres in from the right touchline.
The temptation is to go for the jugular, to score a try - which would put the nail in Canberra's coffin - and watch them trudge dejectedly into the sheds. But with only 35 seconds remaining, the smart decision is to let Peter Wallace take the two (he's already hit 3 goals this half) and go into the break with a commanding 20-0 lead. However, as Andrew McCullough looks back at his debutante captain Alex Glenn, he receives the signal to tap and go. Predictably, Brisbane fails to score in its four plays and the halftime hooter sounds.
You can be certain that 'Hook' Griffin will have (or already has had) a quiet word with Glenn, his former Under 20s captain, about the decision to turn down the shot at goal. Because although Brisbane managed to pull a Houdini and escape with the victory courtesy of a clutch Peter Wallace field goal in extra time, there may have been no need for golden point if the Broncos had simply played the percentages and took the two points on offer just prior to oranges.
Meanwhile, across the ditch, woeful Wests look like they're more concerned with who's going where next season than actually playing Rugby League. It's the 62nd minute and Manu Vatuvei has just scored his 2nd try to make it 22-4. Nothing is happening for the Tigers and it seems like last week's positive showing versus the Dragons was merely an aberration.
Enter Bryce Gibbs. The serial niggler. Ever since he came into the league in 2003, Gibbs has had a reputation for getting under the opposition's skin. Who could forget the Tigers-Bulldogs clash in 2006 when a furious Mark O'Meley steamrolled Gibbs into la la land - after Gibbs had earlier riled him up by letting his elbow make acquaintances with O'Meley's face.
Gibbs, who last week reportedly signed a three year deal with Cronulla beginning next season, took a hitup from his own 30 and was turned onto his back after an eight metre gain. As he was getting up to play the ball, he threw a cheeky right arm to the face of tackler James Maloney. Now, this is one of the obvious double standards surrounding the rules of our great game. If you are tackled with the ball, you're virtually allowed to push, fend and punch at defenders. But if you try the same thing post-tackle as a defender, it's an automatic penalty.
Needless to say, Maloney couldn't control himself and just had to give Gibbs a shove back after getting one in the chops. If there's one area of Maloney's game to be critical of, it's his penchant for ill-discipline. He conceded a whopping 28 penalties last year in his debut season and quickly developed a reputation for being easily baited. While he has been a bit better this year (8 penalties in 12 games), he still has the ability to lose his cool. Without a doubt, Gibbs knew this and tried his luck with the shot to the face. Maloney bought it hook, line and sinker and referee Ashley Klein had no hesitation in awarding a Wests penalty. From the resulting set, the Tigers scored and set their spectacular fightback in motion.
And of course it wasn't your stock standard, run of the mill four pointer. We are talking about the Tigers, after all. Following Liam Fulton's botching of a sure try down the left side when he failed to straighten and pass, Gareth Ellis received the ball on last tackle, 20 metres out from the line, with nothing doing.
The burly Brit, who was sorely missed by Wests during his recent five week absence, straightened and cut inside Simon Mannering and Steve Rapira. He was on the verge of being tackled when he channeled his inner Benji and delivered a trademark Marshall flick pass to the man himself, bringing his team within two tries. Referee Klein was only slightly understating the brilliance of it when he remarked with a chuckle: "Not bad, huh?"
Their next try was a little more fortunate. After Blake Ayshford's (who had a superb performance) surging 40 metre run, Marshall put up a last tackle bomb from 23 metres out which only went 11 metres forward - way too shallow. But fullback Kevin Locke, no doubt spurred on from a flawless display to that point, raced up from his own tryline and attempted to field the kick. However, former Warriors reject Wade McKinnon rose above him, came down with the pill and bagged a try after the home side clocked off on defense, assuming that Locke would defuse the bomb with ease.
New Zealand were lucky to hold on from the next set after Benji nailed a 3rd tackle 40/20 attempt to put his team hot on attack. But they only managed one set of six before Ayshford again manufactured something out of nothing. After Benji delivered a shocking ball that made his centre retreat 10 metres just to gather the ball, Ayshford threw a right foot step which caused the converging Mannering to slip, leaving Ayshford mismatched versus rookie halfback Shaun Johnson. He easily palmed off Johnson and ran 45 metres upfield before drawing in Locke and passing inside to Marshall for his 2nd try.
With six minutes remaining, he Tigers were a little lucky to gain a repeat set after Steve Rapira accidentally hit a Robbie Farah pass on 5th tackle. But their subsequent game-clinching try was anything but lucky. On 3rd tackle, Benji caught it at 1st receiver down the right blindside, 7 metres from paydirt. He stepped off his right foot and then immediately off his left, which enabled him to gain outside position on Johnson and fend him off, drawing both Mannering and Vatuvei one in. Marshall then proceeded to throw what Joey Johns called "a Lebron James basketball pass" directly over the head of Vatuvei and into the waiting arms of Beau Ryan, who just managed to ground the ball in a diving effort for the corner.
It was just another tour de force performance from Marshall, who despite being quiet for the opening 60 minutes, conjured up some magic when it was most needed. After starting the season with a hiss and a roar as he single-handedly destroyed the Warriors, Raiders and Rabbitohs, some people were questioning whether he'd overtaken Johnathan Thurston as the Greatest Player In The World. But Benji cooled down as the strain of carrying his team on his back week in week out took its toll, while Thurston went from strength to strength. Despite his inconsistency, I still think Marshall has been the fifth most valuable player in the NRL this year (behind, in order: Thurston, Cameron Smith, Kieran Foran and Darren Lockyer) as he has often been working with poor ball behind a forward pack that's struggled to gain the upper hand against the majority of opponents.
So the Tigers claw their way back to a winning record (7-6) and into the top eight with a win that coach Tim Sheens said could be "a season defining victory". And even if Wests can just tread water for next 3 months and sneak into the playoffs, they're still in with a good shot of taking out the premiership if Benji can go on one of his runs for 3 or 4 games in a row at the business end of the competition.
Back over in Brisbane, coach David Furner's halftime spray did little to motivate his team. James Stuart's 48th minute bobble of a regulation Wallace grubber gave the Broncos an attacking scrum 10 metres out, and four plays later Josh Hoffman easily caught makeshift centre Blake Ferguson out when he strolled over to make it 24-0.
For the next quarter hour, the teams traded sets with Brisbane merely going through the motions and Canberra simply trying not to concede any more points. That was until the 63rd minute when the Raiders, obviously just having a bit of fun now that the contest was seemingly over, played a little basketball on a last tackle that saw the pill go through nine Raiders hands and force a repeat set when Hoffman had to bat down a Croker offload. Three plays later, after a superb offload from tackling demon Shaun Fensom, Josh Papalii almost butchered a meat pie when he failed to pass with a three-on-one overlap. But he just managed to crash over in Nick Kenny's tackle to open the Raiders' account.
There was nothing wrong with Papalii's 2nd try just two minutes later. At 1st receiver on the right shortside, he caught the ball 5 metres out and threw a surprisingly nimble left foot step against Wallace (an excellent defender) and fended him off to score. In two minutes, Josh Papalii did more damage for Canberra's right side than Bronson Harrison had done the entire season.
After Ferguson's conversion went in off the left post to keep the Raiders within striking distance, Papalli wasn't finished - his quick play-the-ball attempt earned his team a piggyback upfield. Off the back of a speedy Tom Learoyd-Lahrs rake, hooker Glen Buttriss caught the Broncos markerless and dashed over from dummy half to bring the visitors within one converted try.
From the subsequent kickoff, Canberra spread the ball with aplomb, gaining 89 metres before Sam Williams launched a hope-and-pray bomb at Reece Robinson's corner. The Raiders left winger soared above his opposite man Dane Gagai, batted it back and with stacks on the mill, Croker touched the pill down with his outstretched left arm. With seven minutes remaining, Ferguson calmly slotted the conversion to tie the game at 24 and leave the Broncos faithful quiet as church mice.
In the remainder of regulation time, both teams attempted field goals but to no avail. In golden point, Brisbane was rewarded for spreading the ball on 3rd tackle when they gained 35 metres down the left side, giving them enough field position to attempt a field goal two plays later. Wallace flexed his seniority by pushing Corey Norman out of 1st receiver and drilled a 35 metre rocket that never looked like missing.
It was a crucial kick that prevented the Broncos from slumping to their fourth loss in five games, and also extinguished whatever faint hope remained for Canberra's season. The loss sent them to 3-10 and needing to win at least nine of their eleven remaining matches to even have a hope of the top eight. With Terry Campese out for the rest of 2011, that challenge is out of reach, even for the notoriously streaky Green Machine.
Who I like tonight
With the Storm missing their key triumvirate of Cronk, Slater and Smith, the onus will fall on Gareth Widdop to take on more last tackle responsibility than he's had to previously. While I don't think he'll embarrass himself, he may take time to adjust to the added pressure of being the primary playmaker. This, combined with the Roosters' gritty defensive showing last week versus the Warriors, leads me to lean towards the visitors. Roosters by two.
Source: Rleague.com
Topic: Monday Morning Halfback: Round 14 Review
