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Opinion
These Sunday matches were not the greatest examples of rugby league but Sean O’Sullivan’s golden-point field goal and Newcastle’s win over the Wests Tigers were a sight for their sore-eyed fans.
The Dolphins are up to eighth after their dramatic 34-32 win over the Warriors while Newcastle are just two points behind them following their 34-18 result over the Tigers.
It is always dubious when a player fumbles the ball and then manages to boot the ball just before it hits the ground and a try is scored.
The rule should be that players have to deliberately kick the ball rather than being allowed to get away with the knock-on which turned into Kalyn Ponga’s grubber for Fletcher Sharpe’s third try at Newcastle on Sunday.
Billy Slater scored a try from a fumble which turned into a “drop kick” in 2018 which also fell into this category of dumb luck or turning an error into something positive, depending on your viewpoint.
And it would be easy enough for referees, and particularly the bunker in scoring plays, to determine whether a player was genuinely trying to kick the ball or whether they were fumbling it and tried to hide their handling error by kicking it before it hit the turf.
Newcastle have sorely missed Dominic Young’s output on the wing this season but they seem to have finally found an outside back with attacking strikepower whose name is not Kalyn Ponga.
Fletcher Sharpe showed during his first five matches at fullback that he has plenty of potential and with Ponga back in the No.1 jersey, he has found a home on the wing.
The first two of his four tries were the result of strong finishing work off a Tyson Gamble kick and a Ponga pass, then his third one was one to make Knights fans really start to sit up and take notice.
Fletcher Sharpe scores a try. (Photo by Scott Gardiner/Getty Images)
Sharpe sprinted to the sideline to put the ball on the toe after Ponga’s dodgy grubber kick then showed supreme athleticism to hoof it back infield and win the race to the Steeden.
Dane Gagai attracted three defenders to put Sharpe over for his fourth four-pointer in the second half and playing alongside the veteran will be the perfect finishing school for the youngster over the next 12 months or more.
The Knights are a long way from shrugging off their reputation for being one of the NRL’s least effective attacking teams but Sharpe’s arrival gives them a desperately needed injection of raw pace.
They were solid in setting up their 22-12 half-time lead against the Tigers and should have been able to cruise to victory after going up by 16 early in the second half it looked like they would put up a huge score.
But they were unable or incapable of really going for the jugular despite finishing 34-18 winners.
Jahream Bula’s spectacular try is another glimmer of hope for the Tigers that they are at least going to go forward in the future with their investment in youth.
The young fullback’s leap and soft hands to reel in a high ball from Kalyn Ponga was a pearler and even though they left Newcastle with another loss for the year to all but confirm a third straight wooden spoon, there is method to Benji Marshall’s madness in 2024.
Bula, Solomon Alaimalo, Solomona Faataape, Lachlan Galvin, Fonua Pole, Samuela Fainu and Tallyn Da Silva are the future of this club and they are now ahead of schedule in their development.
Throw in Jarome Luai and Sunia Turuva next year and this youthful backline will have much-needed big-game experience which will turn seesawing matches like Sunday’s loss to Newcastle into Tigers triumphs.
Who knew that Sean O’Sullivan could boot long-range field goals like his boomer to sink the Warriors in extra time at Suncorp Stadium? The Warriors certainly didn’t.
With all eyes on sharpshooter Jamayne Isaako, the journeyman half struck his match-winning shot perfectly to lift the Dolphins back into eighth spot ahead of the Dragons.
“He had a lot of time on the interchange bench to think about it. It was a great moment and I’m just pleased I got him on. I knew he’d bring something,” Dragons coach Wayne Bennett said.
Canterbury could regret taking their duel with the Dolphins next Saturday to Bundaberg with Salter Oval likely to be packed with a lot more red than blue fans.
Felise Kaufusi showed there’s still plenty of life left in his old legs by scoring a try and setting up what should have been the match-winner for Jake Averillo but the Dolphins’ defence can be prone to extended lapses.
TeMaire Martin and Demitric Sifakula scored, Ali Leiataua should have touched down but came up with a poorly timed bout of dropsy and Mitch Barnett was handed a penalty try after Kodi Nikorima’s professional foul in a 12-minute stretch late in the game.
If the Warriors had a first-rate goalkicker, they would have also won but none of this matters to the Dolphins, all they care about is the valuable two competition points they now have in the bag.
“There is a football god. We needed a bit of help there in the end,” Bennett said.
Ali Leiataua will be seeing his try-line blunder for years to come.
On the Max Mannix scale of bombed tries, it was high on the blunder-meter.
With his team down 26-20 with 13 minutes left, the young centre was unmarked with five metres to run in a try in the left corner but he somehow spilled the pill without a Dolphins defender in touching distance.
And to make matters worse he then copped an accidental knee to the head from teammate Ed Kosi who had already started celebrating what he thought was a straightforward four-pointer.
Leiataua played no further part in the match after going off for an HIA for the “friendly fire” as his team managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory in extra time.
If anyone needs a 15-second clip to sum up the Warriors’ 2024 campaign, this tells the tale of how a season of promise has gone down the gurgler.
They are five points off eighth spot and only a mathematical chance of repeating last year’s surprise playoff berth.
“We got ourselves back in the game and gave ourselves a chance to win, and at times it looked we were going to win if we took a couple of moments to keep our season alive,” said coach Andrew Webster.
“We didn’t give in.”
It’s almost like the NRL is saying to the fans who haven’t coughed up for pay-TV that you are going to be served up second-rate fodder on a Sunday afternoon.
The 4pm matches for the past six weeks have been:
Newcastle vs Wests;
Canterbury vs Canberra;
Dolphins vs Gold Coast;
Manly vs Gold Coast;
Manly vs Newcastle;
Canberra vs Newcastle.
That’s not what you’d call must-see TV.
As has been the case for many years, the Thursday and Friday matches get priority with the Saturday evening games usually the more attractive propositions for viewers with the way the draw is compiled with input from the broadcasters.
The task of evening out the spread of quality matches each round, selected a year in advance, is going to be even harder once there are more teams and as many as 10 matches per round.
We will never go back to the bygone days of the Sunday afternoon fixture being the match of the round but unless you’re a hardcore fan, you won’t be tuning into the kind of fare that routinely gets served up for the free-to-air audience.