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Sold-out suburban footy. Two sleeping giants that have finally woken, thanks to the impressive work of Cameron Ciraldo and Shane Flanagan in rebuilding the culture of their respective clubs. There were great scenes in Kogarah as Canterbury got the better of St George Illawarra in the battle of 2024’s biggest surprise packets.
Earlier on, the Cowboys spectacularly lost control of the XXXX Derby in Townsville, going down 42-18 to Brisbane after Manly put a large dent in Canberra’s top-eight hopes with a dominant second-half showing at GIO Stadium in the early game.
Here’s how the three Saturday matches in the NRL unfolded.
On Saturday evening, Flanagan’s side could not mount a comeback after Bronson Xerri’s quick-fire double extended the Bulldogs’ lead to 14 points after just 29 minutes had elapsed.
Tyrell Sloan impressed again for the Dragons after last week’s brilliant showing, cutting Canterbury’s lead to ten just before half-time but St George Illawarra failed to score again, defeated 28-10.
In unsavoury scenes, Kyle Flanagan could be seen apparently biting Bulldogs captain Stephen Crichton on the nose, with Fox League reported the Bulldogs star had lodged an official complaint against the Dragons half.
“His nose is a bit swollen,” Bulldogs coach Cameron Ciraldo said after the match.
“He’s getting a few things checked.
“I don’t know what to say about it, really, so we’ll leave it there.”
Flanagan has been referred straight to the NRL judiciary over the incident, with the league’s match review hitting him with a dangerous contact charge but opting to send the matter to a Tuesday night hearing rather than grading it.
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, father and son both denied a bite had occurred. “Kyle said he didn’t do it. I believe him, 100 per cent,” Shane Flanagan said.
“I’ve watched the footage, Kyle showed it to me, he (Crichton) is pushing his face into him while Kyle is on the ground.”
Crichton had visible bleeding on his nose after the match and Kangaroos coach Mal Meninga said on Fox League he had “no doubt” that Flanagan had bitten the Canterbury captain.
“That was hard to watch and it’s hard evidence,” Meninga said. “There’s no doubt that he’s bitten him. And obviously the repercussions of that is Stephen’s nose is bleeding. A pretty hard one to disprove to be honest with you.”
Fellow analyst Cooper Cronk added: “Crichton’s face is up against Kyle Flanagan’s, but you can actually see the white of Kyle’s mouthguard at some stage here. That is damning evidence. Flanagan might be in some trouble.”
The biting incident came on the back of Hame Sele leaving the stadium in an ambulance with an irregular heartbeat after the Dragons forward complained of chest pains to medical staff.
“It’s a bit of a concern. I don’t want to comment too much on it because I don’t know the full details,” said Dragons coach Shane Flanagan.
In a season no one expected St George Illawarra to be a finals side, Flanagan still has the Dragons inside the top eight despite the loss – far ahead of even optimistic projections for the club. Going down to AAMI Park and beating the Storm on their home patch proved their finals credentials.
They will drop to ninth if the Dolphins beat the Warriors on Sunday.
The run home is not extremely challenging with St George Illawarra hosting the Titans and Sharks in Wollongong before facing Parramatta and Canberra to finish.
Four tries to two proved the difference in a clinical Canterbury showing as Matt Burton was a perfect 6/6 with the boot, adding four conversions and two penalty goals with the final score line perhaps a touch harsh on the Dragons but the Dogs deservedly took the two competition points home to Belmore.
Built on a foundation of hard work, togetherness and consistent defence there is no lack of attacking power in the Bulldogs led by Crichton.
The defensive structure was on show yet again in this win with goal-line defence a big plus for Canterbury when the Dragons looked threatening.
If Flanagan does not pick up the Dally M Coach of the Year award at the end-of-season ceremony it will certainly be Bulldogs coach Cameron Ciraldo. In his second season at the club Ciraldo has assembled a formidable squad that is now on the verge of a first top-four finish since their run to the 2012 Grand Final.
Any notion of moving the blockbuster clash to the Sydney Roosters’ home of Allianz Stadium was thankfully kiboshed by suits earlier in the week, ensuring the contest was played before a rambunctious atmosphere in Kogarah. The scenes were reminiscent of the sights and sounds coming out of Belmore Sports Ground – and the streets surrounding the suburban venue – from just one week ago.
Viliame Kikau celebrates a try with Kurt Mann. (Photo by Jeremy Ng/Getty Images)
Netstrata Jubilee Stadium has a certain rustic charm but it can’t be denied facilities are lacking. Unsurprisingly, the standard and number of corporate areas – where the big money is made in sport these days – are miles away from gold standard venues like CommBank Stadium.
That will always be the trade-off with suburban grounds but the vast majority of diehard fans probably don’t care one bit when nights like this come around.
After last week’s embarrassing loss to Gold Coast, Broncos coach Kevin Walters said the top eight was the “furthest thing from his mind.” While that was an obvious deflection, the club legend will be breathing a little easier after his side responded emphatically, putting their local rivals to the sword with an impressive attacking display at Queensland Country Bank Stadium.
“There was always faith from the coaching staff that we could turn it around,” Broncos coach Kevin Walters said. “I thought it was Reece (Walsh)’s best team game for us in a long time. Our captain (Adam Reynolds) led us beautifully.”
While improbable, a finals finish is still within Brisbane’s grasp but it will almost certainly depend on a 100 per cent record in their remaining fixtures and hoping other results go their way.
Just how important is a fit Tom Trbojevic to the Sea Eagles’ premiership hopes in 2024? Well, look no further than their victory over Canberra in the nation’s capital.
The mercurial No.1 was involved in most of Manly’s best moments, scoring two tries and setting up two more, showing the type of form that will have the rest of the competition on notice as the Sea Eagles mount an unlikely top-four charge.
Canberra were keeping pace in the first half but the turning point came when Grant Atkins incorrectly ruled a knock-on by Adam Cook when the Raider had got his boot to the ball before it touched the grass before Ethan Bullemor went in for a four-pointer.
“I don’t know if you’d put it down as a turning point but it was a really important part of the game there, if we go ahead and go into halftime,” Canberra coach Ricky Stuart said. “I’m not gonna blame Atkins for that but it was a poor miss.”
Any hopes of a Raiders revival were dashed when Joseph Tapine was sin-binned for dissent after disagreeing with the Bunker’s interpretation of a lifting tackle on Jamal Fogarty.
“Again, I don’t blame the referee on that,” Stuart said. “I blame the people that are in his ear. You get confused as a referee with all the noise in your ear.”
Despite their considerable attacking strike with the likes of Valentine Homles and Scott Drinkwater at Todd Payten’s disposal, North Queensland’s glaring problem this season has been their horrendous defence and that trend continued in a shocking defeat to their Queensland rivals in the XXXX Derby.
Saturday’s clash with the Broncos was a chance to make a statement to put down their rivals once and for all but also to showcase their own premiership credentials with a top-eight finish far from secure.
The Cowboys are good enough to hold off any resistance from the Dolphins and, at a stretch, the Raiders – but after their ninth loss of the season a top-four spot and the all-important double chance might just have slipped from their grasp.
The challenge doesn’t get much easier with the Storm and Canterbury coming up before their regular season campaign wraps up, but those two fixtures come after next week’s clash with Canberra followed by a week off, giving Payten some opportunity to tighten the defence up before finals time.
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