Would you look at that? It is Wednesday and the TCT Consensus Power Rankings are out! What happened I hear you say? Just yours truly on the end of your standard ‘BA’ style tongue-lashing from the rest of The Cumberland Throw roster about not giving 110% for the team and not giving full credit to the boys. I kid, of course. Part of the growing process of The Cumberland Throw has been in regards to time management, something that I fall prey to at various stages. Huzzah for work patterns though! Look for the Consensus Power Rankings to be a weekly Wednesday feature moving forwards.
Round 3 of the NRL left plenty of pundits reeling as upset after upset was chalked up on the scoreboard. The Cowboys and Eels sent statements to the rest of the competition as they disposed of the Roosters and Bulldogs respectively while the Panthers, Dragons and Sea Eagles all earned their first wins of the season in dramatic fashion. See how The Cumberland Throw ranks the competition in the aftermath of all the carnage.
Diviner Duo? – sixtiesboy/DK Eel: These two were one step ahead of the pack with their rankings for the Eels (3rd, sixtiesboy) and Storm (3rd, DK Eel) in Round 2.
Parity Among Paupers – All Rankers: It took three rounds for the five rankers to achieve true consensus rankings for a given position and it occurred across no less than three spots on the ladder as TCT installed the Knights, Warriors and Roosters as unanimous selections at 14th, 15th and 16th respectively.
Glutton For Punishment – miatch: Hot on the heels of Ricky Stuart’s impressive post-match tirade at journalist Robert Dillon (for this heavy hitting piece), miatch has put himself firmly in the cross hairs of the temperamental coach as the Raiders slip from 6th to 10th in his Round 3 rankings following their 24-all draw with the Knights.
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Wow. Talk about a statement game. After getting humbled by our boys in Round 2 the reigning premiers regrouped in their far North fortress and comprehensively wiped the floor with the Roosters. Johnathan Thurston was sublime but it was Lachlan Coote that stole the show as the wily custodian put on a clinic and showed why he is so important to the Thurston/Morgan dynamic. The Eels showed the NRL how to beat the Cowboys but executing a similar game plan in the torrid tropic conditions of Townsville will test the discipline and conditioning of pretty much every roster in the game. |
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The volatility of the early rounds for power rankings has been encapsulated by the movement of the Storm on TCT. Big sliders last week due to other results in spite of their solid but unconvincing win over the Titans, they now rocket back up the standings after emerging from Round 3 as the only team with three victories to their name. It wasn’t always pretty as they won out over the Warriors 21-14 but the New Zealand franchise has been something of a bogey team for the Storm in recent years and two points in March are as valuable as any other. Craig Bellamy has turned to Tohu Harris to plug the gap at right centre which might be exploited by teams with explosive edge weapons but with Jesse Bromwich leading the troops from the front and Cameron Munster lurking on the edges they will be fair opponents on any given day. |
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The stage was set on Friday night for a classic Parramatta reality check. A stunning upset victory over the reigning premiers in the previous round, facing a bogey team at a venue where success has savagely eluded the Eels. All the conditions had been met for fans to begin a preemptive breaking of hearts. In fact the beginning of the match was eerily similar to our Round 2 clash in 2015 where the Dogs had an obscene amount of possession on our goal line in the early exchanges. However, unlike last year where our defence crumbled under the torrential weight of possession, the Eels stood tall and not only held the Dogs out but counter-punched through a circus act try laid on by Semi Radradra for a first half lead before running away with the game in the championship minutes. The defensive effort across the entire team was brilliant and under-pinned by the grit and courage displayed by Beau Scott, who played through injuries to his hip and shoulder to ensure the interchange rotation was not jeopardised. Semi Radradra was other-worldy and lived up to his billing as the undisputed best winger in the game while Brad Arthur deserves plenty of credit for finding creative ways to work the Fijian flyer into the game with teams actively looking to minimise his opportunities with the ball. |
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The Broncos gave plenty of breath to that oft-used sporting adage of a ‘game of two halves’ as they succumbed to the Penrith Panthers on Saturday night. Anthony Milford was untouchable in the first forty minutes as the Broncos ran riot at Pepper Stadium before a Penrith counterattack in the second half culminated in 23-22 boil over for the Panthers. Corey Parker was uncharacteristically subdued throughout the game and was caught out several times cheating on cover defence which ended up proving costly. It is far too early to say that time has finally caught up to the Brisbane warhorse but it was the sort of effort that gives birth to the thought. Expect Wayne Bennett’s men to bounce back from the loss given the ill-disciplined nature of the effort from the Broncos but they will need to find top gear in just one week as they host the Cowboys in a cracking all-Queensland derby. |
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Did the gentle strength of schedule of the Rabbitohs skew their early placements? Tough to say in these early days but the Dragons were the first resolute defence they encountered in 2016 and the result left us with more questions than answers. Of course the awful weather conditions were a major factor but in most match-ups you would expect that to favour the powerful South Sydney pack. An injury to superstar Sam Burgess (who escaped serious harm and is aiming for a Round 5 return) did nothing to aid their chances but the Dragons out-enthused them in a scoreless second half. Greg Inglis was barely sighted when his team needed him to stand up until he injected himself into the game at the 80th minute to take a stab at a field goal…while his team was trailing by two points. It was a brain fade of epic proportions and a hilarious means to cap a dour game. The Rabbitohs will be desperately hanging on for the return of primary half Adam Reynolds. |
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6 (=) |
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Holding onto 6th place for the third consecutive week is the Canberra Raiders who played out a 24-all draw with the Newcastle Knights. It was far from a convincing effort from the Raiders as they blew a sizable first half lead to let the Knights very nearly storm home. To be fair, it must be pointed out that the Raiders are still playing without Blake Austin and Aidan Sezer which is a considerable handicap. Even so, you will always rue letting a 16-point lead slip through your hands. The Raiders have also benefited from a benevolent schedule to start their season so we look forward to seeing how they match up against some of the competition’s heavy weight teams in the coming rounds. |
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Friday night has to hurt for Hasler’s troops. The highly touted Canterbury pack was belted into submission by the Eels and their vaunted fitness levels were exposed by Semi Radradra who tormented them up the middle in the final stanza. It isn’t all doom and gloom for the boys from Belmore though. Friday night’s game was played with great intensity by both teams and the defensive effort from the Dogs would have potentially restricted plenty of other rosters to single digit points. One area of concern that Hasler will need to address immediately is the kicking accuracy of his halves – Moses Mbye and Josh Reynolds – who failed to find range all night and gave Clinton Gutherson what amounted to some much appreciated live-game catching practice. They still look bereft of options in attack if their pack fails to dominate, which has been a consistent criticism of Hasler’s tenure at the club but the strength of said pack will be enough to secure them quite a few wins in the regular season. |
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Dour, gritty football has been a hallmark of the Sharks under Shane Flanagan and this time around it proved costly as they were overrun by the previously winless Sea Eagles on Monday night. The Sharks had an absurd amount of possession in the opening exchanges of the game but could only muster 8 points for all their early efforts due largely to the conservative nature of their attacking structures. They certainly tried to generate some second phase football in the midfield but once they hit the Manly red zone their attacking shape gave the Sea Eagles little trouble and indeed the sole try the scored in that glut of possession came from an error from Steve Matai on a bomb defusal. As much as Ben Barba looks a revitalised player at the back, Valentine Holmes is being criminally under utilised on the right flank and Flanagan needs to find a way to strike a balance between the two. Still, as much as the Sharks have a tendency to lose ugly, they also win plenty of games in a similarly ugly fashion and will push plenty of teams this year. |
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It was a stirring victory for the Panthers on Saturday night as they shed the tag over the highest ranked TCT team without a win. Defensively they still have a mountain of work in front of them after Milford eviscerated them in the first half but their second half comeback was pure grit and courage. Bryce Cartwright was as electric with the ball in hand as he was anemic in defence and while he still is a ways off representative football as a result, there is little doubt that he is one of the most exciting young talents in the game. Debutante Te Maire Martin was in the thick of the action, notching up a try as well as slotting the game-winning field goal but the real gold came in his fantastic post-match interview which was laden with honest insight and self-deprecation. They will likely improve in the coming weeks as star recruit Trent Merrin looks to get on top of a nasty case of glandular fever. |
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10 (+1) |
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Two of the surprise packets of the early rounds met at Cbus Super Stadium on the weekend in the Titans and the Tigers and it was the home team that prevailed as they came home over the Tigers with a wet sail. The visitors held a 10-0 advantage at one point before the Titans rallied to run out 30-18 winners. Ashley Taylor was outstanding for the Titans, pulling the strings expertly in their comeback while Ryan James was a force from the bench. Neil Henry has them performing beyond everyone’s expectations and they are definitely the feel-good story out of the start of the season. |
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I imagine most fans of the Wests-Tigers would be extremely happy with a 2-1 start to the year but by the same token the loss on Saturday night would have been frustrating given the win was there for the taking. James Tedesco put in a ‘subdued’ performance and still managed to catch the eye and is without a doubt their franchise player. Their woes in defence are still apparent for all to see which makes their Round 4 match up with our club such a fascinating prospect as our newly minted steely defence faces their flashy offence. They will be bolstered by the return of representative rake Robbie Farah from injury but will also be without centre-turned-backrower Chris Lawrence as he cops a one match ban for a dangerous throw. The Easter Monday fixture has produced both stellar crowds and entertaining games…here’s hoping to the Eels notching up their first Easter Monday victory! |
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It wasn’t easy on the eyes but given the conditions the game was played in, you won’t find too many people knocking the Dragons’ 8-6 victory over the Rabbitohs. As we predicted (although hardly one to be patting ourselves on the back for), Kurt Mann made way for Josh Dugan at fullback and the difference was pronounced, if only for the fact that the Dragons no longer committed schoolboy errors at the back. It was an effort built on effort and grit as they outlasted South Sydney but the Dragons will need to find their rhythm in attack sooner rather than later if they want to keep in touch with the Top 8 over the coming weeks. |
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Trent Barrett notched up his maiden victory as a NRL coach as the Sea Eagles ambushed the Sharks on Monday night. With pressure mounting on him after just two rounds, Barrett wielded the axe as Api Koroisau and Nathan Green were dropped to the Intrust Super Premiership. Youngster Matt Parcell was given a chance to make the hooking role his own and did not disappoint while savvy veteran Brett Stewart was a massive inclusion that helped tip the balance for the home team. Manly still look far from convincing but they are now on the board and that may just be the tonic needed to mount a push forwards. |
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It’s…something! Gentle ribbing aside, the Knights would be filthy on themselves for letting the win slip through their fingers on the weekend. The upset was very much on the cards when they clawed their way back from a 0-16 disadvantage to a 24-18 lead with 8min to but a late lapse in defence allowed the Raiders to lock the scores up and ultimately play out a draw. Ex-Eel Pauli Pauli was instrumental in turning the tides with a powerhouse performance from the bench and the general effort in the comeback finally gives new coach Nathan Brown something to build on. Deservedly climb their way off the bottom of the TCT Power Rankings. |
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Oh the Warriors. At some point we know they will go a run of wins as they throw caution to the wind and ride their luck as far as it will take them but the fact of the matter is that they should be playing consistently good footy week-in and week-out with the roster they have at their disposal. They pushed the Storm on Sunday but lacked the determination and conviction to see the match through to the end. Much like the Eels of recent years, there is a clear culture problem at the club and they can only pray they find their own ‘BA’ and give whoever he may be the time needed to rebuild their club from the bottom up. On a positive note, Roger Tuivasa-Sheck looked a great deal better in his third outing for the club which is just as well as they will need plenty of his magic in the coming weeks. |
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How the mighty have fallen. The owners of the last three minor premierships have endured a horror start to the season (much to the glee of many neutrals) and their once famed defence is in tatters after the thrashing doled out to them by the Cowboys. They have key reinforcements aiming to return somewhere on the horizon but how much damage will be done by Round 10 or thereabouts? Shed a tear for their struggles with ‘Bulldog’ Dean Ritchie as he writes of the woes of the Bondai franchise and urges the NRL to move Heaven and Earth to get Jarryd Hayne and Sonny Bill Williams on their books as soon as possible. |
I’ve watched a lot of footy so far this year, well the cricket wasn’t exactly nail biting stuff!
Maybe I have my blue and gold glasses on here but I honestly believe we have not only been one of the most consistent , but best teams in the comp? The first round we grinder out a 13 point loss to the premiership favourites and almost, current premiers. This was without Foran and Norman for half the game. It was also the first hit out for a team with so many new faces.
The second round be beat the premiers in a very solid showing indeed.
Round three we smash an in form Bulldogs side and I don’t mean smashed them on the score board, but more so with our defence. It was very pleasing to see.
The pundits have skipped around giving us too many accolades as they have seen this all before. Something big is happening out at eeltown.
The media talked about the no Foran thing in round one.
The media talked about how JT was not on his game round two.
The media haven’t stopped talking about Semi from round three.
Apart from the odd positive comment, largely papers have had bad news stories, one after the other and have neglected the fact that this could well be one hell of a football team we are witnessing and one which I honestly believe can and will beat any team in the competition.
Go you eels!
Grunta, I have personally placed the Eels at number 2, with the Cowboys at 1. I ranked the Cowboys turn around after a loss to us quite highly and their early season form this year is stronger than last year. I see a litmus test for us this week. As BA said, are we comfortable or do we want to be winners? The Tigers match will be telling.
It feels like segments of the media are still sleeping on the Eels, Grunta – especially given how brutal our schedule was to start the season. Still, if they are not going to give us the respect we deserve then we will just go out there and take it.
I have also noticed a sentiment among neutral fans where they feel that our attack isn’t impressive enough in these early days. Between a flashy attack and a steely defence I will always take the latter but the neutrals are very quick to dismiss the defences of the three teams we have versed, which are three of the most disciplined and well drilled teams in the competition.
Monday represents a great chance to consolidate our early season ladder position as well as continue to forge our new club identity if we can tame the offence of the Wests-Tigers.
Supplemental reading for Round 3 Power Rankings:
NRL.com – Eels ranked #4 – http://www.nrl.com/nrl-power-rankings-round-3/tabid/10874/newsid/94048/default.aspx
Sydney Morning Herald – Eels ranked #8 – http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/league-news/nrl-2016-round-3-power-rankings-moves-aplenty-after-a-tough-round-of-rugby-league-20160322-gnohwt.html
SportsFan – Eels ranked #1 – http://www.sportsfan.com.au/nrl-power-rankings-round-3/tabid/91/newsid/192921/default.aspx
/r/NRL – Eels ranked #4 (ELO based system, fascinating read) – https://www.reddit.com/r/nrl/comments/4bessf/rnrl_power_rankings_round_4/
Sterlo ranked us at #2 on Rush Hour this week. Storm at #1, Cowboys, Broncos and Souths below us.