Ponga leads Knights into finals as Wayne blows up at Bunker, Sharks demand respect after mauling Manly
Kalyn Ponga’s brilliance propelled the Knights past the Dolphins into the final spot in the NRL playoffs but unless Newcastle can clone their star fullback in the next seven days, they are unlikely to progress any further.
The Knights nullified the Dolphins 14-6 in front of more than 29,000 fans at McDonald Jones Stadium in the last match of the regular season to deny the visitors and also extinguish Canberra’s faint hope of claiming eighth spot from an unlikely draw.
Cronulla bounced back from their surprise loss to the Warriors to surge into the finals with one of their best all-round displays of the season to deliver a 40-20 kick in the guts to Manly.
The Sharks face the toughest road trip in the NRL when they open their post-season campaign at AAMI Park against Melbourne while the Sea Eagles missed the chance to snare a home playoff and will travel to Accor Stadium to face a rabid Bulldogs fan base who’ve been waiting eight long years for a shot at the finals.
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1. Ponga’s class shines through as Bennett blows up
The Knights and Dolphins were as desperate as could be in their winner takes all clash but their contest highlighted why neither side would be expected to do any damage in the finals.
They both tried their hearts out but effort will only do so much and the Cowboys won’t be too unhappy to be facing the Knights compared to any of the other finals outfits.
The Dolphins looked like they had scored the first try midway through the first half but the Bunker denied Trai Fuller try because decoy runner Connelly Lemuelu collided with Brodie Jones and “initiates contact, and Trai Fuller takes advantage of the space”.
Dolphins coach Wayne Bennett was fuming with the decision. “If that’s where we’re going, we’re in a fair bit of trouble in the game.
“The three defender committed to our player who had run the inside shoulder, which he’s supposed to do. The four defender ran into him and then they said that he obstructed the four defender. If that’s the case, there’ll be no more of those tries scored because the four defender will just run straight into the guy who’s gone through deliberately because he knows he’s going to get a penalty.
“I feel sad for the teams going forward in the next four weeks in the sense that we can’t get it right. Someone else is going to pay a price for it.
“That’s not going to change, unfortunately, because they can’t get it right. It’s pretty clear cut. I don’t think anyone who follows rugby league would accept that wasn’t a try.
“The game has got what they want. They want every team to compete like we all both competed today.They want tight scoreboards. That’s fine, but the rules have got to be fair for everybody, on both sides. They can’t get their part right, the officials and each week teams are impacted on it.
Adam Elliott celebrates a try with teammates after scoring. (Photo by Scott Gardiner/Getty Images)
“We shouldn’t have been here tonight having a playoff. Twice this year we had tries taken off us in situations they’ve admitted to that cost us games. That’s the frustrating part for all the coaches.
“We can live with the scoreboards, we can live with our players not being perfect and I understand referees aren’t perfect, but we’ve got this thing called the bunker that can see everything and it has every shot you can possibly imagine.
“I’ve been inside the Bunker. I’ve seen it. The bottom line is you’ve got humans running ot. That’s what fails the system. Get rid of it.”
Ponga produced a couple of dud passes early but as is usually the case, he was involved in everything good the Knights did, including in the 28th minute when he put Adam Elliott over from a pass close to the line.
He mesmerised the Dolphins again in the second half to conjure up Newcastle’s only other try of the game, skipping past five defenders on a sidewards scoot to send Jones hurtling to the stripe.
A penalty goal gave the Knights breathing space and even when Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow pegged the deficit back to eight with 10 minutes to go, the Knights were always in control to register the most important two points of their season.
2. Bromwich lucky not to be sent off in final game
Dolphins skipper Jesse Bromwich was lucky not to finish his career being sent off after smashing Ponga with a cheap shot in the 68th minute of his team’s defeat.
The veteran Kiwi international swung his right arm into Ponga’s head as he lay on the ground after slipping on a hit-up.
Bromwich was only spared from a straight send-off by the fact that it ended up being a glancing blow to the side of Ponga’s head – if he had connected with any greater force, he would have been a surefire candidate to be sent off.
He admitted he let the team down, adding “it sucks going out like that”.
It was a sour note to end his career and the Dolphins’ season as they missed the chance to make the playoffs in their second year, slumping to 10th.
For a team that spent their entire campaign with their most influential player, Tom Gilbert, and most of it with fellow Maroons forward Tom Flegler on the sidelines, their 11-13 record was perhaps slightly above par.
But after spending most of the season in the top eight, their late fade to lose six of their last eight games is a bitter pill to swallow.
New coach Kristian Woolf inherits a roster with plenty of young talent who will grow into their roles in Isaiya Katoa, Jack Bostock, Max Plath and Jake Averillo, as well as top-line talent in Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow, Herbie Farnworth and Jeremy Marshall-King.
But a few of their veterans are well past their prime and if some of them can be shipped off in the summer to be replaced by younger options, Woolf will have a much better chance of overcoming the hoodoo that hovers over coaches who follow in Bennett’s footsteps.
3. Great Briton powers Sharks home
When the Sharks won the 2016 title, it was on the back of their forward pack’s ability to make inroads through the middle before spinning the ball wide to the edge.
Andrew Fifita and Paul Gallen made the hard yards through the middle before Wade Graham and Luke Lewis provided the touch of class a couple of passes off the ruck.
Briton Nikora and Teig Wilton are not in the class of Graham and Lewis, who collected the Clive Churchill Medal in 2016, but they have a similar combination of power and footwork which causes havoc to defenders on the fringes.
Nikora was the best player on the park at Brookvale on Sunday, registering two line breaks on the way to scoring twice, tallying 133 running metres, 28 tackles, three offloads and plenty of quick play-the-balls.
Wilton was not far behind with 164m on the left, a couple of line breaks and 33 tackles.
The teams traded a couple of tries each for the opening 20 minutes before Cronulla established the upper hand and never let slip.
A try to Jack Williams from a clever Tom Hazleton pass just before half-time opened up a 16-8 lead and when Ronaldo Mulitalo touched down for the second time in the match and super sub Dan Atkinson did likewise with his first touch of the game, the visitors were up by 20.
Haumole Olakau’atu gave Manly false hope when he barged over but Nikora’s double strike in the space of five minutes ensured the Sharks head into the finals on the back of a slick performance.
If not for their last-gasp loss to the Warriors last week, they would have snared second spot on the ladder but they finished fourth and head to Melbourne next weekend full of confidence after shocking the Storm 25-18 earlier this season despite Nicho Hynes being out.
Hynes looked much better against Manly in his second game back from ankle surgery – Cronulla are not considered much of a threat to topple the Storm or the Panthers in the playoffs, a lack of respect which is starting to irk usually unflappable coach Craig Fitzgibbon.
“I never sit here without hearing (about whether they’re the real deal). At the start the week with a press conference hearing that,” he said.
“It’s 27 rounds, but we’ve been in the top four for the whole year. We’ve earned that. But that’s also not going to get us over the line come semis.
“We’ve just have to work on earning each other’s respect. If we do that we’ll get external respect eventually. At some point, maybe, I doubt it.”
4. Sea Eagles’ woes go beyond Turbo’s availability
Manly’s record with Tom Trbojevic in the side this year: 11 wins, six losses, and a draw – a 64% success rate.
When he’s been out: two wins, four losses – 33%.
This demonstrates they still fall in a heap when their star fullback is out and that they need him fit and firing to have any hope of progressing past their opening final against the Dogs.
He was instrumental when they upset the Roosters and Panthers early in the season before his hamstring flared up on him yet again
Trbojevic is certain to return from the shoulder injury he suffered in last week’s emphatic win over Canterbury for their Accor Stadium playoff.
Manly sorely missed him against Cronulla in the final round, coming up with just three line breaks, including one in the dying stages when the Sharks were running out the clock.
A more pressing concern is the fact that they had their own line breached on nine occasions – Trbojevic will give them a better last option in defence but with Haumole Olakau’atu, Reuben Garrick and Lachlan Croker missing six tackles apiece and Luke Brooks coming up with five, the frontline needs some serious reinforcement.
5. Sharks duo facing nervous wait
Billy Slater sarcastically asked “did we just see commonsense in our game” on Nine commentary during Friday night’s Rabbitohs vs Roosters clash when Joseph Suaalii was not penalised for a hit on Souths opponent Jye Gray which rocked his head back but the first point of contact was cleared as being below the head.
A similar situation unfolded at Brookvale on Sunday when Jesse Ramien smashed Karl Lawton early in the second half.
The Manly forward was bent back by the impact but the replay showed he was falling into the contact and Ramien’s shoulder connected with Lawton’s chest with the ball carrier’s head thundering into the Shark rather than the other way around.
It’s the kind of tackle that has often led to a sin bin this season but the NRL’s match officials seem to have changed tack late in the season, which is not an unusual occurrence.
“There’s a lot of mitigation,” explained referee Adam Gee, using the NRL’s latest buzzword to explain the grey interpretations that are applied to this rule.
“Blayke contributes to the mitigation,” he adds, pointing to Brailey, who tackled Lawton low to bring him down.
Ramien seemed surprised he wasn’t marched. “It’s alright?” he asked Gee, making sure he was right to stay on the field even though the Sea Eagles faithful were chanting “off” repeatedly.
He should cop a fine at worst when the match review committee hands down its verdict on Monday morning.
Wilton will also be anxious to see if he has a case to answer after he was placed on report for a hip-drop tackle in the opening 10 minutes.
The Kick: Haumole needs to muscle up in defence
Manly forward Haumole Olakau’atu is one of the NRL’s biggest offensive threats on an edge.
He is also one of the least consistent tacklers.
Opposing second-rowers Teig Wilton and Briton Nikora embarrassed Olakau’atu at 4 Pines Park on Sunday. Well, he really embarrassed himself with feeble tackle attempts.
Wilton ran straight through him near halfway for one line break before kicking ahead in an attacking raid which was defused.
A few minutes later, Nikora stepped off his right foot to beat a series of defenders before being confronted with Olakau’atu’s imposing frame standing in his way of the try line.
And he powered straight through his arms tackle to score to make it a 20-point lead with 15 minutes to go and effectively kill the contest.
Olakau’atu underlined his attacking prowess with a barnstorming try earlier in the contest when he carried two defenders over the line.
Unfortunately for him, this is the NRL not NFL, and players cannot be offensive specialists only.