NRL round 12: What we liked and disliked

Ed Chisholm, Lachlan McKirdy and Brendan Bradford

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NRL round 12: What we liked and disliked image

The storylines carrying into round 12, which saw the NRL celebrate Indigenous Round, were aplenty.

With State of Origin squad selections on the horizon, the weekend's action carried extra importance for certain players in their bids for inclusion in the upcoming interstate series.

While for heavyweight teams like the Roosters, Rabbitohs and Eels it presented a chance for redemption after losses last week opened the gap at the top of the competition for high-flyers Penrith and Melbourne.

It was all underlined by the competition celebrating the game's best Indigenous talents.

MELBOURNE STORM 40-12 BRISBANE BRONCOS

What we liked: Nicho Hynes adding zeros to his contract value

After putting a call out for clubs in need of a starting playmaker, Nicho Hynes did his contract value no harm with another stand-out effort at fullback for the Storm.

Hynes – who has emerged as one of the NRL's breakout attacking players – grabbed a try, two try assists, three linebreaks and 214 run metres in perhaps his best performance to date.

Making the utility role his own over the past 12 months, Hynes has shown while covering the injured Ryan Papenhuyzen in the No. 1 over the past month he's too good to be sitting on the fringes.

Equally capable in the halves, Hynes has outlined his desires to be a starting playmaker next season, with his contract expiring at the end of this year. With Papenhuyzen, Cameron Munster and Jarome Hughes locked in the spine, only injuries will make that possible long-term at Melbourne.

Craig Bellamy conceded after the Broncos demolition the club would have to be very lucky to re-sign Hynes, but said he'd love to see the 24-year-old stay put.

Friday's opponents Brisbane are the front-runners for his signature, and Kevin Walters certainly liked what he saw.

"He had the wrong jersey on," a coy Walters said of Hynes' performance.

What we disliked: One step forward, two steps back for Broncos

Brisbane looked like they'd come on leaps and bounds in last week's surprise 34-16 win over the Roosters.

It was a game that would've been a relief for Broncos fans to witness, but also at the same time a frustrating reminder of the potential the young squad possesses.

But hosting the Storm at Suncorp Stadium, Walters' side reverted back to their same old poor ways in defence and discipline to concede 40 points for the fourth time this year. 

Walters looked to have found the blueprint against the Roosters, which saw the Broncos' forwards play more up-beat and aggressive, but against the Storm their big men were bullied and battered. 

The Broncos coach lamented the two vastly different performances he's witnessed from his side over the past fortnight. 

“I think everyone is frustrated. I can see the effort there from everyone we just can’t seem to string two performances together,” Walters said.

NORTH QUEENSLAND COWBOYS 29-28 NEW ZEALAND WARRIORS

What we liked: Valentine Holmes' sweet, sweet field goal

Field goals don't get hit any better than that. 

When the ball was passed to Valentine Holmes in the final minute of Friday's Cowboys-Warriors clash, you just knew he wasn't going to miss. 

Standing on the 40-metre line, Holmes hit it perfectly. The ball sailed through the uprights and carried another 20 metres into the crowd. 

It's the sixth field goal Holmes has hit in his career. Each time it has lead to his side winning. 

The only time it didn't lead to his side winning by a point was when it was the match-sealing point for the Sharks in their 35-28 victory over the Eels in 2015. 

It was a fantastic moment to a thrilling game in Townsville that had just about everything.

What we disliked: Jazz Tevaga's brain fade

Jazz Tevaga was sent to the bin late in the first half for a late hit on Cowboys youngster, Heilum Luki.

It seemed like an innocuous challenge, but the lateness of the hit gave the referees no other choice. 

It was a decisive moment, the Cowboys went on to score twice before half time to turn a 10-6 lead into 22-6. And Tevaga has no one to blame but himself. 

Warriors coach Nathan Brown admitted the moment was what cost his side victory. 

"The game was decided by the sin-binning - and it was a fair sin-binning," Brown said post-match.

"That's where the game was lost."

Greg Alexander agreed in commentary, admitting that Tevaga didn't get Luki high but it shouldn't matter. 

“It was late. Angus Crichton was suspended – he wasn’t sent to the sin bin but was suspended – he copped two weeks for a shot not too dissimilar to that," Alexander said on Fox League .

"There wasn’t much force in it, didn’t hurt the player with the ball but it was late.

"There was nothing in it but he shouldn’t have done it. It’s easy not to do that.”


WESTS TIGERS 34-18 ST. GEORGE-ILLAWARRA DRAGONS

What we liked: Daine Laurie living up to the hype

All the attention was on Warriors fullback Reece Walsh after his incredible game in Townsville, but Daine Laurie made people sit up and take notice against the Dragons on Friday. 

Since making the move to Concord, Laurie has been one of the Tigers' best in a disappointing season. 

But at Bankwest Stadium, Laurie took it to another level. 

The 20-year-old had a try, a try assist, a line break, four tackle breaks and ran for a whopping 206 run metres. 

The Wests Tigers' decision to move heaven and earth to get Laurie to the club early is proving to be a shrewd one. And it's no surprise the Panthers didn't want it to happen either.

“He’s a super talent,” former Penrith great Greg Alexander said on  Fox League.

“He was too good a player to keep at Penrith. I desperately wanted to but there were too many in front of him."

What we didn't like: Dragons fail to build on effort

After a hot start to the season, the wheels have well and truly fallen off at St George Illawarra.

Things appeared to be looking up when they ran the Sharks close in round 11, but their limp effort against the Tigers has them again searching for answers.

Ahead of a clash with fellow strugglers Brisbane next week, coach Anthony Griffin was lamenting another poor showing.

"We're bitterly disappointed with what we did tonight. I thought last week, even though it wasn't the greatest game in the world, we did a lot of good things and should have won that game," Griffin said.

"Tonight we clearly got a lot of things wrong.

"Last week under the circumstances I was really proud of our effort, I thought our club really stood up and probably deserved to win, but this week is something we need to have a really good look at."

Penrith Panthers 30-4 Canterbury Bulldogs

What we liked: That try

Isn't it nice to be talking about a highlight for a change?

In what was a surprisingly dour affair until the latter stages, the Panthers gave their home crowd something to cheer about when they ran in one of the tries of the year.

Defending their own line, Matt Burton pounced on a loose pass before taking off down field.

About to get run down, Burton found Brian To'o with a pass, who returned the favour a moment later, before Burton flicked it back over his head to find a flying Stephen Crichton.

Razzle, meet dazzle.

We'll let the replay do the talking.

What we didn't like: The first half...

Were it not for a wayward Dallin Watene-Zelezniak offload in the dying moments of the first 40 minutes, we were on track for a 4-0 half-time score.

Now, not every low-scoring half is objectively bad, but this one was.

The Bulldogs quite clearly came to play, aiming up in defence and giving the Panthers no time and space to make much happen in attack.

A howling breeze wasn't much help to Penrith, negating much of Nathan Cleary's suberb kicking game and the field position that comes with it.

As for the Dogs, they aren't the first team to come unstuck in attack against the Panthers, but despite some decent field position and a handful of forced drop outs, there wasn't a heap of imagination to their try-line raids.

Both sides completed at over 80 per cent for the match, but five hit ups and a midfield bomb doesn't make for the most exciting footy.

SOUTH SYDNEY RABBITOHS 38-20 PARRAMATTA EELS

What we liked: South Sydney's left-edge attack

When the combination of Cody Walker, Latrell Mitchell, Dane Gagai and Alex Johnston clicks, there are few better better sights in the NRL. 

They absolutely terrorised Parramatta's right-side defence and Blake Ferguson and Tom Opacic will be having nightmares for the coming week. 

Alex Johnston and Dane Gagai both finished with hattricks and crossed almost untouched each time. 

Post-match, Wayne Bennett said the reason they played so well is that they gave themselves the platform to with their defence.

"They returned to their ability to play what they can play because of what they did with their defence," Bennett said. 

"We know what they can do in attack, but they've just got to be better in defence."

What we didn't like: Origin hopefuls leaving their fate in the hands of the judiciary

You have to feel for Brad Fittler and Paul Green. They'd be pulling their hair out at the number of players putting themselves at risk of missing Origin I through suspension. 

Cameron Murray, Cody Walker, Ryan Matterson, Reed Mahoney and Nathan Brown were all placed on report. Brown was cited twice. 

Most of the incidents were played off by their coaches but there is concern especially for Murray and Brown. 

The two NSW back-rowers were both placed on report for crusher tackles. They carry a minimum of 200 points and will be a week on the sidelines with an early guilty plea. 

NSW's back-row stocks were already looking slim with the suspension of Angus Crichton and Victor Radley. Throw in Murray, Brown and potentially even Yeo from earlier in the day and Brad Fittler might have had a restless night.

SYDNEY ROOSTERS 44-16 CANBERRA RAIDERS

What we liked: Joey Manu's incredible double

He often becomes the forgotten man in a star-studded Roosters team but Joey Manu put together a superb performance against the Raiders on Saturday night. 

Moving into the halves for the rested Sam Walker, Manu was in just about everything. 

He finished with two tries, a try assist, over a hundred run metres as well as 18 tackles and a tackle break. 

But the moment of the match was his incredible double in the second half that both featured moments of ingenuity. 

The first was a fantastic heads-up play to strip the ball off Jordan Rapana, regather and plant the ball over the line.


His second was a wonderful take off his own kick, rising well above Caleb Aekins to claim the ball and take it to ground. 


An incredible athlete who continues to do freakish things on the field. 

What we disliked: Wighton goes missing when Raiders need him most

Jack Wighton is the reigning Dally M Medalist so it's not unreasonable to expect him to be the man to make things happen this season for the Canberra Raiders. 

But at Central Coast Stadium on Saturday night, Jack Wighton went missing for the best part of 80 minutes and had next to no impact. 

In a tumultuous week for the Raiders with the immediate release of George Williams, Wighton needed to step up for Canberra. 

But his last-tackle options were ordinary and he wasn't able to break through the defensive line with his trademark strong runs. 

It's hard to see Brad Fittler picking Wighton for Origin and a bye week could be the best thing for him and the Raiders as they sit out round 13. 

There are some young players in the Raiders backline who really need a steady and experienced hand to steer them around. Bailey Simonsson, Sebastian Kris, Caleb Aekins and even Curtis Scott. 

At the moment, Wighton's form reflects the rest of the team and their disappointing run of one win in their last eight matches. 

CRONULLA SHARKS 38-10 GOLD COAST TITANS

What we liked: Johnson → Moylan  

After experimenting with various halves combinations involving Chad Townsend, Matt Moylan and Shaun Johnson over the first 11 rounds, the Sharks might have finally found the one that sticks as Johnson and Moylan combined beautifully all afternoon in a 28-point win over the Titans. 

Granted, they were given an outrageous amount of space to work their magic by a Titans outfit that spent most of the afternoon retreating, but it was a special performance nonetheless. 

With Johnson controlling the action and Moylan lurking on the edges with fullback Will Kennedy, the Sharks ran out 38-10 winners for just their fourth victory of the season. 

Josh Hannay's side is still closer to the spoon than the eight, but if Johnson and Moylan can stay fit and healthy, don't be surprised to see Cronulla turn things around. 

The true test will be when Cronulla plays a team that won't give them as much time to play. That will come in two weeks' time against the Panthers.

What we disliked:  Titans leaving it too late, again

There were more dislikes than likes for Gold Coast on Sunday afternoon.

Defensively the Titans were off, and Cronulla was able to dominate through the middle on the way to a big win. 

The Titans went into the 2021 season with high expectations, but have too often crumbled when the pressure is on. 

"We've gotta look at ourselves. Not good enough defensively again," coach Justin Holbrook said afterwards.

"We're doing a horrible job at scrambling or hanging in there." 

Holbrook said there were glimpses of what his side can produce, but they were too little too late after going into the halftime break down 26-6. 

"There were good signs in the second half, but we've just gotta do that when the game means something, when it's 6-all or 12-6, not when wait till it's 30-something 12 and then make a few heroic defensive decisions," he said. 

"We've gotta do it when the game's a chance to be won or lost, not when the game's gone. 

"We did the same thing against Penrith. We're gunshy in defence and we're not attacking with any confidence and the game's getting away from us."  

NEWCASTLE KNIGHTS 18-10 MANLY SEA EAGLES

What we liked: Knights dig deep

Having lost four of their last five and down on troops against the in-form Sea Eagles, Newcastle were big underdogs on Sunday evening.

Their task wasn't made any easier when they went down 10-0, but unlike in recent weeks, they showed plenty of fight, getting back in the game with two quick tries before the break.

Manly's ill-discipline certainly helped the Knights, but that won't bother coach Adam O'Brien who has watched his side roll over on multiple occasions this season.

Already without Kalyn Ponga and Mitchell Pearce, five-eighth Kurt Mann was a late out, seeing Connor Watson shift into the number six role.

Watson, Tex Hoy and Phoenix Crossland all stepped up, while co-captain Daniel Saifiti and front-row partner David Klemmer set the tone through the middle.

The challenge for O'Brien now will be getting his side to produce that effort consistently.

What we disliked: LET IT FLOW! 

The crackdown in high shots is fair enough, but the game still needs to address the issue of the Bunker ruling on incidents that happened several plays earlier. 

NSW coach Brad Fittler said it was an issue last week when Victor Radley was cited by the Bunker after the onfield referee allowed play to continue. 

This week, the Knights-Manly match was constantly stopped, with commentators at times confused about what was being ruled on. 

On Nine , Andrew Johns was furious. 

"This is so embarrassing, what are we going back for?" he asked while attempting to figure out what was happening when Martin Taupau was sin-binned in the second half. 

"What do you say?"

Ed Chisholm, Lachlan McKirdy and Brendan Bradford