John Bateman exit update, Nathan Cleary masterclass: NRL 7-Tackle set

Mike Meehall Wood 29 Jul 2024 12:38 PM

If you’ve ever watched The Wire, you might be aware of the concept of ‘moving day’.

It’s the episode where, after a few hours worth of prologue, the plot suddenly explodes into action, starting the storylines lines will define the series.

That was this weekend in the NRL, where four finals-relevant clashes saw the race for the top four take centre stage after the Origin subplot.

The game done changed for the Sharks, who lost at the Cowboys and mightn’t make the top four. The pawns got capped quick at Suncorp Stadium as Brisbane fell in a heap in front of a resilient, ruthless Bulldogs.

All the pieces mattered at Allianz Stadium, where as the Roosters raced away from Manly, only for three intercept tries to give the Sea Eagles hope. In the end, their lack of troops following two HIAs cost them.

Melbourne, meanwhile: they got one of them good problems, with Cam Munster back for their win against Parramatta and too many options to pick from. Shoehorned quotes aside, let’s get into another fun week from the NRL.

A good week for..

The Bulldogs, who went to Brisbane and pulled off their biggest victory of the season.

This was seen as a true test of Cameron Ciraldo’s men, and it was made harder by the withdrawal of captain Stephen Crichton late in the day.

They needn’t have worried: Canterbury raced into a commanding lead, held off a fightback and then pulled away again for a statement victory.

It was a huge Saturday in the finals race, with three back-to-back games between hopefuls, and the Doggies picked the perfect moment to make their move.

Their defence has been among the best all year, but this was all about their attack: fullback Connor Tracey laid on three line breaks and scored a hat trick, winger Jeral Skelton nearly topped 300m and Matt Burton even found time for a knife-twisting drop goal to make it 41-16.

A bad week for..

Seen as we’ve mentioned the Broncos, let’s go for the Dolphins..

They were the big losers from the weekend, losing to a rank rotten Titans side after leading 14-0 in a game they absolutely had to win.

Brisbane need to go unbeaten from here out to make the eight and while Redcliffe aren’t quite in that position, this is very much two points lost to a side they should have cruised.

Des Hasler, the Titans coach, was incensed at half time at his team and could be seen reading the riot act in the sheds.

The bollocking worked as the Gold Coast came out firing and put an unanswered 21 points on Wayne Bennett’s men, but they shouldn’t have had the chance.

The Dolphins are all about conservative play, not beating yourself and showing enthusiasm. That was nowhere to be seen in the second half on Sunday.

Standout

Nathan Cleary, again. The halfback scored a hat trick against the Dragons, putting the competition on notice all over again.

Last week’s golden point drop goal was all about his clutch ability, but this was the all-around cruise control brilliance that Cleary has, a level up on every other halfback in the competition and, indeed the world.

Most notable was his running game.

Last year, when Jarome Luai went down injured, Cleary essentially morphed into a 6 to allow Jack Cogger to play his more natural game as a traditional 7. Though the shirt numbers didn’t change, the roles completely did.

This version of Cleary looked a lot like that. It’s ominous stuff.

Washout

John Bateman, who has left the Tigers under a cloud.

It’ll be a while before the dirt comes out on what happened between Bateman and coach Benji Marshall, but for a guy on big money to depart in such circumstances speaks to the dysfunction at the club.

A statement was released confirming that Bateman had signed for Warrington in the middle of the Tigers’ defeat to the Warriors on Friday, which certainly isn’t the sort of thing you do when it’s going well.

Marshall has clearly put his faith in youth and, moreover, has been let down by more senior players who have consistently struggled for discipline. The rookies, though inevitably raw and inconsistent, have been a shining light.

Bateman, by all accounts, will not be missed while on loan. It’ll be a shock if he returns in 2025 despite insistence that he will see out his contract.

Everyone is talking about..

The NRLW, which returned in style this weekend.

Game 1 was a heavyweight clash in the Hunter: Newcastle won out 12-10 but the game will be remembered for a spectacular try from Jocelyn Kelleher, replete with a chip and chase, an offload and a barnstorming run to the line.

It was like something from 1985 – in the best possible way, the sort of footy that we rarely see these days.

The Broncos-Parramatta game had a bit of the same, albeit in a different way, as the girls decided to bring back the biff in equally entertaining fashion.

Annetta-Claudia Nu’uausala – yes, that’s Frank-Paul the Wrecking Ball’s sister – landed one on Jillaroos forward Kennedy Cherrington after an old-fashioned push-and-shove boiled over.

Kennedy had only got involved to defend her sister, Rueben, who had suffered a hip-drop from the Broncos prop, and ended up wearing one on the jaw.

Big and clever it was not, but nobody ever went to a rugby league match and said ‘it was great, except for the fight’. Annetta-Claudia faces a lengthy stint on the sidelines for her troubles.

But nobody is mentioning..

The footy, as half of the NRL media pack is currently in Paris and plenty of those that aren’t are on strike.

Channel 9, the main free-to-air broadcaster in Australia, paid megabucks for the rights to the Olympics and have gone full bore on their coverage, despite the most of the action taking place in the middle of the night in this part of the world.

At the same time, the Sydney Morning Herald among other newspapers is engaged in a five-day industrial action, meaning press boxes were largely empty for a highly consequential round of NRL action.

Channel 9 pick their matches well in advance, so the mass audience got the NRLW on Thursday night, a nothing match between the Storm and Eels on Friday and the Dolphins’ defeat on Sunday…missing out the big Saturday of action on both TV and in the papers.

Forward pass

The National Rugby League will actually be national this weekend as the Dolphins take on the Roosters in Perth with games in New Zealand, Townsville, Melbourne and the Gold Coast.

Fittingly, it’ll also be quite old school, with traditional grounds of Leichhardt Oval and Belmore Sports Ground also getting games.

The finals battle is still red hot: should Redcliffe lose to the Roosters, it’ll open a big door for someone else to slip in.

That could be Canberra, who have a tough trip to take on Canterbury at their spiritual home at Belmore. It could be the Dragons, who have an even harder ask in Melbourne.

Newcastle need to win, but go to Penrith, and Brisbane cannot lose, but have a derby on the Gold Coast. If anything, the big winners might be Manly – they have the bye.

Features John Bateman

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