Recap the Round 9 action as it happens as Rugby League Writers keep track of the NRL scores and hand out grades for every game.
While not every game of every round throughout the 2023 NRL season is hyped up as a blockbuster, there is always something to take away from the 80 minutes.
Here, we’re summing up every Round 9 game before digging into the most interesting moments and key takeaways of the round on Monday and Tuesday.
Note: The grades are relative. NRL scores don’t always paint an accurate picture of what happened on the field. An A grade for the lowly Wests Tigers looks a lot different to an A for, say, the New Zealand Warriors who are starting to set a new standard for the club and higher expectations for this season. It’s a moving scale for each team as expectations and goals change throughout the year.
Thursday
Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 44 def North Queensland Cowboys 6
Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks: A
The Sharks did all the little things right early on. They ran in pairs and with intent to flood the middle and quickly win the ruck. The multiple leg-ups from North Queensland certainly helped, but it was clear Cronulla’s pack had their number. In defence, their line speed and kick chase was aggressive to apply pressure and eventually force errors. Nicho Hynes pulled the strings from there, punishing any mistake the Cowboys made to turn field position into points. He put Siosifa Talakai over on the left edge with a lovely scrum set-piece and then pulled shape for Sione Katoa to score on the right. Matt Moylan had some lovely touches to complement Hynes nicely, linking with Talakai and Teig Wilton to great effect. Their backline troubled the scoreboard but it was Cronulla’s pack that deserves credit. They did all the dirty work through the middle to get Hynes playing over the ad-line and at a fatiguing defence. A late hip-drop injury to Braeden Hamlin-Uele – who played out a career game until he was forced from the field – is cause for concern for Cronulla who are already without Toby Rudolf in the front row.
North Queensland Cowboys: D
We often talk about rugby league being an 80 minute game, but the Cowboys lost this one in the first 20 minutes. Ill-discipline on both sides of the ball invited the Sharks into attacking field position right from the kick-off, and North Queensland couldn’t defend their errors from there. A few dumb penalties, a knock-on and an unlucky bounce of the ball later, and they were suddenly down by 14 points. Having spent most of the opening stages without the ball, North Queensland quickly fatigued. Jake Granville was a target in the middle of the field as the Cowboys were dominated in yardage and starved of possession. While most of the damage was done a few tackles in-field before points were scored, the Cowboys edge defence was concerning. Their outside backs were repeatedly beaten by their opposite man and the edges as a unit made poor decisions and missed too many tackles. Injuries to Chad Townsend and Tom Chester didn’t help, nor did sin-bins for Coen Hess and Jeremiah Nanai. North Queensland will be sweating on the latter, who was booked for an ugly looking hip-drop. This just wasn’t the their night.
Friday
Parramatta Eels 43 def Newcastle Knights 12
Parramatta Eels: A
Two early tries in Parramatta’s first foray into Newcastle territory set the tone for this one. The Eels quickly found out they had points in them and played accordingly. They used the ball with confidence in yardage, offloading at will and getting Mitchell Moses and Dylan Brown over the ad line in second-phase play. Brown and Clint Gutherson threatened with a promising combination all game on the left edge, using Sean Lane’s presence as a decoy to create space out wide or playing for his offload. On the right, Moses and Will Penisini repeatedly tested Kalyn Ponga’s defence in the front-line. They ended up with 13 line breaks and seven tries on the back of their yardage dominance, with much of that attack going down the right edge. Junior Paulo only managed 90 running metres on the stats sheet but was instrumental to the Eels performance. He tipped forward teammates into spaces in the line to help the Eels work smarter, not harder around the ruck or create try scoring opportuntiies in good-ball. This was the Eels at their best; earning the right to shift the ball to the edges by winning the middle first.
Newcastle Knights: D
The resilience of this Newcastle side was on show early. They stayed in the grind despite conceding an early lead and took their chances in attack to keep Parramatta in reach with an early try for Matt Croker. Some resolute goal-line defence repelled an expansive Eels attack on both edges, but it was their middle that looked vulnerable early on. Newcastle struggled to slow Parramatta’s momentum around the ruck and the missed tackle count began to wrack up from there. They allowed the Eels to offload 17 times as they poured through the middle, and when the Knights compressed their line the spaces appeared out wide. Kalyn Ponga had a long night defensively on the left edge. He was a target for the Eels while defending next to Lachlan Fitzgibbon and Bradman Best in the front line. The missed tackles and line breaks weren’t always his fault, but his positioning and decision making in defence is something to look out for as he adjusts to the five-eighth position.
South Sydney Rabbitohs 32 def Brisbane Broncos 6
Brisbane Broncos: C
The Broncos started fast in this one. Adam Reynolds played like a guy with a chip on his shoulder, directing traffic smartly and popping up on both edges in attack. He tested the decision making of Taane Milne and Alex Johnston to great effect, lofting passes over the top for Jesse Arthurs or Selwyn Cobbo to find metres in yardage and points in good ball. They looked likely on a few occasions but despite their luck in yardage, Brisbane couldn’t crack the Rabbitohs in their red zone. Multiple line breaks midway through the set ended in nothing as Souths turned up on their own line. As fatigue set in and the Rabbitohs slowly won the middle, the attacking chances went dried up for Brisbane. Reynolds and Reece Walsh continued to try in attack but their opportunities were limited behind a beaten forward pack. Payne Haas was missed during the second half. It felt like the Broncos were a Haas quick play-the-ball or offload away from swinging the momentum back in their favour, but they failed to consistently create chances for themselves in attack. Their effort can’t be faulted but the Broncos were beaten by the better side tonight.
South Sydney Rabbitohs: A
South Sydney played out a manic first half to take a narrow lead into the break. An early sin bin to Cameron Murray disrupted their flow and the Broncos took full advantage. They played an expansive style to move the Rabbitohs across the park and test their decision making on the edges. For all the field position Brisbane enjoyed though, Souths only conceded six points. They allowed the Broncos to pour downfield on a few occasions but scrambled well to turn them away on the line. It put them in a position to pull away late in the half, which they did. Campbell Graham iced the best scrum set-piece you’ll see this week in a career game; scoring three tries and setting up a beauty for Cody Walker late in the piece. They left a few points out there in this one but never really looked in trouble once the game settled into the grind. Souths power game through the middle is proving difficult to contain now that their pack is close to full strength. With Tom Burgess and Davvy Moale on the bench, South Sydney lose nothing when rotating their starting props. It allowed them to play with the momentum in the second half and the points piled up from there.
Saturday
Canberra Raiders 31 def The Dolphins 30
Canberra Raiders: B-
Dominant through the middle early and playing with 61% possession and 70% of the territory in the first half, the Canberra Raiders raced out to an early lead. However, in worryingly Raiders-like fashion, they made things difficult for themselves from there to concede three tries to one after the break. Their struggles can best be summed up in their second-to-last set of regular time. With scores level at 30-30 and a full set on the Dolphins line, the Raiders couldn’t find a shot at goal. They didn’t even look… Jamal Fogarty ended the set with a kick-and-hope on the last as they ended up in golden point. Fogarty took his chance in the extra period to kick the first field goal of his NRL career for the Raiders to escape from Wagga Wagga with a win. On paper, the numbers fall in Canberra’s favour. They dominated yardage, broke the line nine times, traveled further in their sets and missed fewer tackles. Most importantly, they finished ahead on the scoreboard. However, the nature at which they let the lead slip and the lack of control late in the game leaves a bitter taste despite the two competition points.
The Dolphins: B-
Just as they did last week against the Gold Coast Titans, The Dolphins conceded an early lead in this one. They didn’t match Canberra physically through the middle to begin the game, allowing too many offloads in yardage to invite the Raiders onto their line. Staring down a potential 18-point lead when Emre Guler looked to have scored before half-time, the no try ruling ended up a pivotal one. The Dolphins went the length of the field with their next possession to score through Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow and bring the Raiders to within one converted try. Carrying the momentum into the break, it looked like The Dolphins were about to complete another miracle comeback. Despite earning just five play-the-balls inside Canberra’s 20m line in the second half, The Dolphins scored three times with some enterprising footy all the way up the park. They scored late through Jesse Bromwich to push the game into golden point, but just as they did to start the game, The Dolphins allowed Canberra too many metres in yardage to gift their opposition the winning shot. Their resilience and composure under pressure was again on show, but The Dolphins didn’t do enough through the ruck to be deserved winners in this one.
Gold Coast Titans 26 def Manly Warringah Sea Eagles 10
Manly Warringah Sea Eagles: C-
The Sea Eagles revealed a chink in their defensive line early on and paid for it throughout. Daly Cherry-Evans and Morgan Harper were repeatedly targeted by the Titans in both yardage and good-ball to quickly give up an early lead. Under fatigue and scoreboard pressure, Cherry-Evans’ kicking game helped the Sea Eagles to claw their way back. He turned a 40/20 into six points when he passed Sean Keppie into a hole beside the uprights, but that’s as good as it got for Manly in attack. Without Tom Trbojevic out the back, their yardage shifts wound up in dead ends as the Gold Coast numbered up and slid. Kaeo Weekes struggled to have an impact filling in at fullback, as did Reuben Garrick at left centre – no line-breaks in 80 minutes of footy is a stat that jumps out considering Manly’s expansive attack. The highlight was a mammoth performance from Taniela Paseka. He clocked 172 metres (77 in post-contact) from 18 carries to keep Manly in the fight around the ruck while Gold Coast were pulling their edges apart. It’s not a catastrophic loss but it is a concerning one. We thought their over-reliance on Tom Trbojevic was behind them but this looked worryingly similar to their 2022 form without him.
Gold Coast Titans: B-
The Titans had plenty of joy testing Manly’s right edge to begin this one. They doubled up down short sides and promoted the ball in yardage on their left edge to roll downfield with ease. In good ball they targeted the same spaces with David Fifita in a variety of actions. His soft hands produced one try for Alofiana Khan-Pereira before he picked out an injured Lachlan Croker on the line to barge over himself. As they did last week though, the Gold Coast invited Manly back into the game. Ill-discipline in yardage and poor execution in attack saw their early lead shrink in the second half – six errors and five penalties in the final 40 minutes made the task far more difficult than it needed to be. Their bench players struggled to win the ruck and it wasn’t until the starting front row returned that Gold Coast played with any momentum. Losing AJ Brimson (hamstring) and carrying an injured Kieran Foran (toe) didn’t help as Tanah Boyd and Chris Randall steered the Titans home, but in the end they did enough. Jayden Campbell was electric in his 39 minute stint and looks set to get an extended crack at fullback with Brimson on the sidelines.
Wests Tigers 12 def Penrith Panthers 8
Penrith Panthers: D
The Panthers were asked to absorb some early pressure and stayed patient to wait for their opportunities to return serve. Their outside backs worked effectively in exit sets to get the Panthers rolling in yardage, and when they didn’t, Wests ill discipline gave them free passage. A deft grubber from Jarome Luai put Tyrone Peachey over with their first attacking chance but it would be a while before the Panthers threatened Wests line again. Penrith made an uncharacteristic 10 errors and conceded two penalties and two ruck infringements in the first half, crippling their momentum with the ball. It felt like they would turn things around in the second half but the adjustments never came. They finished with just 43% of the ball and a 74% completion rate, going against everything we’ve seen from the Panthers over the last few seasons. Without extended periods of possession, they failed to put fatigue into the Tigers defence and build pressure with the ball. They shot themselves in the foot too many times and never earned enough decent field position to threaten a comeback. A disappointing performance but one that felt like an outlier. Just not the Panthers night.
Wests Tigers: A
Luke Brooks gave the Panthers a taste of their own medicine to begin this one. He produced a 40/20 with his first kick of the game to starve Penrith of possession and set up on their line. A few six-again calls later, Brooks again put boot to ball and Brandon Wakeham followed through to score first points – all without Penrith touching the ball. Api Koroisau emulated his halfback to force a few repeat sets with the boot, but for all their chances (58% field position, 56% possession) the Tigers had just eight points at the break. Silly yardage penalties undid much of their the good work with the boot in the first half but Wests improved their discipline in the second forty. They had a ridiculous 54 play-the-balls inside Penrith’s 20m line for just 12 rugby league points, but in the end that was enough. Wakeham, Brooks and Koroisau played to the conditions smartly, regularly saving a poor attacking set with a good kick on the last. A lacklustre Panthers outfit helped them in Round 9, but this was the best the Tigers have looked in 2023. Koroisau and Brooks played their best games of the season to help Wests register their first win in 273 days – against the defending premiers no less.
Sunday
Sydney Roosters 14 def. New Zealand Warriors 0
New Zealand Warriors: C
Again, the effort of the New Zealand Warriors can’t be questioned. There is a resiliance in this team we’re still not accustomed to seeing. However, the cat is out of the bag now. Opposition teams know what they’re in for, and simply staying in the fight is now longer enough to win it. The Warriors weren’t clinical enough in good ball this week. They earned 37 tackles inside the opposition’s 20-metre line but couldn’t convert them into points. Jackson Ford went close and could have turned the game entirely had he maintained possession falling over the line. Still, the Warriors struggled to make a dent in the Roosters line in good ball. Addin Fonua-Blake was fantastic for the home side again playing 75 minutes and leading in yardage with 194 running metres. Wayde Egan made a positive return to the side, too. There are plenty of positives to take out of a loss in these conditions, but the lack of points is concerning.
Sydney Roosters: A-
The Sydney Roosters aren’t made for wet weather footy but they played a blinder in this one. As a team that typically plays a high-risk, high-reward brand, the Roosters got the balance right on Sunday. They ran harder, tackled harder, played at a higher intensity, and played more footy in the terrible conditions. Unlike the Warriors who looked timid at times, the Roosters played out a slow game with faster actions. They made sure to take their chances attacking the line, too. Nat Butcher crashed over to score a classic wet weather try while Brandon Smith’s pin-point grubber ended up in the hands of Sitili Tupouniua to start putting the game beyond doubt in the 60th minute. The win looks to have cost them Paul Momirovski for a few weeks while Smith also ended up in hospital. It’s an otherwise much-needed win for the Chooks who, like their captain at the back, seem to be getting back to their best.
Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs 18 def. St George Illawarra Dragons 16
St. George Illawarra Dragons: C-
The St George Illawarra Dragons are at risk of sitting 16th on the NRL ladder after next week. Another loss, this time at home to a depleted Bulldogs outfit, heaps more pressure on Anthony Griffin has he looks to not only make a case for re-signing beyond this season, but lasting the season in the first place. There is enough to like about the Dragons defensively. Of the current bottom eight teams, their defensive numbers hold up well enough to be hopeful. However, they’re grossly lacking in attack. Their first try, while a highlight play in the end, came against the run of play on the back of a misguided Tevita Pangai Jr. offload. Ben Hunt was required to do everything outside of putting the ball himself to score their second. Hunt linked up with Talatau Amone for their third for a well-worked try, but their only repeatable action for points across the 80 minutes. The Dragons played with more possession and completed 28 tackles inside the opposition’s 20-metre line to the Bulldogs’ eight. Still, they couldn’t find enough points to get the job done.
Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs: B+
Corey Waddell scored a superb individal try for the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs to get off to a flier. Injury-ravaged and away from home, his solo effort to drop the ball onto his toe and chase it through to score put the Bulldogs on the front foot early. Karl Oloaupu made his NRL debut but wasn’t affored much of an introduction as Jake Averillo laid on one of the best tries of the season as the youngester ran onto the field. Breaking into the backfield, he stood up Tyrell Sloan to give the Doggies a handy eight-point halftime lead. His second capped off an excellent scouting effort from the coaching staff who must have noted the compressed Dragons kickchase and opportunity to place Averillo and his speed on the outside in yardage. To manage seven line breaks and only eight tackles inside the opposition 20-metre line is a strange statistical anomaly. It’s unlikely to be repeatable and they’ll need to perform better in yardage against the Raiders next week. However, given the circumstances they faced this week, the Bulldogs will take the two points and run.