Uncool Dad’s Round 6 Recap
The Easter festival of footy is over but we had five days straight of rugby league! The Rabbitohs had a big win and most of us had a few days off. What more could you want? Possibly a bit of sneaky liposuction to get rid of that inevitable weight gain from the excesses of chocolate and who knows what else you’ve inhaled! Oh well, you can’t have it all.. Onto the footy and we had plenty to talk about with our usual bunch of upsets, blowouts and close contests. Let’s recap Round 6.
Thursday
A big round of footy kicked off in Melbourne on Thursday night with the Storm hosting the Roosters. Both were last start winners and I think most were expecting this to go down to the final minutes. But as is common in the NRL, what you expect to happen usually doesn’t and Melbourne ended up having a comfortable 20 point win. Storm superstars Munster and Grant were brilliant on the night as was Origin prop Welch.
It must be said though, they got a huge helping hand from Rooster Victor Radley with a seriously brainless play. He gave the match officials no choice after taking out Munster about 5 minutes after he’d let go of the ball. Following this, Melbourne got on top and got the win. Even coach Robinson, who often struggles with reality, couldn’t believe Radley’s boneheadedness.
Friday
Good Friday has become a great day for league with the traditional afternoon clash between the Bulldogs and the Rabbitohs. It always draws a big crowd with the Easter Show next door. I was amongst the 35,000 who’d turned up despite the threatening rain and storms. The Doggies got off to a great start with an early length of the field try which silenced the Bunnies crowd.
However, from midway through the first half the Rabbioths began to get on top and the injury riddled Bulldogs started to struggle. Latrell Mitchell responded to his critics by destroying Canterbury single-handledly and scoring and scoring a treble. He had plenty of great performances amongst him at Souths but I thought our bench forwards were particularly good with a special mention to Hame Sele.
The night game had yet another Queensland derby, this time it was the Dolphins travelling north to take on the Cowboys. The Dolphins’ injury toll had been starting to mount and the Cowboys had gone into the game as strong favourites. You can never underestimate a Bennett coached side though and the Dolphins ran out pretty easy winners in the end. North Queensland has now dropped a few games they would have expected to win and the pressure is now well and truly on.
Saturday
Two games on the Saturday with Penrith hosting Manly and the struggling Raiders taking on the ladder leaders in Brisbane at Suncorp. The first game was the one most were expecting to be close but Penrith absolutely destroyed Manly. At one stage it looked as if the Panthers were going to rack up 60 but Manly improved slightly at the back end. Penrith were red-hot for the second week in a row but it was a very lacklustre performance from the Sea-Eagles.
The second game was supposed to be the blowout but Canberra had other ideas. The Raiders came out fired up and managed to keep this up for 80 minutes and grabbed an excellent upset win. This was a massive surprise but I guess it shouldn’t have been. Coach Stuart does have a habit of bouncing back against the odds when you least expect it. I’ve seen this quite a few times now.
The Broncos were dominated in the forwards and made too many errors. The mistakes have been around all year but they’ve been too talented to lose, this week it finally caught up with them.
Sunday
Two great games were scheduled for Sunday. Both were coin-flip odds and I think no one was really sure who was going to win. First up we had Gold Coast playing the Dragons up at Cbus Stadium. The sides looked evenly matched and this proved to be the case with the Titans getting a late try to nab the 2 points. It was a good effort from both sides in this surprisingly defensive game.
The second match had probably the two most improved teams in the NRL facing off in the Knights and the Warriors. In front of a big home crowd, Newcastle were far too good. The Warriors threatened to come back like they had all season but the Knights had them covered. The supporters of Newcastle look to finally have a team they can get behind and it’s hard not to like that.
Monday
The final match was another traditional Easter match-up with the Tigers playing the Eels. Another great crowd were there to witness the Eels do it fairly easily in the first half. The Tigers tried their best to throw the ball around but it was ineffective just as it has been all year. Through Mitchell Moses’ precise kicking, Parra went to half time with an 18-6 lead.
The Eels looked to be in control until suddenly the Tigers mounted a second half comeback. From out of nowhere, the Tigers were only 2 points behind! It was a typical scenario for Wests though. As they’re always chasing a few errors were costly at the death and the Eels got home. A better effort from the Tiges though and a win seems closer than before. Unfortunately, they’re going to have to do it without one of the most consistent in Adam Doueihi. He looks to have done his 3rd ACL injury…
Round 7 Preview
A bit of a tragic way to end the round for an ex-Rabbitoh in Doueihi. I always thought he gave his all when he was with us. Terrible stuff. The game doesn’t stop though so watch out for next round’s preview after the team lists drop on Bunnies TV. This of course will be tomorrow given it’s already Monday! As always, there’ll be plenty of tips, bets and biased Rabbitoh insight!
Uncool Dad’s Round 6 Recap.
By Greg Allan for Bunnies TV.
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