Tom Trbojevic made his long-awaited NRL return in the centres, though his performance left many questioning if his future lies in the position.
South Sydney and the Warriors showcased their new-found defensive resolve once again, but could their fans dare to dream about a late finals push?
Meanwhile, Craig Bellamy lifted the lid on the mentality shift that could see one of the game’s brightest prospects finally cement themselves as a certified NRL star.
Read on for the Talking Points from Round 18!
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IS TURBO’S FUTURE REALLY IN THE CENTRES?
There was a bit of shock but little surprise when Tom Trbojevic was named in the centres for Manly’s clash against the Cowboys in Round 18.
Having spent the best part of two months sidelined with yet another hamstring injury, Manly coach Anthony Seibold floated the idea of shifting his star fullback to centre to manage his return.
Against the Cowboys, Trbojevic showed centre is just a stopgap position for him. For large portions of the game the star man couldn’t insert himself into the contest as he would at fullback, or even as he has at centre in the Origin arena.
On a few occasions Trbojevic roamed around the field freely, though they largely came to nothing, and he finished the game with 13 runs for 70 metres with three tackle busts.
Defensively he was solid, making 23 tackles for just two misses, although sideline commentator Brent Tate said he felt Trbojevic struggled with some defensive reads in the first half.
Speaking on the halftime coverage, Mal Meninga, one of the game’s greatest ever centres said Trbojevic was “doing his job.”
“He’s just feeling his way through. Eventually when he gets himself back to play footy he’ll be the superstar that he is,” Meninga added.
Such a quiet night is to be expected of a player coming off a long injury lay off but Manly coach Anthony Seibold admitted to Fox League post-game Trbojevic may not shift straight back to fullback when his mind and body are right.
Asked about Trbojevic transitioning back to fullback, Seibold said his goal is to “get Turbo back on the park and when we can have a discussion at the end of the next three or four weeks.”
Seibold stated Manly moving their superstar fullback back to his best position “will come down to how Tolu (Koula) or Lehi Hopoate’s going.”
“I still think Turbo’s best position is fullback but we just wanted to get him back on the pitch and take a bit of physical and mental load off him,” he said.
For his part, Trbojevic told Fox League’s post-game coverage “it was good to have a different challenge in a different position and obviously I’ll be better for the run.”
“I’m really excited with the new challenge (and) I think I’ll only get better from here.”
Should Manly opt to keep Trbojevic in the centres they will need to do a far better job at getting him the ball in attacking field position.
Though some of that can be assisted by him roaming across both sides of the park – which he admitted may have been a bridge too far against the Cowboys.
“As I get more match fit I’d like to find myself in different spots across the field where you’re probably more comfortable as a fullback,” he said post-game.
IS SOUTHS’ FINALS DREAM REALLY ALIVE?
Cast your mind back to Round 10 of the 2024 NRL season. South Sydney was anchored to the bottom of the ladder and had just sacked their head coach.
Their side was underperforming severely, their two halfbacks were sidelined with serious injuries and they were conceding over 30 points per game.
Few wondered whether they would win another game all season, let alone make a late push for the finals.
Yet somehow, South Sydney find themselves on the cusp of a shock finals berth after winning five straight matches.
Their current streak began against Parramatta in Round 12 and it was against the same opponents six rounds later that the Rabbitohs’ finals credentials increased in legitimacy.
Speaking on Thursday night’s The Matty Johns Show, former Rabbitohs captain Bryan Fletcher was certainly backing his side to be there come September.
“Historically 13 wins will get you in the top eight,” Fletcher said.
“They need to win seven of their last nine. And that’ll give them 13 wins.”
However, this is no simple feat.
The Bunnies’ run home sees them take on Cronulla, Melbourne, Penrith and the Roosters, with their matches against the latter two coming in the final two rounds of the season.
Playing into the Rabbitohs favour is the fact they also face the Wests Tigers twice, as well as the Knights, the Dolphins and the Raiders – all of which are highly winnable games in their current form.
But while Souths are flying high, they’ve been handed a hammer blow with Latrell Mitchell sidelined for at least a month due to a Lisfranc injury.
It’s the worst possible news Ben Hornby could have received, with the gun fullback in arguably the best and most consistent form of his Rabbitohs career.
His attack has been scintillating and as NSW fans saw in his return game for the Blues, Mitchell’s presence lifts everyone around him.
So here comes the big question. Can the Rabbitohs make a finals push without him?
Statistics show it’s not just the Rabbitohs’ impressive offence that is putting them in positions to win games.
They’re earning the right to attack at will through gutsy and determined defence.
Across their first 10 games Souths conceded a whopping 348 points or 34.8 per game.
Then in their last five games they’ve only let in 66 points, or 13.2 per game which is a staggering improvement.
What’s more is their redzone defence has also vastly improved, making 7.9 tackles per try conceded inside their own 20 metres in their first 10 games.
Meanwhile, across their five-game winning streak, it takes a team 19.3 tackles inside the Rabbitohs’ 20-metre zone to get across the line.
In simpler terms, if Souths’ opponents got a set restart, they were almost certain to score in the first part of the season.
This new-found South Sydney defensive solidity means no amount of pressure can break them.
So much so, Fox League’s Michael Ennis was singing their praises after half an hour.
“Ben Hornby will be absolutely rapt with his side’s defensive resolve,” the former Bulldogs captain said.
Red and white jerseys scrambled all across the park to prevent Parramatta from scoring.
Mitchell has previously been a player criticised for his efforts on the defensive end, he has also been excellent and made three try-saving tackles, including two on Dylan Brown in the first half.
Add the points that he stopped with the points he helped create, and Mitchell’s influence is set to be sorely missed.
However, their defensive resolve will hold them in a strong position moving forward, with rookie Jye Gray likely to take over in the No.1 jersey.
And with strong defence comes confidence to attack which has seen a major improvement. They scored 16.2 points in their first 10 games compared to 31.2 across their five-game winning streak.
So is a late push for the finals still on the cards, even without Latrell? Rabbitohs fans can dare to dream.
Hornby chats Trell’s defensive strengths | 04:11
TITANS’ ‘GREAT PROBLEM’ AS ‘SPECIAL’ PLAYER STARS IN NO. 1 JERSEY
It feels as if every week Des Hasler’s fullback conundrum becomes bigger and bigger.
At the start of the season the Titans had just two contenders for the No. 1 spot: AJ Brimson and Jayden Campbell.
However, the recent form of Keano Kini means there are now three men Des Hasler must again squeeze into his side.
Against the Sharks in Round 18, Kini took 25 runs for 193 metres while busting five tackles, showcasing once again why he has to be in Hasler’s plans when Brimson and Campbell return.
Speaking before his side beat the Sharks, Titans halfback Kieran Foran labelled the young fullback “a special player.”
“We call him special because he’s exactly that,” he said.
“His rise has been meteoric. He started the season a little bit slowly but the way in which he’s hit the ground running in the last month of footy has been exceptional.
“There’s not a player that can break a game open quit like him and we’ll be looking for him to do that for us tonight.”
Fox League’s Corey Parker agreed with Foran’s sentiments, describing the young fullback as a “revelation.”
Parker then posed the question on every Titans fan’s lips.
“When AJ comes back, where do they all fit in?” Parker said.
“He is a first-grader, he has to be in that side but what his position is, you’d think he would stay at fullback and maybe AJ moves up.
“This kid is something special. We talk about Reece Walsh, we talk about Sua Fa’alogo and these sort of guys put him in the same conversation.”
Fox League’s James Graham said he expected the club’s fullback stocks to improve with Hasler as coach, given his track record at developing exceptional No. 1s.
“When Des Hasler signed to coach the Titans, I thought the improvement in Campbell was going to be immense or the focus was going to be where do Brimson and Campbell play?” he said.
“How do they marry in that combination together?
“But Kini has almost come out of nowhere.”
This leaves Hasler with a major problem according to Greg Alexander.
“At different times I’ve thought Jayden Campbell was the answer at fullback,” Alexander said.
“AJ Brimson, even this year with the three or four games he played at fullback he was the Titans’ best player and I thought they can’t move him.
“AJ’s got to be the fullback because he’s winning them games from there.
“Now we’ve got Keano Kini there and he looks like he’s locked down the No. 1 spot.
“It’s a problem where one might have to go.”
Graham added: “They’re all playing first grade and I think all of their best positions would be fullback.”
Alexander agreed: “You’re exactly right so it’s a problem. It’s a great problem, they’ve got three fantastic fullbacks.”
SHARKS ACHILLES HEEL REARS ITS HEAD AGAIN
Against the Gold Coast Titans in Round 18 the Cronulla Sharks made it three losses on the trot, sounding the alarm bells for their season as their slide down the ladder continues.
And against the Titans in Round 18 the Sharks continued another worrying trend, that of their slow starts.
In each of their last three games Cronulla have conceded two tries inside the first 13 minutes, only to kick into gear as the game progressed, claw their way back into the contest and eventually lose by four points or less.
Aside from the three consecutive losses, a form slump that happens to every side, what is most concerning about the Sharks current run is their inability to start game’s strongly.
A quick glance at the top sides in the competition will tell you one thing: they all start fast. Penrith do. Melbourne do. The Roosters do.
The reigning three-time Premiers the Panthers, for example, have conceded a single try before the 13th minute five times this 16 games season and never more than two in that window.
It’s left Sharks coach Craig Fitzgibbon feeling as though he’s been experiencing deja vu in the last three weeks.
“(It) feels exactly the same as last week,” Fitzgibbon said in his post-game press conference in reference to his side’s slow starts.
“Needless to say it keeps happening.
“It’s a bit of a trend we’ve got to address otherwise we’re just giving up too much and chasing down.”
Fitzgibbon believes a part of the reason behind his side’s slow start is a hyper fixation with starting game’s strong.
“Sometimes you focus too much on it, (put) a little too much energy towards it,” he explained.
“(We’re probably a bit uptight.
“We started the game really wanting to play well, the guys’ attitude, our effort is really good.”
While having this intent can be beneficial for the Sharks, at the moment it is proving counter-productive to the goals they’re trying to achieve – namely win a Premiership.
In losing the early stages of a contest, Cronulla are conceding possession and field position to their opponents and putting themselves behind the eight ball before they’ve had a chance to properly grow into the game.
Instead of building into a game, or taking an early lead and adding to it as the minutes pass, Cronulla are allowing their opponents to blow them off the park and then trying to fight tooth and nail to get back into the contest.
Fair to say it isn’t working. But Fitzgibbon showed no signs of concern about their Achilles heel after his side’s shock loss to the Titans.
“It’s not crucial yet, we’re still sitting in a strong position. But what is crucial is we’ve got to address it otherwise it will be.”
That’s not to say it doesn’t need fixing, and fixing fast, if Cronulla are to stop their current slide and re-position themselves as a competition heavyweight.
This was, after all, a side that led the competition for eight rounds during the middle of the season, but who have now won just once in their last six games.
They have the Tigers, the Cowboys and the Rabbitohs in the coming weeks. All three of which are games the Sharks can win comfortably on their day.
But if they’re still conceding cheap early tries there is a world where Cronulla fail to win one or more of those matches and continue to lose touch with the top of the NRL ladder.
ATTITUDE ADJUSTMENT BEHIND SCHOOLBOY STAR’S DEVELOPMENT THIS SEASON
Storm coach Craig Bellamy has delivered a brutally honest assessment on the NRL journey of Melbourne rising star Jack Howarth.
Howarth was a highly spruiked teenager who represented the 2019 Australian Schoolboys side alongside Reece Walsh and Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow.
However, Howarth’s path to first grade football has been far less smooth than Walsh and Tabuai-Fidow’s, both of whom are already established NRL stars.
As a 19-year-old, Howarth, who hails from the Queensland town of Mackay, signed a massive five-year extension with the Storm until the end of 2027.
It was expected he’d feature in the NRL soon after signing that extension in 2022, but Howarth toiled away in QLD Cup until finally making his debut late last season.
In what is essentially his rookie year this season, Howarth has appeared in six games for the ladder-leading Storm.
Bellamy says he is impressed by Howarth’s play this season, putting it down to an attitude adjustment in the pre-season.
“Well I think he took the pre-season a little bit more seriously to be quite honest. I think he was more invested,” Bellamy said.
“I don’t like to say this because it might not be right but I’ll say it anyway, but I think because of his schoolboy footy, he was up there on a pedestal which he was because of his athleticism and speed and his size but perhaps he didn’t work as hard as he probably could of.
“This pre-season he realised that ‘hey, if I’m going to be playing first grade I’m going to have to work a bit harder than I have been’.
“At the end of the day, if he works hard, that ability will come out more often on the field and that’s what has happened to him this year.
Bellamy predicts big things for the 21-year-old, who is blessed with size, strength and attributes you just can’t teach.
“There are still a few things he needs to work on and work really hard on in a tactical sense, but you can see the damage he can do with the ball. He’s a big guy who’s quick and has good footwork,” the Storm coach said.
“If he keeps working hard, the world is his oyster. He has physical attributes that not a whole heap of players possess in our game.
“He just needs to keep working hard and learn the little things of the game and he’ll be a good player for us.”
Bellamy lays out Melbourne’s injury toll | 09:01
RESILIENT WAHS SHOW SEASON’S NOT DEAD YET
Their side’s golden point loss to the Bulldogs is a bitter pill for Warriors fans to swallow, especially considering the number of chances they had to ice the game.
New Zealand missed three field goal attempts throughout the game, including one from Chanel Harris-Tavita that was tipped wide by Reed Mahoney.
There was also a potential missed penalty in the 74th minute when Bulldogs edge Jaeman Salmon collected Te Maire Martin high after he’d passed the ball.
However, no penalty was awarded and ultimately the Warriors became the second consecutive side to have their loss sealed by a Matt Burton golden point field goal.
And while Andrew Webster’s side will be disappointed with the outcome, they shouldn’t be disappointed with the performance.
For much of the second half and extra time, the Warriors were without their starting back three – Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad, Marcelo Montoya and Dallin Watene-Zelezniak.
All three were among the Warriors best in the first half, starting their sets with powerful runs, defending with energy and, in the case of Montoya and DWZ, scoring the Warriors’ only tries of the opening 40.
It forced Webster into a major reshuffle. Roger Tuivasa-Sheck shifted to fullback, Kurt Capewell was on the left wing, Dylan Walker left centre.
On the other side of the field, Adam Pompey moved to right wing with 18-year-old debutant Leka Halasima, a back rower by trade, playing left centre.
“They’re down to the bar bones,” Fox League’s Corey Parker said on commentary.
“One fit man on the bench. They’re in all sorts here.”
Most teams would have wilted and folded over with so many players out of position.
And yet the Warriors didn’t.
Decimated Warriors were ‘courageous’ | 05:09
They held on until the very end against a very good Bulldogs side and could very nearly have won the contest.
Such was the strength of their performance, Fox League’s Mal Meninga said they “deserved a point from the game.”
While they didn’t collect the two points the Warriors played at a level that showcased their true finals contentions.
Remember, this is a side just two weeks removed from a club-record 60-point loss to the Gold Coast Titans, a game where defensive resolve and resilience was not present.
Throughout the game they missed just 21 tackles, nine fewer than their season average according to the Fox Sports Lab and pinned the Bulldogs in their defensive end for large portions of the contest.
In his post-game press conference, Webster said he was “really proud of the effort” his side showed.
He praised his side for being “so resilient (with) so many injuries, people in different spots.”
Considering where the Warriors were just a fortnight ago, such praise from their coach signifies a major shift in their commitment to the cause.
And to their fans it should send a strong signal that their season is not dead yet. Not if they can continue performing as they did against the Bulldogs when their extensive injury list is shorter.