Round 21’s results made life interesting around fourth and eighth spot – but the rest of the ladder places may not be a live contest for much longer.
Here are your talking points out of the weekend that was.
Bunker busters
James Tedesco and Reece Walsh were both offside before scoring, but only one was called out.
Tries were awarded across other matches that defied what we thought we were seeing with our own eyes and what we understood to be the rules of the game.
Now as you know, dear reader, your weekly talking points detests constant referee, bunker and judiciary talk. But it has to be said: this weekend wasn’t the finest hours for the whistlers or the technology.
What I will say, though, is this – it stood out starkly that some folks out there went extra hard at a refereeing decision they disagreed with when it was a female ref making the call. This is an unedifying feature of rugby league and Australian sport in general. It’s easy to be better.
One correct thing to point out was South Sydney’s Jack Wighton copping a three-week suspension for knocking out Cronulla’s Toby Rudolf.
Many blew up about Wighton being penalised and binned for 10 minutes, but that was clearly a shoulder charge that resulted in a head clash.
Because it was his second time doing this, he gets three off instead of one.
It’ll be interesting to see if Canberra’s Ethan Strange gets a holiday too, after being reported for a shoulder charge on Newcastle’s Dom Young.
Harry Grant giveth, Harry Grant taketh
Grant’s penalty last week gave away a game. His play this week won a game.
The Melbourne rake stepped up big time after Jahrome Hughes got injured, and with Cam Munster out as well, there was a huge chance of the Storm falling over in the chase for a top four spot.
But Melbourne’s 34-30 escape against the Roosters owes a lot to how they’ve been so successful over the years – blokes you’ve never heard of doing their job.
Take their 22-year old centre Jack Howarth scoring a try to go with 186 run metres and 10 tackle breaks.
Take their reliable front rower Josh King, who scored a double, and Shawn Blore, who has been fantastic since coming over from the Tigers. The Melbourne machine just keeps rolling.
The Roosters gave it a good shot but came up short; and while life is much tougher now, they’re still a big shot at making the finals, which after a quarter of the season looked like a pipe dream.
Terrific top four tumult
If New Zealand hold on to fourth place when all is said and done, they need to send a thank you letter to Townsville for the Cowboys’ draw with Penrith in Round 10.
When Brisbane fell over to the redeemed Parramatta 22-20 on Friday, they ruled themselves out of an unlikely run at that spot.
The Eels have been really good value for the last few weeks and they’ve welcomed back arguably the best halfback in the competition in Mitch Moses to give even more starch to their last month of games. Good things are coming to the patient Parra fans.
But early on Saturday, the Warriors dropped what should have been a sure thing against the Gold Coast 24-16 at home, putting the double chance in peril once Penrith walked past Wests Tigers 36-2 a couple of hours later.
The Panthers showed just how far off the boil Benji Marshall’s mob are after a decent go ar it to the halfway point of the season. That win puts the four-time reigning champs above Brisbane, and just three points behind New Zealand.
That single point the Cowboys pinched off Penrith might be the difference-maker for the hopes and dreams of Canberra, Melbourne and Canterbury; because if the Panthers make the top four, it might be all over for everyone else.
It’s a long season
South Sydney coach Wayne Bennett was at his grumpy best during his post game press conference after his side fell short 14-12 against Cronulla. It was not his finest moment and credit to the journos for trying to get things moving along.
The Bunnies were a big shot at beating a very poor Sharks team, but just didn’t have the cattle – the story of 2025 for them.
Cronulla Sharks tonight:
– 60% possession
– 10-2 penalty count in their favour
– 5-1 six agains
– 60+ tackles in Souths 20m
– ten minutes of one-man advantage
– over 500 more metres than Souths
They scored the same amount of tries as a Rabbitohs side missing 70% of their cap. pic.twitter.com/T761CMcx9v
— Jack Blyth (@jblesfooty224) July 26, 2025
Canberra, meanwhile, won their ninth on the bounce, 44-18 over Newcastle in a game that never reached any real heights. The Raiders haven’t conceded a second half point in the last fortnight, but regardless of the scoreline, there’s a bit to clean up, in particular their very popular right side defence.
Canterbury’s 42-4 demolition of Manly to finish the round featured 30 unanswered in the second half, and once again the Sea Eagles couldn’t follow a great win wth a decent performance.
The Bulldogs needed a good blowout after a run of five tight games decided by six points or less.
North Queensland and St George Illawarra played some entertaining defence-free rugby league, the 38-32 result good fun for the neutrals but ultimately not a big deal in the grand scheme of the season.
There are seven games left and both clubs are a miracle run away from eighth spot, but the Dragons are getting absolutely no reward for their consistent effort. And the Cowboys? Who knows what we’re getting week to week.
Compu-pu-pu-pu-pu-pu-pu-pu-pu-pu-pu-pu-pu computer games
Here’s an idea – want to crack the USA? Go through the consoles, not the casinos.
Forget paying millions for Las Vegas and chasing gamblers, if the NRL wants to crack the USA it should go through the video game route.
Noting the less than stellar launch of the ‘Rugby League 26’ game over the last couple of weeks, why not instead pay EA sports the reported $50-60 million to make a proper rugby league game and win the kids in their bedrooms? That’s what FIFA, the NFL and NBA did.
That’s a long term investment that could pay dividends.
Big games this week
We’re getting close to crunch time for the finals places and Round 22 throws a few good match-ups about the place.
It begins with a really interesting one: Parramatta hosting Melbourne on Thursday night. The Eels are giving every game a crack – can they sneak another win?
Friday’s pub game is prime time across the ditch, with the Warriors hosting the Dolphins – plenty on the line for both teams. Prime time Friday Aussie time is Brisbane and the Rabbitohs, which doesn’t thrill – let’s be up front.
We head to the beaches for Saturday’s three games, and they all have potential to be entertainers. The Titans welcome Penrith to the Gold Coast, Canberra travel to Wollongong for St George Illawarra and it’s almost last chance saloon for the Roosters as they head to Brookvale to take on the Sea Eagles.
Sunday might be time to bank some brownie points for doing work around the house, because it’s Wests Tigers and Canterbury, then Cronulla and North Queensland at the Shark Park construction pit.
Newcastle have the bye and the free two points which will keep them away from the bottom.
Round 21’s random thoughts
– Talking points’ favourite unsung legend Daniel Tupou scored a double against Melbourne, moving the Roosters winger into fifth place in rugby league’s all time try scorers with 177. He passed Brett Morris and sits just 3 tries behind the fourth placed Steve Menzies, who got 180 for Manly.
– Looks like the Raiders have graduated into being a ‘big’ team, the way they’ve started getting the rub of the refereeing. A couple of their tries came after what looked like stone cold obstructions on Newcastle defenders and a pass off the ground.
– Your talking points rubbish him a lot, but Des Hasler’s 500th game as a senior coach threw some serious interest into the season. Hasler still carries a 55 per cent winning record, and we should point out he has a winning career head-to-head against three of the coaches of the current top four, and is 18-19 against Craig Bellamy.
– Speaking of milestones, Canterbury notched up their 1000th win, joining South Sydney (1,192) and the Sydney Roosters (1,269) in four figures of victory.
– Next closest to 1,000 wins is Manly on 987. Everyone else is miles off.
– The Roosters have won one game in their last 15 against teams in the top four, and they’ve only beaten three top eight teams this season.
What did you make of round 21, Roarers?