It was a weekend feast, but not the type that pricks the ears and tingles the taste buds of Josh Perry or Danny Wicks. There were no doughnuts in sight. Especially not on the scoreboards where it was all big numbers and high scoring matches courtesy of an avalanche of soft tries.
On average there were 51 points scored per game. Effective tackles were as hard to find as a former league winger in a Wallabies' jersey.
Contributing significantly to the stats was the Rabbitohs' 'effort' against the Tigers. Gordon Tallis is coaching the forwards at Redfern these days and he's clearly managed to turn things around – they used to be good, and now they're not. In Souths' defence though... well there was none to be honest.
The Panthers and Eels traded tries for eighty minutes in a game of anything-you-can-do-we-can-do-better... until you do it better again... and then we do it better.. and then you... and then us... and then you again... and then... the game's over? Oh well you win.
In a weekend that saw 63 tries scored the Sharks came up with one of them against the Cowboys; coincidentally the same number of players they had sacked for an alcohol-related misdemeanour. To be fair, this ratio was a slight improvement on some earlier times in the year.
In Melbourne the Knights couldn't come up with a victory over the Storm despite having approximately 100 per cent of the possession and field position. If the southerners ever had the ball I must've been blinking. Surely only the rain concealed the Newcastle players' tears at the end of this one.
The Raiders held on to beat the Titans, though if the game had lasted five more minutes the Gold Coast boys might have won by 13+ at the margins. The Blues' selectors look set to continue the 'one Raider at a time' policy by picking Learoyd-Lahrs and dropping Monaghan after the latter replaced Campese in game two. Next year should see Tongue get his chance before being inevitably dropped with Monaghan and Campese earning recalls... only to be dropped.
On Friday night the Roosters got back into the swing of things with another loss against the Dragons. Of course, the fact that they got thrashed, stayed rooted to the bottom rung of the ladder, and were confirmed as the worst performing bunch of rep players in the game's history wasn't great news, but the fact that they had to witness a Wendell Sailor try celebration really was the straw that broke the camel's back.
The Broncos had a good win over the Warriors due to the game not being played in New Zealand. Lillyman's arm and Ropati's head showed that secret rendezvous' with internet lady friends is not the only thing capable of dazzling big Joel Clinton. And Tonie Carroll made a successful comeback at the ripe old age of really bloody old. Pick him and Sailor for Origin III and bring back Alfie – give the Blues a chance.
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