The Postman on Round 2
2017 National Rugby League Premiership
By W D Nicolson - March 13, 2017
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|-| Quote of the Round:
• "He's definitely got a knee issue, so we'll know more once we've got those scans..." North Queensland Coach Paul Green on Matt Scott's potential ACL tear after the Cowboys defeated Brisbane 21-20 in Golden Point.
Scans on Monday revealed Scott did do serious damage to his knee and the Cowboys' title hopes just took a massive hit.
|-| Try of the Round:
- Joe Greenwood finishes off a spectacular hot potato team effort from the Titans - just watch the tape below!
- Matt Scott and Greg Inglis will be missed...
- Well that goes without saying for the Cowboys and Souths - and of course Queensland and Australia - but both are the kind of players you just love watching play footy. Scott's injury has the biggest impact on his career as the 31 year old is off-contract at the end of 2017 and his bargaining position just got hammered... he'll likely be back but if anything this probably helps the Cowboys keep him as it'll be caveat emptor (buyer beware) for any team who was thinking of signing him pre-injury...
As for Inglis - he's going to be back but I'll really miss seeing him run around especially at rep level in 2017. He's just such a tremendous footy player. - The Whitehead solution...
- Canberra's hype train got derailed well and truly by the Sharks on Saturday night but it might result in Ricky Stuart reuniting Blake Austin (and if fit - Joseph Leilua) with their safety net called Elliott Whitehead. The Englishman covered up a lot (and I mean a lot) of defensive mistakes by the Raiders right edge last year and by Stuart moving him to the left to cover for Jarrod Croker he left the right side without their most important defensive player and the Sharks tore through that gaping hole time after time to crush the Raiders.
With Croker possibly back, Whitehead would definitely go back to the right edge where Sia Soliola has been overwhelmed the last two weeks. That's not a go at Soliola who has been very good but he's been left isolated by Austin and Leilua (esp) who couldn't adjust to Whitehead not being there to bail them out. Soliola is a fine player but the middle is where he does his best work for the Raiders. - Dragons and Tigers come crashing back to earth...
- Who honestly didn't see the Dragons crash coming? Well other than Paul McGregor and overly optimistic Dragons fans?
As for the Tigers - they got outplayed by a better team but didn't stop trying... but the loss showed how overmatched their pack can be at times and how glaringly that leaves Luke Brooks and Mitchell Moses exposed on both sides of the ball. Matt Ballin can't come back to hooker fast enough either - and Tim Grant was desperately missed as a late withdrawal. - No Hayne v Parra...
- Very disappointing for the Titans - forget about the Eels fans who wanted to see it. The Titans may be 0-2 after back to back losses to the Roosters and Knights but had Hayne been at fullback v Parra at home on a Friday night they could've approached 20,000 fans at Cbus Super Stadium... now without Hayne (and still being 0-2) that figure may drop to barely over half that... it's a cruel blow to a team that looked devoid of depth entering the season and now have lost a number of players it appears they simply can't replace.
They aren't done for 2017 by any means but an 0-3 hole with a loss to Parra isn't going to help discourage that line of thought growing... - Time for Brad Abbey Des...
- Des Hasler's men are 0-2 after blowing two games of footy... they might've sported Melbourne a 12-0 lead in Round 1 but had enough of the pill to win three games of footy thereafter and had an 8-0 lead over the Roosters away from home last Thursday night and despite rallying late - got beat 28-24.
The points for was the only positive of Round 2 - as they lost Will Hopoate and Kerrod Holland for the next month or two to injury... so Hasler now has to decide if it is finally time to inject young Kiwi Brad Abbey and 21 year old winger Marcelo Montoya into the mix to liven things up for the Bulldogs...
Brett Morris arguably makes more of an impact at fullback than on the wing for Canterbury but Abbey in the #1 could help Hasler's team play some different footy... something they simply have to find if they are to 'change things up' as the off-season headlines suggested they would...
Hasler probably goes with Morris at fullback but for the sake of all Canterbury fans it'd be great to see him give Abbey and Montoya their NRL debuts in Dunedin on Friday night against the Warriors and simply try to energise a team that looks tired already and it's only Round 2...
|-| The Postman's 2017 Tipping Watch:
5 from 8
Season Tips:
10 from 16 at 62.5%
Tips go up on www.wdnicolson.com every Wednesday night.
There's my thoughts on the Round - got your own?
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