Night two of the NRL’s annual mid-season high tackle crackdown produced more sin bins and confused looks as the Cowboys upset the Panthers and Latrell Mitchell’s magic ensured a winning return for the Rabbitohs against the Roosters.
Two players were sin-binned in North Queensland’s 22-18 triumph over Penrith and while nobody was banished in the later game, there were a few marginally high shots pinged by the referee.
Cowboys coach Todd Payten did not blow up about hooker Reece Robson getting a 10-minute stint on the sidelines for his hit on Daine Laurie but thought that his players were on the receiving end of similar incidents that went unpunished.
Three Rabbitohs went off at Accor Stadium but it had nothing to do with the match officials with halves Jamie Humphreys and Cody Walker, and winger Mikaele Ravalawa limping off with hamstring complaints before they rallied with two late tries for a 20-14 triumph at Accor Stadium.
1. Bins for minor sins
Robson clipped Laurie on the chin as the fullback fell into a tackle in the 25th minute at CommBank Stadium and after referee Peter Gough delayed play so the Bunker could check the incident, he was sent on his way.
“I can’t disagree with that but I thought there were a couple that we should have got as well,” Payten bemoaned. “Just looking for consistency.”
The clanger came late in the match when Izack Tago was marched to the sin bin with 80 seconds on the clock for a high shot.
Gough stopped play a full set after the tackle for what he described as “direct contact and moderate force”.
It could also have been described as barely making an impact on Murray Taulagi even though there was incidental contact to the side of the winger’s face as Tago wrapped his left arm around him in a ball-and-all tackle.
“I honestly didn’t think it was that bad,” exasperated Panthers coach Ivan Cleary said. “He was trying to reach around to make a tackle.”
Isaiah Tass celebrates scoring his try with Latrell Mitchell. (Photo by Brett Hemmings/Getty Images)
2. Latrell’s brilliance reinvigorates Bunnies
Mitchell’s return gave the Rabbitohs an extra attacking threat and with teammates dropping like flies, he stepped up when it mattered the most.
With the scores level inside the final 10 minutes, Mitchell crabbed to the left before firing off a bullet pass to winger Isaiah Tass, who tip-toed down the touchline, avoiding the chalk by millimetres to score the match-winning try.
When Humphreys went off inside the sixth minute clutching at his hamstring, it was an inconvenience for Souths but they at least had Bud Sullivan at the ready on the bench.
But when Walker limped off early in the second half and was soon followed up the tunnel by Ravalawa, Wayne Bennett had players out of position all over the field.
Trailing 14-8, Sullivan combined with the only smaller player than him on the field in Jye Gray to square the ledger before Mitchell’s magic propelled them to victory over their bitter rivals.
Mitchell nearly scored in the early stages when he carried three defenders over the line from close range but one of those tacklers, Roosters skipper James Tedesco, managed to force the ball free from his grasp.
Bennett has guided the Bunnies to four wins from five starts in his second stint at the club to revive hopes of a finals return after they slumped to 16th spot in 2024.
3. Veteran half struggles to step up
It’s always best to retire a year too early than a year too late.
Roosters half Chad Townsend is clearly in the latter category.
To be fair to him and his club, he has been thrust into a starting role when he was hired to be a back-up from the bench.
But when Sam Walker tore his ACL late last season it meant Townsend had to combine with Sandon Smith for the first few months of 2025.
Dropped by the Cowboys late last year, Roosters fans are now seeing why he lost his spot.
He is not playing terribly but when the Roosters needed him to ice the big moments, his kicks were a touch astray and his passing was not crisp enough for his support players.
Panthers legend Greg Alexander on Fox League commentary was critical of Townsend failing to land a couple of high kicks on the try line for Dominic Young which he argued made it too tough for the towering winger to score.
Young scored early in the second half after Billy Smith had done likewise to put the Roosters on the front foot but even though Souths were ravaged by injury, they were unable to land the knockout blow.
Maroons prop Lindsay Collins failed to finish the match with suspected medial ligament damage to make a bad night even worse for Trent Robinson.
4. Precipitous pressure on premiers
From four premierships in a row to now four losses on the trot.
The decline of the Panthers this year has been as rapid as it has been unexpected.
They haven’t started a season this poorly since 2013 and they have now lost as many matches in the past month as they did in each of their entire 2021 and 2022 campaigns.
Penrith are being outgunned in the middle with the Cowboys making six more metres per set than them on average and the premiers’ once-vaunted defensive brick wall has crumbled.
They have conceded four or more tries in all five rounds, even in the Las Vegas triumph over Cronulla. Last year in their 27 matches, only eight times did their opponents top 20 points.
Some of the tries they conceded to the Cowboys were not up to NRL standard let alone the ultra high benchmark that Ivan Cleary’s team had set over the past four seasons as the visitors trotted through glorified training drills to find the line.
Penrith nearly pulled it out of the fire when Paul Alamoti acrobatically touched down inside the cornerpost in the 76th minute but replays showed he put a foot into touch.
“We are in uncharted waters a little bit. We’ve all lost games but clearly the flow that you’d like isn’t quite there,” coach Ivan Cleary said. “It’s sort of new for me too, to come from where we’ve been.
“Some of the errors are uncharacteristic, coming from various different players that usually wouldn’t do that.
“I couldn’t care less about the season slipping away. I have complete faith in this group and what we can do, what we can achieve.”
They should have fullback Dylan Edwards back from a groin injury and Scott Sorensen from a concussion next week against the Dolphins but Jack Cole has already been ruled out after failing an HIA against the Cowboys and hooker Mitch Kenny will be monitored for a shoulder problem.
5. Cowboys get their act together
The Cowboys turned their season around three weeks ago even as they suffered their third straight loss.
They found some fight in their loss to the Broncos and since then they’ve accounted for Canberra and upset the Panthers.
Todd Payten made a huge call after Round 1 when he punted Jeremiah Nanai to the Queensland Cup and it’s worked a treat.
It put all his underperforming stars on notice and Nanai has looked much hungrier and been more involved even though the Maroons forward is still yet to reclaim his starting spot.
Nanai made 104 running metres in just 49 minutes, making a game-high eight tackle breaks while taking the confrontation up to Penrith’s physical edge forward Liam Martin.
After trailing 18-12 at half-time, the Cowboys outplayed the hosts in the second term to keep them scoreless and get the jump on them with tries to impressive youngster Jaxon Purdue and Murray Taulagi’s second.
They went into the match without co-captain Reuben Cotter due to an ill-timed illness and Payten was proud of their newfound resilience.
“There were some huge calls that went against us in the swing of the game that shouldn’t have been missed,” he said.
“We’ve got some new pieces to our machine from last year so that was always going to take a bit of time. We’ve just got to keep pushing forward.”
The Kick: McLean McBombs a McCertain try
The Panthers should have escaped with a late victory at CommBank Stadium on Friday night but young centre Casey McLean botched a certain try to such an extent that someone called the bomb squad.
Isaiah Papalii created space for him down the left edge and as he came to fullback Scott Drinkwater, all he had to do was pass the ball on to unmarked winger Tom Jenkins 10 metres out from the line.
But for reasons known only to himself, McLean dummied and went for glory but Drinkwater managed to knock him to the ground before the cover defence enveloped him.
Next time he gets in that position you would hope he’s learned from the experience.
Paul Suttorhttps://https://ift.tt/R5gz4pN and a Kick: Crackdown continues, Latrell magic lifts Souths past Roosters and Penrith slump worsens with Cowboys loss
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