5 Big Things: Everything we learned in NRL Round 10

The NRL’s third iteration of Magic Round has come and gone with fans treated to a spectacular weekend of rugby league action. Fans enjoyed upsets and tight finishes aplenty as Penrith rose back to the top of the competition ladder and the Bulldogs sunk back to the bottom of it. Here are 5 Big Things we learned from Round 10.

Barrett coaches final game with Canterbury

Days after Canterbury’s 16-6 loss to the 16th-placed Knights, reports that the club were expected to part ways with head coach Trent Barrett surfaced. Fast-forward to this morning and the club announced that Barrett had stepped down as the club’s head coach. Barrett, who took over as head coach at the start of 2021, went just 5-29 over his 34 games with the Bulldogs and picked up a wooden spoon last season. The Bulldogs are sitting last again this season with just two wins from their first 10 starts and are in possession of the premiership’s worst for-and-against. After adding the likes of Josh Addo-Carr, Matt Burton, and Tevita Pangai Jr. to their squad this season, club officials expected a stark improvement after last season’s debacle. 10 rounds in, however, and Canterbury are the only side in the premiership averaging single-digit points per game and, whilst it has been valiant for significant stretches, their defence has had holes in it. The next task for the Bulldogs is to decide who will take over from Barrett both short-term and long-term. Short-term, the club is expected to name an interim head coach over the coming days, whilst they are expected to conduct a thorough search before landing on a long-term decision. With Reed Mahoney and Viliame Kikau joining the club next season, it is imperative the club makes the right call or else their five-year postseason drought may be uncomfortably prolonged. Shane Flanagan, John Morris, and Paul Green have been floated as potential targets, whilst Penrith assistant Cameron Ciraldo appears to be the hottest name on the market but will not be available until 2023 at the earliest.

Reynolds sparks Brisbane resurgence

The split between Adam Reynolds and his beloved Rabbitohs dominated much of the offseason news cycle and the Broncos are now reaping the rewards. Brisbane dominated Manly on Friday night 38 points to nothing behind a Reynolds-led masterclass. The diminutive halfback scored a try, kicked half-a-dozen goals, laid on a pair of tries and kicked surgically all night long as Brisbane marched towards a stunning victory. The 31-year-old now has 11 try assists on the season, already more than had in both 2020 and 2021 and has his Broncos firmly in the top eight with six wins from 10 games. Reynolds, however, was not Brisbane’s only stand-out; Selwyn Cobbo continued his push perhaps towards a debut Origin jumper with a hat-trick of tries to go along with 203 run metres, whilst his wing-partner Corey Oates’ remarkable resurgence continued, with the 27-year-old running for a game-high 262 metres to go along with a try-double. Their forward-pack ran through Manly all game long, with starting props Corey Jensen and Payne Haas combining for 367 run metres from 35 runs and 42 tackles without a miss. The Broncos will face the Knights and Titans over the next fortnight before heading into their Round 13 bye.

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Penrith too strong for undermanned Melbourne

Penrith took full advantage of what was an understrength Melbourne outfit to hand the Storm their steepest defeat in almost seven years in a potential Grand Final preview. With Ryan Papenhuyzen, Jahrome Hughes, Christian Welch and Reimis Smith missing, the Storm were lacking some real fire-power and were not as far off the pace as the final score may suggest but were outclassed by the defending premiers. Izack Tago was one of Penrith’s stand-outs, crossing for a double and running for a game-high 198 metres from 14 runs, whilst Isaah Yeo took 24 carries for 178 metres and made 26 tackles en route to three Dally M points. Penrith dominated possession and nearly doubled Melbourne’s yardage output all whilst holding the Storm to zero line breaks. It ended up being Melbourne’s first loss by 24 points or more since their 2014 Qualifying Final defeat to the Bulldogs. The two sides will meet again in Round 22 and potentially again further down the line in what we hope will be injury-free clashes.

Gutsy Raiders survive disjointed Sharks

After losing all five of their games in April, the Raiders have enjoyed back-to-back wins for the first time this season following an incredible 30-10 win over Cronulla. Despite having three separate players sent to the bin, the Raiders were able to restrict top four hopefuls Cronulla to just a pair of tries as they held on for their most impressive win of 2022. Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad was sin-binned six minutes before halftime after laying on a tackled player for too long following a line-break before Corey Horsburgh held Ronaldo Mulitalo off the ball in a try-scoring situation just four minutes after Nicoll-Klokstad returned to go to the bin, whilst Elliott Whitehead was sent to the sin-bin seven minutes later due to a high shot. With William Kennedy and Jesse Ramien both suspended, Cronulla’s attack was clogged and disjointed just a week after they overcame a man-disadvantage of their own to power past the Warriors. With Nicho Hynes moved back into the number-one jumper and Braydon Trindall given his first start of the season, they were unable to properly bother the Raiders defence who communicated well and came up with some big-time, one-on-one stops on their try-line. Cronulla won the possession and yardage battle but missed more tackles and made more errors than the Raiders en route to their 20-point defeat. Debutant Zac Woolford was one of Canberra’s best, assisting on two tries, making a line break, and making 20 tackles without a miss in just 37 minutes.

Cowboys keep on keeping on

The premiership’s biggest surprise package of 2022 – the North Queensland Cowboys – have now won five from their past five following a 36-12 win over an injury-plagued Wests Tigers outfit. Both sides got off to a frantic start before the Cowboys pulled away with it in the second-half and finished the contest with seven tries to the Wests Tigers’ two. Murray Taulagi produced one of the most incredible try assists you will see to set up Scott Drinkwater for the opening try of the game, before crossing for a double of his own later on. Reuben Cotter, meanwhile, pressed his claim for a Queensland Origin jumper, finishing with a game-high 169 run metres from 13 carries and capping his night off with a barnstorming, long-range effort that saw him bamboozle the opposing fullback with a show-and-go for the ages to dive over beneath the sticks. Halves Tom Dearden and Chad Townsend laid on a pair of tries each, whilst four of North Queensland’s back five crossed for a try. The Cowboys biggest test will come over the next fortnight where they will face the 2nd-placed Storm and 1st-placed Panthers. The Cowboys have defied all expectations up until this point and currently in possession of the premiership’s second-best defence and fourth-best attack.

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