5 Big Things: Everything we learned in NRL Round 9

There was action aplenty in Round 9 of the NRL season, with a handful of upsets and tight finishes keeping fans on their feet as several sides shuffled up and down the ladder. Here are 5 Big Things we learned from Round 9.

The ascension of Cobbo

Since debuting in May last year, Broncos’ teenager Selwyn Cobbo has turned many a head and has cemented himself as a pivotal part of the club’s future. His ascension into the spotlight was personified in his side’s 32-12 upset over South Sydney on Thursday night, with the Cherbourg-native running for a game-high 193 metres, crossing for a double, breaking nine tackles and coming up with zero errors. Cobbo has made the right wing spot his own in recent weeks and has struck up quite the partnership with centre Kotoni Staggs, with the pair combining for seven tries on the season. It seems inevitable that Cobbo makes the move to the back at some point to give him more opportunities with the ball to showcase his freakish athleticism and brilliant skills but, for now, he is finding success playing outside Staggs and Brisbane are sitting in the top eight. The 19-year-old is now averaging 114 run metres per game and has broken 35 tackles this season. There are plenty of wraps on Cobbo north of the border and an Origin call-up may be closer than many expected.

Fortress Penrith breached

The highly-vaunted Battle of the West ended with Parramatta securing a two-point upset over foes Penrith to snap the club’s 21-game home winning streak in an action-packed affair at the foot of the mountain. Isaiah Papali’i had a mammoth outing for the Eels, running for 186 metres with nine tackle breaks, to go along with 48 tackles in 80 minutes. He was not alone in the engine room, however – Junior Paulo ran for a team-high 207 metres from 23 carries, whilst Ryan Matterson ran for 177 metres and made 24 tackles off the bench. Skipper Clint Gutherson, meanwhile, picked up a pair of Dally M points with his 21 carries for 146 metres, to go along with a try and a try assist. With the loss, Penrith have dropped behind Melbourne on the competition ladder, despite sitting at a remarkable 8-1 through 9 rounds. Brian To’o made a successful return from injury, casually running for a game-high 266 metres from 22 carries to go along with three tackle breaks and a line break. Hooker Apisai Koroisau, meanwhile, made a game-high 58 tackles, whilst Taylan May crossed for his third try-scoring double of the year. Penrith will face Melbourne in a top-of-the-table clash this Saturday night in Magic Round, whilst the Eels will face the Roosters on Sunday afternoon.

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Where to now for the Titans?

The Gold Coast Titans have slumped to a meagre 2-7 after nine rounds and sit ahead of the Knights and Bulldogs on for-and-against alone following a 44-16 loss to the Roosters in Mackay on Saturday. With David Fifita watching from the sidelines, the Titans missed 37 tackles and made 11 errors as they allowed the Roosters to outscore them eight tries to three. The Roosters ran for over 400 more metres than their counterparts and won the line break battle nine to three. Four of their tries came in the final quarter of the game as the Titans conceded 26 points or more for the fourth time in five weeks. Head coach Justin Holbrook has tinkered with his 17 regularly as his Titans look to make back-to-back finals appearances for the first time since 2010. A.J. Brimson has spent the past two weeks at fullback after starting the season at five-eighth, whilst a new-look halves-pairing of Will Smith and Toby Sexton has failed to fire over the past fortnight. The Titans’ squad is not short of attacking nous but have been erratic and let down by a level of mismanagement. Over the next month, they will face the Dragons, Sharks, Broncos and Cowboys as they look to make a climb up the ladder.

Melbourne’s point-scoring avalanche continues

The Melbourne Storm have scored an absurd 162 points over their past three outings, following a 42-6 win over St. George Illawarra, and now sit atop the competition ladder with eight wins from their first nine games. With Josh Addo-Carr, Nicho Hynes, and Dale Finucane all departing from the club over the offseason and Christian Welch and George Jennings suffering long-term injuries in Round 1, it was fair to expect Melbourne to perhaps drop off a little; nothing drastic like dropping out of the top four, but perhaps they wouldn’t break as many point-scoring records as they did in 2021. Craig Bellamy’s wizardry, however, knows no bounds and the Storm sit 77 points ahead of the second-ranked Panthers and 14 tries ahead of them too in the attack column as a result. The likes of Josh King, Nick Meaney, and Xavier Coates are playing career-best football, whilst their star-studded spine of Ryan Papenhuyzen, Cameron Munster, Jahrome Hughes and Harry Grant are surgically pulling opposing defences apart from all corners of the field. Dally M leader Papenhuyzen is expected to miss some time with a hamstring issue he picked up on Sunday but don’t think for a second the Melbourne machine will cease churning out points and victories.

Sharks gutsy, Warriors futile

The Sharks and Warriors played out one of the more eye-popping encounters you will see on Sunday afternoon, with game ending in an unlikely 19-point Sharks victory. William Kennedy was sent from the field in just the 16th minute after hitting Warriors fullback Reece Walsh with an ugly coat-hanger, whilst Jesse Ramien joined him for 10 minutes in the second-half after collecting Euan Aitken high. The Warriors had every opportunity to put the Sharks away but were unable to find points when they needed them and let Nicho Hynes run rings around them down the other end. Even when up against 11, the Warriors failed to look like scoring as a morose Nathan Brown looked down from the coach’s box. Connor Tracey crossed for a double after coming into the side to replace Ronaldo Mulitalo, whilst Siosifa Talakai kept up his destructive form, running for a game-high 193 metres, with seven tackle breaks, and a try assist. It was Hynes, however, who stole the show, scoring a try of his own, laying on two others, forcing four drop-outs and running for 164 metres on his way to a trio of Dally M points. Playing against 12 for 65 minutes and 11 for 10 minutes should virtually guarantee a victory but the Warriors looked aimless and frustrated as the Sharks came away with a gutsy 29-10 win.