What We Learned From The NRL This Week: Round 18

Bellamy’s boys shine

Melbourne just love playing Brisbane and they have the two most lethal wingers in the competition. The Broncos have won just four of their past 23 encounters with the Storm, which shows how much they enjoy a meeting with Brisbane.

In Suliasi Vunivali and Josh Ado-Carr, Melbourne have wingers who are complete packages. Tall, fast, electric finishers, both bagged a brace at Suncorp. Craig Bellamy got Ado-Carr from the Tigers for a bargain and with an appearance already in City-Country, Origin honours beckon in the future. New Zealand were keen to cap Fijian flyer Vunivali but he is not eligible after the Storm signed him from the Auckland Blues academy last year. Already the 21-year old has scored 37 tries in only 36 games. Simply phenomenal.

Melbourne do know how to polish a rough diamond, especially out on the wing and especially one from the Pacific. Marcus Bai, Sisa Waqa, Marika Koroibete, Vunivali – their track record is excellent. Cameron Munster also caught the eye against the Broncs, as the Storm ran in eight tries in the 42-12 thrashing. Since then Munster has got the nod to replace the injured Johnathan Thurston for Queensland in Origin Game II.

Destructive Daly

Missing out on that Origin spot was Daly Cherry-Evans. The man they call ‘DCE’ is arguably the form halfback in the NRL right now and deserves to be a bit miffed that he was overlooked again.

Cherry-Evans set up two tries and made one line break in Manly’s impressive come-from-behind victory over the Warriors. The halfback controlled the contest with some dynamic running, while his pass selection was excellent. Cherry-Evans leads the competition in try assists, along with Shaun Johnson, and is second in 40/20s. On the back of DCE’s form Manly have now won five in a row and sit in second spot on the ladder. These are heady days for Trent Barrett and co.

New Zealand’s nightmare

While the Sea Eagles were celebrating it was another missed chance for the Warriors. Ahead by 16 points in Perth, they took their foot off the gas and let Manly back in. It’s happened several times this season and it simply isn’t good enough. Stephen Kearney must be scratching his head to find out how to fix his ailing side. The time has come to blow up the New Zealand outfit and rebuild them from the ground up. 2017 will be the sixth season in a row they have missed the finals and that’s simply not good enough. Something has to change.

Cool Cronulla

Cronulla put the Roosters to the sword 44-12 with another impressive display. There is a lot to like about this Sharks team that seems to have great depth in every position. The way the likes of Jayson Bukuya and Fa’amanu Brown stepped up was heartening. Cronulla ran in four second-half tries to blow the Roosters, who were expected to give the defending premiers a good shake, completely out of the water.

Alex the Great

Alex Johnston has had to fill Greg Inglis’ gigantic shoes at times this season and it hasn’t always been easy for him. But the winger caught fire against the Panthers, finishing with an amazing five-try haul in the 42-14 mauling. Johnston equalled a club record with his return and he also ended the game with 198 run metres. It’s been a tough old season for Souths but they were smiling on Sunday afternoon.