We are now well and truly at the business end of the season. Results for those teams in and around the bottom spots of the top eight are starting to feel like genuine 'four-pointers'.
This past weekend we saw the top three seperate themselves from the pack, while the race for spots four through eight remain red hot!
Below are 20 thoughts from a brilliant and often controversial weekend of NRL action:
1. Just two weeks ago Graham Annesley said that any contact with an official, accidental or not, would lead to a suspension. So I was shocked to see Ezra Mam not sighted and suspended for making contact with a referee on Saturday afternoon. I cannot be clearer when I state that Graham Annesley is embarrassingly out of his depth and the number one issue in our game right now.
2. Of course I would not have suspended Mam for accidental contact. Nor should they have suspended Kennedy a week earlier for the exact same thing. My frustration is that the head of NRL operations yells from the rooftops that ANY contact with an official would lead to a suspension. Then a week later contact is made with an official and his words are not backed up.
3. Craig Fiztgibbon has two options. Either work out how to use the interchange bench or find another profession. How a guy in his third year of coaching can leave a clearly busted Tom Hazelton on the park, leading to two game-changing errors, is beyond comprehension. Meanwhile, he had four forwards clock in under 33 minutes each.
4. The Sharks horror fall from grace over the past two months is purely down to terrible coaching. A series of awful decisions now sees the Sharks very much in danger of replicating South Sydney from last year where they lead the competition two months in, only to fall and miss the Finals altogether.
5. Stefano Utoikamanu (at the time of putting this together) has not yet chosen a club after telling the Tigers he would not be returning for 2025. This is a player who needs to have a good look at himself. His 'effort' in 2024 have been diabolical and he is worth nowhere near the ridiculous numbers supposedly being floated.
6. The fact that Tigers fans are celebrating 'losing' an Origin forward shows just where Utoikamanu's performances have been this season. The Tigers should celebrate. They need to built a culture where players want to be at the club. Utoikamanu does not. I have no doubt he'll be twice the player at Melbourne, but he doesn't have the temperament to succeed at the Tigers. The club are better to move away from him, just as they were to move on from Isaiah Papali'i.
7. Watching the Rugby 7s at the Olympics really makes me miss the NRL 9s.
8. I know he was hit as he went to ground the ball but for 32 year-old veteran of 210 NRL games, Kyle Feldt to get up and yell in the face of a fallen, 19 year-old on debut ... it did not look good. Opinion online was split, and there was genuinely nothing in it, but I believe Feldt would want that one over again.
9. Valentine Holmes should become the Dragons number one target. Coincidentally in their number one. Shane Flanagan won a title with Val on the wing and went to a Prelim with Holmes at fullback. Val is at the back end of his career but still has a few good seasons left in him. For Dragons fans sake, I hope it is in the Red V.
10. I ran a poll on Twitter re the 2024 NRL Rookie of the year. Jack Bostock just pipped Ethan Strange. I have to say, I agree with the result. Iro and Talagi had plenty of support but were well behind.
11. Last week I called the Roosters flat track bullies. They did manage to put the Sea Eagles away(ish) on Saturday night. That win absolutely helps and should provide plenty of confidence. Still, to win a title they're going to have to learn to beat Penrith or Melbourne. That said, good start by beating the red hot Sea Eagles.
12. Jordan Rapana has earned another year at the Raiders. I would be shocked if he wasn't given an extension for 2025.
13. Recently I said that the Bulldogs would be a genuine threat if they ever learned to attack as well as they are currently defending. Well ... message sent and message received. They were this weekend's great entertainers. Boy was that a fun game to watch as a neutral.
14. I'm a huge fan of refereeing the game to the rules, not occasion. Elliott Whitehead was hilariously sin binned in the final second of the Raiders win over Souths on Sunday night. The decision was 100% spot on, as funny as the optics made it look.
15. Although I strongly maintain that AJ Brimson is the Titan's best attacking player, you'd be hard pressed to slot him back into the spine right now. Winning combinations are far more important than individual players. He may have to make due with the super sub role previously allocated to the likes of Campbell.
16. Tevita Pangai Jr was reduced to a meme last season. His retirement to box professionally was seen as a cop out. Fast forward and his short stint at the Dolphins has reminded us all of his magnificent talents. The talk is he'll go to Souths in 2025. Great pick up. I do love positive rugby league stories and this is looking like one.
17. Jacob Kiraz will play Origin one day ... soon. That's the thought!
18. I really wish they'd hurry up and announce a Perth or PNG side. Every week one or the others is supposedly set to be announced. For the record it needs to be Perth. End the speculation.
19. I wrote Canberra's Finals chances off a few weeks ago. Starting to feel just a little nervous. It's prob a straight shootout between them and the Dolphins for the eighth spot now.
20. The NRL really needs to decide if head on head contact is an offence or not. Players who run out of the line and initiate a head clash seem to be binned, or not, depending on which way the wind is blowing. I thought Mat Feagai was dead to rights on Sunday afternoon.