There is a saying that a lot can happen in a week, and that has never been truer for two NRL sides this week.
This time last week the Sharks were in absolute disarray, without a five-eighth, and were at huge odds to win a game in the next three or four weeks.
Fast forward to today and the Sharks are riding high after comprehensively outplaying the premiership favourites on the back of a brilliant performance by two young guns. They suddenly don’t have a position in their run on side for their prize recruit and a former Dally M medallist.
Suddenly the outlook is not so dark in the Shire with a possible long-term five-eighth option emerging, as well as another strong performance by, in my view, the best young player in the competition in Valentine Holmes.
Meanwhile at Belmore the Bulldogs are licking their wounds after a horror Good Friday saw them lose two of their best players for a considerable period.
Heading into last Friday afternoon’s Grand Final replay, the Dogs were confident of avenging their loss to the Bunnies and follow up on their golden-point victory a week earlier in a game that looked lost.
Now they are short on troops, without their captain, and have lost their best attacking weapon in the form of Brett Morris.
I’m definitely not saying the Sharks are on their way to the minor premiership, or the Dogs season is over, but the outlook of both sides, at least in the short term, is drastically different than just seven days ago.
The Sharks face a battle with the high flying Knights, and will surprisingly enter the game as favourites, despite not having registered a home win in almost 12 months.
The Dogs on the other hand enter their clash with the Dragons as outsiders in betting, something that just seven days would have been almost unthinkable.
What do the next seven days hold for Rugby League? … Hopefully not a refereeing scandal.
Dead set, how good are the wing stocks in the NRL right now? Marika Koroibete and Pat Richards put on an absolute show over the weekend. Richards played arguably the best fifteen minutes of any player this season, scoring a try and setting up two, including that amazing dance down the touchline and kick off balance. Koroibete is possibly the hardest man to tackle in the competition right now.
I’m a big fan of Sam Tomkins, but the Warriors have definitely upgraded in their signing of Roosters young gun RTS. Tomkins is a good player but never truly found his feet in the NRL, and has been rumoured to want a return home to England for some time now. The Warriors have replaced a good player with one of the most exciting fullbacks in the competition. His efforts against the Sharks almost single handidly won his side a game they had no right to win. Props to those fans referring to him as ‘Roger Tuivasa Cheque’.
Reports indicating that the Broncos may not be able to sign Dane Gagai based on having too many outside backs on the books, thus not being able guarantee him a first grade spot, made me laugh mid-week. Gagai is in brilliant form and is locked in a two-way battle with Will Chambers for the vacant Queensland Origin spot. Nothing against the likes of Reed, Maranta and Kahu, but Gagai walks into the Broncos run-on side to join his likely Origin partner in Justin Hodges.