Canberra kept their season alive with an emotional come-from-behind 22-18 victory over Penrith at GIO Stadium in captain Elliott Whitehead’s final home appearance with the premiers’ top-two spot now in some jeopardy.
Later on, Melbourne crushed a very disappointing Dolphins outfit 48-6 to seal the 2024 minor premiership before Newcastle defeated South Sydney 36-16 to stay in the finals hunt.
Here’s how the three matches in the NRL unfolded on another busy Saturday.
1. Ricky’s resilient Raiders keep season alive
Despite a lopsided penalty count, less possession and trailing by eight points to the Penrith machine, Ricky Stuart’s men somehow pulled out a famous victory for their departing skipper Elliott Whitehead in the Canberra sunshine. The tight win keeps Canberra’s faint finals flame flickering for at least another week with the Green Machine needing to rely on results elsewhere to sneak into the playoffs.
Canberra celebrate a try. Photo by Mark Nolan/Getty Images)
After a dreadful showing in the embarrassing 42-4 defeat to North Queensland last week, the signs were not great for the hosts as they racked up errors and penalties in the opening 40 minutes before turning the game on its head in the second half with a stirring comeback.
Clearly affected by the result, Whitehead was struggling for words when speaking following his final home game with Canberra.
“To get that result against a great Penrith team, even without (Nathan) Cleary, it shows what potential these boys have got,” the Raiders captain told Fox League.
“I’m getting emotional… sorry. It means a lot to me, this club. I’ve been here nine years… I didn’t think I’d get emotional on TV, sorry. After two years, I didn’t think I’d stay here nine years but I love everyone at this club.”
“He’s been one of our best buys from England and we’ve had some good ones. Josh (Hodgson), George (Williams), John (Bateman), we’ve got Morgan (Smithies) now,” Ricky Stuart added.
“He’s followed Josh (Hodgson)’s boots in regards to being our captain. The players absolutely adore Elliott and once the season finishes, he’s one of my best mates.”
2. Cleary’s absence felt as Panthers slip up
It was far from the domineering performance Penrith are capable of at GIO Stadium, and in the end the Panthers were punished for missing multiple opportunities and overrun by a motived Canberra outfit. Well into the second half in the nation’s capital, it was remarkable how close the scoreline remained considering the Raiders’ ill-discipline that would usually have the premiers smelling blood.
This Penrith side rarely need so many chances to score just three tries, though Cleary’s absence does not help when creativity is hard to come by.
With the minor premiership out of sight following Melbourne’s victory over the Dolphins, Penrith’s focus will be on securing a crucial top-two finish guaranteeing the double chance and two home finals while avoiding injuries on the eve of the playoffs in their pursuit of a fourth straight premiership.
“Maybe just another spine that didn’t seem to connect, when we really needed it to,” Panthers coach Ivan Cleary said when asked what went wrong.
“We haven’t had a game like that for a while. We’ll gain a lot from that game… it wasn’t good enough. It is what it is.
“I’m not too worried about (finishing in the top two). We’ve had years where at this time of the year we’re probably kicking around, waiting for the finals to start – so it’s definitely not going to be like that this year. What’s important is we get to the finals playing well. At the moment, we’re not playing well enough.”
3. Storm seal minor premiership after huge win
Rarely have the Storm hit top gear in 2024, but they put a miserable Dolphins side to the sword to notch their 18th win of the season, clinching their sixth minor premiership as they look to add a fifth premiership title to the well-stocked trophy cabinet.
Craig Bellamy’s side preyed on lax defence from the NRL’s newest club close to the line on too many occasions to count to stretch the winning margin, including two simple tries scored while Felise Kaufusi was in the sin-bin. A 22-0 half-time scoreline was always going to be insurmountable and the Storm kept piling on the points after half-time but in truth, it could’ve been more.
With established stars in the spine injury-free and returning to their best, along with unheralded players like Jack Howarth making big contributions, Melbourne are building nicely at the business end of the season.
4. Dolphins’ slide continues with first finals berth in serious doubt
Defence was again the issue for the Dolphins at AAMI Park, conceding four tries to none in a first-half blitz that had Wayne Bennett shaking his head in the coaches box. With the final score blowing out, it continues a trend that has seen the expansion side concede at least 30 points in their last four matches, causing a hefty descent on the ladder as they’ve fallen out of finals consideration.
Kaufisi’s professional foul and losing both Kodi Nikorima and Jesse Bromwich to head injuries certainly hurt the Dolphins with the new halves combination of Sean O’Sullivan and Isaiya Katoa failing to trouble the Melbourne defensive line until late in the piece when O’Sullivan’s kick led to their only points of the evening.
Getting back into the top eight becomes tough from here with a huge Brisbane derby that will take over the city for the next seven days to come next Saturday. If the Dolphins can bank those two points, they will surely be good enough to account for Newcastle in their final regular season fixture but they will need St George Illawarra to lose at least two of their remaining matches.
“That’s our worst performance of the season,” Bennett said.
“We’ve been holding together and haven’t won a lot of games in the past couple of months but we’ve been hanging in pretty good. There were times tonight where we did that, but lots of times where we didn’t.”
5. Knights cling to life with much-needed victory over Souths
South Sydney had made a solid start to the final game of the night before imploding somewhat with Fletcher Myers twice sending the kick-off out on the full as the Knights quickly scored two tries to take back the lead with Ben Hornby’s disgust plain to see. Just minutes later Cameron Murray’s swinging arm on Tyson Frizell earned him ten minutes in the sin-bin as things went from bad to worse for Souths.
The Rabbitohs’ 12 men held firm but the dam would soon burst after Murray’s return as Newcastle stayed alive – for now – in the race for eighth, condemning South Sydney to the 15th loss of a campaign to forget. The only real blight on the Knights’ evening was the sin-binning of Sebastian Su’a very late in the game.
Newcastle are now even with three other sides on 26 points but their poor for and against differential – only better than Canberra in that chasing pack – will likely ensure they finish outside the top eight.
The Kick: Luai fails to power attack
In his final season at the foot of the mountains, Jarome Luai has been the focal point of Penrith’s attack at multiple stages with injury plaguing star halfback Nathan Cleary. With an opportunity to shore up a vital top-two spot against a struggling Raiders side and the 7 on his back, Laui finished with zero points, zero try assists and zero line break assists.
That’s not a stat line you expect to see from one the league’s best halves who only recently had his best series in a NSW Blues jersey without Cleary by his side. Granted, today’s halves partner Brad Schneider is not exactly a world-beater but the Penrith line-up was still stacked with quality.
Questions over Luai’s ability to run a team will persist as he heads to Concord in 2025 to join the seemingly perpetually rebuilding Wests Tigers. Today’s loss was a missed opportunity to answer his critics.
