Flying High Up North

Queensland is dominating the NRL rugby league with Gold Coast and Brisbane sitting on top of the NRL ladder after six rounds. The duo have been playing some great NRL rugby and look to be laying down the benchmark for the rest of the competition.

There were some interesting NRL results this last week with Newcastle defeating St George and Wests Tigers toppling Melbourne. The West Tigers are one of the few teams which has consistently troubled the Storm in recent times. Things can change very quickly in the NRL league – the Dragons were on fire but after having lost one match wouldn’t want to turn that losing streak into two.

The topsy-turvy year of Brett Stewart continues. With five tries in two matches on his return to the side, he is now out for three months with a knee injury. Manly face a difficult assignment this weekend away to the North Queensland Cowboys.

As do Parramatta who face the Broncos on Friday night. The Eels were hammered 48-18 by the Bulldogs and sit in a parlous second-last on the ladder.
The Roosters sit on two wins and would love to defeat St George in their traditional Anzac Day clash. The New Zealand Warriors return to Olympic Park for the first time since last year’s upset in the NRL finals. If they can win again, there will be serious doubts if the reign of the Storm is still on. They have been the dominant team for the last three years but this could be over.
Cronulla sit in last place on the NRL ladder and will want to win against South Sydney before their season spirals out of control.

With the ladder starting to take shape ,now is the time for teams to make their move.

Bulldogs are NRL Top "Dogs"

The Bulldogs now still on top of the NRL ladder. They have been playing some great NRL rugby league and their NRL results speak for themselves. They took care of the West Tigers 22-20 in a very entertaining game. The Bulldogs were dark horses for the competition although this can’t be the case now with them in first place. As for the West Tigers, they will be upset they lost this match but should take great heart from their courage and if they build on these positives, they could still have a great 2009.

Manly’s woes exacerbated after a loss to the Melbourne Storm. The whole of the NRL rugby world was keen to see how this Grand Final replay would play out and the Storm had the last laugh. Manly’s rough season continues and they sit on the bottom of the ladder just above Canberra and Cronulla.
It was a mixed weekend for the Queensland side. North Queensland were toppled by Parramatta as were the Broncos by Newcastle but the Gold Coast ensured it wasn’t all disaster by taking care of South Sydney.

St George Illawarra continued their good NRL league form under Wayne Bennett with a tenacious 12-11 victory over the Warriors. There was nothing in the match and it was ultimately only a single point which separated the two. In recent weeks the Warriors have had this one point loss and a draw – they can’t allow this to cause them to drop their heads. They are talented enough to go far, but only if they believe in themselves.

Looking ahead, to Round 9 of the NRL season, it is a shortened round due to the Australia-New Zealand test match and City-Country game. North Queensland takes on the Dragons in what should be a fantastic match. Newcastle hosts the Gold Coast while the Storm play the Sydney Roosters. Match of the round should be Brisbane taking on Manly. While it may not yet be do-or-die for the Sea Eagles, it could be getting quite close. They need to go up to Suncorp Stadium and not just win but make a statement