NRL Roundup: Statement wins for Sharks and Cowboys as Bulldogs continue sliding

Aaron Murphy

Cronulla's Nicho Hynes celebrates a try during their pummeling of Wests Tigers. MARK METCALFE / GETTY IMAGES VIA AFP

Melbourne Storm set an unwanted club record with a seventh consecutive defeat on Friday night, whilst the Warriors and Roosters kept their own streaks going.

The numbers that matter

The big winners of Round 9

The new combination of Daly Cherry-Evans and Sam Walker is finally humming at the Sydney Roosters, and with fullback James Tedesco playing close to career-best footy at times, there's little wonder that they're on a five-game winning streak and pressing for top of the table - a long way from the team that was humiliated by both the Panthers and the Warriors in the opening three weeks!

Patience was afforded to Trent Robinson and his new spine in that opening month, which also includes the addition of Reece Robson, and that spine is evidently gelling and becoming more understanding of one another with each week.

It was noted last week that the 2018 Premiership side at Easts featured a new halves combination (Cooper Cronk and Luke Keary) that couldn't string together more than two consecutive wins until June, when they went on a 9-1 tear before dismantling the Rabbitohs, Storm and Sharks on their way to the Premiership.

The results here are beginning to look eerily similar, and for lock Victor Radley it's all down to the chemistry that continues to improve throughout the season.

Perhaps most ominously, they were able to stave off the usually unstoppable tsunami that is the second half Brisbane Broncos, who brought a 30-0 deficit back to 30-24 before some crucial errors from Kotoni Staggs and Reece Walsh took all the wind out of their sails.

Their next five games (Titans and Cowboys at home, Storm away, Raiders away, Dolphins away) all look very, very winnable on paper.

The big losers of Round 9

The Canterbury Bulldogs enjoyed 60% of possession and completed 22 sets out of 24 to half-time at home to the North Queensland Cowboys but had only six points to show for it, and things didn't get any better from there.

Cameron Ciraldo's side looked lost for answers when pressured by the Cowboys defensive line and the 28-12 loss was indicative of the last six weeks (W1, L5) they have had since opening the campaign with a pair of hard-fought victories.

They haven't been the same since losing Viliame Kikau to injury, especially as Jacob Preston has been moved out of position to accommodate for Kikau's absence, whilst it must be of great concern that halfback Lachlan Galvin was their only attacking threat against the Cowboys.

"We’re a bit down on confidence with our attack at the moment and that happens at different times,” Ciraldo conceded after the match.

“We got a number of six-agains but that doesn’t really help you at times as well, it sort of suffocates you as well.

“I thought we were patient down there. We weren’t trying to throw stuff that wasn’t there but we needed to be better when we get our chances.”

The win against Penrith lingers as a reminder of what they can do at their best, but Ciraldo and Galvin have not been able to unlock that since.

They certainly need to tidy things up defensively before heading to Cronulla in a fortnight.

Does Women's Origin need to be re-aligned?

Game 1 of the Women's State of Origin series was given clear air with a standalone fixture last Thursday night, and the rugby league community got right behind it with a crowd of over 20,000 at McDonald Jones Stadium and Channel Nine reporting ratings of nearly one million viewers, showing the hunger for top-level women's league is well and truly there.

What a pity that it was such a poor game by its own standards - and the players are hardly to blame.

Many had not played since September or October because of the very short NRLW season that this year doesn't kick off until July, and the rustiness was on display.

New South Wales posted their first ever win in Newcastle having sealed the 14-6 victory with a late try in a game that was marred by some at-times sloppy ball handling and standards well below what we have seen from these two teams and the NRLW in general.

Women's league deserves better than this. Perhaps we won't be far away from

Who scored braces this week?

The hat-trick heroes were returning Newcastle winger Greg Marzhew and the Cronulla pair of KL Iro and Teig Wilton, who dominated Wests with hat-tricks of their own.

There were no fewer than nine other players scoring doubles, including all-time leading try scorer Alex Johnston who moved to equal-second on the 2026 leaderboard with his two against the Knights.