NRL NRL 2021 Season - Round 2

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Thursday 18th March
Parramatta vs Melbourne (Bankwest Stadium - 20:05)

Friday 19th March
New Zealand vs Newcastle (Central Coast Stadium - 18:00)
Gold Coast vs Brisbane (Suncorp Stadium - 20:05)

Saturday 20th March
Canterbury-Bankstown vs Penrith (Bankwest Stadium - 15:00)
Manly-Warringah vs South Sydney (Lottoland- 17:30)
North Queensland vs St.George-Illawarra (Queensland Country Bank Stadium - 19:35)

Sunday 21st March
Wests Tigers vs Sydney Roosters (Campbelltown Sports Stadium - 16:05)
Cronulla-Sutherland vs Canberra (Netstrata Jubilee Stadium - 18:15)
 
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Round 2 teams lists
Eels v Storm, Thursday 8.05pm at Bankwest Stadium
Eels:
Just the one change for the Eels with back-rower Marata Niukore returning from a two-game suspension for a crusher tackle in last year's qualifying final against the Storm. Niukore's return pushes Keegan Hipgrave to the reserves. Ray Stone is also among the reserves as he nears a return from a knee injury.
Storm: Craig Bellamy is going with the same 17 which proved too strong for Souths. Premiership centre Brenko Lee remains sidelined with a hamstring injury. Harry Grant (knee) and Dale Finucane (calf) are still a few weeks away.
Warriors v Knights, Friday 6pm at Central Coast Stadium
Warriors:
Centre Euan Aitken is likely to have surgery this week for a high ankle sprain and looks set to be sidelined for 8-10 weeks. His place is taken by Adam Pompey. Jack Murchie has been named among the reserves as he continues to work his way back from a pectoral injury.
Knights: Coach Adam O'Brien has stuck with the 17 players who got the job done in round one. Connor Watson is named to start at lock after coming off the bench last week. Sauaso Sue reverts to the interchange. Kurt Mann (knee) and Bradman Best (anke) have both been cleared of any serious damage and are expected to take their place.
Titans v Broncos, Friday 8.05pm at Cbus Super Stadium
Titans:
Phillip Sami gets a reprieve after being left out of the side last week, called up to replace centre Brian Kelly (fractured hand). Star second-rower David Fifita overcame an ankle infection and two days in hospital to play 70 minutes in round one and still make 13 runs so he'll be more dangerous this week with an uninterrupted preparation.
Broncos: Tests cleared Xavier Coates (neck) and John Asiata (neck/shoulder) of any serious damage and both have been named to play after coming through training on Monday. Prop Matt Lodge is expected to miss 2-3 weeks after scans confirmed a low-grade hamstring injury. His place is taken by Thomas Flegler. The new man on the bench is Rhys Kennedy.
Bulldogs v Panthers, Saturday 3.00pm at Bankwest Stadium
Bulldogs:
Hooker Jeremy Marshall-King is back from a foot injury and takes Brad Deitz's spot on the bench. Raymond Faitala-Mariner has been promoted to the starting side and Corey Waddell goes to the bench.
Panthers: Made a strong statement in a big first-up win over the Cowboys and Ivan Cleary has the luxury of naming the same 17 players to face the Bulldogs. Former Shark Scott Sorensen made his return from a hamstring injury in NSW Cup against the Knights and has been named among the reserves.
Sea Eagles v Rabbitohs, Saturday 5.30pm at Lottoland
Sea Eagles:
Just one change to the starting side after the round one rout. Bench forward Andrew Davey switches places with Jack Gosiewski. Taniela Paseka is the only holdover on the bench with Tevita Funa losing his spot to Cade Cust, after his three-try heroics for Blacktown, and Sean Keppie bumping Morgan Boyle out of the 21-man squad.
In some positive news Kieran Foran is good to go against the Rabbitohs after leaving the field with a cork on Saturday. Gun fullback Tom Trbojevic is at least a fortnight away with his hamstring injury so the experiment with Dylan Walker in the No.1 jersey appears set to continue.
Rabbitohs: Off-season recruits Josh Mansour and Jacob Host have dropped out of the 17 with Jaxson Paulo and Keaon Koloamatangi taking their places in the starting side. Patrick Mago is the new face on Souths' bench.
Forward Tom Burgess was cleared of serious injury after he was stretchered off in round one and taken to hospital for scans on his shoulder and neck. The scans were clear and the Englishman has been named to face Manly. Fellow forward Liam Knight, having resumed contact training, has been handed the No.18 jersey after missing the Storm game with concussion.
Cowboys v Dragons, Saturday 7.35pm at Queensland Country Bank Stadium
Cowboys:
After having read the riot act following an inept attacking display against Penrith, coach Todd Payten has resisted the temptation to ring the changes. Val Holmes had little impact on the wing but remains there in round two with Scott Drinkwater staying at fullback. And there were no injury concerns to force his hand so the squad stays 1-17.
Dragons: Corey Norman comes back into the team after a one-match suspension with stand-in pivot, and round one try-scorer, Adam Clune tumbling all the way to the reserves. The rest of the 17 remains the same. Winger Cody Ramsey limped off with an ankle injury against Cronulla but has been passed fit to face the Cowboys. No other injury worries but plenty for new coach Anthony Griffin to ponder with a shortage of points and some worrying defensive lapses.
Wests Tigers v Roosters, Sunday 4.05pm at Campbelltown Stadium
Wests Tigers:
The return of Adam Doueihi from the shoulder charge suspension he incurred in the final game of 2020 has seen gun youngster Daine Laurie retained at fullback with veteran Moses Mbye bumped to the bench and forward Russell Packer relegated to reserves. After keeping pace with Canberra in the first half on Sunday Wests Tigers fell away badly and need Luke Brooks to stand up if they are to have any chance against a Roosters outfit which ran rampant against Manly.
Roosters: Back-rower Angus Crichton has accepted a one-match ban for a crusher tackle. His absence sees Nat Butcher promoted to the starting side and debutant Fletcher Baker winning a bench spot alongside Jared Waerea-Hargreaves and Daniel Suluka-Fifita. Hooker Jake Friend suffered a concussion early in the second half against Manly and has been replaced by Freddy Lussick. Bench playmaker Adam Keighran (dislocated wrist) is sidelined with Drew Hutchison taking his spot.
Sharks v Raiders, Sunday 6.15pm at Netstrata Jubilee Stadium
Sharks:
Centre Jesse Ramien took the early guilty plea for a reckless high tackle on Dragon Matt Dufty and will miss three games. With Cronulla's centre depth already tested by the injury to back-up Jackson Ferris (broken foot) coach John Morris has gone with Mawene Hiroti as Ramien's replacement.
The rest of the 17 remains the same with Andrew Fifita still on the outside looking in from the reserves. Forwards Royce Hunt (knee) and Siosifa Talakai (shoulder) must wait at least another week to return from injury.
Raiders: Coach Ricky Stuart has stuck with the same 17 after the staff elected against bringing back co-captain Jarrod Croker, giving rookie Sebastian Kris at least another week in the line-up. Croker's shoulder is fine after off-season surgery, but Stuart is focused on the centre getting more conditioning under his belt. Rising star rake Tom Starling remains stuck behind Josh Hodgson and Siliva Havili in the reserves.
 
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Great8

Brownlow Medallist
Apr 19, 2015
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Sensational ball handling in those conditions and a cracking game. What more can I say about Sivo than has already been said. That final try was simply stunning
 

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Great8

Brownlow Medallist
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Titans are bottom 4 material so I just don’t see where the Broncos will get more than a win or 2 from
 

moto748

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I think the Titans are a fair bit better than that, Holbrook's star continues to rise. But still, the Broncs are a team of kids. And plenty of them are pretty talented. But the NRL is an unforgiving place.

I just wanted to say, a couple of things that have struck me this season: teams getting pinged for inside the 10 (I realise it's six again now) seems a relative rarity these days. Has the increased speed of the game meant defences have polished up their act, or are refs being less strict? (Which by the way brings me to a slight bugbear with the otherwise very good TV coverage; I often think, if the camera just zoomed out a little, we'd be able to see the defensive line, and whether they stayed onside, but usually we cannot). And the other thing was, what happened to the one-on-one ball steals? I only recall one, and ironically that was against Canberra.
 
First set and the Dragons stuff up- Cowboys take full advantage and score. Looks a verrrrrrrrrryyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy long year for the red v in 2021!
I went a bit early....:grimacing:
Not a high quality match but fun to watch especially [from my perspective] with an unexpected Dragons win
 

moto748

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Pleased to see DCE's disgraceful milking penalised. More of this sort of thing! That assist from Luai in those conditions was just ridiculous.
 

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