NRL NRL 2021 Season - Round 3

[balmainforever]

Thursday 25th March
Penrith vs Melbourne (BlueBet Stadium - 20:05)

Friday 26th March
St.George-Illawarra vs Manly-Warringah (WIN Stadium - 18:00)
South Sydney vs Sydney Roosters (Stadium Australia - 20:05)

Saturday 27th March
Canberra vs New Zealand (GIO Stadium - 15:00)
Brisbane vs Canterbury-Bankstown (Suncorp Stadium - 17:30)
Parramatta vs Cronulla-Sutherland (Bankwest Stadium - 19:35)

Sunday 28th March
Newcastle vs Wests Tigers (McDonald Jones Stadium - 16:05)
North Queensland vs Gold Coast (Queensland Country Bank Stadium - 18:15)

 

[balmainforever]

NRL Round 3 squad announcements

Official team lists, updates and injury news for the third round of the 2021 Telstra Premiership season.

www.nrl.com

Panthers: Ivan Cleary has named the same 17 that took care of the Bulldogs last week but co-captain Nathan Cleary will be monitored for any latent concussion symptoms in the coming days before a final decision is made on his availability.
Api Koroisau (broken wrist) is expected to miss at least another five weeks. Mitch Kenny took Koroisau's place against the Bulldogs and punched out 80 minutes for the 2020 minor premiers.
Storm: Tom Eisenhuth comes into the starting side for suspended back-rower Felise Kaufusi. Two new faces on the bench with Aaron Pene and Nicho Hynes named to play their first game for the season.
Tyson Smoothy has been dropped to the reserves list after coming off the bench in the first two games.

Dragons: With two points under their belt and no injury worries, Anthony Griffin has the luxury of naming the same 17 which performed so well in Townsville.
The only occupant of the Red V injury ward is halfback Jayden Sullivan. who is at least a week away with a hamstring injury.
Sea Eagles: Josh Schuster has been named to replace veteran back-rower Andrew Davey, who suffered a season-ending ruptured ACL in the loss to South Sydney. The new face on the bench is Morgan Boyle.
Manly's back-row stocks are low with Curtis Sironen (knee, round six) and Haumole Olakau'atu (elbow, indefinite) also unavailable for selection.
Bench utility Cade Cust has entered the concussion protocol and will be hoping to be cleared in time to take his place on Friday night.
Superstar custodian Tom Trbojevic is nearing a return but is expected to miss at least one more week so the Dylan Walker experiment at fullback is set to continue.

Rabbitohs: Veteran winger Josh Mansour has been recalled to the starting side to replace Jaxson Paulo, who has suffered two concussions in recent weeks and will be rested.
Halfback Adam Reynolds also entered concussion protocols after the Manly game but has been named to play against the Roosters.
Middle forward Liam Knight resumed contact training last week after his own bout of concussion but was left out of the Manly game and is not expected back until round four.
Roosters: Back-rower Victor Radley has been named on the interchange bench for his first game since round seven last year.
Radley has recovered from a knee reconstruction and served his two-game suspension for breaking the game's code of conduct in an incident in Byron Bay in December.
Angus Crichton returns from a one-match suspension for a crusher tackle.
The return of Radley and Crichton pushes Drew Hutchison and Fletcher Baker out of the side.
Hooker and captain Jake Friend (concussion) is expected to be missing again this week while his understudy Sam Verrills (knee) is still a couple of weeks away from making his return from ACL surgery.
Young play-maker Sam Walker has again been named in the 21-man squad and will be hoping that this is the week he makes his NRL debut.

Raiders: A big boost for the Green Machine with co-captain Jarrod Croker named to play his first game of the year after recovering from off-season shoulder surgery.
Youngster Sebastian Kris, who was impressive in the centres in the opening two rounds, has been named among the reserves.
Warriors: Sean O'Sullivan comes into the side at halfback to replace Chanel Harris-Tavita, who will spend up to 12 weeks on the sideline after scans revealed a stress fracture in his left foot.
O'Sullivan played one game in his debut season at the Roosers in 2018 and eight games across 2019-20 at the Broncos.
Bunty Afoa will start at prop in place of the suspended Jamayne Taunua-Brown and Jack Murchie returns from a pectoral injury on the bench.
Back-rower Bayley Sironen had his arm in a sling after the loss to Newcastle but Warriors officials said the strapping was purely precautionary and he has been named to play.
Kane Evans is nearing a return after playing 41 minutes for Redcliffe in the Queensland Cup on the weekend. He has been named among the reserves and coach Nathan Brown

22

Nathan Brown

Age

35

Ht

196cm

Wt

99kg

Pos.

Def

Career

Season

Last 5

D

8.8

2star

K

3.9

2star

HB

4.9

4star

M

2.7

3star

T

1.8

4star

No current season stats available

D

6.4

2star

K

3.2

2star

HB

3.2

3star

M

1.8

2star

T

2.8

5star

said he is one to four weeks away from playing NRL.

Broncos: Kevin Walters has backed his players to turn things around despite the fact Brisbane's record-breaking losing streak has hit 13.
Brodie Croft and Anthony Milford, who was found out defensively last week, retain their spots in the halves with Tom Dearden lurking in reserves.
Forward leader Payne Haas will return from suspension next round while prop Matthew Lodge (hamstring) is at least a week or two away.
Bulldogs: Back-rower Raymond Faitala-Mariner (broken foot) has been lost for up to 20 weeks with Corey Waddell moving from the interchange into the starting line-up and Joe Stimson from the reserves last week to the bench.
Winger Tuipulotu Katoa will play his second NRL game as the replacement for suspended Dallin Watene-Zelezniak.
Hooker Sione Katoa changes places with Jeremy Marshall-King who made his comeback from injury last week via the bench.

Eels: In the only change to the Parramatta 17, Ryan Matterson (concussion) will not play after his heavy head knock in the impressive win over Melbourne.
Matterson is replaced in the starting back row by impressive off-season recruit Isaiah Papali'i. That brings Ray Stone, who makes his NRL return from a knee injury, on to the bench.
The Eels will be without centre Waqa Blake for at least a month after he suffered a calf injury at training last week while Bryce Cartwright (broken jaw) and Michael Oldfield (knee) are scheduled to return between rounds four and six.
Sharks: Utility Connor Tracey steps up from the interchange to replace centre Marwene Hiroti, who was subbed out for Tracey just after half-time in the loss to Canberra.
Hiroti, who stepped in for the suspended Jesse Ramien in round two, slips all the way to the reserves with Teig Wilton promoted to take Tracey's place on the interchange.
It will be at least a month before we see Royce Hunt (knee) and Siosifa Talakai (shoulder) who have had their returns delayed after initially being expected back early in the season.
Ramien will return from suspension in round five while star half Shaun Johnson is due back in round seven or eight from an Achilles injury.

Knights: Five-eighth Kurt Mann (knee) makes a swift return after his late withdrawal from the side to play the Warriors.
His replacement Phoenix Crossland was suspended for a crusher tackle so uncapped playmaker Nathanael Sasagi has been named in the reserves.
Newcastle's injury ward will begin to empty over the coming weeks with Edrick Lee (foot) expected back next week, Kalyn Ponga (shoulder) in round four or five, and veteran play-maker Blake Green (knee) somewhere between rounds five and eight.
Wests Tigers: Joey Leilua has paid the price for an abject defensive display, making way for James Roberts (shoulder), who was a late withdrawal ahead of the loss to the Roosters.
Zane Musgrave returns from suspension to a place in the front row with off-season recruit Joe Ofahengaue dropping back to the bench and Michael Chee Kam joining Joey Leilua in the reserves.
Hooker Billy Walters (knee) and back-rower Shawn Blore (wrist) will not be back before round six at the earliest.

Cowboys: Murray Taulagi comes in on the wing for suspended veteran Kyle Feldt, who copped a two-week ban for his tackle on Dragons centre Jack Bird.
Todd Payten elected to stick with Reuben Cotter at No.13 as forward leader Jason Taumalolo's (broken hand) replacement despite a spirited challenge from veteran Josh McGuire.
Valentine Holmes did his cause for a switch to fullback no harm with a enterprising game, highlighted by a try under the posts which he created with a clever grubber kick, but he remains on the wing.
Kane Bradley (shoulder) and Tom Gilbert (broken fibula) are expected back in the coming weeks.
Titans: Coach Justin Holbrook has been forced to make one change to his squad with a hand injury set to sideline five-eighth Ash Taylor for at least a few weeks. Tanah Boyd will make his second start at No.6 in Taylor's place.
Phillip Sami continues deputising in the centres with Brian Kelly (fractured hand) scheduled to return in round five.

 

[balmainforever]

Panthers announce BlueBet Stadium name change | NRL.com

Penrith Panthers is delighted to announce BlueBet has signed a two-year deal as the club's stadium naming rights partner.

www.nrl.com

 

[juss]

Now that's a better round.
A bit of a tipsters nightmare this one as I reckon I could mount a reasonable case for each team.

 

[Jatz]

Should be beating the Tigers.

Got the Dragons at home next week as well. Be great to start 4-0

 

[AmericanAFL]

Couple of enormous matchups this week. Can’t wait.

 

[Fabab]

Cleary and papenhuizen both out apparently.

 

[Aucklander]

Cleary and papenhuizen both out apparently.

Yep. Evens it up a bit, but Penrith still look good value.

 

[Fabab]

Yep. Evens it up a bit, but Penrith still look good value.

I agree mate,good punting.

 

[juss]

I reckon the Panthers are a gun FB short of a premiership

 

[balmainforever]

I reckon the Panthers are a gun FB short of a premiership

Crichton should be Full back in my opinion.

 

[balmainforever]

Wish this was the sort of game we had for the GF last year.

 

[peternorth]

Lol Bromwich just lost em the game

 

[Santana]

* Storm lost at the very end

 

[balmainforever]

Kikau flat on the ground gets up and stops the match winner.

 

[charcoalchicken]

Haha what a finish

 

[juss]

Wild finish, inches from a different result.

 

[nobbyiscool]

Loved that finish tonight, especially when you're barracking against the Storm.

 

[damicky]

That was very frustrating

Terrible grubber kick that no Storm player could pick up leads to a try

Two penalties not called in the last set ... then Olam gets held up over the line

 

[moto748]

Cracking contest. Yeo is a machine.

 

[Aucklander]

Match Highlights: Panthers v Storm

The Panthers host the Storm during Round 3 of the 2021 NRL Telstra Premiership

www.nrl.com

 

[Angus Young]

Good game...

Storm ****ed it

Why weren't storm awarded a penalty after short kick off? Penrith were offside...no?

 

[Gigantic]

Ripper game tonight. Souths vs Easts is my favourite fixture of the season.

 

[Aucklander]

Ripper game tonight. Souths vs Easts is my favourite fixture of the season.

A really interesting match up. I went with the Roosters, but completely unsure.

 

[Aucklander]

Not often I agree with Blocker, but make a decision and get on with it.