Round 2 of the 2024 NRL season has been run and won, with some incredibly entertaining football being played in front of sell-out crowds.
Read on as we take a look back over the weekend at some of the biggest hits and misses.
HIT
Papenhuyzen sensational as Warriors lose the almost unlosable
After trailing 18-6 at halftime, the New Zealand Warriors fought back brilliantly in the second half, scoring three tries and a couple of penalty goals to take an eight-point lead with just eight minutes remaining. They had done all the hard work and were set to celebrate the end of a 14-game drought against the Storm, when painfully, it all unravelled.
Roger Tuivasa-Sheck showed a bit of a rugby hangover by messing up a play-the-ball in Storm territory. In the next set of six the Storm worked their way downfield where a Ryan Papenhuyzen chip kick to the corner on the last tackle saw Marcelo Montoya driven back into the in-goal area. The Warriors launched an uncharacteristic long drop-out into Storm territory and set themselves to defend with five minutes remaining.
The Storm worked their way into attack again and this time on the last tackle, Papenhuyzen grubbered into the opposite corner where Dallin Watene-Zelezniak dived on the ball.
There were three minutes left as the Storm worked their way back into the Warriors 20 metres after another long goal-line drop-out. As the tackles and time continued to run out, a Jahrome Hughes pass to Eliesa Katoa was caught and shovelled back inside to a flying Papenhuyzen who cut through for a try which, when converted, put the Storm within two points, down 26-24.
There were only two minutes left and the Warriors still had a two-point lead. They simply had to hold on in defence, but the Storm made several incisive runs following the restart, to be back on the attack again.
On the last tackle an attempted two-point field goal by Jonah Pezet was charged down. The Storm had six more tackles with under a minute remaining. They eventually spread the ball to the left and with fifteen seconds on the clock Xavier Coates launched himself from four metres out as Watene-Zelezniak hit him near the corner. As Coates came back down to earth, his right hand somehow managed to plant the ball in the in-goal area just before his left hand touched the turf.
It was a spectacular end to a riveting game, one the Storm simply would not have won without the exploits of Ryan Papenhuyzen.
MISS
Head clashes should be the responsibility of the defender
The NRL should move to adopt rugby union's approach to head clashes in tackles whereby the tackler is held responsible for any contact and is punished accordingly. In the opening hit up from the kick off on Friday night, the Bulldogs, who are already light on middle forwards, lost prop Poasa Faamausili after he was knocked out cold.
Faamausili charged into a three-man Sharks tackle where Cameron McInnes' head slammed into his cheek bone. He was attended to and as he regained consciousness a large contusion, the size of an egg, blew up on his cheek. He was taken from the field and ruled out of the rest of the game. McInnes passed his on-field assessment and there wasn't so much as a free kick. In rugby union McInnes would have been shown a yellow card, which would likely be upgraded to a red once the severity of the collision was assessed.
We saw a similar, if less damaging, head clash between the Storm's Tui Kamikamica and the Warriors' Tohu Harris which led to Harris being forced from the field for a HIA with blood dripping from his ear.
These incidental head clashes happen a lot in what is a brutal contact sport, but if the NRL are serious about the long-term welfare of its players then they need to put the onus on the defender to make sure his head is nowhere near the head of his opponent when the collision occurs.
HIT
Moses parts the defence with magic moves
Front-row forwards don't often score tries, certainly not of the quality of the one Moses Leota scored against the Eels midway through the first half of the Battle of the West on Friday night.
With the Panthers keeping the ball alive on the right, some 40 metres out, an inside pass found its way to Nathan Cleary who quickly drew a defender and delivered to Leota who was running off his hip like a five-eighth. Leota took the ball, deftly stepped off his right to beat the first tackler before straightening off the left and sprinting for the line. He outpaced all of the Eels chasers, including fullback Clint Gutherson, who only managed to catch up with him as he crashed over for the try.
The conversion took the Panthers to a 12-6 lead, which the Eels were able to run down before the break.
MISS
Gagai makes awful rookie error
There are not too many more experienced nor accomplished centres in the game than Newcastle Knights' Dane Gagai. Gagai has played 269 first grade games, represented Queensland on 22 occasions and Australia seven times and yet in the heat of the battle against the Cowboys he made an astounding move.
With 23 minutes remaining and the Knights leading 20-10, Gagai picked the ball up from dummy-half, a metre out from his own tryline and a metre inside the touchline. Instead of heading infield on his run out of trouble, he inexplicably chose the blind side for a dash. Then, when the inevitable three-man Cowboys tackle threatened to put him into a corporate box, he threw a blind hook pass over his head and into the in-goal area.
Fortunately the Knights were able to clean up the mess, but were forced to give the ball back to the Cowboys, who managed to power their way back into the game to level the scores and force golden point extra time. The home side were then able to kick a field goal for an unlikely victory.
HIT
Officials not falling for Harry's antics
We saw a couple of incidents involving Storm captain Harry Grant which were properly and sensibly adjudicated by the referee and bunker.
Early in the second half of the Storm's victory over the Warriors, a messy play-the-ball saw the referee rule a Grant knock-on near halfway. Grant immediately challenged and replays showed that as he put the ball down it came in contact with Bunty Afoa's boot, before squirting away.
The video referee dissected the player perfectly, noting that Grant had moved forward as he went to put the ball on the ground. Afoa was backing away from the ruck and the contact was all Grant's doing. Challenge unsuccessful.
Later in the game Grant picked the ball up from dummy-half a fired a pass directly into a Warriors defender who was minding his on business after rolling out of the ruck. The rules were changed a few years back to stop dummy halves from doing exactly that, and Grant was penalised accordingly.
MISS
A night JMK might not remember
Dolphins hooker Jeremy Marshall-King (JMK) nearly lost his head when trying to put pressure on a Ben Hunt clearing kick up at Redcliffe. Hunt could not have hit the Steeden more sweetly, more powerfully, nor more accurately into the side of JMK's head.
JMK reeled around with a stunned grin on his face, slumping into the arms of an equally amazed and concerned Hunt. The ball went 20 metres in the opposite direction to where Hunt intended and JMK had to leave the field for a HIA.
Thankfully he returned for the second half and played a key role in the Dolphins' emphatic victory.
HIT
Sea Eagles and Roosters put on a show worthy of Vegas
Fans of other clubs might not particularly like either of them, but the Sea Eagles and Roosters both play a very entertaining brand of football. On the back of showcasing rugby league to the world in Las Vegas, the Roosters and Sea Eagles came together at a packed 4Pines Stadium, Brookvale on Sunday afternoon.
Both teams have plenty of power up the middle and on the edges, and neither hesitate to make the ball sing, spreading it through their swift-footed and sure-handed backs at every opportunity.
One passage of play particularly summed up the Roosters' penchant for attacking open football. Awarded a centre field scrum ten metres out from their own line midway through the first half, they swept the ball quickly to the right, to find Dominic Young out wide. The speedster tip-toed along the touchline before kicking ahead to avoid being bundled out of play. Unfortunately, the play broke down as Young regathered and tried to pass inside.
The Sea Eagles were reading from the same script, with Daly Cherry-Evan and Luke Brooks sweeping the ball left and right, for plenty of bright attacking football. If you prefer the big hitting defensive plays of rugby league, there were plenty of those as well. With fatigue setting in and the refereeing finding his whistle during the break, the second half was less flowing, but overall it was a great demonstration of how entertaining rugby league can be when two top sides throw the ball around.