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The second last week of the 2024 NRL season saw Nelson Asofa-Solomona suitably punished for knocking out a Rooster, a couple of absolute howlers from the match officials, and some brilliance from the game's premier halfbacks. Read on as we take a look back over some of the biggest hits and misses.
HITPunishment fits the crime for Big Nelson There has been a lot of noise over the punishment dished out to Nelson Asofa-Solomona for his high hit in the opening tackle of the Storm's preliminary final victory over the Roosters. Many are claiming that it was a virtually unavoidable accident and that ruling him out of the grand final is a ridiculous call. The Storm are challenging the four-week ban at the judiciary, hoping to have the charge downgraded. Let's look at it from another perspective. Guess who else won't be playing in the grand final next week? Lindsay Collins, the victim of Nelson's shoulder to the jaw. In fact, Collins didn't even get to play in the preliminary final because of the incident. Who knows what difference he might have made to the outcome of the game, had he not been knocked senseless in the opening tackle. The Roosters may even have won through to the grand final.  The shoulder to the head of the ball carrier has long been deemed illegal and in recent times with the long-term effects of concussion a growing concern, there has been a greater crackdown on such incidents. Everyone knows this, Nelson has certainly received enough fines to be well aware of this. Taking an opponent out early in a big game has to be discouraged in the strongest possible way, whether it was deliberately or carelessly. Big Nelson can sit in the coach's box next week and reconsider his approach to tackling.
MISSBunker apparently fails to view all angles How does the bunker review a diving try in the corner, and get the decision as wrong as they did for the try awarded to Sharks winger Sione Katoa in their preliminary final against the Panthers? On the end of a slick Sharks backline, Katoa outpaced the cover to put in a spectacular dive, switching the ball to his inside hand and slamming it down in the corner as his body headed for row 3 of the grandstand. On first impression it looked like he might have put it down on the touch-in-goal line, but the bunker quickly cleared the try. After Nicho Hynes missed the conversion from the sideline, we saw another replay angle which clearly showed the ball left Katoa's possession momentarily in the switch of hands, and was effectively dropped and planted by the inside hand. The bunker, which is supposed to have access to all the angles, had somehow missed it completely. Fortunately it had no real influence on the result of the game. 
HITCoates proves it really is a game of inches The Storm's second try came after a Roosters kick was caught on the full by Xavier Coates who cleverly had not much more than half a stud on the tryline chalk. It was brilliantly picked up by referee Grant Atkins and Coates raced to the 20 metre line for the tap restart and seven-tackle set. The Roosters were disorganised and lacked the urgency needed to reset their line. Coates looked up as he took the tap and noticed Ryan Papenhuyzen on the charge, ready to give him support. Coates reached the broken line and put his fullback through a yawning gap. Papenhuyzen took off downfield, but felt Dom Young hot on his tail, so passed it to his centre Jack Howarth. Young transferred his pursuit to Howarth and should have stopped him but fell off the tackle. Howarth crossed the line carrying Roosters fullback James Tedesco. It was quick thinking from Coates and a very sharp piece of refereeing.
MISSHorror second-half call ends Roosters' fightback hopes It may or may not have made a difference to the outcome of the game, but referee Grant Atkins made a terrible error in the second half, as the Roosters were in the middle of mounting a fightback. With the Roosters just 24-18 down and playing the more energetic football, Jahrome Hughes launched a last tackle bomb from just inside opposition territory. Roosters winger Daniel Tupou and opposite number Will Warbrick contested the ball on the 20 metre line, with Warbrick batting the ball back towards Roosters forward Angus Crichton and Storm bench player Alec MacDonald. The ball bounced up and Crichton attempted to bat it back towards his teammates, but MacDonald beat him to the ball and hit it into the hands of Eliesa Katoa who was in front of him in an offside position. Katoa took off and found Josh King in support, before King was brought to ground on the 10 metre line. He played the ball, meaning the bunker could no longer review the previous play, and Harry Grant fired a perfect pass to Hughes who crashed over for his third try. The conversion took the score to 30-18, crushing the Roosters' hopes of a miracle finish.
MISSEdwards almost gives away a try to prevent 40-20 Twelve minutes into the game with the Panthers leading 2-0, Sharks five-eighth Braydon Trindall hammered a low kick early in the tackle count hoping to pick up a 40-20. Panthers fullback Dylan Edwards sprinted back and across and just managed to bat it back infield as it crossed the sideline. The effort took him out of play with the ball dangerously live 25 metres out from the Panthers line. It became a footrace between Sharks winger Katoa and his Panthers opposite Sunia Turuva, who managed to dive on the ball first. He saved Edwards from what would have been a very embarrassing moment, giving the Sharks an early lead.
HITHughes continues red-hot run of form He is expected to win this year's Dally M Medal and Jahrome Hughes showed why with a brilliant display of halfback play against the Roosters. As usual Hughes was in everything all night, crossing for another hat-trick of tries as he controlled play and provided support to every break or half break. He'll need to continue his sparkling form next week when he goes head-to-head with Nathan Cleary. The forwards might win the big games, but it doesn't hurt to have a halfback of that calibre on your side.
MISSRudolf beaten, throws out a leg, could miss Vegas Toby Rudolf was wrong footed by Isaah Yeo and inexplicably stuck out his foot in a failed attempt to bring the Panthers captain down. Once regarded alongside biting as one of the lowest acts in the game, these days it barely raises an eyebrow. Rudolf was penalised and placed on report for the act that was always regarded as despicable and unacceptably dangerous. Yeo was thankfully uninjured and Rudolf continued his task of shoring up the middle against the relentless black jersey-ed reigning champions. He was later hit with a one-match ban which if accepted would rule him out of next season's opening round, which for the Sharks will be in Las Vegas.
MISSBring back the voluntary tackle rule now! We saw during the closing minutes of the Jersey Flegg grand final on Sunday two reasons why the voluntary tackle rule needs to be reinstated immediately. With the young Bulldogs clinging to a two-point lead and the Sharks well on the attack a heavy tackle saw the ball spilt and a scrum awarded to the Bulldogs. They packed down in the middle of the field, the Bulldogs halfback fed the scrum, picked it up, took two steps and fell to the turf, untouched. The bemused Sharks players placed their hands on him. He rose to play the ball and the dummy half did exactly the same thing, diving to the ground to tackle himself and prevent any attempt to steal the ball from his grasp. If the voluntary tackle rule was still enforced, it would have been a penalty right in front and the scores would have been levelled. Of course, if the rule was still in play, the Bulldogs players would have run the ball. The last thing rugby league needs is the ability to run down the clock by "taking a knee", in the excruciatingly boring way that so many NFL games finish. It was a horrible way to end what was a fantastic grand final.
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