Smiling assassins ... Chris Sandow and Parramatta Eels. Source: Renee McKay / AAP
In his new weekly column, Fox Sports expert and Canberra assistant coach Brett Kimmorley offers his thoughts and predictions for round one of the 2013 NRL Premiership season.
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Sydney Roosters v South Sydney Rabbitohs, Allianz Stadium
The opening 15 minutes was an aggressive period and gave us all an insight into the future of the Roosters under new coach Trent Robinson. South Sydney has picked up from where they left off last season and won the battle of the forwards which ultimately won the game. The Burgess Brothers and Roy Asotasi laid the platform for Adam Reynolds and Greg Inglis to carve the Roosters to pieces. Inglis set up two tries for Merritt with two of the best cut out passes I have seen in a long time. They like to play the right to left shift with Inglis chiming in around the back and that pet-play sealed the game.
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Brisbane Broncos v Manly Sea Eagles, Suncorp Stadium
The first 40 minutes of Friday's match showed Scott Prince and Peter Wallace are building a nice partnership but when the game needed to be aggressive and someone had to stand-up, it was Manly who took control. I thought the game was on the line around the 50 minute mark and Manly upped the tempo with Brent Kite leading the way, while Daly Cherry-Evans and Kieran Foran ran the football at Prince's edge testing the veteran's defence. Ultimately the halves were the difference. Being able to create something out of nothing and getting rewards, the Sea Eagles are only going to get stronger when Glenn Stewart and Jason King return to the side.
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Parramatta Eels vs Warriors, Parramatta Stadium
If you make Jarryd Hayne happy the rest of the team is probably going to be happy. This is a philosophy I believe Ricky Stuart will be working by this season. I can't recall the last the last time Hayne had such a big smile on his face. He genuinely looked as if he was enjoying himself and "The Plane" soared. The same can be said for Chris Sandow. Sandow looked relaxed Sandow and as if he has found the spark he was missing last year. Sandow showed maturity, calmness and clear direction while the Warriors finished the start of the season the same way they finished last year. The Eels exposed the Warriors weaknesses through the forwards and on the edges. It's something we will see a lot of in a Ricky Stuart game plan.
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Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs vs North Queensland Cowboys
The Bulldogs were always going to play a similar style to that of last season but without Ben Barba, Sam Kasiano, Frank Pritchard and James Graham they suffered. The absence of their ball-playing forwards hurt them while last season a chunk of their tries were long range plays involving Barba. Without him they lacked spark, although they put in a gutsy effort with plenty of their young players stepping up. For the Cowboys, the inclusion of English hooker Scott Moore only makes them more of a threat thanks to his running game. They have two outstanding Australian front rowers who eat up meters and showed just why the Cowboys are genuine contenders to win the competition.
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Penrith Panthers vs Canberra Raiders, Centrebet Stadium
This wasn't a pretty game of football. Penrith were the more aggressive and enthusiastic of the two sides while neither team managed to create any real beautiful passages of play. Luke Walsh was magic with the boot for the Panthers while Tim Grant and Sam McKendry offered a lot in terms of second-phase play. It was a disappointing afternoon all round for Canberra who trialled well in the pre-season but early errors on a hot day hurt them. The difference was that Penrith gelled as a team. Too much time spent defending their line ultimately cruelled them in what I believe will be a wake-up call for the club.
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Melbourne Storm vs St George Illawarra Dragons, AAMI Park
The differences in these two sides is the halves, hooker and fullback. The Dragons are lacking in this department as they trial new combinations. When they won the competition in 2010 they were defensively great. They are a great defensive unit but struggle to score points and that has been an issue for some time. The Storm is such a well drilled unit with class across the pitch. We haven't had back-to-back premiers in quite some time and they are already showing why it is going to be very hard for someone to take the trophy from them this season.
Cronulla Sharks vs Gold Coast Titans, Sharks Stadium
I must congratulate the Cronulla fans for the atmosphere and support they created and that probably rallied them home in the end despite a valiant fight back from the Titans. The Titans halves showed a lot of promise and will continue to grow while Dave Taylor and Greg Bird looked very sharp and showed signs that better days are ahead for them. The game was full of emotion. They threw some good football at each other with cross field kicks to the right hand edge, the scoring play for both sides. The game didn't present a whole lot of scoring opportunities but it did go end-to-end which made for entertaining viewing. Todd Carney had a tremendous game in a limited pre-season thanks to an achillies injury. The Sharks new signings were very strong as was Wade Graham. It goes to show the confidence Shane Flanagan instilled in these players over the pre-season held up despite being thrown a thousand distractions.
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