NRL Round 12 snapshot

* Quote of the Round

“We need to have a good hard look at ourselves, look in the mirror and see what we need to do, what we can for our teammates. We’re a team that can knock out a reasonable performance five days ago and we end up tossing up that.” – A straight-shooting Rabbitohs coach Michael Maguire doesn’t miss his team following their insipid loss to Parramatta on Friday night.

* Man of the Round

With his team down six points and 13 minutes left to play, Cronulla captain Paul Gallen denied Canterbury a line dropout with a retrieval of an in-goal grubber that resulted in a try three plays later. He also provided the 25-metre run in the lead-up to Chad Townsend’s game-winning field goal in the 78th minute of their thrilling one-point win over Canterbury on Saturday night.

* Stat that Matters

Despite having four stars away on State of Origin duty, Cronulla’s sellout crowd of 20,497 at Southern Cross Stadium on Saturday night was their biggest in half a decade. A halftime dance spectacular of over 2000 people also helped.

* Magic Moment

Ben Hunt’s audacious play-two kick for winger Jonus Pearson from inside his own 20-metre line that ended in a James Roberts try was one of the rare highlights for Brisbane in their 28-10 loss to the Warriors without their State of Origin players.

* Talking Point

How much of a toll will the State of Origin series have on the NRL competition? Top four sides Brisbane and the Sydney Roosters were left depleted without their Origin representatives and duly missed opportunities at consolidating their spots at the top of the table with losses to the Warriors and Canberra respectively. How different will the ladder look by the end of the series?

* Judiciary Watch

Eels – Suaia Matagi (tripping)

* Casualty Ward

Bulldogs – James Graham (neck)

* Under Pressure

South Sydney’s lacklustre loss to the Eels means they have now lost five of their past six to sit in 14th spot – their worst position at the halfway point of the season under coach Michael Maguire. Only two teams in the past decade have recovered to make the finals from 14th spot or lower halfway through the year.

Stay up to date with the latest sports news
Follow our social accounts to get exclusive content and all the latest sporting news!