2024 NRL: Round 27 Recap and Key Stats

Check out what happened in round 27 of the National Rugby League competition.

Final Scores

STORM 50 d BRONCOS 12
EELS 60 d TIGERS 26
ROOSTERS 36 d RABBITOHS 28
RAIDERS 26 d DRAGONS 24
COWBOYS 44 d BULLDOGS 6
PANTHERS 18 d TITANS 12
SHARKS 40 d SEA EAGLES 20
KNIGHTS 14 d DOLPHINS 6

Current Ladder

Melbourne Storm (Position: 1) 44 pts (243), Penrith Panthers (Position: 2) 40 pts (186), Sydney Roosters (Position: 3) 38 pts (275), Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks (Position: 4) 38 pts (222), North Queensland Cowboys (Position: 5) 36 pts (89), Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs (Position: 6) 34 pts (96), Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles (Position: 7) 33 pts (113), Newcastle Knights (Position: 8) 30 pts (-40), Dolphins (Position: 9) 28 pts (-1), Canberra Raiders (Position: 10) 30 pts (-127), St George-Illawarra Dragons (Position: 11) 28 pts (-126), Brisbane Broncos (Position: 12) 26 pts (-70), New Zealand Warriors (Position: 13) 25 pts (-62), Gold Coast Titans (Position: 14) 22 pts (-168), Parramatta Eels (Position: 15) 20 pts (-155), South Sydney Rabbitohs (Position: 16) 20 pts (-188), Wests Tigers (Position: 17) 18 pts (-287).

Review

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Melbourne, Penrith, the Sydney Roosters, and Cronulla-Sutherland finished the 2024 regular season in the top four and have earnt the vital double chance in the finals. North Queensland, Canterbury-Bankstown, Manly Warringah, and Newcastle rounded out the top eight.

In the first week of the finals, Penrith hosts the Roosters (BlueBet Stadium) Friday night, Melbourne hosts Cronulla (AAMI Park) Saturday afternoon, North Queensland hosts Newcastle (Queensland Country Bank Stadium) Saturday night, and Canterbury-Bankstown hosts Manly Warringah (Accor Stadium) Sunday afternoon.

Melbourne – with their big names returning – were ruthless against Brisbane at Suncorp Stadium. The Storm led 22-0 after 25 minutes and went on from there. Will Warbrick and Jahrome Hughes both scored hat-tricks while Nick Meaney kicked seven goals from nine attempts. It’s the Storm’s 16th win over Brisbane in their last 17 games.

Penrith have secured a top top finish (for the fifth straight season) after beating the Gold Coast at BlueBet Stadium, though the Titans pushed Penrith all the way. A brilliant Jayden Campbell try (a 40 metre run after scooping up a loose ball) gave them a 6-4 half-time lead, before tries to Dylan Edwards and Luke Garner gave the “Chocolate Soldiers” (playing in their heritage brown and white jerseys) a 16-6 lead.

The Sydney Roosters gave themselves a chance of a top two finish after beating South Sydney at Accor Stadium. Fetalaiga Pauga scored a hat-trick and James Tedesco scored a double. Former Wallaby Mark Nawaqanitawase scored a try on his NRL debut. He played in Australia’s Sevens team at the Paris Olympic before his cross-code switch. It was 10-10 before a try to Pauga just before half-time broke the game open. Jye Gray scored a double for Souths, while Tom Burgess scored a try in his final NRL game and kicked the conversion. Damien Cook, in his final game for the Rabbitohs, kicked two goals.

While Cronulla were guaranteed a top four finish, they made sure of it with their seven-tries-to-four victory over Manly at 4 Pines Park. It was a costly loss for the Sea Eagles: they would have earnt a home elimination final (against Canterbury-Bankstown) with a win. Ronaldo Mulitalo and Briton Nikora scored doubles as Cronulla built on a 16-8 half-time lead. Nicholas Hynes kicked six goals from seven.

North Queensland locked in a home elimination final after belting Canterbury at Accor Stadium. The pro-Bulldogs crowd didn’t phase the Cowboys as they scored seven tries. Kyle Feldt and Murray Taulagi both scored doubles, while Valentine Holmes scored 20 points (a try and eight goals) – he finished as the leading pointscorer (246) for the regular season.

Newcastle finished eighth after beating The Dolphins at McDonald Jones Stadium. While Canberra fans were hoping for a draw, Newcastle put that unlikely scenario to bed with tries to Adam Elliott and Brodie Jones. While The Dolphins missed the finals, they showed enough improvement to stay in the race until the last round.

Canberra finished the season with three straight wins after beating St George Illawarra at Netstrata Jubilee Stadium. The Dragons led 18-0 after 15 minutes and 24-10 at half-time (tries to Tom Eisenhuth, Jacob Liddle, Jaydn Su’A, and Lyhkan King-Togia). Albert Hopoate, Hudson Young, and Corey Horsburgh scored as Canberra won the second half 16-0. The win gave Canberra the smallest chance to finish eighth – if the Newcastle vs Dolphins game finished in a draw.

Parramatta has won the “Spoon Bowl” at Campbelltown Sports Stadium. The Eels avoided their 15th wooden spoon by scoring 11 tries: doubles to Clinton Gutherson, Will Penisini, and Maika Sivo. Wests led 10-6 after 15 minutes (tries to Josh Feledy and Junior Tupou), but Parramatta dominated from there, leading 48-16 after 66 minutes. It’s a hat-trick of wooden spoons for the Tigers, joining Newcastle (2015-17) and the Gold Coast Seagulls (1991-93) as the most recent triple spooners.

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Players Making Their NRL Debut

Tony Sukkar (Tigers) vs Eels, September 6 (20 years, 3 months, 12 days)
Mark Nawaqanitawase (Roosters) vs Rabbitohs, September 6 (23 years, 11 months, 26 days)
Delaselle Vaa (Roosters) vs Rabbitohs, September 6 (19 years, 21 days)
Savelio Tamale (Dragons) vs Raiders, September 7
Jonathan Sua (Bulldogs) vs Cowboy, September 7
Eli Clark (Bulldogs) vs Cowboys, September 7
Arama Hau (Titans) vs Panthers, September 7

Key Stats

• The 86 points scored in the Parramatta Eels 60-26 win over the Wests Tigers at Campbelltown was the equal highest since when the Parramatta Eels beat Brisbane Broncos 52-34 (August 24, 2017).
• Clint Gutherson scored his 100th career try playing for the Parramatta Eels against the Wests Tigers.
• Kyle Feldt scored his 150th NRL career try playing for the North Queensland Cowboys against the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs

Upcoming Milestones

• 500 NRL points: Corey Oates (484 career points), Jamal Fogarty (462).
• 1000 NRL points: Zac Lomax (831), Nick Meaney (792), Alex Johnston (780).
• 50 NRL tries: David Fifita (49 career tries), Marcelo Montoya (49), Zac Lomax (49), Luke Keary (48), Murray Taulagi (48), Kurt Mann (47).
• 100 NRL tries: Cody Walker (99).
• 150 NRL tries: Josh Addo-Carr (140), James Tedesco (135).
• 200 NRL tries: Alex Johnston (195), Kyle Feldt (150).