2024 NRL: Round 6 Recap and Key Stats

Check out what happened in round 6 of the National Rugby League competition.

For further round 6 statistics, head to thegurgler.com

Final Scores

ROOSTERS 22 d KNIGHTS 20
STORM 16 d BULLDOGS 14
BRONCOS 28 d DOLPHINS 14
WARRIORS 22 drew SEA EAGLES 22 (Golden Point)
EELS 27 d COWBOYS 20
SHARKS 34 d RABBITOHS 22
DRAGONS 24 d TIGERS 12
RAIDERS 21 d TITANS 20 (Golden Point)

Current Ladder

Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 10 pts (23), Melbourne Storm 10 pts (14), Canberra Raiders 8 pts (48), North Queensland Cowboys 8 pts (28), Dolphins 8 pts (25), Penrith Panthers 8 pts (14), New Zealand Warriors 7 pts (38), Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles 7 pts (21), Sydney Roosters 6 pts (37), Brisbane Broncos 6 pts (16), Parramatta Eels 6 pts (-13), Wests Tigers 6 pts (-15), St George-Illawarra Dragons 6 pts (-36), Newcastle Knights 4 pts (-5), Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs 4 pts (-7), Gold Coast Titans 2 pts (-86), South Sydney Rabbitohs 2 pts (-102).

Review

Cronulla-Sutherland and Melbourne are joint ladder-leaders after six rounds.

Cronulla saw off a tenacious South Sydney at Homebush. With all the media noise about coach Jason Demetriou’s future, the Rabbitohs would have been forgiven for being distracted. But they fought hard until the final minutes. Ronaldo Mulitalo scored a double as the Sharks led 22-6 after 50 minutes, but the injury riddled Rabbitohs kept fighting: tries to Taane Milne, Thomas Burgess, and Isaiah Tass cutting the margin to 28-22. A late try to Blayke Brailey sealed the win for Cronulla.

Melbourne won a tight clash at AAMI Park. The Storm led 10-0 at half-time, but a Josh Addo-Carr hat-trick gave the Bulldogs a 14-10 lead. Shawn Blore scored the match-sealing try with six minutes left. It was 12-on-12 at one point in the second half as Samuel Hughes and Ryan Papenhuyzen were sin binned within two minutes of each other.

The Warriors and Manly played the first draw of 2024, with the points split at Mt Smart Stadium. Daly Cherry-Evans scored a double as Manly led 16-0 after 27 minutes and 22-10 after 44 minutes: Dallin Watene-Zelezniak’s second try in the 79th minute – and a penalty goal to Shaun Johnson – tied the scores. And they couldn’t be separated after the 10-minute Golden Point period.

Canberra won the weekend’s second Golden Point thriller at Bruce Stadium. A James Schiller double gave Canberra a 20-10 with 10 minutes left; that should have been enough against the winless Titans. But two tries to Alofiana Khan-Pereira (and brilliant sideline conversion from Brian Kelly) took the game to Golden Point. There were two pivotal Golden Point moments: in the 86th minute the Raiders blocked a Kieran Foran field goal attempt (after an AJ Brimson break), then with a minute left an Ethan Strange break set up Jamal Fogarty for the match-winning field goal.

The Sydney Roosters beat Newcastle at McDonald Jones Stadium; Brisbane comfortably won the XXXX Derby at Lang Park (two tries to Selwyn Cobbo and a try and four goals to Reece Walsh); Parramatta bounced back from the Canberra thrashing to beat North Queensland at CommBank Stadium; the Dragons spoilt the Tigers’ return to Campbelltown with a comfortable win.

Players Making Their NRL Debut

• Bailey Hayward (Bulldogs) vs Storm, April 12 (23 years, 7 days old)
• Lachlan Hubner (Dolphins) vs Broncos, April 12 (24 years, 100 days old)
• Jye Gray (Rabbitohs) vs Sharks, April 13 (20 years, 40 days old)
• Chevy Stewart (Raiders) vs Titans, April 14 (18 years, 284 days old)

Key Stats

• Newcastle Knights are now 1,785 days since beating the Roosters at home after going down by two points on Thursday night. The Roosters have now won 8 out of their last 10 at McDonald Jones Stadium.
• Josh Addo-Carr scored his 9th career hat-trick and the first against his former club, the Melbourne Storm. He’s now scored 31 tries at AAMI Park.
• Brisbane have won their past five games at Suncorp Stadium scoring an average 32 points per game, while conceding 11 points per game (21 point game average margin)
• The 22-all draw between New Zealand Warriors and Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles was the first draw in 378 days (previous drawn game 32-all, Sea Eagles vs Knights at Glen Willow Oval in Mudgee)
• Teig Wilton completed his first career double in Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks’ victory over South Sydney Rabbitohs at Accor Stadium.
• Parramatta Eels have now won their last four games against North Queensland Cowboys at CommBank Stadium. The Cowboys last won on June 8, 2015 at CommBank Stadium over the Eels by 36-30.
• Wests Tigers have now lost nine games straight at Campbelltown Stadium with their last win coming on June 20, 2020 when they beat North Queensland Cowboys 36-20.
• It’s been seven years since a golden point game was decided at GIO Stadium (previously July 14, 2017 when the Raiders beat the Dragons 18-14). Canberra have won four of their last five golden point games at home.

Upcoming Milestones

• Justin Olam needs 1 try for 50 NRL career tries.
• Jesse Ramien and Nick Meaney need 2 tries for 50 NRL career tries.
• Valentine Holmes is 5 tries away from 100 career tries.