2024 NRL: Round 9 Recap and Key Stats

Check out what happened in round 9 of the National Rugby League competition.

Final Scores

PANTHERS 42 d RABBITOHS 12
RAIDERS 26 d SEA EAGLES 24
ROOSTERS 40 d BRONCOS 18
BULLDOGS 22 d TIGERS 14
STORM 22 d TITANS 20
DOLPHINS 28 d COWBOYS 26
KNIGHTS 14 d WARRIORS 8
SHARKS 20 d DRAGONS 10

Current Ladder

Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 16 pts (109),  Melbourne Storm 16 pts (56),  Penrith Panthers 14 pts (66),  Dolphins 12 pts (51),  Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles 11 pts (37),  Sydney Roosters 10 pts (95),  Brisbane Broncos 10 pts (42),  Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs 10 pts (25),  Canberra Raiders 10 pts (-14),  North Queensland Cowboys 8 pts (-16),  Newcastle Knights 8 pts (-19),  Parramatta Eels 8 pts (-55),  St George-Illawarra Dragons 8 pts (-70),  New Zealand Warriors 7 pts (11),  Wests Tigers 6 pts (-63),  Gold Coast Titans 4 pts (-89),  South Sydney Rabbitohs 4 pts (-166).

Review

Cronulla-Sutherland, Melbourne, Penrith, and the Dolphins are in the top four at the end of round 9.

The Sharks overcame the wet conditions to beat St George Illawarra at PointsBet Stadium. A Mikaele Ravalawa double gave the Dragons a 10-6 half-time lead, but it was all Cronulla from there: Nicho Hynes kicked four goals from four attempts.

Melbourne celebrated Cameron Munster’s 200th game with a controversial win over the Gold Coast at CBUS Super Stadium. The Storm led 22-20 with 90 seconds left when the Bunker ruled that Jojo Fifita had illegally stripped Nick Meaney. But Fifita was attempting to tackle Meaney, who appeared to drop the ball because of a loose carry. Though the win was overshadowed with an ankle injury to Ryan Papenhuyzen. After missing most of last season with injury, ‘Paps’ is likely to be out for four to six weeks.

Penrith had a comfortable win over South Sydney at Accor Stadium. With interim coach Ben Hornby stepping in for the sacked Jason Demetriou, the ‘new coach bounce’ seemed to work early for the Rabbitohs, leading 12-0 after 10 minutes. But it was all Penrith from there, despite missing Nathan Cleary. The Rabbitohs fell away in the second half, which Penrith exploited when Dylan Edwards ran out a 20 metre tap and linked with Taylan May, who raced 75 metres untouched to score.

The Dolphins had a high-scoring win against North Queensland at Queensland Country Bank Stadium. Jamayne Isaako scored a hat-trick and kicked four goals. Isaako’s extra goal was the difference as – following a late try to North Queensland’s Jeremiah Nanai (his second) – Valentine Holmes missed the sideline conversion to try and send the game into golden point.

Less than a week after their humiliating loss to Cronulla, the Raiders pulled off an amazing comeback win against Manly Warringah at 4 Pines Park. Canberra looked set for another hiding, trailing 20-0 after 30 minutes and 24-6 early in the second half. But two tries in five minutes to returning captain Elliot Whitehead, followed by tries to Nick Cotric and Hudson Young, sealed the win. Kaeo Weeks had the ultimate ‘revenge game’ against his former club: scoring a try and three goals and kicking ahead for Cotric’s try, who tip-toed inside the sideline before scoring.

The Sydney Roosters belted Brisbane at Suncorp Stadium, with doubles to Angus Crichton and Terrell May. But there were bigger concerns for the Broncos, with likely long-term injuries to Adam Reynolds (bicep) and Jesse Arthars (broken jaw); Canterbury-Bankstown won a controversial clash against the Wests Tigers at Accor Stadium, as the Bulldogs came from 14-6 down at half-time. Both Aidan Sezer (hip drop) and Reed Mahoney (dangerous tackle) were lucky not to be sin-binned, while the Tigers were reduced to 11 men in the final minutes when David Klemmer and Alex Seyfarth were sin-binned; Newcastle beat the NZ Warriors in a wet clash at McDonald Jones Stadium. While the Knights outscored the Warriors two tries to one, the Warriors were unlucky not to score close to half-time. Dallin Watene-Zelezniak caught a bomb in the right corner, but dropped the ball as he was tackled in the air. Surprisingly it wasn’t a penalty try, as DWZ seemed certain to score if he wasn’t tackled.

Players Making Their NRL Debut

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Key Stats

• The Penrith Panthers have won eight of their last 10 matches at Accor Stadium.
• Luke Garner scored his 4th career double and his first since May 21, 2021 (Tigers vs Warriors, Gosford).
• Lindsay Smith scored his first NRL try.
• Canberra Raiders’ 14-point half-time deficit to win was the biggest half-time comeback to win in 2024 (previously Cowboys 12-point half-time deficit to beat the Knights by 1 on March 16).
• Elliott Whitehead scored his 3rd career double and his first since April 21, 2018 (Raiders vs Rabbitohs, Gosford).
• After only crossing the 30-point barrier four times in 2023 (their first 30-point score coming in round 21), the Roosters have scored 30 points or more on three occasions in their opening 9 matches of 2024.
• Angus Crichton scored his 5th career double and his first since August 20, 2022 (Roosters vs Tigers, Sydney Cricket Ground).
• Sam Walker reached 400 NRL career points.
• The Bulldogs have won three straight matches at Accor Stadium.
• The Wests Tigers have lost their 10th consecutive match at Accor Stadium. Their last win was with Ivan Cleary as coach when they beat the Rabbitohs 22-6 on July 21, 2018.
• Phillip Sami scored his first career try against the Melbourne Storm, his 54th career try and 25th at CBUS Super Stadium.
• Cameron Munster’s 200th game resulted in a try, adding to his tally which stands at 12 – the best against any NRL opponent.
• Both contests between the Cowboys and Titans at QLD Country Bank Stadium have resulted in 54 points being scored. In both games, Jamayne Isaako has scored 20 points (3 tries, 4 goals).
• Jeremiah Nanai scored his 5th career double and his first since March 10, 2023 (Cowboys vs Broncos, Suncorp Stadium).
• Newcastle have won their last four clashes against the New Zealand Warriors at McDonald Jones Stadium.
• Oregon Kaufusi scored his first try since September 9, 2022 (Eels vs Panthers, BlueBet Stadium)
• Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks have won their last eight games against St George-Illawarra Dragons – their last loss coming on June 14, 2020 by 30-16 at Campbelltown Sports Stadium.

Upcoming Milestones

• Jamayne Isaako needs 106 points for 1,000 NRL career points
• Jesse Ramien and Justin Olam are one away from 50 NRL career tries
• Nick Meaney is two tries from 50 NRL career tries
• Reimis Smith, Dylan Edwards, David Fifita and Dominic Young are three tries from 50 NRL career tries
• Valentine Holmes needs three tries for 100 NRL career tries
• Tom Trbojevic is six tries from 100 NRL career tries