“How can one mob get a tax exemption over everybody in the competition?

“I’ll tell you what really p’s me about it is, that we’ve had clubs lose competitions, we’ve had clubs lose points over salary cap breaches.

“That’s how strictly they (NRL) value the salary cap and it’s what has given us the game we’ve got today because each club has the same amount of money to spend.

“And all of a sudden you’ve got a team that has a different salary cap.

“It’s just not right.

“I’ve said it before and I’ll keep saying it: It’s just not right. It’s not fair.’’

There isn't a lot to cover on the Sydney Roosters thrashing of the North Queensland Cowboys.

Anybody following the game from an analytical perspective stopped tacking notes after halftime. Todd Payten himself said they wouldn't even review it.

What else is there to add beyond what Payten already did in the press conference?

"As coach of this club, it's one of our darkest days if not the darkest day. I'd like to apologize to our members and fans that turned up here today and those that watch it at home. It's just not good enough."

Reuben Cotter added his own take:

"Embarrassing. It's the most embarrassing game I've ever been a part of I reckon. We just didn't we didn't turn up physically and we were loose all across the park."

It's a Cowboys performance so bad that it's difficult to take anything away for the Roosters. We will learn more about Trent Robinson's side next week against the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs.

Crazy, crazy numbers from the Roosters in the first 40 minutes:

The Cowboys simply can't keep up in the ruck. Their markers are rarely square and the line is struggling to get set. The Tommy Talau try is a prime example with four players within touching distance of the play-the-ball leaving four players defending half of the field.

Roosters are too quick over the advantage line to be anything other than top-shelf in defence.

Round 21 proved to be a brutal one for injuries, so I'm looking over the teamlists for Round 22 with an eye on the replacements. There are a few reshuffles worth noting, too.

Tommy Talau is back for the Sydney Roosters, playing only his third first grade game of the year. I’ve not caught a lot of Roosters in reserve grade recently, but I’ll be looking at how he carries in yardage after failing to crack 100m in his last two. He has big shoes to fill in place of Daniel Tupou (shoulder). As expected, Mr. Fix It, Hugo Savala, is in for the ill Billy Smith. Savala is going to make a long NRL career out of this sort of role.

Hayden Watson is expected to make his NRL debut off the bench, with Trent Toelau named to start in place of Harry Grant (hamstring). Watson is a half, but does have some form playing out of dummy half.

While unlikely, we might see Tyran Wishart move into cover hooker and Watson play his minutes in the halves. I’d imagine the Bulldogs will have Watson circled in defence wherever he lines up. Elsewhere for the Storm, Manaia Waitere replaces Jack Howarth. He's not been able to secure a spot as a regular first grader quite like I expected, but Waitere ability in attack will shine through at some point.

Jaxen Egar remains at fullback for the Panthers while Dylan Edwards nurses a shoulder injury. Edgar was solid in his first NRL start, even if he did look small returning the ball. He’s not out of the side due to injury, but Blaize Talagi is making way for Jack Cogger. Talagi is taking the brunt of the struggling defensive showing from the left edge in recent weeks. Per Stats Insider, the Panthers left edge has conceded 40% of their tries this season.

The Knights suffered a horror injury toll last week, but are boosted by the return of Kalyn Ponga. He allows Sandon Smith to slide straight into halfback for Dylan Brown (ACL) and Fletcher Sharpe to five-eighth. Brown has exceeded expectations as a #7 for the Knights. He played with a lot more poise than pre-season commentators gave him credit. Smith will struggle to replicate Brown’s influence like-for-like, so expect the Knights to throw a few different looks at the defence this week. Ponga's total touches will be something to refelct on after the game. Meanwhile, Jermaine McEwen is fit in time to fill the gap left by Dylan Lucas (ankle).

The Tigers have triggered another reshuffle after a wild week. Adam Doueihi is back in the halves alongside Jarome Luai as Javon Andrews drops out of the 19 entirely. I, for one, agreed with Benji Marshall and moving Doueihi to lock. It wouldn’t have been to debut Andrews, who, particularly in defence, didn’t appear ready for first grade.

Fittingly, just after I mentioned Jason Ryles speaking about the Parramatta Eels' focus on yardage metres, Rugby League Eye Test has come up with the goods.

It's not great reading for the blue and gold, though...

The Rugby League Eye TestRun meters over expected (RMOE) update after Round 21 - The Rugby League Eye TestWith just five rounds to go in the 2026 season I thought I’d use this week to check in on my Expected Run Metres metric and see which teams and players are performing the best (or worst). I’d first looked at this after six rounds, and again to a smaller extent in my mid-season advanced statistical leaders post. It’s not been another eight rounds since then and a great time to check who is making the most out of their running metres. For the uninitiated, this site’s expected run metres model works like this. It takes the starting position of...

Gold Coast Titans dynamo Jayden Campbell faked his weight to prove he was ready for an NRL debut.

A lot has been made about the impact of Sean O'Sullivan playing as a traditional 7 and straightening up the Bulldogs attack in their win over the Tigers last week but I wanted to get your thoughts on the impact of less passing from Jaeman Salmon. I thought it was noticeable that he ran the ball a lot more and that was borne out in the numbers. In his first 9 games of the season at lock (before being switched to the edge to cover injuries) he had an average passes to run ratio of 1.25 (i.e. he was passing around 55% of the time he received the ball). Although he was named as a backrower against the Tigers he was back to playing purely in the middle but only threw 10 passes from 34 receipts. Do you think this is something that will continue or do you expect he'll go back to more of a ball-playing role with Crichton replacing O'Sullivan in the halves, resulting in more responsibility for Galvin who is a less natural first-receiver?

That's a ripper try from the Cowboys - one they'd have planned during the week.

They've identified the Dolphins edge not getting up off the line if the ball goes away from them. While also sending Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow the wrong way, Tom Dearden found a lane in the rushing and disjointed Dolphins right edge to kick through.

Brilliant.

Josh Hannay is leaving his fingerprints on this Titans side. Historically, they’ve been entertainers, but rarely for full games let alone full seasons. With a 28-14 lead at the break following a classic Titans half of footy in which they conceded and scored in bunches, Hannay wasn’t impressed.

Hannay's halftime address spoke to their defence, the need for improvement, and demanding more out of the arm wrestle.

He didn't get the response he wanted...

His response after the match in the sheds showed him with hands on his heads, thumbs pressed into the bridge of his nose, no doubt considering the 32 points they conceded.

Still, as the game progressed, the Titans ran harder and scrambled faster than their opposition. There aren’t a lot of matches where that is the key takeaway for the Gold Coast side.

Just how the Titans drew it up...

Two into the middle off a tap start, Zane Harrison steps up with Tino Fa'asuamaleaui inside three (as he was for the early try on the right side) to shrink the defence and create the three-v-two on the edge.

Good footy.

The Manly Warringah Sea Eagles are relatively accustomed to playing without Tom Trbojevic, but it's unlikely to be a coincidence that they started to fall away when he limped off the field with another hamstring injury.

Credit to the Gold Coast Titans, though. They're are lights out in attack, playing with 59% possession and turning it into points. They aren't always scoring through the most repeatable actions; the buildup to Jojo Fifita's try is something I'd like to see again. Still, their effort off the ball and willingness to push in support, as seen on the last play as AJ Brimson scored, is allowing them to win the little moments.

Really nice play from the Titans there.

Joey Walsh is one of the best young attacking prospects in the comptition, but he's slight and not the strongest defender in the front line.

Titans did well to send Tino Fa'asualameaui straight at him, probably not for the last time this afternoon.

And that scrum try right there is almost a lock for Try of the Week.

Foran is so often cooking something depending on the opposition. There aren't many he'd now better from a personel perspective than the Gold Coast Titans, and he drew up a banger.

Really good game so far. Good arm wrestle and a lot of ball and play; it's flowed well.

The Sharks are clearly targeting the Knights' middle, dropping players back under, looking for the cues in the line. It's a more patient display from the Sharks attack than we sometimes see.

Knights are doing what they do best and attack playing from the middle of the field, targeting the space around the three-man and taking the cues they're given. For both Kayln Ponga's try and Dylan Lucas' to finish, they created a triangle either side of the half to produce points.