NRL Round 25 Review: Tries Of The Season & Repeatable Raiders

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What's to come this week:

• Big Takeaway From the Week: Tries Of The Season

  • The Miracle In Mudgee

  • Nawaqanitawase Magic

  • Wests Tigers Winding Back The Clock

• Quick Play-the-Balls

  • Another-nitawase

  • Round 26 Teamlist Notes

• Setting Up For A Shot: Raiders Repeatable Action

• Try Time: This Is Eyes Up Footy

Big Takeaway From the Week: Tries Of The Season

Tackle one can make or break a set of six. First up here, we’re breaking down what makes for the biggest talking point of the week.

Rugby League is the greatest game of all.

Just as you picked your jaw up off the ground following one moment throughout Round 25, it was back on the ground.

NRL Digi asks for votes on a Try of the Round every week and was blessed with three bangers over the weekend. The Dally M Try of the Year voting could be its own Fox show in September¹ if we keep going like this:

The Miracle In Mudgee

The Canberra Raiders keep finding ways to win.

They can go through matches looking like the best team in the NRL before cracks start to show for periods and questions are asked about their premiership credentials. But when it matters most, Ricky Stuart’s side produces the goods.

We can argue whether or not it will hold up in the NRL Finals, or whether they should have even been in a position to win this game in Golden Point, but they were. And, once again, the Green Machine found the match-winner.

Things may have looked differently a month ago. With the increasing focus on players being tackled in the air, Liam Martin bailed out of the contest. One he may have attacked more aggresively before the crackdown. But as Jed Stuart landed with the ball and Penrith’s usually-excellent kick chase left the Raiders with space, they took it.

Strange caused havoc with his feet all night and beat Nathan Cleary all ends up, but he made disposing of Dylan Edwards look incredibly simple.

Few teams are better equipped to capitalise on a moment like this. Not only is pushing up around the ball embedded in Canberra’s philosophy, they have the speed to beat the opposition to it.

We all sent or recieved a ‘that’s the most Raiders way ever to beat the Panthers’ text following this one, but perhaps thats what you need to beat the four-time premiers?

We’ve seen others try to match Penrith at their own game in recent years, but Canberra offer something totally different and are never out of a game until the final whistle.

Nawaqanitawase Magic

Mark Nawaqanitawase is still searching for consistency at NRL level, but when you’re pulling off what he is with the ball in hand, Trent Robinson is happy for the former Wallaby to work things out on the field.

He attempts plays few others even think of and executes more often than not.

Where most wingers would look to take on the defence and race to the corner post in this scenario, Nawaqanitawase drags the defence to the sideline before firing an incredible pass, behind his back, to Robert Toia.

What would have been a contest in the corner between Nawaqanitawase and three scrambling defenders instead ended with Toia running over a single defender on the line.

Nawaqanitawase has played 21 first grade games…

We don’t normally know what a player is, or what they will become, until they’ve played closer to 100. It’s crazy to think what he will be dishing up by then.

Wests Tigers Winding Back The Clock

References to the Wests Tigers in 2005 are grossly overdone, but you couldn’t help but make the link as Benji Marshall stood on the sideline watching Taylan May execute on a flick pass in one of the best long-range tries of the NRL season.

While the Tigers haven’t been able to consistently score points through repetable actions this year, they’re always ready to pounce on an opportunity.

It would be easy to take the tackle and be happy to have turned the Cowboys away on their own line before winding out the half here. But the Tigers think differently.

A one-handed offload lands in the hands of a flying Jarome Luai who doesn’t miss a beat. Outside him, Taylan May keeps pushing to find himself with half of the field to work with.

May’s flick pass is a beauty but, again, it’s only as good as the support.

The Cowboys should have done better here. Scott Drinkwater and John Bateman had their chance to stop the play with Sunia Turuva. Instead, he skips through the line and beats two more before finding Jahream Bula off his hip.

Perhaps the only thing more Tigers than a long-range try featuring a flick pass at a packed out Leichhardt Oval is them blowing a late lead…

But it’s a try that will live on forever, and it captures the Tigers under Benji. Most notably, a desperation we’ve not always seen in teams of the recent past.

Quick Play-the-Balls

We’re generating momentum through the middle of the article with a couple of quick carries.

Another-nitawase

How impressive is Mark Nawaqanitawase with the ball that this isn’t even his best try assist of the night…

Round 26 Teamlist Notes

We’re into the pointy end of the NRL season when teamlists throw up some unexpected names. So, with an already late review dropping on Tuesday, I’ve pushed it out to get a few notes down on the upcoming round.

Panthers Rest Everyone: It won’t make sense to some people, but the Panthers are playing it safest by resting players for this week rather than the next. It’s time off the field that matters, and the large group sitting out for this one will feel better for it in September. They’ll not go into Week 1 of the finals without a game for two weeks, either.

Siulagi Tuimalatu-Brown & Will Warbrick: Tuimalatu-Brown has played only one NRL match but has been doing some impressive things in reserve grade. He’s a big body with speed to burn and an acrobatic finisher. Meanwhile, Warbrick is named in the reserves but could make his first appearance since Round 4. Getting two games in before finals would give Craig Bellamy’s outside backs a huge boost.

Out - Savage; In - Tamale: Ricky Stuart would want both available, but Savalio Tamale has timed his run perfectly here. The barnstorming winger is straight in for Xavier Savage who is out for the season. Notably, Stuart is taking a different approach to resting his best, if he decides to rest them at all.

Adam Reynolds: He’s named on the bench for this one. I don’t imagine they will take any risks bringing him back. One game before the finals should be enough for the veteran half to get back into the swing of things.

Carter Gordon: Des Hasler knows he won’t be there in 2026. Why not throw Carter Gordon into the mix from the reserves list?

Setting Up For A Shot: Raiders Repeatable Action

Teams play to points with the following tackle in mind. Here, I’m touching on something to watch next week as we try to keep ahead of things happening on the field.

Shout out to Jack Cronin for bringing this to my attention.

The Canberra Raiders are finding ways to use Ethan Strange as a runner wherever they can, and have worked on a sweeping play to get him involved on the right side.

They ran it against the Dragons with the game on the line, but the backrower faded into the wrong hole - the same hole Strange wanted to skip through - leading to a simple obstruction call and defeat on the day.

Not to be detered, needing points in the balance of the game in Round 25, the Raiders went back to it.

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