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Sports correspondent & historian with |
The big Queensland sporting news, in print and on the box last week, was the NRL Magic round held at Suncorp Stadium over the weekend.
All the 2024 NRL teams, bar the St George Illawarra Dragons who drew the weekend bye, gathered in Brisbane to go in to combat at the Queensland Capital City sports ground.
Mondays Courier Mail sports headlines screamed, Wahs Upset Premiers, as the New Zealand Warriors beat defending champions Penrith, in the big surprise of eight games at Suncorp.
A crowd estimated at upwards of 150,000 plus packed into Suncorp Stadium. The festival of Rugby League kicked of on Thursday night with the NRL Women's State of Origin, with a record of 25,000 fans, for a women's League game.
New South Wales upset the apple cart with a 22-12 victory over Queensland. The partisan home crowd were stunned when the visitors dotted the ball down for two tries in the opening ten minutes.
Sky Blues winger, Jaime Chapman, etched her name into Origin folklore with a stunning individual effort. With a goose step and a powerful surge, she split the Maroons defence apart and galloped eighty metres to score under the posts.
The Canberra Raiders opened proceedings with a a 24-20 win over the Canterbury Bulldogs, in the early game on Friday evening. Home town heroes in the Brisbane Broncos thrilled their supporters in the other Friday game - with the Knights, Sharks, Cowboys, Warriors, Storm and Dolphins going on to taste success.
A despised $4.50 underdog at the TAB, the Warriors faced a major hurdle against the Penrith Panthers to reclaim their season that was slipping away after early promise.
It was a less than magical start for the Warriors, who were severely punished for an error off the first kick, with the Panthers scoring of a ball kicked into touch on the full.
A Penrith sin bin then afforded the Warriors a second try to put them in front. They held a advantage to end of the encounter. A penalty awarded to the Panthers, in the dying minute of the game sailed outside the posts, to give a extremely relieved Warriors a 22-20 victory.
After eleven rounds, the Kiwi NRL representatives are at the crossroads in their bid to make the eight-team playoffs.
While they sit in thirteenth place on the standings they are just three points adrift of the current top eight.
It is worth casting back in time to the halfway stage of last seasons title race. The Warriors, and the Dolphins who are my other team that I follow with a passion, were locked together on the cusp of the top eight.
The end of the regular season saw the New Zealand side book a home semi-final while the Queensland team won just a further two matches.
This weekend's clash with the Dolphins in Auckland, who sit in fourth spot, could define the Warriors season.
A win would propel the Warriors onward and upwards while a loss would likely consign them to the battle to avoid the dreaded wooden spoon.
Go the Wahs.
