Round 21 blast from the past – Round 21 of 2005, when the Wests Tigers smoked Cronulla 46-6 at Shark Park in the Channel 9 Sunday game, the masterpiece being Benji Marshall setting up one of the tries of the decade by running through 7 defenders, firing a no-look cutout pass to Pat Richards, leading to Daniel Fitzhenry’s try.

What a didn’t realise until years later that Benji’s steps were so brilliant that one of the Sharks defenders (Reece Williams in the No.11) just fell over in slow motion, unable to cope with the speed.

On to Round 21, the last full round of Try July 2025, and the latest news on the coaching front is that Kevin Walters has been appointed coach of Australia, and it continues the odd cycle of Queenslanders, because Kevvie succeeded Mal Meninga in the Queensland job when Mal went to coach Australia in 2016, and now Kevvie’s suceeding Mal as the coach of Australia.

Next thing you know Kevvie will succeed Mal as the coach of the Perth Bears in 6 years.

There were some epic games last week, as the Bulldogs scored in the last minute to defeat the old rival Red V, then Manly pulled off the huge upset of Melbourne at AAMI Park thanks to Harry Grant taking out Luke Brooks’ legs during a field goal attempt, which was at least the third time Grant has been caught running into a kicker’s legs, having done so to Jack Cogger in Newcastle, and in 2024 (Round 10) he was sin binned against Cronulla for making contact with the leg of Daniel Atkinson.

When you give a cheap 2-point attempt away to Reuben Garrick, you best start running.

And just when it looked like the Warriors were shot in Newcastle, having seen Tanah Boyd miss a penalty goal from directly in front, followed by a charged down 2-point field goal attempt by Boyd, second rower Leka Halasima gathered the ball on the rebound and somehow ran 40 metres through 4 defenders to score the game-winning try after the siren, in one of the great plays of the year.

The great event of the week is Des Hasler’s 500th game as a coach, which is a small mercy to accept after this disaster of a season, the latest moment being losing in the last minute to Wests and going on a nuclear tirade in the rooms when several Titans players went to the showers before the post-game meeting… still, with 2 premierships and 3 other Grand Final appearances, Des joins the exclusive 500 club, which features Wayne Bennett (956), Tim Sheens (693), Brian Smith (601), Craig Bellamy (594) and Ricky Stuart (534).

Although, it appears the longevity has caught up to Des, based on this quote to the SMH:

“I’m very fortunate with rugby league, I started in 1980, it’s been 47 years, it’s been wonderful. It’s about the people.”

Last time I checked, 1980 was 45 years ago, and if you include this year, it’s 46 seasons.

Now, on to Round 21:

– The Sydney Roosters host the Melbourne Storm at Allianz, the first time the teams have played since the Preliminary Final which is rather bizzare scheduling, as Xavier Coates plays his 100th game, in a fixture the Storm have absolutely dominated since 2020 with 11 out of 12 wins… the only Roosters win was at the end of 2022 when they won at AAMI Park and helped torpedo the Storm out of the Top 4.

– Friday night is exclusively in Queensland as the North Queensland Cowboys host St George-Illawarra, with both teams pretty well shot in 2025, and this matchup is heavily in favour of the Cows, having won the last 5 games against the Red V, who themselves have a terrible record in Queensland, with 3 wins from their last 15 visits north of Tweed Heads.

– The Broncos host Parramatta at Suncorp in the Friday night Channel 9 game, a huge fortnight for the Broncos because they’ve got the lowly Eels and Rabbitohs in their quest for a Top 4 spot, and we could see some decent milestones coming up tomorrow… Josh Addo-Carr is 1 try short of joining the 150 try club, and Adam Reynolds (The 2nd greatest pointscorer ever) is 14 points off joining the 2500 point club, which only features Cameron Smith on 2786.

– The New Zealand Warriors host the Titans in Auckland in Des Hasler’s 500th coaching appearance against the team he defeated with Manly in the 2011 Grand Final, and my interesting stat is that the Warriors are 1 defeat away from 400 defeats in First Grade (If you want a comparison for the 1995 expansion teams the Cowboys are on 426), and the Titans have a genuinely good record against the Wahs, having won 5 out of the last 6 including both games against them in 2024 (The last being 66-6) and Hasler’s all-time record against them is 23-9.

– Penrith host the Wests Tigers at Commbank, having last played each other only 7 weeks ago, and this week Nathan Cleary and Isaah Yeo are back in to the starting 13 with Liam Martin named in the reserves, and fun fact, the Wests Tigers’ team named for Saturday contains 4 Penrith premiership players (Luai, Koroisau, Turuva & Staines), and another ex-Panther in Taylan May.

– South Sydney host Cronulla on the Central Coast, as the Sharks season was revived with that crunch win against the Roosters, while Souths are still only just floating above the wooden spoon with an injury toll to rival a French battalion at Verdun, as Alex Johnston is now only 5 tries away from equalling Ken Irvine on 212, and here’s another fun stat, if Souths do lose then Wayne Bennett would equal his longest First Grade career losing streak of 8 games, which he achieved twice with the Brisbane Broncos (Round 22 of 2005 to Round 1 of 2006, and Round 20 of 2003 to the Qualifying Final of 2003).

– Ladder leaders Canberra host the lowly Newcastle in the nation’s capital on Sunday afternoon, and this is another funny rivalry because in the last 5 games the home team has won only once – The Raiders won in Newcastle in Round 17, the Knights won in Canberra in Round 18 last year, matching up the Raiders winning in Newcastle in Round 1, the outlier is that the Knights won the Elimination Final in Extra Time in Newcastle in 2023, after defeating the Raiders in Canberra in 2023.

– The feature Sunday afternoon game has Canterbury hosting Manly at Allianz, two teams coming off last gasp wins, and there’s another huge potential milestone on offer because Canterbury in their 90th anniversary season, are 1 win shy of 1000 wins in First Grade, which would have them join the foundation Roosters and Souths in the 1000 club… a current record of 999 wins, 53 draws and 928 defeats, good for 3rd all-time…

Funnily enough, Manly, despite having a 12-year handicap, are only 12 wins behind Canterbury on the all-time list, thanks to holding an all-time winning percentage of 57.48% versus the Berries on 51.79%.

And now for the Round 21 tips, and you’d have to think the Dolphins would be back into the Top 8 without playing a game this weekend:

Round 20 score = 7/8

Progressive Score = 90/148 (60.8%)

And for no particular reason, here’s Ozzy Osbourne with a tribute to the Bulldogs…. BARK AT THE MOON: