Round 14

CANBERRA RAIDERS	GAME 1	MELBOURNE STORM
26	Friday, 4th of June 1999	6
Tries	Referee : Brian Grant	Tries
D Schrader 2	Venue : Bruce Stadium	A Laing
A McFadden	Crowd : 11,804
L Vainikolo	Half Time : 12-2 Canberra
Goals		Goals
L Williamson 5/6		B Kimmorley 1/2
COMMENTS : Canberra are having a strange season. Hot and cold week after week, making it damn hard to pick them! This was one week that they were definitely hot though with a very sweet win over the fancied Storm. Mullins and the Macs stood out, and there is now talk that Daley may be moved to Lock to keep the halves combination which has been so successful when Lozza has been out. Meanwhile, the Storm have fallen to their 2nd straight loss and will have to start regrouping to figure out what's gone wrong. From what I've seen they are having defensive problems and will have to sort them out before the Knights game next week.

BRISBANE BRONCOS	GAME 2	PENRITH PANTHERS
28	Saturday, 5th of June 1999	0
Tries	Referee : Steven Clark	Tries
S Renouf 2	Venue : ANZ Stadium
M Hancock	Crowd : 9,790
S Berrigan	Half Time : 24-0 Brisbane
P Ryan
Goals		Goals
B Walker 4/5
COMMENTS : The Panthers have lost 4 of their last 5 games and are looking to have fallen from grace. Only their 2 byes are keeping them in the top 8 and they will have to remember how to score points against Auckland next week. Brisbane in the meantime are surging back into finals contention. They have strung together two big wins both times not letting the opposition score a point. They will be hard to stop if they can get their confidence on a roll. The Broncos were the standouts with Civoniceva, Thorn and Gee having big games, while Lockyer was solid at the back.

THE SHARKS	GAME 3	NORTH QUEENSLAND COWBOYS
22	Saturday, 5th of June 1999	8
Tries	Referee : Bill Harrigan	Tries
R Richardson 2	Venue : Dairy Farmers Stadium	K Tassell
A Ettingshausen	Crowd : 16,372	B Jellick
S Ryan	Half Time : 10-4 North Queensland
Goals		Goals
B Stanley 2/4		?
M Healey 1/2
COMMENTS : The Sharks bounced back in this game with a comfortable and well-played win over the wooden spoon bound Cowboys. The Sharks looked like a top class team again after their loss last week to the Knights. Richardson was their best with 2 tries and dangerous running. Healey played well until he limped off in the second half. Not much to report on the Cowboys. They can draw the crowds, but it's a pity they can't match most other teams in the comp.

MANLY SEA-EAGLES	GAME 4	SYDNEY CITY ROOSTERS
36	Sunday, 6th of June 1999	14
Tries	Referee : Sean Hampstead	Tries
A Frew 2	Venue : Brookvale Oval	R Barnett
A Torrens	Crowd : 7,694	J Elsegood
G Mackay	Half Time : 30-4 Manly	J Bailey
D Gartner
A Peters
Goals		Goals
A Brown 6/6		A Walker 1/3
COMMENTS : The shock of the round! Manly, who have been languishing in the bottom half of the ladder for the majority of the season pulled out their finger and played a beautifully constructed game to knock over the Origin-less Roosters. The statistic that comes out of this is amazing. The Roosters have only ever won ONE game out of TEN when Brad Fittler hasn't been playing. This is a very telling stat that the Roosters will have to work on. To be fair however the Roosters were also without Lam, Sing and Fletcher. To be even fairer, Manly were without Toovey, Hill and Kosef. It's a strange old game, because now manly are saying they can make the playoffs! They played well did the Sea-Eagles, but it will take a lot more than a determined Sunday afternoon to makeup for their season.

CANTERBURY BULLDOGS	GAME 5	SOUTH SYDNEY RABBITOHS
19	Sunday, 6th of June 1999	18
Tries	Referee : Paul Simpkins	Tries
S Hughes	Venue : Stadium Australia	J Loomans 2
R Silva	Crowd : 16,156	W Patten
S Martenee	Half Time : 12-8 South Sydney
Goals		Goals
D Halligan 3/4		J O'Neill 3/3
R Stuart 1 Field Goal
COMMENTS : An exciting game this one! Souths were looking to upset the '98 runners-up for the second time this year as they were leading 18-12 after 71 minutes. But once again the Bulldogs pulled a rabbit out of their hat (excuse the pun) to somehow pull off a one point victory. Rod Silva dived over for a 4 pointer in the 72nd minutes, Halligan converted it, and then it was up to field goals. Brasher missed a field goal for the Rabbits when they were up by 6. It was Ricky Stuart however, who kicked a 42 metre low field goal that skidded off the the cross bar and over for the one point buffer and the ball game. It was a very impressive kick and he lead up to this with an interesting play. On a 20 metre tap, Ricky decided to kick for touch instead off tapping off. The rules state that if you kick a ball into touch off a 20m tap (not on the full), the kicking team gets the scrum feed. I had never heard of this before yesterday, but apparently Ricky had been practicing it for the past 3 weeks. The ensuing scrum lead to Sliva's try and the rest is history.

WESTERN SUBURBS MAGPIES	GAME 6	BALMAIN TIGERS
18	Sunday, 6th of June 1999	12
Tries	Referee : Paul McBlane	Tries
B Davis	Venue : Campbelltown Sports Ground	J Carlaw
B Hodgson	Crowd : 15,605	C Morcombe
Kevin McGuiness	Half Time : 6-6
Goals		Goals
L Dynevor 2/3		S Nevin 2/4
D Doharty 1/1
COMMENTS : Wests finally played in their new stadium in front of over 15,000 and they didn't go home disappointed. Wests scored their 3rd win for the season with a gutsty and determined win over the Tiring Tigers. The Tigers had a promising start to the season, but have now lost 5 in a row and look to have lost their way. Wests on the other hand are looking to avoid the spoon in what is certain to be their last year as a stand alone club. Brett Hodgson and Harvey Howard were the best for the Maggies, while Shane Walker was the Tigers best.