'Afternoon footy is still the best'

Great atmosphere ... the Souths-Bulldogs clash lit up Friday afternoon. Source: RENEE MCKAY / AAP

One of the more bizarre tries of the year, a contentious rule, an unheralded Storm hero and a moment of madness. It's all in round four's Set of Six.

First Tackle

Thursday night footy? It’s on. You will watch it. It’s just what you do.

But it should kick-off at 6:30pm.

Have the two-hour broadcast and head straight into The Footy Show.

And when I run everything, so shall it be.

Thursday night? At Bluetongue it wasn't the most fabulous fixture.

Quite rainy. There were a bunch of funny "obstructions". A melee in the middle was broken up instantly when Tim Moltzen took off with the ball and the heads of the players all looked up like startled meerkats.

Prop Brenton Lawrence didn't pass to Brett Stewart. In the second-half, Lawrence drew in the entire Tigers defence and slipped a pass for Wolfman to score. Then Wolfman scored again, finishing as good wingers do.

And then this happened: Benji Marshall took the ball on his halfway, dished to Liam Fulton who rolled a grubber into Manly’s in-goal. Brett Stewart got to the ball first. He flung a wild ball inside that hit the deck. Daley Cherry-Evans got to the ball on his try-line with the Tigers (attackers? defenders?) storming. Cherry-Evans toed the ball into play. It came to Adam Blair who toed it to Jacob Miller out wider, like Lucas Neill passing to Tim Cahill. Miller couldn't pick up the skidding ball. Cherry-Evans could. And Cherry-Evans ran 80 metres to score.

Second Tackle

Obstruction? Seems the decoy runner can’t run forward of the advantage line. Or if they do they must effectively disappear, or sidestep among the defenders, making sure they don’t touch one of them, lest they bump into one who waves his hands in the air indicating he has been obstructed.

Has he been obstructed? Perhaps. But if it would not affect whether a try would be scored, should the try still be awarded? One would suggest that yes, yes it should.

Video refereeing was always going to open a can of worms. This is one of the worms.

Third Tackle

Melbourne Storm’s Big Three receive justified plaudits, for they are superstars.

But Ryan Hoffman’s work off the ball - and on it - is a big reason for Storm’s super attack.

Hoffman runs nice, hard lines, and always looks like he’s going to get the ball. He doesn't run "decoys" as some other forwards do. He runs as if he’s going to receive the ball – which he often does because Cooper Cronk can see he’s the man for the job.

The Broncos came back strongly on Friday night and exposed the Storm’s right-side defence a little, Jack Reed and Josh Hoffman running hard and scoring tries.

But that’s rugby league. Good teams can do that. And if Storm stays intact across State of Origin, whoever wants the trophy has to beat them. The testing material.

Fourth Tackle

Night-time gets more viewers. But afternoon footy is the best footy.

Even a slug-fest like the Bulldogs-Souths clash at ANZ, a hard and fast affair that didn't rain tries and in which completions were king, was compelling.

Look at Souths' try in the 55th minute. From a play-the-ball Isaac Luke sent it right to Greg Inglis. Inglis passed it back across the ruck to John Sutton. The in-form five-eighth dummied inside and passed back to Adam Reynolds who sent a perfect bunt kick over the sucked-in defence for Nathan Merritt to catch and score. A set move carried off with alacrity.

Merritt? Merritt knows the way to the try-line as salmon know their way back to the spawning grounds.

You probably get more game from the Morris twins. And Jarryd Hayne is Jarryd Hayne. But you’d love to see Merritt in blue.

Fifth Tackle

While the obstruction rule has been tinkered with, and players are coming to grips with what’s a shoulder charge and what isn't, that you can’t lift a player in the tackle and plonk him on his head has been around since 1967.

And yet there was Krisnan Inu, lifting Greg Inglis and placing him in a spear-tackle position and plonking him upon his head. What was Inu thinking? Not a hell of a lot, one might surmise.

Last Tackle

Konrad Hurrell, you do exist! And you remain in my fantasy team. Nathan Merritt? Carry on. Albert Kelly? Same. Robbie Farah? A points machine – even, while spending long minutes on the bench. Clint Newton? I like you Clint, always have, but you are David Gonski. The rest of you? You are not lighting up the night skies of New York. But you have my faith – for now.

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