While you never want to see any player suffer injury in any game, you’re entitled to question (especially given Cronk’s theory) if that was karma that just came back to bite the Broncos on the bum.

It sure puts things in perspective just how quickly a team’s fortunes can change when luck turns against them.

While Mam and Selwyn Cobbo are expected to miss the rest of the season with hamstring injuries, Adam Reynolds will be racing the clock to make it back for the finals.

When Cobbo came up with that cracking try-saving effort on Xavier Coates on Thursday night, I was thinking this might finally be the game where the Broncos put to bed the Melbourne Storm hoodoo that had haunted them for years.

But when Mam and Reynolds left the field within seconds, the Broncos’ premiership hopes may well have gone with them.

I’m not saying the Broncos can’t come back and do some damage in the weeks ahead.

Ben Hunt and Billy Walters still make a handy halves combination, if that’s the way Michael Maguire goes to replace Reynolds and Mam, while they still have a gun pack of forwards and some seriously talented outside backs.

But let’s not kid ourselves.

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If the Broncos are going to make a run for the title from here, they need Walsh to step up and take his game to the next level.

As we mentioned here last week, it’s no use being the superstar against the battlers if you can’t back it up against the competition heavyweights.

While Walsh turned on a blinder against the Bunnies, he was well contained by the Storm, having 11 runs for 73m that didn’t include a try, a line break, a try assist or even a line break assist.

Walsh has been rocks and diamonds for weeks now and he needs to find more consistency, starting with when he goes head-to-head with Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow on Saturday.

While the Dolphins were awful in their 64-12 capitulation against the Roosters, you can bet they will be up for this one as they take on their nearest rival in their own fight to stay alive in the top eight race.

IS NATHAN CLEARY A KOALA BEAR?

Maybe it’s time the NRL started issuing playmakers with their own koala suits.

Either that, or we cut back on this ridiculous over-protection of kickers.

The two dubious penalties awarded to Nathan Cleary in the Panthers’ thumping 48-12 win over the Knights were just a joke.

In one instance the Knights defender actually got to Cleary before he’d even kicked the ball, and there was only minor contact.

We all know what a champion player Cleary is.

So surely he doesn’t need the refs treating him like he’s a protected species to give him an added advantage.

Andrew Johns spoke about this exact topic in his weekly Sydney Morning Herald column just last month.

Johns wrote: “For years, I’ve been a loud voice when it comes to protecting playmakers in the NRL.

“Now I think we’ve gone too far. In 2025, halfbacks can now play the game wearing a koala suit – they’ve officially become a protected species.”

We can only hope the NRL listen to respected judges like Johns on this one.

While it didn’t make a difference to the result in this game, you’d hate to see one of these penalties decide a big game in the coming weeks.

ARE ROOSTERS HATCHING A DCE GET-OUT?

Sam Walker’s magic show in the Roosters’ big win over the Dolphins has only raised more questions about the pending arrival of Daly Cherry-Evans.

We already know it’s just crazy that the Roosters are even considering signing an ageing playmaker who will be 37 when he arrives next year, especially when they have the most talented young halfback in the game who is still only 23.

Which is why it would not shock me one bit to see the Roosters hatch a plan to get out of the DCE deal given the contract is not yet registered with the NRL.

Buzz Rothfield even floated an idea on Triple M over the weekend that DCE could be offered a job on Trent Robinson’s coaching staff for the next three years as a way to meet the club’s financial agreement, but not have the wage included on their NRL salary cap.

While Buzz never indicated the idea came from the Roosters, it’s no secret Buzz is extremely tight with Nick Politis.

Call me a cynic but it made me think a sneaky curve ball might be just around the corner.

Throw in the fact the Roosters also have another gifted 23-year-old playing five-eighth in Hugo Savala (and a couple of more young guns in Toby Rodwell and Jake Elliott waiting in the wings).

To think Ethan Strange was also a former Rooster let go because he had too much competition ahead of him at the Chooks.

What would the Roosters pay to get Strange back now after the 21-year-old demolished DCE to finish with a hat-trick in the Raiders’ 28-12 win over the Sea Eagles?

Meanwhile, over at Manly some angry fans are now calling for DCE to be dropped for the final weeks of his of his decorated 15-year career at the club.

SIN BIN FIASCO STINKS OF UNFAIRNESS

Dolphins coach Kristian Woolf had every right to blow a gasket over the fact his team had two players sin binned along with two Roosters after the push-and-shove following Mark Nawaqanitawase’s try.

And the audio of referee Gerard Sutton calling for two players from each team to be identified during the drama has certainly raised some serious questions.

Billy Slater pointed to out on Nine’s Sunday Footy Show exactly why it was “not fair” to sin bin two players from each team given the fact Spencer Leniu was clearly the instigator after he basically challenged the Dolphins players to a fight.

Slater said: “The Dolphins were just standing there after they got a try scored against them. So, what did you want the Dolphins to do?

“The concerning thing for me was the referees asking for ‘two and two’ … asking for two players from the Dolphins and two players from the Roosters.

“That is not refereeing the game, that is trying to make it fair.

“That is not actually fair.”

Slater makes a very good point.

Does it mean a player from both teams should be sin binned every time there is a bit of push and shove in the future?

While the fans love a bit of old-fashioned aggression, you can’t punish a team when it’s the opposition player who clearly goes looking for trouble.

TEDDY DESERVES DALLY M AND KANGAROO CALL UP

Still on that game and James Tedesco must surely be the favourite to win the Dally M Medal.

The Roosters captain turned into another inspirational effort to finish with two tries and four try assists.

Given he is the form fullback of the competition, it will be interesting to see if Teddy gets a call up for the end-of-season Kangaroo tour.

Of course, he missed out on the Origin series with Dylan Edwards the Blues fullback and Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow replacing Kalyn Ponga for the decider ahead of Reece Walsh.

SHARKS’ PENALTY TRY A BLIGHT ON THE GAME

Before we get to the finals the NRL must do something to stop the blight on the game that allowed the controversial penalty try awarded to Sharks forward Teig Wilton.

Dragons winger Tyrell Sloan was initially going up to contest the bomb.

But once Sloan was beaten for the ball, his natural instincts kicked in and he tried to tackle Wilton on his way to the ground.

As Kevvie Walters and Steve Roach said in Fox League commentary, what was Tyrell Sloan meant to do _ just allow Wilton to score the try without Sloan making any attempt to stop him?

Thankfully it didn’t decide what was a very brave win from the Dragons who have now knocked over the Sharks and the Raiders in consecutive weeks.

While Clint Gutherson was again the best on ground, the Dragons also unearthed a couple of players of the future who were on debut in this game.

The 18-year-old backrower Jacob Halangahu looks a real weapon, while young Gerringong centre Hayden Buchanan scored a try and set one up.

As for the Sharks, just when you thought they were about to emerge as a genuine title contender they’ve taken a significant step backwards.

They have a relatively easy run over the next few weeks with the Titans followed by the bye and then the Knights.

It won’t be until the final round against the Bulldogs we get to see where they really are at heading into the finals.

CIRALDO NOT SCARED OF MAKING TOUGH DECISIONS

Just when you thought Cameron Ciraldo couldn’t make a tougher call than dropping Toby Sexton, now Bailey Hayward has taken over the dummy half duties from Reed Mahoney.

Hayward was outstanding in the 32-14 win over the Warriors, while Mahoney didn’t get on the field until the final 16 minutes when Hayward moved to the middle to give Kurt Mann a rest.

Hayward certainly did more than enough to make sure he will own the spot as long as he stays fit.

It was a terrific win from the Dogs who played terrific wet-weather footy.

The tries to Viliame Kikau and Jethro Rinakama when they used the wet turf to slide over from close range just summed up how switched on they were for this one to silence a few of the critics who questioned their ability to handle the wet conditions.

What about the booming 20/10 from Matt Burton that was a big and as good a kick as we’ve ever seen.

Lachlan Galvin also deserves a wrap for playing with a hand injury that clearly was uncomfortable but he showed great courage in tough conditions for a 20-year-old playmaker.

MOSES BLOW UP VINDICATES TIGERS’ CALL TO KEEP API

You could only feel sorry for Tallyn Da Silva who copped a triple roast from Mitchell Moses due to some shonky dummy half play late in Parramatta’s win over the Cowboys.

Da Silva couldn’t put a foot right from the moment he entered the game, and no doubt Moses was well within his rights to let the youngster know he wasn’t happy.

There’s no question Da Silva is an immensely talented player.

But this perhaps confirmed why Wests Tigers didn’t think the 20-year-old was ready to take over from Api Koroisau just yet.

SOUTHS SOLVE ONE PUZZLE, BUT IT OPENS UP ANOTHER DILEMMA FOR WAYNE BENNETT

South Sydney may have avoided the wooden spoon for this year, but the gutsy win over thew Titans has created a dilemma for Wayne Bennett heading into next year.

While it’s clear Latrell Mitchell must stay in centres and Jye Gray deserves to remain fullback, who will make way for Latrell when both Jack Wighton and Campbell Graham are available?

Potentially Graham could play on the wing, although he is a world-class centre.

The other option would be to move Wighton into five-eighth and play Cody Walker at halfback.

Whatever the case, Mitchell showed with his classy performance against the Titans why centre is now his best fit.

In his first game back from injury he set up two tries and saved another when he thumped the ball out of Jayden Campbell’s hands when the Titans halfback was slow grounding the ball after he’d crossed the line.

In the end that moment came back to haunt the Titans who went down 20-18 after a controversial finish when Campbell copped one on the chin but didn’t get the penalty that could have locked the game late in front of the posts.

While it’s easy to blame the Titans’ loss on that call (in the fair dinkum stakes it should have been a penalty), perhaps Campbell should have been a bit more urgent in the early stages.