BY CURTIS WOODWARD

@woodward_curtis

Welcome to Saturday Night Fever brought to you by Barkingham Palace Dog Grooming Macarthur as we go through all the happenings in rugby league from Super Saturday.

Tonight we cover the NRL, the latest on Tom Raudonikis tributes, a big day for St Marys and a historic victory for a young Fijian club.

FIRST CHANCE WATCHING SHARKS

For several reasons, this was your writer’s first chance watching the Cronulla Sharks in-full in 2021 and wow, they are really good footy team. Many wrote them off in pre-season but they look like a side that can cause headaches for the upper tier of clubs throughout the season. Even better for the Sharks is that they are still waiting on superstar Shaun Johnson to come back into the side.

How good was Aaron Woods in the first half?

He looked like the guy that was once a cornerstone of Kangaroos and Blues packs.

But you can never write off the Roosters.

With so many players out, rookie half Sam Walker steps up and scores a try to equal it up.

And then, the mighty Sio Siua Taukeiaho converts it!

How did Cronulla lose that one?

They need to learn from that.

THE BULLDOGS WERE GOOD?

Heard some strange things in the post-match analysis from Fox League about the Canterbury Bulldogs after their clash with Melbourne. Apparently they were “competitive” and there were “signs of life”. Let’s be real. The Bulldogs lost 52-18 and nobody ever thought they were a chance of winning before kick-off. Very dark times for the boys from Belmore but what are we saying about our competition when we’re pumping up a side that gets smacked and gives up 52 points?

The Storm were giggling and having a fine old time after five minutes.

It was never a contest.

FIFITA THE BEAST

Some in the media have a bit of humble pie to digest after another dominant performance from David Fifita and the Gold Coast Titans. They smashed the Knights 42-16 and are improving every week. A few weeks ago, Robbie Farah predicted Tyson Frizell as the signing of 2021. He was bossed by Fifita several times today. The Knights are in trouble.

REMEMBERING TOMMY

The Wests Magpies today retired Tom Raudonikis’ number 7 jersey for their Ron Massey Cup clash against St Marys at Lidcombe Oval. There were also a couple of lovely framed pieces of memorabilia set out on the sideline. It didn’t matter much as the Magpies went down 64-4. Tomorrow Wests Tigers retire the 7 jersey in all four games at Leichhardt with NRL kicking off against North Queensland at 4pm.

HISTORIC DAY FOR FIJIAN RUGBY LEAGUE

Congratulations to the Kaiviti Silktails who scored their first ever win in the NSWRL Ron Massey Cup with a 36-16 triumph over the Glebe Dirty Reds at Mascot Oval. A nice piece of history against a former first grade club in Glebe. A huge round of applause to everyone involved. A great young organisation.

SAINTS OF MARY

As mentioned earlier, St Marys hammered the Magpies at Lidcombe in the Ron Massey Cup. Their Sydney Shield traveled to Waminda Oval to face the East Campbelltown Eagles. The Saints also won that 52-10. That’s an aggregate of 116 to 14.

@woodward_curtis

‘Swagger’? Cocky Panthers may have got the premiership points but it could come back to bite them again in September