Records tumbled and hoodoos were snapped across the second major bye round of the season. The quirky stats and intriguing numbers to come from Round 15 of the Telstra Premiership.
Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy?
His distant, distant, distant relative Michael Crichton was a legend of the science fiction genre with his cult classic novel Jurassic Park, but Angus Crichton became the king of the Fantasy world with a record score of 121 points in the Rabbitohs' win over the Titans. The young back-rower was simply outstanding with a hat-trick on Friday night and is already being touted as a must-have in the NSW side in the not-too distant future.
Rabbitohs finally get the chocolates
It’s taken a while but Souths finally notched their first win at home this season with a 36-20 triumph over the Titans. The Bunnies had lost six on the trot at home to start 2017, and their woes should come as no surprise given they managed just three wins at home last year.
Adam sends them west
Did someone steal Adam Reynolds's favourite pair of boots on Friday? The sharpshooter headed into the game with a stunning record of 31/33 attempts in 2017 but more than doubled his 'miss' tally with three wayward shots at goal against Gold Coast.
Gold Coast's second-half struggles
There were plenty of concerning trends to emerge from Friday's game but none more so than the fact the Titans have now lost all five games this season when leading at half-time.
Attack of the clones
It might have been the worst of the Star Wars films, but the Storm and Cowboys showed on Saturday night that sometimes clones can be equally as good as their originals. Brodie Croft lived up to the hype with the match-winning field goal in extra-time in what was just his second NRL game (interestingly both have been in Round 15). Brandon Smith barged over for his second try in as many games - two more than Cameron Smith has in 2017 - and more than the Storm skipper managed in his debut season (also two games).
Jason goes Spartan
The origins of Jason and his Argonauts remain unclear – the Internet is more than happy to explain his parentage but won't reveal his Greek roots – but Saturday night's game against the Storm suggests Jason Taumalolo could in fact be Spartan after he joined the 300 club with a triple century of running metres. It wasn't quite the 336-metre performance by Roger Tuivasa-Sheck in 2015, but the Cowboys lock etched his name into mythology with yet another Herculean effort.
Marsters and apprentices
Saturday night's thriller at Shark Park might have been robbed of a stack of State of Origin talent, but their understudies made the most of the opportunity with three players crossing for their first try in the NRL. Sharks centre Kurt Capewell got the ball rolling in the 19th minute and he was joined later in the first half by Tigers rookie Esan Marsters who crashed over from dummy-half. Just for good measure Malakai Watene-Zelezniak dived over for his maiden four-pointer, while Matt Eisenhuth chipped in with a try assist on debut.
Sharks miss the start
Someone needs to tell Shane Flanagan's men that games start in the first minute, not the 41st. Cronulla's last five wins have seen them overturn half-time deficits with all of those games decided by six points or less.
Nothing sloth-like about this sin
Tigers prop Ava Seumanufagai won't look back on his 100th game too fondly after he was sin-binned inside the opening six minutes against his future employers, the Sharks. Incredibly that wasn't the quickest dismissal in history with his skipper on Saturday, Elijah Taylor, sent to the sin bin after five minutes against the Roosters in 2014.
Eels start to bank wins over St George
Parramatta and the Dragons are starting to develop a strange old rivalry. The Eels won the first five meetings between the sides but managed just six more victories from the next 22 matches. In eight of those they were held to single digits, but suddenly they've turned things around with Brad Arthur's men currently on a six-game winning streak against the Red V, having piled on 30-plus points in three of those matches.
