From The Couch: Round 18

From The Couch: Round 18

The Great Griffin Media War: It was the best of times. It was the worst of times. it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us. 

War brings out the worst in people and it certainly did few any favours last week when Fairfax and News Limited went to war over the next Dragons coach.

Andrew Webster fired the first shot. It was fair. He is a Dragons fan and didn’t fancy the idea of Griffin coaching his club. It rang very close to home. I was probably equally as harsh at the prospect of Trent Barrett coaching the Bulldogs. I had no agenda other than a love for my club. I expect Webster took a similar position. 

News Limited went nuclear and accused Webster of pushing Phil Gould’s agenda. Danny Weidler soon jumped in on Team Fairfax. News were relentless in pushing their agenda claims, also deifying Griffin to the point it seemed like he was the heir apparent to Jack Gibson.

Phil Gould, as is his wont, jumped in with what at its very best was some revisionist history and at its worst was a barrage of paranoia and half-truths, even ending a 40-year friendship in the process with manager Wayne Beavis.

This was all one of the great beat-ups off all-time. I doubt whether Webster had an agenda. I am sure the likes of Rothfield and Hooper for access and influence, if nothing else. Phil Gould also came off looking both petty and vindictive on what most believe was an orchestrated attempt to get Griffin overlooked at the Dragons. 

And all this over Anthony Griffin, a mediocre recycled coach, joining a mediocre club that cannot get out of its own way.

The Worst Hit List of All-Time: Credit to Trent Barrett for keeping expectations low at Canterbury with a mediocre hit-list to join a mediocre coaching staff. That staff includes failed Raiders coach David Furner, failed Hull KR coach Craig Sandercock, failed Tigers coach Mick Potter and the incomparable Andrew Tangata-Toa. 

Despite having a reported $3M in cap space and the hope of being a new coach, Barrett targeted Manase Fainu, who is about to face a trial for stabbing someone at a church, bench backrower Corey Waddell and bench backrower Jack Gosiewski. Fun fact – the Bulldogs have an entire squad of bench backrowers. 

Big props to Barrett. He got his man Waddell and all will be saved at Belmore. 

PVL, I Implore You: If there is one scourge on Rugby League that our saviour Peter V’Landys needs to solve immediately it is that of Jared Maxwell. This bloke just makes things up week to week and it is embarrassing to Rugby League. His latest clown car decision was to disallow a clear try to Lindsay Collins because the man who played the ball did not move. Greg Alexander rightly slayed him. Referees get bagged all the time but this bloke operates on another level of incompetence. 

The Deal of the Century: If Nick Politis has managed to get James Tedesco to sign a 5-year deal for just $6 million dollars, he either has some very sordid information on Teddy or is the greatest negotiator of all-time. Tedesco is the best player in the competition. He has been for three seasons. He still has a very long run at the top of his game to come. It is absolutely the deal of the century. 

Ranking The Props: Ranking the Top 20 props in the NRL in 2020:

Josh Papalii
Junior Paulo
Sio Siua Taukeiaho
James Fisher-Harris
Mo Fotuaika
Jared Waerea-Hargreaves
Addin Fonua-Blake
Daniel Saifiti
Tevita Tatola
Martin Taupau
Payne Haas
David Klemmer

Reagan Campbell-Gillard
Christian Welch
James Tamou
Braden Hamlin-Uele
Thomas Burgess
Josh Kerr
Jordan McLean
Jacob Saifiti

2020 Field Goal Update – 17: We witnessed the meaningless field goal of the year on Saturday afternoon when George Williams slotted one in the final two minutes to put Canberra up 37-8. It was his first field goal in the NRL. It was completely meaningless and entirely disrespectful and unquestionably the field goal of the year. 

Fun Fact #1: Steve Georgallis is 5-15 as an NRL head coach

Fun Fact #2: Steve Georgallis was 76-125-5 as a player

Fun Fact #3: Tom Starling is the shortest player in the NRL at 170cm. That is 1cm shorter than Dally Messenger. 

Betting Market of the Week: The correct version of the history of Anthony Griffin’s demise at Penrith is being told by:

$51.00: Phil Gould
$1.02: Greg Alexander

Rumour Mill: Josh Addo-Carr is chasing fullback money and has eyed the Wests Tigers and the Canterbury Bulldogs as his best fit, making the Tigers clear favourites as the Bulldogs cannot get out of their own way. James Tamou is also set to join the Tigers. Curtis Scott is reportedly considering his legal options after he was cleared following his Australia Day arrest. 

Moronic Coaching Decision of the Week: Steve Georgallis leaving Brandon Wakeham on the bench while Lachlan Lewis had an historically bad showing was just horrendous coaching. 

The Coaching Crosshairs: Trent Barrett has not even started at Canterbury and he is under pressure. Some underwhelming signings and Phil Gould calling on him to walk away from the job, along with the internal bickering at the club, has him quickly facing the realisation that his gamble is about to sorely backfire. 

Beard Watch: Great to see young Orange lad Cody Ramsay make his first grade debut for the Dragons, with some wild hair, a headband and a dicey little mo. 

Watch It: This week we go back to one of the great rorts in Rugby League history when Lee Oudenryn raced Martin Offiah over 100m. The touring Lions reportedly made plenty by backing then Eel and then watching Offiah jog trotting behind him. Watch it here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-K-pyGmWKXs