From The Couch: Round 10

From The Couch: Round 10

Crackdown Breaks The Internet: The NRLs decision to crackdown on head high tackles this weekend was met with some of the most ridiculous assertions and preposterous proclamations Rugby League has ever seen. The game is dead. Nobody will watch. Sack PVL. Greatest Game of All no longer. Blah Blah Blah. The viral verbal gastric had taken hold. 

It is hard to figure among the vitriol what punters hated more. Physicality being taken from the game because the rules of the game were being enforced. Uneven contests because the rules of the game were being enforced and were no longer being artificially kept tight. A personal hatred of one man because he had the bottle to actually hold those who enforce the rules of the game accountable. 

There is absolutely no doubt that the NRL Commission had to lay the law down to officials after weeks of complete incompetence, culminating in the embarrassing showing in the Eels-Roosters clash a week ago. Despite popular narrative, new rules were not introduced. Fun fact: it has long been illegal to hit an opposing player in the head and the sin bin was confirmed to be used for foul play.

There were some negatives to arise from the weekend. There were some ridiculous sin binnings from overzealous officials seemingly intent on making a fool out of their superiors. Playing advantage for an entire set is utterly ridiculous. 

The positives far outweigh the negatives though and the NRL really didn’t know anything more than ask the officials to do their job and take appropriate action to rub out high tackles. The send off is back and it has been long overdue with referees disregarding the law book to essentially wipe it from the game, the result of which has been a more reckless disregard for the rules by players. Player safety is rightly being prioritised. 

Once again the vocal narcs have misconstrued a problem with individual performance with a process failure. This weekend was a process success intermittently overshadowed by some heinous decisionmaking and some procedural bumps. The NRL has laid the foundation for success. Now it needs to go forward. That means continual enforcement of these rules – not just a single week crackdown – and a concerted effort to get significantly better talent in The Bunker. 

A Defining Signing: The Brisbane Broncos have pulled off a remarkable coup by luring South Sydney star Adam Reynolds to the club from 2022. It does not take a genius to know that good halves are hard to find and Reynold’s best quality is his ability to make not only those around him better, but the whole greater than the sum of the parts. The Broncos desperately needed a marquee signing. They got it with Reynolds, who will not only be the club’s halfback but if the coaching setup remains the same, essentially the tactical coach. He won’t be enough to take the Broncos to a premiership but he will help attract other key players and may well be there to recommend Wayne Bennett’s return. 

Magic Round Power Rankings

PENRITH: More motion than a pill-flooded Eastern Suburbs nightclub circa 2007
MANLY: Turbo-charged, fixed up some points differential issues, Schuster emerges
MELBOURNE: No Munster, No Grant, No Cheese, No Pap … no worries
PARRAMATTA: Slick at the start and tough when it mattered
WESTS TIGERS: Upset win, plenty of Ric Flair
SYDNEY ROOSTERS: Teddy getting back to his best, Sam Walker thriving on home turf
SOUTH SYDNEY: Flew the blocks but getting put on the backfoot by the Sharks a worry
NEW ZEALAND: No two points but the emergence of Reece Walsh continues
CRONULLA: Slow start but went within some rubbish refereeing of an upset shot
NORTH QUEENSLAND: Lacked the touch, lacked luck but periods to be proud of
ST GEORGE ILLAWARRA: Had a player sent off but stuck with the Storm well enough
CANBERRA: Snuck home against a hopeless side, looking like losing 3 to suspension
CANTERBURY: Covered the big start for the punters but couldn’t beat 12 men
NEWCASTLE: Smacked by a bottom four side, another Suncorp loss for Seibold
GOLD COAST: Have been ahead of the curve in trying to make the game touch with their D
BRISBANE: Conceding 50 on home track, worst challenge of the year, captain hooked

Crying Too Much: There was a lot of sympathy for Kyle Flanagan this week when he started crying during a press conference after he had been hooked the weekend prior and was to be dropped that day. The sympathy seemed to come because Flanagan mentioned his father – who gave him an armchair ride to the NRL – and that he had been through a tough time. Flanagan is getting paid significant money to do a job he is not doing very well. It was tough of him to get out there. It was utterly ridiculous for him to be crying in the circumstances. Sadly the tears came across as those of an entitled player who was not getting the same inside runs he has been used to. 

Alert, Alert, Alert: Someone at Canterbury … try finding Nicho Hynes’ manager’s number before signing the fourth-string half of the reigning wooden spooners!

Mike Meehall-Wood a Must Read: Anyone wanting a considered, well articulated view on the state of the game and the issues that surround it should be reading Mike Meehall-Wood at Forbes. An Englishman from the heartland town of Rochdale, Meehall-Wood has asked what the point of the Wests Tigers is, does the NRL want to expand or does it just want more teams and why race and class still matters in NRL media coverage. It is insightful. It is incisive. It is introspective. It is the complete opposite of the takes so prevalent from the deathriders and state-of-the-gamers on Twitter. 

2021 Field Goal Update – 12: No field goals and no field goal attempts in what was decidedly a lack of field goal magic. 

Fun Fact #1: Ben Cummins this week tied Bill Harrigan for most premiership matches refereed. Harrigan officiated 10 Grand Finals. Cummins has officiated five. All five of Cummins’ have been in the two-referee era and just one as the lead referee. 

Fun Fact #2: Gavin Badger and Steve Clark are the two referees to have officiated 300-plus first grade games and never refereed a Grand Final.

Fun Fact #3: Penrith have been the most hard done-by team under Ben Cummins with their win percentage dropping 11% under his officiating.

Betting Market of the Week: The NRL crackdown on sin binning high tackles will last:

$3.00: One more week
$13.00: More than one week
$1.60: It ended on Sunday

Rumour Mill: Matt Dufty and Tyson Gamble are the two latest players on Canterbury’s radar with Renouf Atoni expected to depart Belmore to sign elsewhere. Brandon Smith has also been linked with a move to Canterbury but will likely stay with Melbourne. Cronulla will likely announce Toby Rudolf will extend his deal this week. Anthony Milford is expected to sign with the Sharks. 

The Coaching Crosshairs: Adam O’Brien was hailed as the saviour at Newcastle but his position is going to come under intense strain if the Knights continue to show an allergy to competing and a wanton disregard for winning. It has reached the point where the head coach publicly blamed the culture of the club and the dismal state of the side over the last decade. He also queried the roster after the embarrassing loss to the Tigers. Adam O’Brien has been in the job for 18 months. He has had ample time to drill in how to win, to develop talent, to make key roster decisions and to develop a foundation to build on. He has achieved none of this and it would not surprise if the club looked to move on in 2022 if there are no signs of growth for the remainder of the year, regardless of ladder position.

Moronic Coaching Decision of the Week: Kevin Walters has shown a knack for making idiotic decisions that even he seemingly disagrees with. He managed to do it again when he named Jake Turpin as captain to replace the injured Patrick Carrigan. Turpin got hooked after 33 minutes and did not return to the field. In this time he had an error, a ruck infringement, two slow play-the-balls and wasted Brisbane’s challenge but listening to Tevita Pangai Jnr. If Walters did not want him as captain, he should have actually given the job to a senior player. Giving Turpin the captaincy and then treating him as he did was highly irresponsible. 

Jersey Watch: Parramatta wearing a predominantly white jersey against the Warriors is nothing short of disgraceful. The Eels are blue and yellow. If they are playing against a team with a clash, they really should be donning their predominantly yellow strip. The greed of NRL clubs to roll out six, seven, eight jerseys a season is nothing short of disgusting and a blight on the game. 

Watch It: A week after Josh Addo-Carr became the first player to score six tries in a premiership game in 71 years, we take a look at Martin Offiah’s astonishing 10-try game against Leeds while playing for Wigan, in a semi-final, nonetheless. Watch it here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPdkL8w_Qog