From The Couch 2019: Round 25

 

Hudson Young Deserves A Long Spell: Hudson Young should not be playing in Rugby League in 2020. That is how egregious his attempt to eye gouge Adam Pompey was, despite Pompey jumping to his defence and Ricky Stuart making ridiculous assertions post-game that it wasn’t a gouge. At the very least it was a clear attempted eye gouge. When he didn’t get the job done immediately, he went back for more. This was from a player who has played just 12 NRL games and already sat out five weeks for a disgraceful eye gouge. Young should have the book thrown at him. A year out of the game would not be too harsh. He should consider himself lucky he hasn’t had the grub knocked out of him yet.

The Fateful Eight:  The season is over for eight teams. Here is the end-of-season review that all clubs need to accept as truth:

GOLD COAST (16^th): Horrific season and deserved wooden spooners. Looking for a complete reset under a new coach next year but more holes than foundation poles. Defence was embarrassing and couldn’t win at home. Justin Holbrook is up against it in 2020.
Best Player: Jai Arrow
Discovery: Moeaki Fotuaika
Most Disappointing: Ash Taylor, Shannon Boyd, Tyrone Peachey

ST GEORGE ILLAWARRA (15^th): It is inconceivable that a team with this much talent could win only eight games and not beat a team outside the bottom five since Round 6. They were completely blindsided by the De Belin disaster and Widdop release but could not have handled either any worse. It was stunning how bad the halves played and were given no favours by a chop-and-change coach. Should bounce back but going nowhere quick with their spine.
Best Player: Paul Vaughan
Discovery: Blake Lawrie
Most Disappointing: Gareth Widdop, Corey Norman, Ben Hunt, Euan Aitken

NORTH QUEENSLAND (14^th): Things went from bad to worse after Ben Barba got sacked. It was quite apparent the Cowboys severely overestimated their roster, particularly in the backline. Their defence was reasonably stout at times but the backline was horrific. Whoever is running recruitment and retention needs to be replaced. Worrying lack of starpower.
Best Player: Jason Taumalolo
Discovery: Scott Drinkwater
Most Disappointing: Coen Hess, Michael Morgan

NEW ZEALAND (13^th): Hopes were high for the Warriors after breaking their finals drought last year but the departure of Shaun Johnson sent all the wrong messages and left the Warriors severely undermanned in the halves. They fought fairly hard for two-thirds of the season before throwing the towel in late. There were some injury excuses but the tall and the short of it is that the roster isn’t particularly good outside of the fullback and the coach is not overly inspiring.
Best Player: Roger Tuivasa-Sheck
Discovery: Chanel Harris-Tavita
Most Disappointing: Isaiah Papalii, Issac Luke, Kodi Nikorima

CANTERBURY (12^th): Canterbury are in the throes of a complete rebuild so it is hard to be disappointed with the season with a strong finish giving a glimmer of hope. Expectations were extraordinarily low and they exceeded them after a very slow start. Still filthy Rhyse Martin was let go. The jury is still out on coach Dean Pay but they played hard to the death with very little talent so should be pleased. On the up.
Best Player: Josh Jackson
Discovery: Jayden Okunbor
Most Disappointing: Michael Lichaa, Dylan Napa, Raymond Faitala-Mariner

NEWCASTLE (11^th): By any measure, Newcastle were heinous this year. Tipped by many to make the Top 8, they never looked likely bar a brief run of six straight wins. Coach Nathan Brown was rightly moved on but the Knights reaped what they sewed with their recruitment. The attitude of some players was abhorrent throughout the year. Until culture and defensive issues are figured out, the Knights aren’t heading to the playoffs.
Best Player: David Klemmer
Discovery: Bradman Best
Most Disappointing: Jesse Ramien, Aidan Guerra, Herman Ese’ese, Connor Watson

PENRITH (10^th): A season of absolute blerg for Penrith. Clearly plenty simmering under the surface because the team underachieved. There were injuries but it was just some real poor football and some worse attitudes that cost them. It seemed like a real fork-in-the-road year with a new generation being ushered in. Hard to know where Penrith sit.
Best Player: Viliame Kikau
Discovery: Liam Martin, Brian To’o
Most Disappointing: Reagan Campbell-Gillard, Josh Mansour, James Maloney

WESTS TIGERS (9^th): The Tigers finished ninth – again – but it was hard to be overly disappointed after such a disrupted offseason. Michael Maguire is the coach to take them forward and added some steel. Plenty of feel-good news, particularly with Benji Marshall playing so well. Major overachievers with plenty to be excited about in the near-future.
Best Player: Corey Thompson
Discovery: Luke Garner, Alex Twal
Most Disappointing: Esarn Masters, Russell Packer, Josh Reynolds,

Simply The Best: The NRL has done so much wrong in recent years. So much. And nearly all of that can be remedied by bringing back Tina Turner to again become the voice of Rugby League. Her iconic run in the late 1980s and early 1990s was the greatest marketing campaign the game has known, a risk taken by John Quayle that ensured his place in history. “What You Get Is What You See” might be the greatest song ever and “Simply The Best” is simply the anthem of the game. The League needs to do all it can to get Tina back … the game, simply, has never needed her more.

Lachlan Lewis Can Stay Forever: Lachlan Lewis has won my heart. In what was, for the most part, a wretched season at Belmore, Lachlan Lewis has been the highlight. His attitude is just fantastic. He has a ton of energy and is extremely comfortable with who he is. He has almost no athletic ability but he makes up for it with creativity, time and a relentless defence that suggests his favourite player growing up was Tony Grimaldi. Hopefully he stays at Belmore forever.

2019 Field Goal Update – 37: After last weekend’s bonanza, the tally was not added to six games into Round 25 before Paul Gallen … yes, Paul Freaking Gallen … nailed a field goal! It was one of the greatest disrespectful field goals of all-time.

Fun Fact #1: Morgan Harper has never lost a premiership game

Fun Fact #2: Hudson Young has played 12 premiership games and is set to face his second trip to the judiciary for eye gouging

Fun Fact #3: Michael Gordon scored a try against all 16 NRL clubs despite debuting when there was just 15

Betting Market of the Week: Hudson Young’s nickname in 2020:

$2.30: Charles Albright
$1.70: The Optometrist
$1.35: The Gouging Grub

Rumour Mill: There has been a major fallout between two big-name on-air Channel Nine personalities with one now refusing to be in the same vicinity as the other. Jordan Rapana has been linked with a move to Japanese Rugby when a deal with the Raiders seemed imminent. Phil Gould is undertaking a review of the Dragons’ football operations and you can bet your last dollar it will result in Gus landing a full-time role at the club next season. Regan Campbell-Gillard will leave Penrith with Parramatta his most likely destination.

Random Fact of Rugby League Stupidity: The New Zealand Warriors have had six New Zealand born coaches with Stephen Kearney now the longest serving.

Game of the Year Nomination, Round 24: South Sydney – Sydney Roosters, 16 – 10.

Moronic Coaching Decision of the Week: It created a drama for the ages and was of a script that even Vince McMahon couldn’t have compounded in his finest hour, but the late, late decision to play Robbie Farah seemed utter madness with Josh Reynolds already on the bench and a complete reshuffle required. It was most telling with Paul Momorivoski at fullback and Michael Chee Kam in the centres. Emotion won over reason.

The Coaching Crosshairs: The ownership struggles at the Warriors could well end Stephen Kearney’s run at the Warriors. There is a major ownership spat that will result in the Auckland Rugby League being bought out. This could see major changes in the front office with CEO Cameron George the man protecting Kearney. It would not surprise at all if Geoff Toovey is leading them in Round 1 next season.

Beard Watch: Morgan Harper could not have debuted with a more impressive moustache. It was rewarded with a rarely seen ‘debutant kick’, a last-second penalty kick at goal that just missed.

Correspondence Corner: Knight Vision, Henry would never get beaten in the Henry P.

Dragon_Eyes, I would roll the dice on a relatively cheap first-timer like Craig Fitzgibbon.

Watch It: Sadly the playoff is nothing but a relic of history but thanks to the fate of this year’s draw we saw a playoff game to get into the finals between Cronulla and the Wests Tigers. We go back in time 30 years to the playoff between Cronulla and Brisbane, where the Sharks towelled the Broncos. Watch a snippet here.