From The Couch 2019: Round 6
From The Couch 2019: Round 6
A Sad Farewell to a Champion: Greg Inglis, when all is said and done, will not be remembered in the same echelon as Cameron Smith or Johnathan Thurston or Billy Slater. He is not a future Immortal. His career will not be valued as one of the greatest to play the game. But oh boy, is he close, with only his lack of longevity and the inconsistency over the second half of his career that will take away from an amazing legacy. At his best, there was no more devastating player in the game, strong and fast with a tremendous game sense. Few had the talent to play one position as well as Inglis yet he won premierships at fullback, centre and five-eighth and won an Origin series on the wing. He helped revolutionise the requirements of outside backs with an athleticism previously not seen. He was graceful and lithe, vicious and strong, with all the skills. Three premierships and an integral part of the greatest Queensland decade of all will attest to his brilliance. This was not the way he wanted to go out. None of us did. But it should not take away from a spectacular career that will forever be remembered by those who were lucky enough to see it.
Fox Personality Rankings: The complete rankings of 2019 Fox NRL game-day talent … this includes callers, analysts, sideline eyes and studio hosts and analysts. These are measured on the very simple measure: “how do they improve/take away from watching an NRL game”. Magazine shows are not included. There will one or two or 12 forgotten … let the debate begin.
- Andrew Voss
- Warren Smith
- Greg Alexander
- Matt Russell
- Michael Ennis
- Matthew Johns
- Lara Pitt
- Yvonne Sampson
- Andy Raymond
- Brenton Speed
- Brett Finch
- Brian Fletcher
- Jess Yates
- Luke Lewis
- Nathan Hindmarsh
- Dan Ginnane
- Kevin Walters
- Megan Barnard
- Gorden Tallis
- Mal Meninga
- Hannah Hollis
- Matt Shirvington
- Danny Buderus
- Mark Gasnier
- Matt Nable
- Corey Parker
- Justin Hodges
- Braith Anasta
- Steve Roach
Dumb Rule: The seven-tackle rule is a complete abomination. It almost never achieves what it was set out to do, which was to stop attacking players deliberately booting it dead to nullify Billy Slater at a time when the Storm still played at Olympic Park. It is far too big a reward, particularly when it was a near-good kick that dribbled dead or, say, a dropped contested bomb that somehow spilled out. Or a good shot at field goal that misses. The rule can exist for, say, kicks that go dead on the full or are kicked dead from 40-plus out. The rule needs to change now.
Dumb Rule Abuse: Referees need to be stopped immediately from going to the video referee and awarding a no try when there is no chance a try has been scored just to look at something in the lead-up. It is anathema to the rules of the game or the spirit in which the video referee is meant to be used.
Des and the No Names: Des Hasler has done an outstanding job with Manly this year, a truly extraordinary coaching effort. He left Canterbury in absolute disgrace. He has returned to Manly a hero. His job this year has him as the front runner for Coach of the Year honours. He has at his disposal one of the worst rosters available, at least in terms of depth, imaginable. Yet he is getting some heroic performances out of a team that has Brad Parker, Brendan Elliot, Kane Elgey, Jack Goswieski and Reuben Garrick playing key roles. They have less talent than nearly every team but their toughness will take them a long way.
2019 Field Goal Update – 10: Latrell Mitchell slotted one of the greatest field goals you could ever hope to see to give the Roosters a golden point win in Melbourne while Michael Morgan kicked a mongrel to secure the points for the Cowboys in Auckland.
Fun Fact #1: Canberra last topped the premiership ladder in Round 6, 2005.
Fun Fact #2: The Hunter Mariners never ascended to higher than sixth on the Super League ladder.
Fun Fact #3: Parramatta have been last on the premiership ladder more than any other team – 254 rounds from 1613 rounds.
Betting Market of the Week: Nathan Brown’s job next Sunday:
$3.00: Coach of Newcastle
$2.50: Trent Barrett’s assistant at the Slappers Fantasy Rugby League team
$1.60: VIP manager at Ladbrokes
Rumour Mill: Canterbury are on the verge of signing Jake Granville. James Roberts has been linked with a move to South Sydney but considering the circumstances he departed the Rabbitohs in, he will not be returning to Redfern. Manly are looking at Scott Sorensen for 2020.
Game of the Year Nomination, Round 6: Melbourne – Sydney Roosters, 20-21. One of the great games with an equally magical finish courtesy of Latrell Mitchell’s all-time field goal.
Random Fact of Rugby League Stupidity: Eight players have finished their premiership career scoring exactly one point, their solitary field goal their only contribution to the scoresheet: Kevin Fidock (1973), Grant Fyvie (1983-87), Peter Camroux (1987-88), Steve Waddell (1987-96), Jamie Owens (1998), Craig Trindall (2006), Josh Drinkwater (2013-15) and Jack Littlejohn (2015-17).
Moronic Coaching Decision of the Week: It is hard to know what kind of drug Stephen Kearney is on to select Peta Hiku in the halves. But he is on something. With Adam Keighran and Hayze Perham in reserve grade, Kearney has lost the plot by replacing Blake Green with an unfit centre who has been struggling to keep his top grade spot.
The Coaching Crosshairs: It is astonishing that St George Illawarra have extended Paul McGregor for another two seasons. McGregor has been the definition of average. He had the grand record of 60-58 when extended with the Saints at 3-2 this year. In five seasons he has just a single finals victory. There is no market for McGregor. The club did not need to lock him down. Doing so only signified that the Dragons were willing to go further down the path of mediocrity with McGregor set to coach eight seasons if he sees the deal out, an insane length of time for a coach who really doesn
Beard Watch: Back to the refereeing ranks and it is hard to see how any woman is keeping their hands of Tim Roby with his combination of mullet, devon patch and whispy moustache will forever have me stumped.
Watch It: Craig McLachlan on The Footy Show. Let us never forget. Watch it here.
Regardless of whether or not you’re an Eels fan, it would be hard to dislike Gutho and what he offers to Parramatta with regards to passion, drive and skill. How someone like that isn’t worth as much as Moses is beyond me (as an extremely impatient Eels supporter – uggh, I almost feel embarrassed saying it. Stupidly born in Wentworthville, thanks Mum..)
I don’t know who they think they can replace him with when they lose him to Manly, but I am curious where he will play at Manly with Tommy Turbo owning #1, I guess in the halves with DCE. It’s like the Parramatta Booard think they are on a reality show where culling the good guys will raise ratings and stimulate water cooler chat or something, while not realising that these shows (and themselves) make the general population dumber by the minute.
Happy with your Top 5 Fox folk, but Matty Johns drops dramatically with every “hilarious” sketch on his show, moving him to #256. How good was Brett Kenny though recently on one of Johns’ shows? He is still my favourite all-time player and even currently battling cancer told honest and very funny stories, humble as ever.
100% accurate on McGregor and it’s refreshing to see it written somewhere outside of a Dragons web forum. The club is on a gradual slide to becoming the Illawarra Steelers.
Fox Sports rating
1. Greg Alexander
2. Warren Smith
That’s it.
Why do we need so many? Today we had 4 doing the pregame and 6 doing the game.
Dan Ginnane calls a game as if he’s impersonating a 15yo trying to do Billy Birmingham doing Darrell Eastlake.
I have never seen anybody as overrated in sports media as Matthew Johns. His analysis is so elementary. He puts on his smart sounding voice, and…throws in…random pauses…to make it sound..as though…what he says…is revolutionary. And he isn’t funny.
The bottom half of your list should never be let near a microphone. Erin Molan offers more then Andy Raymond
Pretty cool seeing Craddock giving your pre-season punters guide a shoutout this afternoon on the Monday Bunker on Fox Sports.
I know your a doggies supporter & im not really blaming the players but the refs let them get away with hell in the play the ball, some of our refs have no feel for the game, if they can see what is happening, nip it in the bud on the spot, plan B didn’t exist.
Warriors – spot on regarding Hiku. He looked completely out of gas against the Bunnies around the 60min mark. Should have been a giant warning sign that this is not going to work two weeks in a row. Would have ideal to blood Keighran and Harris-Tavita, they had all week to train together to prepare for goodness sake.
The bigger picture is the Warriors are weak in the centers. Kata must be one hell of a trainer and a huge mentor for younger players because he does nothing on game day. Nothing. Relative to other centers he has fewer meters gained, fewer offloads, fewer tackle busts, etc. Shocking on defense, and bad hands. Very bad hands. Last year these weaknesses could be hidden thanks to Johnson bombing to the tall wingers, bypassing the centers altogether.
As much as it pains me to say it, playing Ashford and Beale as a combination would be better than playing Kata and Hiku. Maybe even Milne, what did we sign him for if not to play?
A cursory glance at history shows teams with two wins after six rounds rarely make the playoffs, and with the Storm this week it means it is a must win game.