From The Couch: Finals Week 1

From The Couch: Finals Week 1

Kevin Walters Was The Weak Choice: Brisbane’s decision to hire Kevin Walters as their head coach was, without question, the weak call. It was clear that the club did not want to hire him. It was even more clear to anyone who knows anything about Rugby League that he will not be a good coach. He certainly isn’t the right man for the moment as the Broncos need a hard-ass with a clear vision to get through a very difficult period. Yet here we are, the Broncos brass weary from war, kowtowing to the peacocking old boys thrilled they have gotten their way. It will do the club absolutely no favours aside from stopping the narking and bitchiness. 

The Broncos made a major error not running with Paul Green. Walters is popular and he is cheery but this is a club that needs a major roster overhaul, significant culture change and an ability to communicate a clear vision with a path to same. Walters ticks no boxes. 

The Broncos have really doubled down on their last bad decision. 

Postscript for Two Sorry Seasons: Newcastle and Cronulla both done for 2020. Both would be extraordinarily disappointed. 

Newcastle were the fancy of plenty of smart judges this year. New coach Adam O’Brien was expected to bring discipline and consistency to a team that sorely needed it. The Knights returned to the finals for the first time since 2013 so there were some positives. But the way in which they exited and the disastrous flittering out over the backend of the season was appalling for a team that should have been better. When fingers are pointed, they should be squarely pointed at Mitchell Pearce, who was abhorrent. He missed more tackles than any other player and surely led the league in ineffective or poor kicks. The defence also went sideways quickly with defensive effort a major concern. Adam O’Brien has made in-roads but the club has plenty of work to do this offseason. 

Cronulla may have been the worst team to play finals football. They were abhorrent. Typically the best defensive teams thrive in the NRL. The Sharks made the finals despite a horrific defensive record. The club beat up on poor teams and got beaten up by the good ones. The Sharks really are bound by a poor roster that has some awful contracts led by Josh Dugan and Matt Moylan. With a poor coach and no real identity, it is hard to see the Sharks bouncing back anytime soon. 

Nathan Brown Disaster Looms: Nathan Brown is a very poor coach. He underachieved at St George Illawarra. He hid behind a rebuild at Newcastle. His teams are always defensively abhorrent. Now, thanks to Coach Whisperer (@Thaidaynightfb) we get a strong assessment of his recruiting nous. It makes for highly concerning reading for the Warriors. 

– Signed Ponga on overs (worked out)

– Signed Pearce on overs (failure)

– Signed Glasby, Guerra, SKD on overs when no other club wanted them
– Offered big-money deals to Corey Norman, Matthew Scott, Paul Gallen, Kieran Foran, Jarrod Wallace and Issac Luke

Auckland is a harder town to recruit for and it is apparent Brown has no capability of judging either value or talent. This is going to be an unmitigated disaster. But at least he has good chat. 

Matt Cecchin Has Been Murdered: Bernard Sutton should be done for murder because he has slaughtered Matt Cecchin’s refereeing career. In and of itself, that is an unmitigated disgrace. There is no better ref in the game. There is no more respected official in the competition. Yet Cecchin could not crack the top four officials in the opening weekend of action, the same weekend Ashley Klein continued to make rules up and Ben Cummins proved himself both blind and foolish and Grant Atkins got into all kinds of strife with Wade Graham. The game cannot afford any more officiating blunders. Yet the best referee is sidelined because of politics. 

2020 Field Goal Update – 18: Nathan Cleary kicked a key field goal in the Panthers’ 29-28 win over the Roosters, exciting not only for Panthers fans but those on the Roosters +1.5. 

Fun Fact #1: Nathan Brown was offered at $151 for first tryscorer on Saturday … and scored the first try. 

Fun Fact #2: Kevin Walters went 25-38 at Catalans in his only stint as head coach of a club. They won the wooden spoon in 2010, his last year in charge. The club made the finals in four straight years following his departure. 

Fun Fact #3: Billy Slater has scored the most tries in finals games, scoring 23. 

Betting Market of the Week: The chances of anyone at Fox NRL giving an honest appraisal of Mitch Moses’ form:

$51.00: Yes
$1.01: No

Rumour Mill: Newcastle are expected to extend Willie M Medal winner Mitchell Pearce for two more seasons. Chad Townsend and Nathan Peats are the two latest superstars to be linked to Canterbury. James Roberts will be on the move in 2021 and the Melbourne Storm are favoured to win his signature. 

The Coaching Crosshairs: Trent Barrett hasn’t even got to Canterbury yet and is already under pressure with a faction at the club keen to get rid of him. His extraordinarily poor recruitment drive – when Barrett partly sold himself as someone able to land big names – has some at the Bulldogs believing they have been sold a lemon. The club, of course, was told they were being sold a lemon before they signed Barrett so deserve to suffer when he inevitably fails miserably. 

Moronic Coaching Decision of the Week: Not so much a decision but Adam O’Brien’s failure to fix Newcastle’s defensive woes including that of his skipper Mitchell Pearce made for a dreadful return to the finals for the Knights, who conceded 46 straight points to give Souths an easy round to Round 2. 

Beard Watch: Watching Cameron Munster streak past Reagan Campbell-Gillard on Saturday night was peak 2020 moustache. 

Watch It: In honour of Enari Tuala’s Grade A shocker, here is Paul Carige’s infamous game in the 1998 preliminary final, the standard for finals shockers. Watch it here.