From The Couch: Round 4

 

Heaven Help The Bunker: The gloss is off, the magic gone, belief shattered. Todd Greenberg timed his run to the top job perfectly – riding in on the back of The Bunker before it imploded. The entire system was a joke over the weekend with The Bunker costing North Queensland and the Sydney Roosters fair wins and the Wests Tigers a fair crack against Parramatta. The Cowboys did not deserve the win – and the Broncos had been a victim of Bunker Inconsistency earlier in the match – but Johnathan Thurston scored the winning try and to have that taken away was a disgrace. It was the same with Latrell Mitchell’s disallowed try, a magnificent bit of football wiped out by a guess from a touchie who wasn’t even looking. Video referees are not allowed to rule on forward passes because they can’t draw imaginary lines on the TV screen yet they can for offside rulings. And somehow the video referee is still allowed to look at groundings in super slow motion, giving Junior Paulo a try when he clearly bounced it. The honeymoon is over and it is the same rubbish we have come to expect for a long time. Nothing has changed. All of us who thought it had were wrong.

Bring Back The Bin: It is high time the sin bin is brought back into vogue by referees after it has become highly apparent that the majority of clubs are deliberately conceding penalties close to their line. The Cowboys led the way this round with the Eels not far behind. The only way to eradicate this is for referees to actually enforce professional foul rules and send players to the sin bin.

Scheduling Debacle: The NRL’s decision to give the AFL an open slate for their kickoff is as absured as it was expected. The NRL has locked in Thursday for the start of the season – except the day before a public holiday and the day the AFL kicks off. Making a draw is not that hard yet the NRL can never get it right.

Bad Will: No NRL player should be the subject of discrimination, be it racial, sexual or religious. Will Hopoate should not be vilified because of his Mormon faith. But nor should he be awarded special dispensation to not play on a Sunday. This is professional Rugby League. His choice should be either to play when expected to or not play at all. The Grand Final is played on Sunday and has been for about four decades. Canterbury should be embarrassed for allowing this to happen.

2015 Field Goal Update – 6: Anthony Milford took his personal field goal tally to three and the NRL season to six but the field goal highlight of Round 4 came just before halftime in the Good Friday clash between Canterbury and South Sydney when Josh Reynolds attempted to extend a 32-0 lead to 33-0. The ball didn’t leave the turf but it was a great moment.

Fun Fact #1: Two games went to halftime 2-0 in Round 4.

Fun Fact #2: Jason Taylor has not had a winning season as a first grade head coach.

Rumour Mill: Semi Radradra is no chance of defecting to union despite speculation he is on his way – but he is in the throes of a serious fallout with the Eels and could seek a release. The Tigers appear set to only keep one of Luke Brooks or Mitch Moses – and they are much better off keeping the level-headed Brooks. Rumour has it that Moses will end up at Souths. The ever-reliable The Lurker reports that James Maloney and Michael Ennis do not get on at Cronulla.

Betting Market of the Week: Jason Taylor’s next great innovation will be:

$4.00: Playing an all-hooker bench
$2.50: Naming Robbie Farah as the starting waterboy
$6.00: Encouraging his players to contest each play-the-ball
$4.00: Starting 12 wingers and an expert field goal kicker for speed and the ability to go up by one each time they enter the opposition half
$1.50: Only playing soft halfbacks who refuse to tackle or move with speed

Punters Guide Tipping Service: If you are interested in signing up to the Punters Guide tipping service, drop me an email: nicktedeschi@hotmail.com

Every week has been highly profitable throughout 2016.

Check out the results from the first two rounds and get more details here.

The Bozo and Barrett Show: The wisdom of pairing Daly Cherry-Evans with a centre in Dylan Walker has come back to bite Bobby, Barrett and the rest of the Sea Eagles brass right in the backside with Cherry-Evans facing an extended period on the sideline. Manly are now stuck without a single half – and that includes NSW Cup, where Isaac John is maybe a half. The Sea Eagles are in a lot of trouble going forward.

What I Love About … Taking The Two: Yes, taking the two points is boring. Yes, it lacks entertainment value. Yes, it has the real stink of that other code. But the fact is, it is the smart play. Think about it in terms of expected value. Teams get 4 points for a try and make that 6 about 80% of the time. Every time they get within penalty goal range though, teams do not score half the time or even a third of the time. The expected value of taking the average tap or kick for touch when in distance is less than two and probably closer to one. Teams should take the two when they can. And then again. Going up 2-0 is great. But they should make it 4-0 if they can. And 6-0 if a team provides the opportunity. Passing up easy points is stupidity. Teams need to take them when offer if for no other reason than to take away the opposition tactic of deliberately conceding penalties. It cost the Cowboys on Friday and will cost teams more if opponents play it smart.

The Coaching Crosshairs: If Nathan Brown’s job isn’t under review by the end of the year, then I don’t know Rugby League. He is taking a punt on playing youngsters but he is putting his faith in some very ordinary players and offering them little by playing very few veterans. The fundamentals aren’t there and whenever he speaks he hardly gives off the confidence of someone who knows what they are saying. The Knights are in a massive hole right now – and Nathan Brown is not the man to extricate them from it.

Game of the Year Nomination, Round 4: Brisbane – North Queensland, 21-20. The Grand Final replay did not disappoint with an Anthony Milford field goal clinching a dramatic 21-20 victory in Golden Point. It was a fierce game – and also a justification that when the two points are on offer that a team should take them, despite popular belief. It was a mesmerising match that was unfortunately tarnished by some poor refereeing and worse officiating from The Bunker. Regardless, a great match.

Moronic Coaching Decision of the Week: Jason Taylor’s decision to start two hookers off the bench for the Easter Monday clash with Parramatta is the dumbest decision of 2016. As teams move away rightly from a two-hooker rotation, Taylor has decided to run with three in what was clearly a move designed to spite nemesis Robbie Farah. There is a fine line between innovation and stupidity. Nobody will ever call Jason Taylor an innovator.

Correspondence Corner: John, Des Hasler is under no internal pressure at Canterbury but it will begin to build if success isn’t soon delivered. The Bulldogs are a patient club though and he is 100s to be sacked anytime soon. The club has invested fully in him and I would expect at least one title will be delivered by 2019.

Mick, that is fantastic to know. The match occurred in Round 13, 1985. Blake also scored a try that day.

Trav, Souths were remarkably favoured by 1.5 points at halftime.

Jasob, thanks mate.

Dan, Souths got touched up and Maguire is still off. It isn’t that the players don’t like or respect him – they absolutely do, particularly the latter. They just feel worn down by him.

Utterly Green Eyed Fan, it is true – I spoke in generalities and I apologise.

Beard Watch: Jamie Soward’s new-look 2016  beard is something to behold, bringing back memories of a middle aged Paul Giamatti in some sad movie about introspection and perhaps wine. With the headgear added though, Soward looks like a simple version of Silent Jay.

Watch It: For a very brief period of time, the Gold Coast Rugby League team was known as the Gladiators and they were owned by a very eccentric man of confidence known as Jeff Mueller. This was after the Seagulls, before the Titans. They only lasted a summer, winning a plate at the Sevens. The ARL was forced to step in after Mueller’s girlfriend was involved in team selection. Watch what he is up to these days here.