From The Couch: Round 6

From The Couch: Round 6

It Was Ugly But It Was Right: There is no doubt that John Morris deserves plenty of sympathy. He was dealt a rough hand. He has done a creditable job under trying circumstances with limited opportunity at the Sharks. Cronulla wanted to make a splash though and they have to be applauded for dreaming big. There is no such concept as fairness in Rugby League. It is kill or be killed, take the opportunity or regret it. Do you think Canterbury powerbrokers regret not going hard for Justin Holbrook rather than dilly dally with Dean Pay another season now? 

There is no question that Craig Fitzgibbon has been the most highly sought-after assistant the last two seasons. He knocked back attempts to hire him at the Knights, Dragons and Warriors. He comes from the tree of the most intellectual thinker in the game. He is a person of principle and that holds weight. He also will take the ability to recruit far easier because of the boom on his head.

Fitzgibbon is no good thing to be a star coach or even a good coach. There are some obvious concerns. Players of his standing rarely make good coaches. He has precious little experience leading a team below NRL level. 

What Fitzgibbon does have though is upside. The Sharks have made a big play and shot for the stars, the first time they have really done that since Ricky Stuart. They cannot be faulted for that. These things are never simple and it may not work out for the Sharks but this is the right move. 

Best Buys/Worst Buys: We have six weeks in the books and the early assessment for the best and worst seven are:

BEST
1.David Fifita (Gold Coast)
2.Isaiah Papalii (Parramatta)
3.Andrew McCullough (St George Illawarra)
4.Addin Fonua-Blake (New Zealand)
5.Ryan James (Canberra)
6.Jai Arrow (South Sydney)
7.Daine Laurie (Wests Tigers)

WORST
1.Corey Waddell (Canterbury)
2.Nick Cotric (Canterbury)
3.Kieran Foran (Manly)
4.Bryce Cartwright (Parramatta)
5.Jack Hetherington (Canterbury)
6.James Roberts (Wests Tigers)
7.Joe Ofahengaue (Wests Tigers)

A Finish for the Ages: Finishes don’t come much better than the end of the Tigers-Rabbitohs game where an Adam Reynolds two-point field goal sent the game to the death, Tom Burgess bursting through to seemingly score the winner and then Luke Brooks racing 110m to score at the other end. The video ref had a call. One team had won … nobody was sure who. It was a tremendous finale with the Tigers really overplaying their hand at the end after showing so much heart. The finish was the first of its kind in 135 years of the game … something for the ages. 

A Team of Morons: Canterbury-Bankstown are entitled to get beat on talent most weeks. They have an awful roster. There is absolutely no excuse for the complete and utter stupidity that they play with. They haven’t won a game this year and based on their clueless showing against North Queensland, they won’t win one. They play like a team that isn’t coached, that spent the preseason at the pub and has nobody with an IQ above that of a simpleton. Hit-ups on the last. Stupid passes as soon as a line break is made. Tactical kicking of bombing for Kyle Feldt. A long grubber for the slowest winger on the field when you have a scrum feed 30 seconds from halftime. Send offs for utterly stupid tackles. Shot clock penalties. It goes on and on and on and is an awful reflection of the current coach, the football department, the former coach and the players themselves. It should come as no surprise that this team is dumb considering some of the recruitment but there really is no excuse for the team having such a low football IQ. Most players don’t even have a basic grasp of the rules let alone tactics. 

2021 Field Goal Update – 10: What a weekend it was for the field goal with two two-point field goals slotted making it three in two weeks and completely justifying the rule change pushed by Peter V’Landys. Nathan Cleary slotted a nice one and then Adam Reynolds kicked one late with the Rabbitohs down by two that sent the game to golden point, a game eventually won by South Sydney. Mitchell Moses then hit a late insult field goal that hit plenty of woodwork and fell over with the video referee required to adjudicate. 

Fun Fact #1: Josh Hannay is 2-9 in two stints as an interim head coach. 

Fun Fact #2: There have been four coaches who have had two spells as an interim/caretaker coach over the last 35 seasons: Josh Hannay, Steve Georgallis, Craig Hodges and Graham Rogers.

Fun Fact #3: The last interim coach to get a fulltime job was Paul McGregor. 

Betting Market of the Week: After their merciless sacking of John Morris last week, Cronulla powerbrokers this week will look to:

$4.00: Shoot Bambi
$3.50: Expel Andrew Ettingshausen from the club for life
$3.00: Move the team to Perth
$2.00: Make Aiden Tolman halfback

Rumour Mill: The Sydney Roosters are reportedly in the market for former All Black TJ Perenara, whoever that may be. Scott Drinkwater is expected to leave Townsville with Canterbury, Cronulla and the Wests Tigers leading the way for his services. Will Chambers looks set to link with Cronulla in coming weeks. Matt Lodge looks set to be shuffled out of the Broncos side with a return to the Wests Tigers looming. 

The Coaching Crosshairs: Brisbane coach Kevin Walters got the best effort out of his team all season against Penrith in a game the Broncos will take plenty from but the head coach did himself no favours with his stuttering approach to the Anthony Milford axing. It was indecisiveness that got John Morris in the end at Cronulla and he certainly had a body of work far more impressive than Walters. Walters surrounding himself with his brother and old buddies is also not washing that well in Brisbane. He won’t get fired midseason but it would come as no shock if he was moved on after the year.

Moronic Coaching Decision of the Week: Todd Payten’s decision to release Josh McGuire is one that history will not judge well. McGuire spoke out earlier in the season about the lack of effort being put in by the Cowboys. He tried to set a standard. And he was shunted off. He was very good on debut for the Dragons and looks set to have a big year in the Red V. 

Jersey Watch: There is absolutely no question that the guru of Rugby League jerseys is Steven Russo. He now has a great YouTube show called ‘Rugby League Chic’ which is a must-watch for any lovers of footy jumpers. Tune in here to the latest episode. 

Watch It: Way back in 1990, watching Rugby League was not as easy as it is today. We got Friday Night Footy and a Saturday arvo game on the ABC and if we were lucky, a full replay of a game on a Sunday. If you supported a team down the bottom of the table, you may not get to watch it. So the only way to get the highlights was to either watch the news or stay up for Ian Maurice and ‘Late Night League’. Catch this episode from 1990. Highlights include a Steve Edmed line break and a Soul II Soul live concert ad. Watch it here.