With the Dally M Awards — the NRL’s awards night — rapidly approaching, it seems appropriate for the Tuesday Roast to end the (tipping) season with an awards night of its own. While the Dally M night is…not too bad, any night where Matt Awful takes home any award (that doesn’t have ‘worst’ or ‘overly reliant’ in the title) needs something of a makeover.
So…here is some awards the average NRL viewer might prefer to see presented:
The Wendell Sailor Award for Promotional Services to Rugby League
And the nominees are: Wendell Sailor, Wendell Sailor, Wendell Sailor and Wendell Sailor. Not surprisingly, the award goes to….Wendell Sailor.
In a season where off-field incidents have increased in number and severity, Wendell’s charisma and near-omnipotence have been of great benefit to the game. How popular is he? Even when he engages in actions many would deem arrogant or in bad taste, they become highly enjoyable moments (e.g. his on-field slanging match and post-try celebrations against Newcastle and Adam MacDougall in April).
While some cynics might say Wendell’s current persona is aimed squarely at his post-NRL career, there is little doubt he is an engaging and insightful analyst and these qualities have helped the Dragons to their very successful season so far.
Wendell’s relatively calm demeanour was most likely a key factor in the Dragons’ amazing form turnaround on Friday night, which saw them thrash Parramatta 37-0. But a very important factor here was that Parramatta didn’t need to win this game to keep their season alive: they hadn’t had this feeling in months. With sudden-death awaiting them now and some key returns from injury, watch for a much improved Parramatta performance in the re-match at Kogarah on Sunday.
But the boost of Wendell to the game’s image was more than countered by a massive amount of negative publicity from off-field incidents. That makes the task of finding the “best” incident a very difficult one…
The Palm Motor Inn (where Julian O’Neill “sh*t in Schlossy’s shoe” in March 1999) Award for the “best” off-field incident
And the nominees are: Brett Seymour, Brett Stewart, Anthony Watmough, Todd Carney, Jake Friend, Brett Seymour, Brad Fittler, Setaimata Sa, Jake Friend, David Fa’alogo and Nate Myles.
Yep, Nate Myles is the winner. Of course, there could still be any number of Mad Monday related incidents, but the combination of excess alcohol, an upset stomach (and corresponding medication) and a wrong door chosen brought poo back to the NRL headlines just over a decade after Julian O’Neill’s infamous misdemeanour.
If there was an award for a pathetic effort in the final game for a club legend, the Roosters would have secured it after their poor performance against the Cowbores. But if the rumour mill is on (or even close to) target, the fetid stench of gambling (and its use to profit handsomely) was all over this game. After much of the money on this game was for a Cowbores win by more than 13 points, it was extremely suspicious the way the Roosters folded late to push the final margin to beyond 13 points (not to mention the Cowbores’ celebrations for a game that should have meant little to them). We might hear a lot more about this otherwise insignificant game.
But Season 2009 saw the effect of one prominent off-field incident which came from a seemingly harmless situation. This off-field incident had far greater consequences than any of the above stupidity and sent one of the predicted contenders into a season-long torpor….
The Ben Alexander Memorial Award
For those who weren’t following rugby league in 1992, Ben Alexander was the brother of NRL commentator Greg Alexander. Penrith had won the title in 1991 after several years of being in contention and all signs pointed to a team which could contend for many years to come. Sadly, Ben was killed in a car crash which came after a drunken night, which was partly the result of Ben not receiving much time on the field. This crushed Penrith and the local community and the premiership-winning team of 1991 was dismantled from this point on.
While the Warriors’ loss wasn’t as sinister, they are the “winner” of this award, after the tragic drowning of up-and-comer Sonny Fai in January. Not only did this send the Warriors’ premiership chances plummeting, but it robbed us of one of the more exciting teams in the NRL. Save for a few brief purple patches, the Warriors found points very hard to come by in 2009.
In perhaps the most uneventful game of Round 26, Melbourne easily disposed of the Warriors and in doing so, sealed 4th spot. It was Stacey Jones’ final game (again) but the Warriors were unable to even trouble the scorer.
A number of teams in Round 26 either were unable to trouble the scorer or came very close to laying a duck egg. The most prominent of these lost the minor premiership because of it and might struggle over the next few weeks because of a major absence….
The Allan Langer ‘From Starring to Obscurity and back again’ Award
The nominees are: Adam MacDougall, Wendell Sailor, Eric Grothe, Brad Meyers, Phil Graham and…..Brett Kimmorley. Brett Kimmorley wins this award in a canter, despite some impressive returns from obscurity amongst the nominees. This is because Kimmorley stunk it up so much for Cronulla for a period spanning several seasons (not weeks or months). He steered Cronulla from a perennial contender for the title to someone who made up the numbers and was destined to never play Origin again after gifting Matt Bowen an intercept in Game 1 of 2005.
Given this, Ricky Stuart was probably well and truly justified in his desire to get rid of Kimmorley once he took over Cronulla in 2007, but by the time he got around to offloading Kimmorley, Kimmorley was starting to experience his late-career renaissance. This continued for much of the remainder of 2008 and flourished further in a quite talented Bulldogs team this season.
However, in the first game for the Bulldogs since Kimmorley’s sickening facial fractures, they were blown off the park by the Wests Tigers. Admittedly, Kimmorley might not have been able to do much: the Bulldogs started very slowly, barely touching the ball before falling 10-nil, but the pressure is on a number of prominent Bulldogs now to win without Kimmorley (either this week or next week).
The pressure was lifted from Manly somewhat on Saturday after they thrashed the Gold Coast, but that doesn’t exempt them from perhaps the most unwanted award of 2009…
The Chris Walker Award for the Big-Money Dud Signing of the Year
The nominees are: Trent Barrett, Ben Rogers, Tony Williams and Israel Folau and….ohhh there’s only one vote in it! Tony Williams is the winner, but Ben Rogers can feel very hard done by!
Williams’ sloth-like lethargy (despite his massive size) and a turning circle that made Luke Covell look nimble meant he was the most maligned Williams at Manly this season (an amazing feat, given the extreme case of second-year syndrome suffered by David Williams). It’s a great night for Williams as he also won the Jason Ryles “Looks like Tarzan, but Plays Like Jane” Award.
After the Dragons win on Friday night, the Gold Coast didn’t have much left to play for and it showed as Manly rather easily thrashed them. It wasn’t a top-shelf Manly display, but it wasn’t far off and suggests the challenge of playing big-name teams in the weeks ahead could help to produce similar efforts.
Like the Gold Coast, Souths didn’t have a lot to play for in Round 26, but somehow snuck home in the dying seconds to defeat Cronulla. For the second week in a row, a very brave Cronulla side had victory cruelly snatched from them. But in an unfortunate way, it highlights one problem in relying on too many young and inexperienced players…
The Michael Jennings Award for Youthful Inability to Read in Defence
For allowing rather easy match-winning tries in their final two games, Cronulla’s Matthew Wright is a worthy winner of this award. This award was introduced in 2007, when Penrith’s very talented rookie Michael Jennings wowed supporters while creating a nice breeze with his turnstile arms on opposing centres as they went past him.
Wright is only 18, so he could end up being a very good player, but as the depth of NRL squads is more severely tested each season and younger, more inexperienced players are required, pathetic defence such as that seen by Wright will become more common, not less.
Speaking of Jennings, his Penrith side travelled to Newcastle on Sunday with a chance to win and qualify for the finals. Not surprisingly, as they did in almost every game of significance they’ve played since the absence of Petero Civoniceva, Penrith….emulated Nate Myles and Julian O’Neill in their shorts.
But the award resulting from this game was for size. No, not Islander size or bulk, rather the best example of a “big man” with plenty of skills plying his craft for the Knights…
The Tracey Grimshaw ‘Big is Beautiful’ Award
The nominees were: George Rose (for almost bursting out of his suit on NRL on Fox last week), Danny Wicks (for his surprising skills and speed for basically a fatty boombah), Jarrad Hickey (who used to be a fatty and still looks a $1000 KFC Man of the Match away from returning to his former state) and Matt Utai (who hilariously tried to be a forward this season).
Newcastle’s Danny Wicks took out this award for the second straight year. Which prop forward scores an 80 metre try? Which prop flies (relatively speaking) through the air to take a bomb with two hands above his head AFL-style? He is a constant source of amusement on the field. Wicks’ success in recent seasons might persuade NRL teams to go back to the fatty prop (a la the trend of plus-size models on the catwalk).
The final two awards go to Canberra’s Terry Campese. Firstly, he beat out a strong field (including Paul Gallen and Billy Slater) for The ‘But My Mum says I’m the best player’ Award.
His next award is The Steve Turner ‘It’s Not My Fault They Picked Me’ Award (beating out David Williams and Steve Price (who was unfortunately ‘picked out’ by Brett White).
There is little doubt of Campese’s ability, but his on-field attitude and approach to the game was revealed to be barely above the level of a moody adolescent this season. Canberra’s ornament to the game, Alan Tongue, was often embarrassed by Campese’s unprompted appearances and stupid comments towards officials, while Campese’s inability to lead his team and play well away from home are disturbing attributes for someone in State of Origin contention to possess.
That brings to end the first Tuesday Roast™ People’s Choice Awards Night and, of course, the tipping season as a whole. Well done to all who received prizes, good luck to the remaining teams (who are ecstatic the Tigers couldn’t make it to September) and see you again in 2010.
Tuesday 8 September 2009
Round 26: Tuesday Roast™ People’s Choice Awards
Tuesday 1 September 2009
Round 25: Doesn’t Matter If you’re Black or White….Or Maroon or Scarlet or Myrtle
As has been outlined many times before, consistency is an increasingly difficult goal in today’s NRL. Hence, many teams experience vast swings in form over just a few weeks. More than ever, for any team with serious intentions of taking home the premiership, it is vital to time your run for early October.
However, this task is far easier said than done. As a result, Round 25 — when you might expect all contending teams to be preparing solidly and teams in the lower part or on the fringe of the top 8 playing at their best — proved to be a more interesting and unpredictable round than many expected. So a wide variety of late-round team types were seen.
Let’s have a closer look at every team and where they currently are in their form cycle…with a bit of help from the King of Pop, Michael Jackson (as opposed to the King of Flop, Bryce Gibbs):
Parramatta, Brisbane and the Tigers are the teams playing nearest to their best at the moment; they are finishing the season with a Wet Sail (or, as Wacko Jacko might say, “Don’t Stop Til You Get Enough”).
Parramatta continued their incredible resurgence by thrashing Penrith on Friday night. Unlike their last game against the Tigers, they started strongly, absorbed Penrith’s best, looked the far better team but this didn’t show on the scoreboard until just before half-time. A try either side of the break meant the game was pretty much over.
So Parramatta’s incredible run continues. Some may remember they put 9 wins together in late 2006 before running out of steam (and prop forwards) and being eliminated in Week 1 of the finals. This win made it 7 consecutive wins….but there are few signs of a loss being due/overdue in Parramatta’s game (aside from their abnormal run of incredible form). They didn’t even show any signs of after effects following their arduous effort against the Tigers.
But it cannot be forgotten how low their ladder standing was prior to this run…as a result, even some bad luck on Friday night could mean the end of their season. While History says they’re due for a loss, it’s hard to see it coming just yet.
Brisbane’s late-season turnaround continued on Friday night with a hard-earned win against the Cowbores. The Cowbores were extremely fortunate to get the early lead, but their top-shelf defensive effort meant they led for most of the game. While Brisbane always looked the better team, they struggled to put points on and two of their three tries looked very doubtful.
But their third try was one of the best seen in 2009. A short mid-field cross-kick by Feral Thurston went a little too far and was swallowed up by galloping Brisbane outside back Jharal Yow Yeh. Yow Yeh took off towards the Cowbores line and only Feral stood in his way. Yow Yeh then unleashed a masterful series of sidesteps and bamboozled Feral (more than the worst mace attack he has received) into eating grass.
Yow Yeh’s leap across the try-line was icing on the cake and gave Brisbane the lead, the impetus to ward off the last Cowbore advances and hold on for a much-needed win. One only had to witness the normally serene Darren Lockyer’s post-game reaction for a gauge of how important this win was for the Broncos. Despite their horrible middle few months of the season, their recent form means they could have significant input into the ultimate destination of this year’s title.
While the Tigers have now lost their last two games, and — following Manly’s unjust late win on Sunday — are now out of the running for a finals spot, their recent form has been excellent: how unfortunate for their many prominent admirers that they threw away a slew of games in the early to middle rounds of the season.
History might just reveal that the Tigers gave the rampant Eels their toughest match in the second half of 2009 and their effort in the Gold Coast heat on Saturday night despite missing a host of players to injury was….I would say gallant, but he was sadly missing due to injury.
Despite being without vital cog Beau Ryan — and his extremely important contribution of being the first man in with the post-try hugs — the Tigers led 16-12 at half-time and coming back to a 24-all score-line inside the final 15 minutes (despite having scored more tries than the Titans). Unfortunately the tiring Tigers could not produce any more and some key errors from Robbie Farah gave the Titans the boost to record a 12-point victory.
Speaking of the Titans, they head up the next group of teams: Taking Care Of Business (or, as MJ might say, the Smooth Criminals). For much of 2009, the Gold Coast has performed well only when necessary and often struggled when a match looked won or an opposition was vulnerable. Their win last week meant a top-3 spot was sealed and it was unlikely they would be able to finish higher than 3rd, so a somewhat flat effort against the Tigers would not have surprised.
So the fact that they were able to overcome a slow start and two vulnerable pairings of outside defenders (where the Tigers attacked incessantly) meant this was an impressive win for the Titans. They might not win the premiership, but they probably deserve to be a little higher in the premiership betting than they currently are.
The other Smooth Criminals are the Bulldogs, who overcame a potentially major injury to Brett Kimmorley by easily discarding the struggling Warriors. Obviously the Bulldogs would have been keen to play well for El Masri’s final normal season home game, but they’ve recorded similar efforts against a number of other potentially dangerous teams in recent weeks. The finals figure to be much tougher, but the Bulldogs have a solid rhythm established (which should continue even without Kimmorley) and should ensure they have a great chance of ultimate success.
The next group of teams could very well hold up the trophy in October, but they look a bit sick at the moment. The Struggling Giants (or, as Jacko might say “Remember The Time (when we were playing well)”) comprise last year’s grand finalists and what appeared to be one of 2009’s premier teams.
Despite a terribly slow start, Manly’s efforts during the middle of the season meant they could have a six-week sloppy stretch leading into September without this being fatal to their premiership chances. While they generally perform well against highly-ranked opposition or in hostile opposition venues, for some reason, they often struggle against less capable teams. Witness their pathetic efforts against Souths, Cronulla (at Cronulla) and (mostly) the Tigers in recent weeks.
They made heavy weather of defeating an under-strength Melbourne last week and this should have led into a smashing of Cronulla at Brookvale on Sunday. Manly lost heavily to Souths, but their performance against the Sharks was, all things considered, probably worse. To struggle mightily for a win against a much-weakened team with one man down is awful (and this was with a not-so-bad game from Matt Awful). The constant errors, dumb penalties conceded and poor attacking options taken (when each time they attacked correctly, they scored) would have frustrated even the most mild-mannered Manly supporter.
Luckily, Manly won’t be playing any more bad teams this season — this is probably exactly what they need.
Melbourne did thrash the Roosters on Saturday night: but who hasn’t thrashed the Roosters lately? Of course, the main point from this game was the return of Greg Inglis, which considerably helped what was a near-impotent Melbourne attack, but almost as important could be a number of injuries to Melbourne’s forwards. This shouldn’t be a concern this week, when they take on the Warriors, but could be their downfall in later weeks.
Last — and least — are the Dragons. How on earth did they lose 41-6 to Souths?!?!?! This was the palest of pale shadows of the team which led the competition for most of the season. The defence, the cohesiveness, the teamwork, the speed, the intensity: all were absent on Saturday night. Several moments suggested this was close to the bottom for the Dragons: Morris’ drop ball with the try-line in sight (80m away, but still), the gaping hole into which Lowe strolled for a Souths’ try but finally the farcical effort by Poore to take a Souths’ line drop-out.
Similar to Manly, the Dragons’ quality of opposition from now on will lift considerably: the threat of further humiliation could be the catalyst to turn their season around. There is no doubt the Dragons are struggling, but they have time — and one of the best coaches — on their side.
Another plus for the Dragons is their high ladder position meant they could afford a late-season slump. For many others, including the Cowbores, Penrith and Newcastle, there is not the same amount of leeway. These teams make up the Close But No Cigar group (or, as Jacko might say, there “Ain’t No Sunshine (where they’ve gone)”).
On their day, the Cowbores probably have enough talent and star power to win a premiership. A few weeks ago, they were relatively well-placed to make a good run — albeit with a tough draw in front of them. Now, at the end of their tough draw, their season is over. Injuries certainly played a role (Payne, Bowen and Hegarty) but they had strong leads in recent weeks and couldn’t seal the win at all. They thoroughly deserve their place in September purgatory and (if you don’t mind some editorial comment) it couldn’t happen to a nicer team.
Penrith and Newcastle will be involved a virtual elimination semi-final on Sunday, but realistically, both are playing for the right to be thrashed by the Bulldogs. Obviously, these teams enjoyed quite solid form during much of the season, but aside from Newcastle’s first two games under their new coach, they have both struggled heavily over the last month or so.
Newcastle’s end to the season could have been substantially different were it not for a very resilient Canberra effort last night. Canberra, Souths and (to a lesser extent) Cronulla make up the penultimate group of teams: Nuisance Value (or, as MJ might say, “They Don’t Care About Us”).
It must be an enormously frustrating season for Canberra supporters. When they are near their best, there are few better teams in the NRL. They have a huge forward pack and some very talented outside backs. They have beaten a number of contending teams (Melbourne, Brisbane, Newcastle, St George Illawarra and the Gold Coast), but they are a long way from the top 8.
Still, wins such as Canberra’s last night show just how even a competition the NRL is and, that if a few things go differently for them next season, Canberra could do as Gold Coast and Cronulla have done in recent years and surprise everyone with a near minor premiership. It remains to be seen though whether Canberra can be Nuisance Value away from home and against a Brisbane team which will surely have revenge on their mind this Sunday night.
One could very easily replace Canberra with Souths in the above two paragraphs. Souths might not have the dominant forward pack of Canberra, but they are just as capable of a big win when many expect this not to be the case. While the Dragons might be out of form, Souths would have beaten many NRL teams with their excellent effort on Saturday night.
Unfortunately for Souths, their final opponent is the last member of the Nuisance Value group: Cronulla. While Manly was far from their best, Cronulla’s effort in holding on to the lead for the bulk of their game on Sunday was admirable. They were fairly hard done by when Luke Douglas was sent off but didn’t give up. Despite the number of grubs in the Cronulla team, it was hard not to cheer for them as full-time neared and they were still in the lead. Alas, Manly finally did what they should have done much earlier and took the lead, but Cronulla won many friends with their effort.
Lastly, it’s the Cactus group (or, as Jacko might say “They’re Bad, they’re bad, so bad, c’mon”): New Zealand and the Roosters. Sunday afternoon saw the Warriors once again show glimpses of their undeniable talent, but once again, allow a team not a lot better than them to win easily. For the Roosters, it was more of the same. Another heavy defeat, more alcohol-fuelled mayhem…but if they can turn up for the departing Fitzgibbon, they just might avoid the wooden spoon (their first since MJ was a boy).
See you next week.
Tuesday 25 August 2009
Round 24: Round of The Decade: Several Wrongs Can Make A Right.
Round 24 in the NRL saw a number of pivotal matches (with respect to the shaping of the premiership ladder) take place, but what made the round memorable was that several of these games were amongst the best seen this season (or, in one case, many seasons). Obviously the NRL would be feeling great about such an outcome — however; this exciting lead-in to the finals is more in spite of (rather than because of) the efforts of the NRL.
While recent NRL rule changes (e.g. reducing the number of interchanges a team can make during a game, doubling the number of on-field referees and generally cleaning up the play-the-ball) have made for a faster and generally more attractive game in recent years (and, of course, in Round 24), it is probably too fast given that most teams find it quite difficult to achieve much consistency over the course of a season.
This problem is exacerbated by the gradual degradation of depth and experience in most NRL playing rosters, which, in turn, is largely due to the stubbornly low salary cap and the NRL’s failure to secure a much better deal from the game’s broadcasters.
However, these problems are somewhat offset by a finals series which allows half the teams to participate. Most teams (12 out of 16) have had problems putting together a sustained level of strong play during 2009, but for 8 of these 12 teams, the finals series was still a legitimate possibility entering Round 24: a quite silly outcome when you think about it, but it compensates somewhat for some games over a season when a lack of depth or experience makes a win nearly impossible.
But the major factor behind the exciting end to the minor premiership — and the factor which helps convert the NRL’s wrongs into a big right — is the generally very high level of intensity and competitiveness across the playing ranks of the NRL. If it wasn’t for this, representative games would not have the effect in evening up the competition that they do, some teams on the fringe of the top 8 would present less than the whole-hearted efforts we are currently seeing and we certainly wouldn’t be seeing some of those teams further down the ladder giving higher-up teams really tough games.
Friday night provided two top-shelf games, where intensity and competitiveness were at semi-final levels, but we also saw some brilliant skills and an extremely determined effort from a team which looked well-placed to have a fork stuck in them just a few weeks ago.
Wests Tigers against Parramatta was one of the more eagerly anticipated minor premiership games in recent memory. Two teams on long winning streaks with large supporter bases meant a bumper crowd at perhaps the best stadium for big games in Sydney…and no-one went home disappointed.
The game started slowly; both teams were perhaps a bit wary of the other’s attacking capabilities and wanted to establish a solid foundation, but the Tigers were first to threaten with points. A few minutes later, they had sensationally scored two tries (albeit with a bit of help from the referees) and an amazing game looked a real possibility.
Parramatta responded with some strong defence and then a well-worked try, which became an eight-point try, so the teams were equal at half-time; the Tigers could have felt somewhat unlucky to be in this position. But they were lucky to remain within touching distance of Parramatta in the first 10 or so minutes after half-time, after several errors and then Jarryd Hayne’s first significant involvement in the game; a big Parramatta win looked quite likely.
However, the Tigers hung on grimly to a chance of winning the game. They snuffed out several promising attacking raids from Parramatta due to a combination of strong defence and adequate desperation after Parramatta breaks, before the makeshift Tigers backline finished off some good work from their playmakers and the score-line narrowed once again.
This pattern — Parramatta try, Parramatta threatening to run away with the game, Tigers just doing enough to prevent a Parra-lanche then scoring themselves to threaten a comeback — happened again over the following 15 minutes, but the Tigers made one too many errors (when Ayshford took the ball too close to the sideline) which eventually led to the final piece of Hayne brilliance and a Parramatta win.
There have been chip-and-chase plays before, but this one took a wicked bounce, which fooled everyone…except Hayne. Hayne is not quite the perfect rugby league player — his play-acting after his misjudged elbow to Morris’ head and his bizarre behaviour in the game’s final play left a bad taste in the mouth of many — but he’s as close as anyone has been in recent memory.
Parramatta’s turnaround has been incredible, but Friday night also saw the continuation of another amazing turnaround in form, from a team with some history in this area. In Wollongong, Brisbane played their best game (by far) this season to beat the Dragons. It was only 3 weeks ago when they played their worst game when they were thrashed by Canberra. While they have welcomed some important players back from injury in recent weeks, the magnitude of improvement in this time is far more than could ever be explained by returning players.
Brisbane conceded 56 points against Canberra. They conceded 24 points in the first half just last week against Penrith. Since then…2 points conceded in 120 minutes. Players who looked remote and listless for several months while Brisbane struggled were breathing fire on Friday night; St George (Illawarra) couldn’t slay these dragons from the north.
The 2009 Broncos are not nearly as deep or talented as the title-winning 2006 Broncos, but there are similarities about the late-season turnaround both teams experienced. The 2006 squad lost five in a row before blanking the Bulldogs and Parramatta and using that as a springboard to a premiership. The upcoming opposition for the 2009 team looks quite friendly; a Broncos run, as inexplicable as it seemed just a few weeks ago, is certainly on the cards.
Meanwhile for the Dragons, the landscape has changed considerably. After bullying teams and using their speed for easy points for so long, they have run into two inconsistent teams in the last two weeks who have played their best (and most physical) game of the season. It can be a good wake-up call for them — assuming they can lift their game and defeat a similar effort if/when it comes during the finals — but Canberra and Brisbane might just have shown the rest of the NRL how to beat the Dragons. History may ultimately say the Dragons overachieved through much of 2009…a very interesting next few weeks for those following the Red V awaits.
Saturday’s early game was another cracker, as Newcastle stormed back after half time to overhaul the disappointing Cowbores. This was a must-win game for the Cowbores, and after a slow start, their attack got going and put on three impressive tries (and a try for Feral Thurston, where he fooled the defence, who were waiting for a penalty kick for touch, by taking a quick tap and scoring easily).
But everything went for Newcastle in the second half. They showed few signs of fatigue after a tough game last Monday night, the Cowbores defence proved to be quite charitable, another bad knee injury to Matt Bowen hurt the Cowbores across the park and Kurt Gidley had a successful night, not missing a single attempt for goal.
Newcastle’s comeback was so good they had overhauled the Cowbores’ 14-point lead within 25 minutes. There were some last-minute nerves as the Cowbores scored to cut the Knights’ lead to 6 but they held on for an impressive win. Not only did they put back to back wins together inside five days, but they virtually ended the season for the Cowbores: this alone is worthy of the highest praise.
It’s a rare event that a late-season grand final re-match is relegated to being only the fourth best match of the round, but this was the case in Round 24 where Manly outlasted Melbourne in the battle of the robots. Manly had NEVER won in Melbourne before Sunday and it appeared they would never have a better chance to do so. Melbourne’s attacking capability was severely limited with the continued absence of Inglis, while Manly should have thanked Channel 9 for choosing this as their Sunday game: Olympic Park holds far fewer demons on a dry Sunday afternoon (as opposed to a dewy Friday or Saturday night).
However, someone forgot to tell Manly that it was very windy in Melbourne on Sunday. Actually, given the way Manly played with the wind at their back in the first half, you’d have thought they had never played on a windy day before. ‘Dumb’ would be a polite way to describe Manly’s approach. Their kicking game was pathetic; Matt Awful showed his intentions to kick early in Manly’s first set for field position and the chance of a 40-20 but he dropped the ball. Rarely for the rest of the half did Manly show any signs of thought or strategy when kicking with the gale at their back.
Luckily for them, Melbourne was not in much of a position to punish them. On such a windy day, long-range attack (i.e. good passing and player movement opening up a gap from outside the opposition’s 20-metre line) was always going to be more successful than having to put a kick up near the goal-line and with Olympic Park’s shallow in-goal areas, but only in the second half did Melbourne display any sort of threat from distance.
Manly’s defence largely repelled them and luckily responded with a try after a kick pinballed between players. When Awful put in his first good kick of the half, it gathered pace as it neared the sideline for a 40-20 and Manly scored soon after through some typically feeble Brett Finch defence: how easy was that?! (Speaking of Brett Finch and mistakes, for those with a long memory, Fox Sports will be playing his poor error in judgement from the 2001 match between Canberra and Newcastle at 9.30pm tonight. How bad was it? Finch was in tears after he gifted Newcastle the win….Andrew Johns famously felt quite sorry for Finch).
More luck came Manly’s way in the second half as Melbourne’s kicking game with the wind at their back was almost as bad as Manly’s: a highly surprising result given that Cronk and Cameron Smith are considered quite intelligent players. However Melbourne did use the ball quite well from long-distance and threatened to overwhelm Manly with two tries and a brilliant Smith conversion to take a 16-12 lead.
But Manly held true and somehow took the lead back after Melbourne failed to deal with a Jamie Lyon kick. Awful’s conversion and a later penalty goal gave Manly a four-point lead (and 20 points…the historical barrier for success if you’re an opposition team playing in Melbourne). Despite some nervous moments (e.g. makeshift fullback Farrar’s brilliant tackle on Slater probably saved the win for Manly), Manly held on for what could be a very important win.
The other ‘Round of the Decade’ matches were not quite so awe-inspiring. Penrith took a while to get going, but had far too much for Souths (who had played their grand final against the Titans last week). Canberra also had their grand final last week when they beat the Dragons. Not surprisingly, the Warriors found them to be quite vulnerable and defeated them easily. The Gold Coast did their usual against rubbish teams and produced little more than was necessary to beat Cronulla, while last night, the Bulldogs were solid in easily defeating the Roosters.
This game featured a continuation in the late-career renaissance of Brett Kimmorley, as he toyed with the Roosters and looked a lot like himself from 10 or so years ago. Some have called Kimmorley an ‘evergreen’; these people need to check some press clippings (or, ideally, some Monday Roasts) circa 2004-2006 when Kimmorley stunk it up for Cronulla. His combination with Adam Dykes was one of the least successful (in terms of win-loss percentage) in history (for a combination which stayed together for so long) and Cronulla almost perennially played horribly in the second half of each season. Full credit to Kimmorley, of course, for turning his career around (and not running off to England and a big paycheck) but despite the nice story and his affable on-screen persona, his execrable form for a number of years for the worst team in history should not be forgotten.
See you next week.
Tuesday 18 August 2009
Round 23: The NRL Report
Rugby League has a rich and storied history since its birth over 100 years ago. For the bulk of this period, Rugby League was not a profession. It was a pastime, a weekend event, a discussion point on Monday morning at school or the office. It wasn’t followed on pay television; if you loved the game, you just had to watch it in person (or at worst, listen to it on radio). There were a few administrators who could use Rugby League to put food on the table, but they were mostly retired greats of the game who were incapable of working for Rothmans, running a pub down the coast or one of several other typical post-playing career jobs.
In short, Rugby League was a sport, not a business, but this changed. The origins of this shift were probably seen in the 1970s (and perhaps earlier) but it was the 1980s when the movement towards full-time professionalism in the game accelerated.
Given the two decades plus since this shift hastened, you’d think the Rugby League community would be used to cold-hearted, business-like decisions made by clubs, players and coaches. The decision by Newcastle to sack Coach Brian Smith three games after his signing with the Roosters from next season should not have surprised anyone; if anything, it should have happened sooner.
Granted, Smith is a target for several sections of Rugby League media, but really…Smith’s sacking should have been the equivalent of a five-line press release summary in the corner of a page in the Fin Review. However, despite the morphing of sport into business, the reality is the Rugby League follower will always view the sport as a game, no matter how money-hungry its participants become.
But what if it was viewed as a business, with 16 companies out to maximise profit, minimise costs and corner as much of the market as possible? Here’s how the reporting of Rugby League events in the media could take place in such a world…
And now it’s the NRL report with Tom Piotrowski from CommSec, and Tom, who were the best performers this week?
Once again, Karen, it was ParraEels Ltd. which recorded the strongest growth. This came on the back of another extremely strong showing, which outstripped all but the most bullish of expectations from analysts. While some expected their strategic movements (asset sales and the hiring of a new CEO) in the early and late parts of FY 2008/09 to bear fruit in the medium to longer term (given their strong market fundamentals and well established brand), few gave them any chance to be posting such strong numbers so soon.
As their chart shows, it has been a meteoric rise for ParraEels over the last few months, but they remain below the historic highs of 2001 and 2005, so there is still some upside if you wish to get on the bandwagon. Despite their surge in recent months, a number of brokers see ongoing growth and positive reinforcement to come from their asset buyback and several other acquisitions…but be warned, what goes up must eventually come down. If you’re looking at ParraEels to put in your back pocket, that might be the best bet…but history says you will enjoy a bumpy ride!
Similarly, the Wests/Tigers conglomerate has risen remarkably when most of the fundamentals pointed to continued weakness. While their competitive cost structure and flashy brand translates to continued appeal with mum-and-dad and institutional investors alike, most of their rallies after their incredible burst to prominence in the early part of FY 2005/06 have been flashes in the pan.
The consensus view is unclear whether this current rally will be any different; they have enjoyed the rails run of late with very friendly market conditions, while a rare overseas investment foray early in FY 2008/09 has been paying some significant dividends. However, it remains unclear if they can continue to produce such good results. Their relative lack of a diversified asset portfolio has always haunted them; this hinders their ability to produce consistently in difficult markets, such as the one looming on the horizon for them. A strong recent performer, yes, but it is no surprise that more analysts are recommending their clients to sell Wests/Tigers.
Interesting, what do you make of the results of blue-chips News Brisbane and News Melbourne?
The News-owned companies experienced contrasting fortunes in their latest results, but can feel fairly good about the near term.
News Melbourne went into a trading halt earlier in the week and subsequently suffered a sharp dive when they had to release a product recall on their popular Inglis brand. The rumour mill went into overdrive once this info hit the bourse and even several days after the trading halt was lifted. It appears as though Inglis will be back on the shelves in the not-too-distant future, but it remains to be seen how much damage Inglis — and News Melbourne — have suffered. However, the consensus, despite their relatively poor showing this week, is that News Melbourne remains a fundamentally strong outfit and will be able to post very good results for the remainder of the trading year: News Melbourne is a buy or a buy/hold from all analysts surveyed.
For their Brisbane counterpart, it has been well-established that a number of poor investment decisions in recent times have hit their bottom line hard; this is not the profits machine it was for so many years. Throw in a number of unplanned maintenance shutdowns and it is not surprising just how poorly News Brisbane has been performing.
However, as is often the case, investors can overshoot in the good times and oversell in the bad; the strong fundamentals of News Brisbane remain and have been largely ignored. The chart shows News Brisbane exhibited the first green shoots in their last set of results, which improved further last week. Given their strong fundamentals and their intention (and ability) to invest in some significant new assets in coming years, this remains a solid defensive stock.
Contrasting results for the best performers so far in CY 2009, Red V Ltd and Doggie Style Inc.?
As we all know, Red V Ltd have been extremely successful this year. It just goes to show the value of top-shelf boardroom leadership. People can get angry with the issue of executive pay, but new Red V CEO Wayne Bennett would suggest he’s worth every penny (or much more) of his salary.
Recent results for Red V were very lucrative for investors (many of whom got on board during the halcyon days of the 1960s) and were achieved in a very efficient and productive manner, but they suffered a rare hiccup after their annual visit to Canberra last week. Despite their very famous brand and a number of studies showing quite strong multiplier effects from their investments, Canberra has been a very difficult opponent for Red V over many years (even following the change of Government).
Their ongoing trouble with the Feds notwithstanding, Red V has very solid ongoing prospects. Given Bennett’s history of success with News Brisbane, now might be a good time to buy: novices could be shaken by their failure in Canberra and could look to sell, whereas wiser heads had already factored this into Red V’s price.
Some other news about Red V this week concerns rumours of a possible takeover of Sharks International. These companies have a well-established rivalry in the southern Sydney market, but whispers from within Red V see Sharks International as a similar-type target as Illawarra Steel was in 1998: asset-rich but revenue-poor and able to be won over eventually by the history of Red V. Speculation to this end has probably put a floor under Sharks International’s price at present, but be prepared for this floor to fall away as m&a activity in NRL is notoriously slow to take place.
Doggie Style Inc. has come off the boil somewhat in recent results, although history tells us that when this happens, there’s usually a method to their madness and there is a definite plan to attack and profit heavily in the not too distant future. Look for some more softness in their price in coming months as the market realises the effect of the retiring of the El Masri brand (although rumours continue that El Masri will not be lost to Doggie Style completely; rather, it will assume a secondary role) but Doggie Style quietly announced several small acquisitions this week. Their constant ability to re-invent themselves in tough times means this is a resilient stock: highly recommended by most analysts.
And lastly, further success in what has usually been a challenging market sector for Golden Titans Ltd.?
Yes, Karen, Golden Titans quickly established a strong niche in the burgeoning SEQ market following their incorporation in 2007, but has struggled to gain a foothold elsewhere, especially in the notoriously tough Sydney market. Whereas some (such as Doggie Style Inc.) have fuelled recovery and growth via asset acquisition and reinvigoration, Golden Titans have strengthened via organic growth and improved strategy and preparation with their existing stock of assets.
So far in CY 2009, Golden Titans have continued their dominance in SEQ but have recorded much improved results (albeit off a low base) in other metropolitan areas. They had their first success in Melbourne in April and now have had successful ventures in Auckland and western Sydney in the last two weeks.
Western Sydney required all of Golden Titans’ nous and expertise; their usual star performers gave a good showing but success was largely due to a powerhouse effort from Minichiello. His familiarity with that market, in combination with his other strengths, proved decisive.
The Sydney challenge will no doubt present itself again soon, but in the meantime, those who have invested in Golden Titans will receive some nice rewards in coming weeks as their focus returns to their native area.
See you next week.
Tuesday 11 August 2009
Round 22: Diss-parate Times Call For Diss-parate Measures
On its own, Karmichael Hunt’s decision to play Australian Rules football from 2010 will not have a major effect on Rugby League, but it’s hard not to imagine KHunt’s move hurting the game over the medium to long-term. There will likely come a day when the common response of a Rugby League diehard to the loss of a star player to a rival code or overseas — “you lose a Gasnier or a Sonny Bill and along comes an Inglis or a Hayne in their place” — no longer applies.
The trend towards a lower average age of NRL players these days will probably exacerbate this trend when it does become apparent. In general, these younger players are more likely to be influenced by the dollars on offer from rival codes (or choose one of these rival codes well before reaching the NRL).
The NRL simply cannot stand by and let this happen; something must be done. Any efforts to substantially increase salaries for elite players will likely not eventuate for some time, so the NRL needs to think outside the box: how can they reach the new generation in a non-monetary way?
KHunt has often told of his love for the NBA and his Playstation, other players of his age and younger — many of whom are from an Islander or Polynesian background — often profess their love for hip hop music. For these kids, one can only imagine the awkwardness the first time they represent their team in a victory and are forced to shout out the words to an ancient tune such as “Glory Glory to South Sydney”, “When The Saints Go Marching In” or “Up Up Cronulla”.
Hence, the first suggestion for the NRL (and the clubs) to attract and retain young superstars is to scrap the traditional victory song in favour of the “diss song” (or the battle song). This is from the world of hip hop music and was probably put on the map for most people by the 2Pac v. Biggie feud of the mid 1990s (which contributed to their untimely deaths), but was brought into popular culture by Eminem and “8 Mile” in 2003.
Even though many of the young Islander and Polynesian kids in the NRL are religious and respectful of their opponents (especially of a similar background), the concept of the diss song could (following a game with the right amount of spice) be highly popular with a number of players as well as creating more “interest” amongst rival supporters.
It goes without saying that this is a risky strategy, but it could help a highly competitive game even more so; no player is going to want to change codes in this environment! Not to mention that, with so much of the players’ energies devoted to preparing diss songs for their upcoming opposition, they won’t have time to think about their (relatively) inferior salaries!
Here’s how the battle songs of the victors in Round 23 might have sounded:
St. George Illawarra took advantage of an anxious Penrith side to jump to an early lead and coast to a relatively easy 25-6 win.
Congrats Penrith, you made it to 1000 games
But you couldn’t beat us if you had 1000 days
Your attack was useless; my god, you had to make do
With a Brian Smith reject! No excuses
Your fans turned up (kudos)
In their flannos and ugg boots
But on your big night
You suffered from huge stage fright
Granted, you were blinded by the light
From Wendell’s unsightly big behind
But you struck out in the game on (free) TV
To us, the mighty Red V!
Melbourne was not at their best, but their defence was still quite solid and they did more than enough for a 20-4 win over the Cowbores.
You came to the Graveyard with the best of hopes
But like all the others, you left as a bad joke
You have Feral and Matty Bowen
But you were rubbish, you had no flowin’
At all, despite lots of ball
Why was Rovelli kicking?
He has nothing at all
Go back to your banjos, your heat and your moonshine
And don’t bother tryin’ to beat us; we’re going just fine
Manly finally got off to a good start, but their ongoing problems were even more present this week and a keen South Sydney side took full advantage for a 36-22 win.
You started fast, but that was an illusion
Our avalanche of points proved your delusion
You might be premiers but you are diseased
You have more holes than a block of Swiss cheese
Let’s start with the wingers, the Williams sisters
Our new boy McQueen, his speed gave them blisters
Then there’s Matt Awful, his game is so drab
Everything is sideways, he plays like a crab
Finally there’s Watmough, the DNA freak
He lost it, we killed you; let’s do it again next week
The Bulldogs were a bit lucky to get away with a 23-20 win over the surprisingly resilient Raiders.
Bad luck Raiders, maybe next year
Yes you got close, but we didn’t leave first gear
At this time of season, when we’re near the top
We ease off against rubbish, we give you a shot
These games don’t really matter, so long as we win
But you shocked us a little, lucky Campese can’t kick
Or execute a field goal; he had a ‘mare
Off you go to Advanced Hair (Yeh Yeh)
But we won, that’s all we needed remember?
We’ll be ready to peak come September
Gold Coast rather easily defeated the Warriors 30-10, but this was significant for a team that struggles out of Queensland.
We lost at home and had to make amends
Against the Warriors, but they are our friends
They made us feel welcome with so much possession
And a lack of intensity; as well as aggression
But we’re not complaining, we needed the win
If we couldn’t beat these losers, our season’s in the bin
Thanks again Warriors, your tripe was much needed
We’re back on track, thanks to you we succeeded
Wests Tigers were unsurprisingly a bit flat after they survived Manly’s incredible comeback last round, but they shook off the enthusiastic Roosters eventually to record a 17-10 win.
A sunny Sunday at “home”; we love it
But harder than expected, the Chooks made us earn it
We started slowly and were lucky to be near
But the no-try to Taniela kicked us into gear
And we fired up nicely, led by Ellis
The big Pommy unleashed and made the Chooks jealous
Of their former Old Dart influence; Morley’s no more
Like Mini’s pace; he was sent into Row 4
An important win against solid opposition
Another like this and we’ll be near 5th position
The Parramatta juggernaut rolled on, gaining momentum with a 40-8 thrashing of Newcastle.
Knights, you learned how Smith can screw you
So we had to puts points on, to hasten his leaving you
Lucky this was easy, you guys are pathetic
A pen goal at 6-all? That decision was sick
And not in the good way, it was more than terrible
Just like your play; you guys were awful
We lifted a bit and you folded away
Like Superman on laundry day
Hayne’s our Superman; he killed you again
Way too easy: you were nil out of ten
Finally, Brisbane finally showed some small glimpses of a return to form as they defeated a brave but ultimately out of their depth Cronulla 30-10.
We were struggling, but you even more so
With so many out, you’re like no arms on a torso
You started ok, kicking about
But you couldn’t get far and we started the rout
Normally we’d ease off then head to the pub
But we had to keep going to smash Gallen the grub
It was great to win after all the hard knocks
So let’s go celebrate with Red Bull and Stilnox!
See you next week.
Tuesday 4 August 2009
Round 21: "That's A Big Call!"
“That’s a big call. That’s a big call!” Feral Thurston was stunned: his team-mate Luke O’Donnell was just sent from the field in May last year for using an elbow as a weapon whilst in possession of the ball. This hadn’t happened since….maybe Craig Smith (when he used to visit the judiciary a handful of times per season) but Cement Gillespie certainly was dismissed similarly in the late 1980s. Even more amazingly, O’Donnell was sent off by a rookie referee.
However, O’Donnell could not have struck Luke Lewis in the throat any more sweetly if he had tried and he had acquired a reputation over many years for raising his elbow at inopportune moments (most notably when he inflicted similar pain on to Michael Monaghan’s jaw in 2003). In fact, Feral’s “big call” was anything but; instead, it was exactly the right call and one that had to be made.
Below are 10 “big calls” from Round 21:
St George Illawarra against Melbourne will likely be considered as the most interesting match of the season…unless they meet again in the semi finals.
Not only was this match a chance for the Dragons to exact some revenge over a long-time tormentor, but it would be a great test of their ability to win in big games. Early on, the Dragons started strongly and took the lead, but Melbourne responded with a level of play not seen from them…perhaps ever. They were clearly pumped at the prospect of defeating the probable minor premiers and this was seen in their level of intensity and well-thought-out strategy. Also, history has shown they are rarely able to play at this level in the few weeks after the Origin series concludes.
Not long after the Dragons took their lead, Melbourne responded with two tries, the second of which pitted Inglis and Soward together in a scene which was probably not far off Soward’s worst nightmare. As he did in their Round 1 meeting, Soward went high trying to tackle Inglis and copped the brunt of Inglis’ strength, but he somehow stayed in the play. The only weapon he had left to stop Inglis scoring was the Slater kick; this (just) failed, but the referees rubbed salt into the wound by giving a possible 8-point try.
Dragons coach Wayne Bennett would have been delighted at Melbourne’s approach to this game; whether the Dragons won or lost, this game was going to be a great test for his relatively young team. The Dragons responded before half time as Soward found Sailor out wide, but Soward was perhaps still understandably affected by the intensity of the Melbourne effort and this was reflected in his second missed conversion of the game.
Even though they lost Sika Manu to a broken leg early on, Melbourne looked to have a great chance to win this game. Cameron Smith was causing havoc around the ruck, Dallas Johnson somehow found the energy to have an excellent game and Billy Slater continued his brilliant form. However, the Dragons (largely) kept their composure, maintained their intensity and (with a few pieces of luck) kept Melbourne scoreless for the remainder of the game while scoring three tries of their own.
At times they appeared a little….anxious and probably expended a bit more energy than they normally would (due to the semi-final-like game arriving earlier than expected), but for the Dragons to achieve such a win was a significant step. Yes, they were quite lucky that Tomane’s acrobatic effort for a try for Melbourne was disallowed for no good reason (it was not possible to see his elbow out of the field of play when he touched the ball down), but it was a stirring Dragons’ victory…and a possible pre-cursor to perhaps an even better game in Week 3 of the finals if the Dragons finish 1st, Melbourne finish 4th and results go as expected.
Jamie Soward: was this the game where he finally confirms his brilliance in big games?
This game was not just a test for the Dragons, but it was a huge test for their prolific but somewhat inexperienced (at least in big matches) five-eighth Jamie Soward. His skills and talent are not in doubt, but the fact that such a player was kept away from the Origin blowtorch in a year when NSW was crying out for talent suggests those in the know where unsure of Soward’s ability against the very best and uncertain if a bad game at this level would severely stunt his development.
Soward has dominated the lesser lights in recent weeks but he quickly became aware of the difficulty of the task in front of him on Friday night. It wasn’t just the looming spectre of Inglis and his lethal palm, but a battle-hardened, smart team full of big-game players who wanted nothing more than to shoot down this season’s best team so far.
The task for Soward became even more difficult when he sustained a shin injury early in the second half and it appeared he needed to leave the field for treatment. Eventually, a combination of his own pride and determination and a fire-up from Wendell Sailor saw Soward overcome his demons (at least on this night) and lead his team to a famous win. The pinpoint long passes, the accurate kicking game, the much-mimicked but quite precise goal kicking ability and his blinding speed were all on display in the second half. He probably needs to come through another half-dozen or so games such as this to prove himself to the people that matter, but overall, it was a very positive night for Soward.
Steve Turner: the worst signing for the Bulldogs since Brett Howland (or Leon Bott)?
Apart from Soward’s resilience and the video referee blunder to disallow Tomane’s try, the other talking point after this game was Steve Turner (Melbourne’s other winger) and his quite pathetic attempt to outpace Ben Creagh and score what would have been a very important try.
Turner gathered a loose ball with about 15 minutes left and saw a very generous sideline gap. He executed the standard in-and-away on Darius Boyd and had no defenders in front of him. Any winger worth his salt should score in this situation, but after 30 metres or so of sprinting, he inexplicably slowed up and slightly headed infield.
At this point, Dragons’ second rower Ben Creagh — the closest defender, but realistically no chance of catching a winger in a sprint — received a burst of hope; now he had a chance of collaring this excuse of a player and the worst NSW Origin player in history. Turner realised his mistake, but couldn’t accelerate away from Creagh. Hornby joined in to stop Turner’s progress and after the rest of the Dragons arrived and repelled the Storm in that set of tackles, the Kogarah Oval crowd rose as one, a great win was as good as sealed…and Turner’s reputation as a joke was confirmed.
Replacing one of the great wingers ever (still) with Steve Turner? Usually the Bulldogs make astute signings, but this one is way off the mark. Time will tell whether Turner will be as useless as other pathetic wingers Brett Howland and Leon Bott or hooker Michael Sullivan (all of whom came via the Cronulla Sharks: no coincidence there) but look out for Turner to be playing lots of park rugby league next season.
It might be a little late, but it looks like the Gold Coast’s annual decline has begun.
It’s hard to blame the Gold Coast for playing at such a high level for so much of this season. They are understandably so keen just to make it to September after disappointing finishes to their first two seasons, but in doing so (probably), they may very well have burnt themselves out.
Sure, the Cowbores’ effort against them on Friday night was one of the better ones seen this season, but the Titans were so far off the pace. Usually, their intensity and consistency of effort — especially at home and against good teams — means they are always a great chance of winning, but it became apparent after a few minutes on Friday night this was not the usual Titans. They threatened to score early and start well, but their attack was lacking. Even when try opportunities presented themselves (to Minichiello and Gordon), there was not the hunger and effort to score. You know when Matt Bowen stops you from scoring one-on-one that something is not right.
Granted, Gold Coast was without several important forwards (Laffranchi, Harrison) as well as Mat Rogers, but they have made do without injured players at different times all season. They will likely improve when these injured/suspended players return, but it’s hard not to see the Titans limp across the line unless they can find another gear (as the top teams do).
Feral Thurston >>>> Prince
In a way, the struggles of the Titans against the Cowbores were represented by the tough night Scott Prince had against Feral Thurston. Prince is a very experienced, skilful and capable player…but he doesn’t have the extra gear for big games. He’s just not enough of a Feral. Interpret that however you like, but Feral Thurston…he might not always produce when needed, but when he does produce, he leaves pretenders like Prince in his wake.
Prince tried to bring his team back into the game, but it was never going to happen. Some say he is unlucky not to have played many Origin games due to Lockyer and Feral, but there is a feeling he might not be much good at the Origin level, not at this late stage of his career anyway. Look for Cooper Cronk to take over from Lockyer when Lockyer retires from representative rugby league next season and for Prince Charles to regret the extremely long tenure of Queen Lockyer.
Cowbores played great…almost as great as their cheerleaders think they always play.
It was an excellent and very timely performance from the Cowbores. Feral was very good, but Matt Bowen was even better. He dominated at both ends, with several try-saving tackles followed up by tries and try assists.
However, to say they (and he) were overdue for such a game was an understatement. After their highly fortuitous late-season run in 2004, they had a better season in 2005 but couldn’t overcome the might of the Tigers, losing heavily to them three times in the season’s final few months. Since then…they threw away a brilliant start in 2006, they somehow made it to the prelim final in 2007 without any decent forwards and with Feral playing without two shoulders and stunk it up in 2008.
Yet the Cowbores somehow escape any media criticism for their lack of results. Mention the Cowbores to most media commentators and have your sick bucket at the ready…”Matty Bowen, what a player, an excitement machine!!!!....Thurston to Bowen, what a combination!” These comments might be credible if they were accurate for more than a few times a season.
If they could play at somewhere near the level they showed on Friday night, they would be a legitimate shot at a premiership and deserving of their massive amount of kudos. But there has rarely been a bigger ‘if’ in the history of the world…
KHunt’s greatest skill might be his evasiveness…but he’s no Michael Jordan.
Much has been said on Karmichael Hunt’s jaw-dropping mid-career code change. Most of the good points have already been made a number of times since last Wednesday (for an excellent summary of everything KHunt, see Phil Gould’s article from Sunday’s SMH) but there are some left to be made.
To paraphrase a point made by Gould, if KHunt wanted a challenge, he could have stayed at the Broncos and helped them out of the rather massive hole they are currently in. Signing Folau for $400m or whatever ludicrous amount they paid for him whilst letting key forwards Stagg, Hannant, Ennis and Eastwood leave (and keeping Joel Clinton) has proven to be an incredibly bad decision from what is usually a smart club when it comes to player signings. Did Bennett approve of this before he left? Or did he approve knowing it would ruin the club which didn’t want him any longer? Whatever the reason, KHunt showed on Saturday night he does not possess the aptitude or the attention span to stick around when times are tough and do the hard work.
KHunt mentioned that he made an impromptu trip to Melbourne the day after Brisbane’s game against the Tigers in Sydney. How did he throw his team-mates and club officials off the scent? A visit to his dealer perhaps? (This would have met with Hodges’ seal of approval). This was just a few days after Joel Clinton brought a girl back to his hotel room (which cost him a massive fine); surely lying to your team-mates is the worse offence???
Speaking of KHunt’s attention span though, it has been documented on several occasions that he is not a fan of watching NRL at all; he’d rather be on his PlayStation or watching NBA. Hopefully, KHunt’s decision was not influenced by Michael Jordan and his stint playing baseball over 18 months in the mid 1990s. Not because Jordan was a failure at a game he loved as a child, but because Jordan’s time away from basketball has been rumoured to be a gambling-related suspension (rather than time away from basketball due to burnout).
Given KHunt’s rather dubious extra-curricular activities, he may be trying a little too hard to be Like Mike, but it’s hard to see KHunt returning to the NRL in two years and dominating the game like Jordan did. Farewell KHunt; hope the toilet cubicles in Melbourne are large enough for you.
Penrith, Newcastle, Parramatta (in addition to the Gold Coast) took a trip in the NRL time machine — but had differing views on what they saw.
The Gold Coast’s return to their form of late 2007 and 2008 has already been discussed, but the time machine was in use for a number of other teams this weekend.
Newcastle is a very similar team to the Gold Coast; quite young (as a combination), well coached and overachieving (until the last few weeks). It is perhaps not a surprise both teams have (finally) dropped off, but it is probably somewhat more disturbing for Newcastle, given their team was relatively more intact than Gold Coast’s and they were up against less talented opposition. While it can be understood that the Roosters had the motivation of playing for their 2010 coach and losing the wooden spoon, Newcastle’s effort was just not good enough.
In years gone by, Penrith was always a risk of losing when expected by most to win, while they were also a risk of winning when expected by most to lose. These traits looked to have disappeared this season and they were more ‘predictable’ than they had been but the last two weeks has seen their notorious inconsistency return.
Their impressive win in Townsville was followed up by a woeful first 52 minutes against the Warriors, but somehow Penrith escaped from this amazing game with a point. The return of their inconsistency may not be a problem this week (when they play the Dragons), but they will need to perform well against the likes of Brisbane and Souths if they are to play in September this year.
Finally, Parramatta have been very poor against lesser NRL teams this season and some expected a fired-up Cronulla would continue this trend, but Parramatta’s great run of success at Woolooware and a winning streak and solid form which reminds many of their late run in 2006 was further built upon on Sunday as they thrashed the gallant Sharks.
Hayne and Watmough are…well…’men against boys’ does not do them justice
Put simply, Jarryd Hayne and Anthony Watmough are running rampant over their opposition each week at the moment. Parramatta and Manly have played some impressive teams in recent weeks but this has not slowed down Hayne or Watmough. They also dominated the latter State of Origin games and have continued their form into this part of the NRL season — very few players can claim this last point.
More impressively for Hayne, his form has largely occurred without any significant help from his team-mates. As Parramatta’s winning run has continued, so has the help Hayne has received, which bodes well for the Eels, but early on, he was almost a one-man band.
Watmough is part of perhaps the best forward pack in the NRL, but his all-round efforts — his defence is hard-hitting without being hit or miss, his dummy half runs and hole running are both exemplary — mean he can have a significant influence on a game without making the highlights on the news. But he was everywhere against the Tigers last night, scoring tries, at dummy half, in defence and for 80 frenetic minutes as well.
It is hard — very hard — to repeat as NRL premiers (Or…to soar without wings and a sense of direction is extremely difficult).
Unfortunately for Watmough, his team is hard-working but dumb. Manly should have handily defeated the Tigers last night, but failed to exploit the holes in the Tigers’ hard-working but ultimately sloppy defence until it was too late.
Also, their attack near the opposition goal-line was once again dumb. Too much sideways movement and a poor kicking game from Matt Awful and Jamie Lyon meant the Tigers’ new-found verve in defence was very effective in the first 50 or so minutes.
However, Manly’s endurance and greater physical capability meant they were able to come home extremely strongly once it became apparent the Tigers were happy with 19 points on the board. Tony Williams — The Comatose Giant — awoke from his year-long slumber to score an incredible try (then fell asleep once again) but it was Watmough and his skilful hole-running which dramatically cut into the Tigers’ lead.
Manly’s other winger, David Williams, almost scored after TCG’s effort to start the years of work needed to make up for his horrific first-half blunder but was just pushed into touch. For those who missed it, Robbie Farah miscued a field goal late in the first half and the ball fell to Wolfman. Channelling former Eel Paul Carige and his infamous semi-final blunder from 1998, Wolfman decided a long kick straight to the Tigers was the best play here. Unfortunately, Benji Marshall decided against the field goal attempt (as took place after Carige’s blunder), which would have been a brilliant moment.
While the theatre of the moment was not lost on anyone watching the game, this may prove to be the end of the Wolfman. Perhaps his best characteristic was his ability to shrug off mistakes and continue to run the ball fast and hard. Origin tested him as he hadn’t been tested before, but no matter how many mistakes he made and how many times Inglis palmed him off, his self-confidence remained strong. But in the second half last night…David Williams (sans beard) was a wreck. The Tigers sensed this and pressured him relentlessly; fortunately he made no more howling errors (like Carige did).
Those with a greater sense of history would remember fellow winger Steve Mavin and his catastrophic display against Canberra in week 2 of the finals in 1987. After a number of blunders and Canberra on the way to a cricket score, he was replaced and left the ground quickly. Mavin’s career was not as doomed as Carige’s but Wolfman would hope his career is not like either...but it could be possible.
Despite all of Manly’s problems, they still should have won, as the Tigers faded. Alas, Matt Awful missed one field goal and was on the way to a horrendous miss, before the charge-down gave Manly the ball again inside the last minute. The Tigers’ defence was shot and stranded on the line; Awful didn’t know whether to shape for the field goal and the certain win in golden point or the match-winning try as the ultimate knockout punch. Both options were very available, but Awful went for the lowest percentage option and failed with his fling pass to TCG.
In many ways, this game represented Manly’s season so far: a wonderful team on paper, looking (at times) world-beating, but just off their game enough in some key areas so that success is so close but yet so far. At their best, they could very well repeat as premiers, but the effort they’ve had to expend this season after their slow start, the additional workload of their Origin players and the accrued ‘miles on the clock’ means that a Manly premiership win will be somewhat harder work than it was in 2008. Perhaps the return of Brett Stewart will be the catalyst they need (and will help them to put either Wolfman or TCG — or both — into reserve grade), but it would be no disgrace after all they’ve had to endure if they do not repeat as premiers; it is extremely difficult.
See you next week.
Tuesday 28 July 2009
Round 20: It's a Small World After All...
In the collision sport of Rugby League, where size and strength are such important characteristics for almost every player, it seems somewhat counter-intuitive that it is the smaller players who will most likely determine their team’s success (or lack thereof) in a given season but it is well-known across the NRL.
After all, it is relatively easy to get size and strength; these characteristics can be acquired and developed via hard work. But the characteristics of the smaller men in the NRL — their speed, their guile, their playmaking instinct, their “nose” for a possible try-scoring situation — are more often than not much more difficult to come by than size and strength.
Not surprisingly, by extension, there is not much of a difference between the size and strength of most NRL playing rosters, but the “smaller men” characteristics are not so evenly distributed: for the most part, those teams with the more talented smaller men usually succeed, in a given round and over the course of a season.
Round 20 was no exception; below are the smaller men who led their teams to victory over the weekend and/or have played a significant role in their team’s success so far this season.
Manly: Ben Farrar and Kieran Foran.
Some may wonder why Matt Awful’s name is not listed as Manly’s most important smaller man. Basically, it is because Awful is a follower, not a leader. Apart from a game or two every few months, he really only shines when Manly is dominating their opposition. Perhaps his snide surname should be Hayden…?
Anyway, Manly’s recent resurgence has largely coincided with the infusion of some youthful exuberance and speed into the backline in the form of Ben Farrar and Kieran Foran. Manly would have been doing cartwheels when the Cowbores said they were happy to take Michael Bani off their hands in exchange for Ben Farrar. Farrar’s versatility, his speed and ability to find the tryline have given Manly’s backline a boost as they continue to overcome the loss of Brett Stewart.
Meanwhile, Foran’s emergence has given Manly their first real five-eighth since…Cliffy? Or maybe Luke Williamson? Anyway, Manly coach Des Hasler is reluctant to play kids unless absolutely necessary, so you know Foran is a very good player if Hasler is finding room for him in his line-up. These two have helped spark Manly’s run of late and were important in their excellent win over Newcastle. Sure, Newcastle might have been missing several key players, but for Manly to produce such an efficient effort with the ball after their unnecessarily hard win against Cronulla must have been very encouraging for all concerned.
Gold Coast: Preston Campbell
This could easily have been the tackling machine Nathan Friend (who laboured in pain to another amazingly lion-hearted effort against Brisbane) but it is Campbell, at age 48 (a slight exaggeration perhaps…but you know he will still be playing at close to his current level by then), who is most important for the Titans. Even more so than Scott Prince, as the Titans showed earlier in the season when they won several difficult matches without him.
Campbell has great utility value, can tackle some of the biggest men in the game (this is incredible when you remember back to his Penrith days where his defensive nous seemed gone) and has the amazing but quite contradictory parts of his game where he can create a try out of nothing but also play the percentages when it is required. Yes, the Titans have up-and-comer Zillman and veteran Mat Rogers to play Campbell’s usual positions, but neither of those has enjoyed much good form this season, making Campbell’s value to the Titans even greater.
Campbell and his team mates earned a rare half hour off after demolishing Brisbane in the game’s first 50 minutes on Friday night. Rarely have three late tries meant as little as those from the extremely weakened Broncos.
Parramatta: Daniel Mortimer
Parramatta’s incredible form of late — where they produced some brilliant play against the NRL’s best but have been patchy and inconsistent against teams closer to their ladder position — has been largely due to Jarryd Hayne, who has been white-hot in recent months. Not even the heavy workload of the State of Origin series has worn him down (as it has for so many others).
However, following closely behind Hayne has been rookie half Daniel Mortimer. In just a few short games — where his debut in the NRL was apparently fast-tracked due to the Eels’ shortage of halves — it has become quickly apparent that Mortimer is more than good enough to have a long NRL career. With the ball, his sharp playmaking and kicking instincts have surprised opponents and set up a number of important Parramatta tries and his speed and toughness (cliché alert) have reminded many of his Uncle Steve.
In defence, even though he is only relatively slight, he is a confident and solid defender. Perhaps the best compliment about his defence is that you rarely notice it: he is not being brushed off for opposition tries or exploited for his lack of experience.
Mortimer and his team-mates’ defence was given a solid examination by the Bulldogs on Saturday night and passed with flying colours. However, it must be said that the Bulldogs’ examination paper, while quite lengthy, was one of the easier ones they’ve handed out this year (although the old women supervisors were their usual annoying selves, finding a number of trivial infractions against the Parramatta students and that Jamal Idris’ question late in the first half was actually legitimate….ok I’ve tortured this metaphor enough)
Penrith: Michael Jennings…and many others
Despite a number of injuries to experienced leaders of their team, Penrith has continued to win games: they have probably overtaken Newcastle as the dark horse for premiership success (if some of these injured stars can return in coming weeks).
Why have they been faring quite well still? Their smaller men, underrated by many, are some of the best in the NRL. Michael Jennings has returned from Origin and is dominating the NRL. Most importantly for Penrith, his speed and acceleration have seen his try-scoring tally explode in recent weeks, while Penrith have won their last 7 games when Jennings has played.
However, players such as Jarrod Sammut, Paul Aiton, Michael Gordon and Luke Walsh have all made their mark this season. Sammut’s quite incredible range of skills (some of which are not necessarily useful on an NRL field — such as his spinning a rugby league ball on his index finger basketball-style for a solid 10 seconds in the pre-game warm-up on Saturday night — but are still amazing all the same) mean he is a threat to win a game for Penrith at any time. Equally, his confidence means he can make a game-turning mistake, but coach Matthew Elliott has realised letting him play creates the best environment for his talents to shine. One can only hope Penrith keeps Sammut at full-back when Lachlan Coote returns from injury.
Aiton’s improved play from dummy half and Gordon’s solid play (which really only became obvious during his long period with injury) and very reliable goal-kicking have also become vital for Penrith, but their season moved in the right direction when they signed halfback Luke Walsh from Newcastle. Penrith had been crying out for a halfback since Gower left and Wallace was given away to Brisbane and Walsh’s maturity beyond his years and playmaking nous have made him a perfect addition to a talented but rudderless team.
However, they were somewhat lucky to come away from Townsville with two points on Saturday night. Clearly the Cowbores still had Origin hangover, but were also missing Payne and O’Donnell once again. Feral Thurston probably needs a good break (although without the Stilnox and Red Bulls this time)…but most of the second half saw the Cowbores with a lead and attacking Penrith’s line.
But Penrith largely held true and found their way down the field quite easily where their vim and vigour was simply too much for the Cowbores. Jennings snapped up any try-scoring opportunity that came his way, Sammut’s bravery sealed the win while Gordon….basically broke the rules to score his try. However, the video referee didn’t think so and Penrith emerged with an important win.
Melbourne: Billy Slater
While his State of Origin club mates have all been in need of a week (or more) on the sidelines of late, Slater has continued to turn up for work every game and actually do more than his normal workload. In their game against Parramatta on Monday night (when Smith and Finch were both absent), Slater spent a fair amount of time at dummy half and five-eighth as well as his normal fullback position and rarely looked fatigued despite this heavier workload. Whereas anything not involving running was something of a difficult task for Slater in years gone by, he is now almost a fairly good playmaker and more than capable dummy half replacement after many years of working on his game.
Slater once again rose to the week-in week-out challenge of NRL Rugby League on Saturday night as Cronulla tried to make it back-to-back wins in Melbourne and a quite intriguing game took place. Slater set up Melbourne’s first try, but Cronulla was next to score — well into the second half. This was despite a fairly significant in-game injury toll, including Trent Barrett twice knocking himself out on Brett White. It was hard to tell what was more amazing: the fact that these two players came together in such a way twice or that White knocked someone out without having team-mates holding his opponent’s arms.
While Cronulla lost several players, they had much good attacking ball and the Storm was missing a number of key players after their tough game against Parramatta. For Melbourne’s makeshift defence to concede just one try while the game was up for grabs was quite the achievement…although Cronulla could quite rightly argue that their attack may have been somewhat more capable without so many injuries. Either way, it was a well-deserved runaway win for Melbourne, but Cronulla was certainly very brave.
Wests Tigers: Tim Moltzen and Shannon Gallant.
The Tigers’ season has turned around since Tim Moltzen was shifted to halfback (his correct position), John Morris was shifted from five-eighth to utility off the bench (mostly lock…also his correct position) and Shannon Gallant was given another chance in the fullback role (which is his…you guessed it…correct position). It only took Tim Sheens 16 rounds to realise the error of his team selection ways (or 68 rounds in the case of John Morris): this guy is somehow the Australian coach? Amazing…
Anyway, better late than never I suppose, but encouragingly for the Tigers, their thrashing of Canberra on Sunday featured defence. Do not adjust your sets; the Tigers won a game on the back of tackling hard and disrupting another team’s attack.
After getting to a 6-nil lead after Moltzen stepped through a sizeable gap, the Tigers’ defence (with one contribution from the video referee) held Canberra out repeatedly over the next few minutes. As yet another set of Canberra tackles looked set to fail, a desperate Dugan offload was intercepted by Moltzen and returned 90 metres for a 12-nil lead. The game was basically won at this point.
Gallant helped extend the lead when he took an offload from Todd Payten and zoomed down the sideline before kicking inside for Morris. There’s every chance of the Tigers’ recent good form being another late-season tease before a legitimate team (which will probably be Parramatta in Round 24) ends their season, but there is no doubt the Tigers are fun to watch when they play well. This just might see the Tigers extend Sheens’ contract once again — ensuring entertaining mediocrity for another few seasons.
St George Illawarra: Jamie Soward
First place on the ladder (four points clear). Everyone back from injury. A well-timed bye after the end of Origin. The best defence in the NRL. Their opponents had the worst attack in the NRL. A clear and sunny day forecast (so as the inferior opponents couldn’t rely on the conditions to even up the contest). Yep, everything seemed perfect for the Dragons on Sunday when they took on New Zealand. Perhaps a little too perfect; the Dragons have a tendency over many years of playing poorly when they should register a crushing win.
It turned out that not everything was perfect for the Dragons: Jeremy Smith was a late scratching in his efforts to come back from a very long injury layoff while Matt Cooper also missed the game, but it barely mattered. The game proceeded almost exactly as coach Wayne Bennett would have wanted (and very similar to their win over the Tigers a month ago): early points for a strong lead and then tackling and defensive practice. The pathetic Warriors attack tried hard, but was lucky to reach 4 points, while Jamie Soward again led his team to a comfortable win.
Soward’s emergence as a dominating, confident playmaker has perhaps been the story of the season so far. Under the excellent coaching of Bennett, Soward has become a leader. His decision-making is first-rate, his execution of plays is flawless, his all-round kicking game (long kicks, short kicks, bombs, field goals and goal-kicking) is perhaps the best in the game…but his blinding speed always seems to be worth a try or two as well. You’d have to imagine he will cool off at some point in the weeks ahead, but the Dragons are deserved favourites to win the premiership this season with Soward running the team.
Souths: Jamie Simpson
Last night saw Souths beat their third straight sub-par opponent…although you can only beat the teams you’re drawn to play, right? Despite the 20-point win, it was a scratchy overall effort in a game where, apart from a few bursts of intensity, little great play was seen. Perhaps Souths got a little bit bored…hard to blame them really, but the degree of difficulty of their opponents is set to increase markedly in coming weeks. This should provide a welcome challenge and give them a good idea of where they’re at.
Another strange characteristic of Souths’ recent run has been that it has not coincided with any stellar play from most of their smaller men. Luke, Sandow, Merritt and Wing have all shown glimpses and will most likely have to lift in coming weeks, but their play has not been spectacular. Instead, Souths’ best smaller man recently has been winger Jamie Simpson, whose inspired charges and surprising speed have been a catalyst. He is somewhat unsteady under the high ball though…this could be considered a metaphor for Souths as a whole: capable of brilliance but also very likely to be brought undone by simple mistakes.
Some of them are difficult to spot, but keep an eye on the smaller men over the next few months. Chances are the team celebrating on the last Sunday of the season will have several very good ones. Or maybe a team will fluke premiership success with someone like Shane Perry in a key position….? See you next week.
Tuesday 21 July 2009
Round 19: Origin 3: The Fallout
A fairly crazy Round 19 of NRL action had its genesis — in two ways — in last Wednesday’s night epic State of Origin.
Every State of Origin match is played at a speed and intensity several levels above a typical NRL match. Despite this, most Origin players are typically able to back up for their NRL teams on the following weekend, with many of these players able to play starring roles despite heavy legs, bumps, bruises and sometimes even injuries picked up from the previous Wednesday night.
However, last Wednesday’s State of Origin match was such a battle with such physical and mental consequences that most players were either unable to back up for their NRL club (due to injury, possessing the will but not the ability to fight or just general soreness) or posted a far from spectacular performance. This was even seen with those who have an excellent reputation of backing up for their NRL club after Origin.
In addition to the effect of last Wednesday night on the individual Origin player, it also hit those teams with more Origin players quite hard. The State of Origin series and — to, a lesser extent, Test Matches — has become quite the vital cog in the NRL’s parity strategy — albeit with a lag. As a team makes the move from cellar-dweller to contender, this usually leads to players from that team moving into representative teams. However, a preference from representative selectors for those players who have ‘done it before’ can mean that some teams enter their decline whilst possessing a greater-than-average percentage of representative players (and some teams can make their ascent up the NRL ladder without much of a representative cohort e.g. Manly prior to this year).
In Round 19, following such a brutal Origin game, it was perhaps not surprising to see a number of teams with fewer players from Origin 3 faring better than their more Origin-represented opponents. Perhaps not coincidentally, it was those teams with Queensland Origin players who suffered the most in Round 19, led by the stunning capitulation of the Broncos on Friday night.
As often seems to happen with visiting teams at Suncorp Stadium, Souths started quite strongly against Brisbane, but Brisbane seemed keen for a battle — at least when they had the ball. As the game neared half time, Souths held a 10-6 lead but both teams looked dangerous: a high-scoring game seemed certain, but the explosion of points which soon followed from Souths — and the very easy manner in these points came — was still quite a shock.
While Brisbane was missing Origin players Lockyer and Thaiday, it is important to note that their left side defence — the side Souths attacked relentlessly — was intact. In other words, it was almost inexplicable to see Souths causing carnage every time they passed the ball right and ran. You’d have to think Brisbane would have done something to stop the bleeding if Lockyer and Thaiday would have played, or if their other Origin players Hunt and Hodges had anything to back up their initial 20 minutes’ worth of verve, but this should not detract from the awesome manner of Souths’ victory.
Alas, for supporters of the much-maligned but now on-fire Souths’ five-eighth John Sutton, the two highlights from this game which will be seen for years to come will be Colin Best’s momentum being halted by a sideline cameraman and referee Tony De Las Heras’ consciousness being (briefly) halted by Tonie Carroll’s knee. You’d have to think Carroll and his team mates wished their memory of this slaughter was erased as well…
While Brisbane have gone from a team who would win after every Origin game to a rabble in just a few short years, perhaps the greatest shock in this post-Origin weekend was the rubbish game played by Feral Thurston at Leichhardt on Sunday. Feral is acknowledged as the best player in the NRL at backing up after representative games, but his insipid effort was a major factor behind the Cowbores being well beaten by the Tigers.
It wasn’t the best of weeks for the Feral. Firstly, he was lucky to even be playing for the ‘Bores in this game. As David Williams fortuitously received the ball from Billy Slater in the in-goal area last Wednesday night and went (rather clumsily) to put the ball down, Feral was in the vicinity and, recalling the lessons he’d received from Billy Slater, tried to position his legs under Williams so as to avoid the try being scored.
Someone obviously forgot to tell Feral that Billy is a world-class athlete, with training in gymnastics and equestrian, not to mention 6 years’ experience at the Bellamy Robot School in Melbourne. Feral, on the other hand…well, as an athlete, he makes a pretty good play-making halfback. It can only be assumed that body control and flexibility was one of the last characteristics acquired in the evolution of man….? Whatever the reason, Feral’s attempted try-saving manoeuvre resulted in a swift boot being delivered to the face of Williams.
Further proof of Feral’s Neanderthal-Like behaviour came in the aftermath to this incident, where he joined the Lleyton Hewitt Hall of Fame for telling NSW Captain Kurt Gidley (after Gidley told the referees about Feral’s actions with his boot) to “Shut up, you spastic!”
Somehow, incredibly, Feral received the lightest of charges from the judiciary and was able to play on Sunday but even with this good fortune, the end of a long representative season told on him and he (and his team) stunk.
The Tuesday Roast, as you are all no doubt well aware, takes great pride in objectivity and providing a balanced discussion of the week in the NRL. However, the sight of the Tigers giving the Cowbores a hiding at the home of Rugby League (Leichhardt Oval) with Feral (“Australia says NO!”) having a shocker remains, unequivocally, the best in the game.
Feral’s week was topped off by this description of him from the radio show Fire Up! (on FBI 94.5FM) last Friday morning as they led into referring to his botched try-saving attempt and subsequent spastic comment…”But Johnathan Thurston…he’s on the jungle juice, we don’t know what concoction he’s on, but they’ve got something up at North Queensland, we don’t know what it is. He’s sprouting acne around his neck, he’s got hair in places you shouldn’t have. His veins pop like Jack Nicholson in The Shining. He’s got eyes to match and he came up with a classic…. And let’s not forget he has to wear headgear to restrain those Dumbo-like ears, because if he doesn’t wear his headgear and he puts on a spurt, he’ll fly over the top of the defence!”
Ahh brilliant! Anyway…the Tigers got off to a slow start as the ‘Bores jumped to an 8-nil lead, but the Tigers halted the ‘Bores’ momentum and cut the lead to 2. But the key moment in the game came in the lead-up to this try, when Anthony Watts — a former protégé of Paul Gallen at Cronulla — responded to what he thought was an elbow in the scrum by king-hitting Robbie Farah. The key response came when the referees deemed Watts’ actions worthy of….a warning. A warning! Watts, a grub and a thug with a history of disgusting on-field conduct, was lucky to stay on the field!
Thankfully the Tigers sorted out this oversight in the next scrum and, in doing so, made the task of seeing rather more difficult for Watts over the next few days. Not even seeing his team mate get beaten up could fire up Feral, but the Tigers dominated the next 20 minutes, before easing off for a while, then finishing with a flourish. The ‘Bores definitely missed the usual post-Origin Feral, but also his injured Origin team mate Matt Scott.
The other NRL team to feature a number of Queenslanders is Melbourne and while their overall effort last night against Parramatta wasn’t too bad, it was not enough to match that of the Eels, who were at their best. Melbourne was missing Smith, while Dallas Johnson and Greg Inglis were far from their normal selves (although Billy Slater had a very good game) but Parramatta would have beaten most teams in the NRL with their excellent combination of all-round intensity and desperate defence.
It was Nathan Hindmarsh’s 250th game, but Jarryd Hayne — again — was the star of the show. He was a threat almost every time he touched the ball, he was increasingly involved in playmaking and kicking but his battle against Slater was….just awesome. The viewing public was treated to a clash between two of the best players in the NRL, both at or near their best, both exhibiting extreme competitiveness and both being very important to their team’s chances of victory.
When Parramatta scored 8 points early in the second half (and probably should have had 14 if it wasn’t for an unnecessary Krisnan Inu double movement) with Hayne playing a pivotal role, it seemed as though Hayne would win the battle, but when Melbourne continued to close the deficit despite time running out (where Slater was crucial), the outcome was somewhat less certain.
In the end, Hayne (and Parramatta) triumphed, in part to Parramatta’s excellent on-line defence after reaching their 12-point lead. They denied what appeared to be a number of certain Melbourne tries (although they were a touch lucky when Hayne appeared to bounce the ball, rather than ground it, in his in-goal area) and made the Storm run out of time.
But while the Storm stars were probably justified in feeling a little tired after Origin, the same could not be said for Hayne, who continued his white-hot form of recent months. Has he been going through the motions since bursting on to the scene 3 years ago and, as a result, has a surplus of energy and enthusiasm? How does he have the energy to continue to play at such a high level after a full representative season?! Amazing…
The other two games featuring a high number of Origin players were Cronulla v. Manly and the Bulldogs v. Gold Coast. The Cronulla v. Manly game was one of the more bizarre games seen this season. With Manly’s strong defensive record, Cronulla’s so-so attack and the slippery night conditions making scoring difficult, a tight low-scoring game was expected by many. Instead, the first half saw 38 points, with mistake after mistake being punished for tries by both teams. Clearly, Manly’s Origin players did not have the requisite approach for this game and Cronulla’s youthful exuberance benefited, as they took a 6-point lead to half-time.
But the second half…was the exact opposite. Manly dominated possession and field position but their attack was far too predictable (even for a novice defence such as Cronulla’s) and not nearly threatening enough. Manly was big and strong and ran hard, but it was mostly sideways: it was like a team of lumberjacks trying to cut down a tree with a butter knife.
If Cronulla’s Jack Afamasaga didn’t throw a stupid offload to Manly’s Watmough, Barrett would not have been sin-binned and Manly would probably still be trying to score a second-half try. But Barrett’s sin-binning saw Cronulla open up and allow an easy try and eventually Manly overwhelmed the tiring Cronulla defence. You’d have to say though this required far more effort than was necessary.
On Friday night, the Bulldogs proved that backing up from Origin successfully was not that difficult as they were quite clinical in defeating the Gold Coast. This season, the Titans have been at their best when playing highly rated teams and their bare-minimum win over Parramatta last Monday night suggested they had their eye on the Bulldogs and another big-name scalp. Unfortunately for them, the Bulldogs also had their eye on this game (especially after losing to the Titans earlier in the season). Their early-game dominance rendered the Titans’ effort (which usually — at the very least — neutralises good teams, allowing their speed to score points) almost useless and saw them jump out to a handy lead.
The Bulldogs’ cause was boosted by the surprise return of Jamal Idris; he brushed aside Mat Rogers with ease before racing away for a try. But the Bulldogs’ lead was probably not as large as it should have been and when continued (and increasingly varied) Gold Coast attacking plays finally came off, the game got a far closer finish than it probably should have had. Kimmorley sealed the win with a late field goal, but he, Patten (NSW 18th man), Ennis and Morris all had excellent games for the Bulldogs.
The final 2 games in Round 19 had only minimal Origin players involved, but their results can still be linked to last Wednesday night. Admittedly, the link was somewhat tenuous in the Penrith v. Canberra game, where Canberra had a horrible first half with refereeing decisions. There weren’t a number of clear cut mistakes but Penrith almost always received the benefit of a doubtful decision during the first 40 minutes as they accrued an 18-0 lead. But Canberra’s forward grunt was limited by the absence of Queenslander Shillington and an injury to New South Welshman Learoyd-Lahrs (as well as to Alan Tongue); by the time Canberra was competitive in this game, the damage was done.
Lastly, the Warriors broke their drought (point-scoring and winning) in a late win against the Roosters. Without the wannabe pugilist Price, the Warriors looked to have finally (maybe) turned the corner after falling behind 12-0 and 18-6 to the Roosters. A team with a bit more in the tank than the Roosters might well have punished the Warriors as they tired in the second half, but it was ultimately a deserving win for them, as they finally stood up without their forward leader.
In most seasons, there is a definite post-representative letdown seen for those NRL teams with a significant number of Origin players; one would expect this letdown to be somewhat more pronounced this season given the above-average intensity of the final two Origin games and the high number of players carrying injuries in these games. It should be an intriguing next few weeks ahead. See you next week.
