Round 8 – Lame of the Year

After Des Hasler’s sensational departure from Manly only weeks after delivering the second premiership under his watch, all parties involved – not to mention numerous media outlets – waited anxiously to see when the match-up of Hasler’s new and old teams would take place.

It was to be Round 8. Even though this round contained the ANZAC Day clashes, the Canterbury-Manly clash was the one many supporters of the game would be waiting to see.

Media hype was noticeable; only a select few games in recent years (such as Willie Mason’s first game against the Bulldogs in 2008, several Manly-Melbourne games and perhaps the Parramatta-Melbourne game after Melbourne’s cheating was uncovered) have seen such attention.

Not surprisingly, Channel Nine was all over it, having the game as their game of the round, having Danny Weidler’s ugly head in shot of interviews with various parties in the lead-up and using the game as a vehicle for various egregious promotional pursuits even more so than the normal disgracefully high level.

When it became apparent the game was not going to be the spectacle many believed (or hoped) it would be, things became desperate and the Channel 9 commentators used every trick in the book to breathe excitement into what became one of the more boring games of recent times.

In this week’s Roast, here’s a closer look at the disappointment that was Canterbury versus Manly.

First though, some general comments about both teams and the game itself. Despite their solid start to the season, Canterbury is very much a work in progress. Hasler has pretty much inherited someone else’s team and indications are that he wants to remodel the team over coming years.

However, Hasler is certainly not about to give up on a season and has done a very good job at getting the most out of his marginally talented team.

The adjective ‘marginally’ is deserved if only because of the starting halfback for Canterbury at present: Kris Keating. Keating is, admittedly, the reserve halfback and only in first grade due to Trent Hodkinson’s unavailability, but Hodkinson would have to be pretty happy watching his replacement be generally unable to lead a team in attack, generally unable to put in any time of kick that worries the opposition and basically run around in circles when he gets the ball (ok, a slight exaggeration there).

Along side Keating is Josh Reynolds, who drew much praise on Friday night for…..trying hard as far as I can tell. If you only read one sentence of this Roast, read this: any game where a big-hearted but lightly-talented player like Reynolds comes very close to winning the Man of the Match Award is not a game worth watching.

Reynolds is the terrier amongst the Bulldogs, annoying the opposition, making the extra effort in chasing downfield, getting to the next tackle etc. Thing is he isn’t very good. No wonder Hasler wanted to pay a small fortune to get someone to play in Reynolds’ position for next season.

The praise flowed freely for Reynolds as he made some ankle taps and shouted at his team-mates and the crowd, but funnily enough there was no mention of his missed tackle on Brett Stewart which gifted Stewart an easy try at the start of the second half.

Similarly, much was made of the Canterbury forward pack and their tendency to pass the ball quite often before being tackled. It looked nice and this passing didn’t lead to any mistakes but it certainly didn’t worry the Manly defence, who had little trouble containing Canterbury.

A big part of this was probably that the Canterbury forwards’ passing game had very little variation. Manly’s forward pack and defensive line in general is solid but hardly has a reputation as being defensive masters; they are no Melbourne Storm. Yet, despite being well behind in terms of possession (especially in the first half), Manly’s defence was quite comfortable.

Then there’s Canterbury’s dummy half Michael Ennis, for whom much has been made of his injury battles. He hasn’t missed a game for Canterbury of late but continues to soldier on, arguably to the detriment of his team. The strengths of his game – intensity, kicking game, annoying the opposition – are all missing at present. At one point, Manly’s Anthony Watmough started chasing after Ennis following an Ennis tackle but couldn’t be bothered and gave up.

Despite these faults, Canterbury had the better of the forward battle and the field position battle in the first half and Manly rarely saw the better side of halfway. Manly is missing some size at present but they knew they needed something extra in this department and sent for George “Muffin Top” Rose. Despite Rose looking like he still had a few weeks of preseason training left, Rose ultimately played an important role in Manly getting the better of the forward battle.

In general, while it became obvious in the game’s later stages how much this game meant to Manly, it took them quite some time to play near their best. It is difficult to identify exactly what isn’t right with Manly. They have been dominated in stages of many games this season, but they have been quite resilient. Injuries to some big names have certainly played a part, as has a lack of depth, especially in the forwards. They were almost back at full strength in this game, but as is often the case when players return from injury, they are not quite at their best immediately.

While Manly’s collective effort was strong, individually some of their key players had moments to forget. Jamie Lyon botched a try and very nearly allowed a try when waiting far too long to dispose of the ball behind the dead ball line. Jason King, one of the smarter players (both on and off field) in the game, made a dumb decision to offload early on, which surrendered possession.

Another factor explaining the less than attractive display on Friday night was ANZ Stadium and the changing of the seasons. After unseasonably warm weather and mild nights for a few weeks in April, a cool snap last week meant this game was played on a slippery surface not dissimilar to what is often seen in winter. Also, the ANZ Stadium surface…. I don’t know what it is, but something makes it heavier and slower than other stadiums. Maybe it is the high number of games across various codes played there? Whatever it is, Friday night’s game just looked…slow.

When the makeup and the form of the two teams, as well as the conditions, are considered, it is not really surprising we saw the game we did on Friday night. The media had built it up to be Manly players full of hate against Hasler against Canterbury players full of love for Hasler and the fight over Hasler would be bitter and furious. This was never going to be the case, not in the era of professional rugby league anyway.

After the game’s first 10 minutes, which included a mistake from the kick-off and a long-distance Ben Barba try, things were progressing well enough for Channel Nine’s liking. Manly was under pressure early on and field position suggested Canterbury could have extended their lead.

Apart from a play where a well-judged cross-kick bounced the wrong way and prevented a try to Steve Turner, Canterbury never looked like scoring for the next hour or so. They followed their rules well though. The forwards ran strongly and passed before the line often. The outside backs made good metres from dummy half when required. They made few mistakes and conceded few penalties, giving Manly little opportunity for easy attacking possession.

Yet when it came time for a significant last-tackle play, Canterbury pretty much had nothing.

This, however, wasn’t the opinion of Channel Nine’s Phil Gould who believed that Manly “went through hell in the first half after Canterbury gave them all they could handle”. Gould’s rubbish at the start of the second half was merely the start of Channel Nine’s testing how flexible they could be with the truth.

This was seen again when Glenn Stewart dispossessed Canterbury’s Corey Payne after a solid tackle early in the second half. Payne saw Stewart moving up quickly in defence and took his eye off the ball, never catching it before coming into contact with Stewart. Stewart’s ensuing tackle was solid, but certainly was not worthy of the ecstatic reaction Gould gave it.

As the second half dragged on and the level of play (not to mention the scoreboard) did not change, Gould and Ray Warren felt obliged to pump things up a bit more. Both talked of what a ‘tough’ game that was being played, how these teams were ‘two of the best we have’ and then ‘how mouth-watering September will be’. As these hollow comments were being spoken, supporters were treated to highlights such as Reynolds missing the mark with his short attacking kick by several metres and Wolfman Williams dropping a relatively simple bomb.

After a Brett Stewart run where a yawning gap opened up (but Stewart ultimately squandered possession by forcing an unnecessary pass), Gould remarked how excited he was by Stewart’s turn of speed (which was not nearly as fast as it was before his many injuries, by the way).

Throw in Channel Nine’s in-game discussions (not five-second monologues) about Toyota, the Olympics and James someone-or-other, the Block and the Voice and you had a rather unsettling experience for everyone not supporting either of the two teams.

Hasler is well-known for his working the media in order to gain favours from various officialdom: it would not be surprising if his next aim is to free up the rules surrounding quick taps to restart play (both from penalties and 20-metre restarts). On perhaps three occasions in this game, Canterbury was prevented from taking a quick restart due to minor but correct rule breaches. With current focus on making rugby league more entertaining, Hasler’s likely campaign could gain traction within the NRL community.

The game ticked towards fifteen minutes to go and while many viewers wondered how it wasn’t already midnight, Gould’s rubbish producer was set to high when he remarked “There’s only 16 minutes to go, I can’t believe it, the game’s gone so fast!” A Reynolds 40-20 kick finally provided a reason for excitement and Gould took it with both hands, anointing Reynolds the best player on the field and screaming about Reynolds’ passion. Unfortunately, this was followed up by a dropped ball from Frank Pritchard (welcome to the game, Frank, such inconsistency and errors just isn’t the same without one of the best!)

By this stage the errors were combining, resulting in high entertainment. Jamie Lyon watched Ennis’ kick hoping for far too long that it would roll dead of its own accord. Bryson Goodwin reached the ball but was in absolutely no position to score a try. But according to Rabs, we were “watching two of the best in the comp”.

The game finally came to life in the dying minutes. George Rose’s sidestep (yes, you read that correctly) and offload set up Steve Matai before a short kick-off led to Jamie Lyon being further embarrassed on the win when Kris Keating chipped the ball past him to Bryson Goodwin for a try.

Finally, fittingly, a Canterbury mistake ensured Manly would get the win but the post-game stories telling of a thriller should be reported to the Press Council. This game, for the many reasons already discussed, was one of the worst seen on Channel Nine in prime time in non-pre-State of Origin rounds for many years and fully deserving of “Lame of the Year” status.

In other Round 8 action, ANZAC Day saw a cracker between St George Illawarra and the Roosters. The Roosters looked to have the better of this one before an incredible last 15 minutes which saw a host of amazing/controversial plays and a finish of two tries in 4 minutes for an incredible Dragons’ comeback win. The other game saw the Warriors again trouble Melbourne for an hour before three late tries saw Melbourne run away with this one.

The other Friday game saw Brisbane dominate the Titans in the first half, while on Saturday night, South Sydney dominated the Cowbores for the first 20 minutes. The Cowbores never really felt out of the game though and came back strongly in the second half, ultimately falling just short.

On Sunday, Cronulla recorded their best win of the season in thrashing Canberra. Their dominant forward play was, as always, present, but their attack was excellent; they scored more in the first half than in any game so far this season and in any game since Round 16 2011. In the other game, Wests Tigers were on their way to easily winning and holding another local rival to zero…until Parramatta scored five consolation tries. The Tigers won in a bizarre game.

The round ended last night as Penrith finally broke their point-scoring drought but Newcastle was still much too good. The Knights were so easily in control that they were able to rest Danny Buderus for the second half and pretend his ‘injury’ was bothering him. Either that or he has what will be a career-ending injury. One or the other.

See you next week.