The curtain came down last night on the immediate coaching future of Titan, John Cartwright.
One of the really good blokes in the 13-man code ever since he first pulled on a Panther jersey in 1985, the now 49-year-old only has one premiership to show for his consistently top shelf contribution – the 1991 NRL grand final win over the Raiders.
What a galaxy of stars were on duty that day.
Phil Gould coached the Panthers, captained by Greg Alexander, with Brad Fittler, Royce Simmons, Paul Dunn, Steve Carter, Brad Izzard, and Mark Geyer against the Raiders coached by Tim Sheens, captained by Mal Meninga, with Laurie Daley, Ricky Stuart, Gary Belcher, Steve Walters, Glenn Lazarus, and man-of-the-match Bradley Clyde.
Had Cartwright that quality cattle on his roster at the Titans, last night in a bitterly cold and wet Sydney would have told a very different story, instead of the Roosters winning 26-18.
Despite the loss, it was obvious every Titan wanted to send Cartwright out with a win. They gave it everything, including the passion that had been missing before.
Too little, too late.
We wish John Cartwright all the best in whatever he decides to do in the future, his quality is hard to come by.
On the other side of the behaviour coin, serial offender in the brain explosion stakes, Bulldog Josh Reynolds has even outdone himself with three charges emanating from the Broncos clash at the weekend.
Kicking Bronco Sam Thaiday in the face, deliberately tripping Ben Barba in the open for all to see, and binned for a high tackle on Alex Glenn.
To compound his trifecta of trouble, kicking a plastic chair for six in the shed. An angry ant if ever there was one, and no advertisement to the rugby league code.
Step in Bulldogs coach Des Hasler, also in the John Cartwright mould as a damn good bloke.
Hasler must have had his tongue deep in his cheek describing Reynolds as, “It’s the kind of way he plays, he is a high energy player. His intentions are always good”.
Ace it up Des, Reynolds is not defendable. But because he’s a very pivotal part of the Bulldogs’ campaign, little wonder Des Hasler is pulling out as much ammunition as possible to limit the judicial damage.
The mail is three weeks suspension.
Three weeks. A week per charge?
That’s like being bashed with a feather. The rest of the season would have to be the very minimal holiday.
If that’s the case, and it must be, John Cartwright and Josh Reynolds, won’t be actively participating in the rest of the 2014 NRL season for vastly different reasons.
Hopefully Cartwright won’t be lost to rugby league, and to the Titans in particular.
He brought quality to the table as a coach, as he did as a player with 184 games for the Panthers from 1985 to 1996 that included eight Origin appearances from 1989 to 1992, and 18 Kangaroo caps between 1990 and 1992.
One helluva footballer.
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