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We have now completed three rounds of the 2015 NRL season, and it’s almost impossible to keep up with all the different storylines circulating throughout rugby league this year.
I can’t remember a start to the season that had my head spinning this much, as I try to stay abreast of everything that is going on in ‘the greatest game of all’.
Last week I spoke to The Roar editor Paddy Effeney, and assured him that the ‘five questions’ format of writing wasn’t going to be a week-to-week thing. However, after yet after another jam-packed weekend of NRL footy on and off the field, I simply can’t resist the urge to dive into five totally different topics.
So, here we go again, peeps!
1. Are the Dogs better off without Josh Reynolds?
I think Josh Reynolds brings a lot to a football side, and his penchant for getting into scuffles and niggly altercations overshadows the fact that he can be a very good footballer.
However, Reynolds does tippy-toe the imaginary line of helping/hurting his team with some of the things he does on the field. From costly penalties, to missing time from suspension, his mental mistakes certainly hurt the Dogs.
Additionally, from a playing perspective, though he’s undoubtedly a ‘busy’ player, he can also try to do too much with the ball in his hands.
There is a saying made famous by US sports writer Bill Simmons around what a player brings ‘to the table’, based on a sentiment of whether said individual takes more off the table than what he puts on it. Essentially, it’s a colloquial way of asking: does a player’s positives outweigh his negatives?
The Dogs need to honestly answer this query of Josh Reynolds.
I’m not suggesting that Des Hasler should be looking to dump the injured five-eighth, but rather, that its time for Reynolds to minimise the negative impact he can have on a game, and his team.
As Friday night showed, the Dogs have some weapons to use this year, particularly fullback Brett Morris. Perhaps it’s time the team stopped trying to beat teams mentally, and just beat them physically – especially when the former tactic may be backfiring anyway.
2. Should Todd Carney be allowed back into the NRL?
Last week, Todd Carney won his unfair dismissal case against the Cronulla Sharks for his sacking in June of last year. This naturally led to the assumption that the door is open for his return to the NRL.
Not so fast, apparently.
Carney has been granted the right to appear before the Cronulla board, and though the club is at long odds to re-sign him, financial compensation will no doubt be due to him because of the flawed process the club took in dumping him.
Yet despite the ruling, Carney would still need to apply to the NRL for reinstatement, and allegedly there is a feeling at NRL HQ that he is still not wanted.
NRL Chief Executive David Smith said Carney would need to follow the registration process, and until he does, no one knows what the NRL ruling would be. But should the five-eighth be allowed back in the competition?
He’s a repeat offender, no question. That will no doubt weight heavily in any decision-making process.
However, if Blake Ferguson, Robert Lui, Danny Wicks, Russell Packer – and a number of other players – can all be given second chances, than why not Carney?
Well, perhaps because it would be far from just a ‘second’ chance for the talented playmaker.
3. Will Souths be the first NRL team to go back-to-back?
I realise three rounds in is still a little early to be naming the 2015 premiers.
Having said that, based purely on the sample size we’ve been given, Souths are going to take a lot of beating this season.
Against a young and hungry Wests Tigers outfit on Sunday afternoon, the Bunnies were actually pretty poor. Yet it says a lot about this team that they could graft out a tough win against a talented opposition when they were far from being at their best.
I’m still not sure how Souths took a lead into halftime, and though they were better in the second half, it wasn’t a fluid, disciplined, executionally strong performance from the defending premiers.
Which, ironically, may make it their most impressive win of the season to date.
There is a long way to go, with injuries, suspensions, form and the representative season, all yet to take their toll on teams, particularly the Bunnies. But based on what we’ve seen so far, the boys from Redfern deserve to be the favourites for premiership, and are on track to becoming the NRL’s first repeat champions.
4. Is anyone else sick of head pats?
Maybe it’s just me, but it drives me absolutely insane when defending players tap their opposition on the head after they have made a mistake, in mock ‘congratulations’.
It usually follows a knock-on, when the attacking player has made a costly handling error, gifted possession back to the opposition, and is naturally upset at himself. He then suffers the indignity of the opposition patting him on the head, as if to say ‘well done’.
I hate it. I can’t stand it. And I must have seen it ten times across the weekend’s games.
By all means, throw a cheeky ‘butterfingers’ sledge his way. Tell him he can’t catch a cold. Suggest he apply some superglue to his hands.
But tapping him on the head is demeaning, and intended to do nothing else but embarrass him in front of his teammates, the crowd and the TV audience.
Knock it off, guys. It’s a poor look for the individuals involved, and the game at large.
5. Is it too early to say the Cowboys are done for 2015?
This is the height of laziness – didn’t we cover this last week?
Well yes, but now that the Cowboys are 0-3, and face Melbourne, Penrith and Souths in the next three weeks, North Queensland are facing the very real prospect of starting the season 0-6.
They may bounce back enough to make a run for the top eight, but surely all the noise about them winning the premiership this year is done and dusted?
So, is anyone brave enough to just call it now?
Nope? Me either.