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When I look at the weekend of games just gone the first three letters of the alphabet stand out to me – A for Austin, B for Bennett and C for Cronk.
Plus, L for Lewis and W for the Warriors. Seriously, what would our lives be like if we didn’t have the Warriors? They provide the ultimate rugby league roller-coaster ride, and have done so since their inception.
Back to them later. For the moment, let’s focus on…
‘A’ is for Blake Austin
Many people think the Canberra five-eighth should have been given a run for NSW at some stage during the State of Origin series that’s just ended.
I wrote before Origin 2 that since Blues coach Laurie Daley had made it clear he wouldn’t be changing his halves from Game 1, Austin should at least be considered for the bench.
At the time, I asked Daley what his thinking was on Austin and he replied: “I think Blake’s a good player, but, for me, when I’m picking representative sides I want blokes who have played consistently well for a period of time.
“Otherwise, you could be giving representative jerseys out every four or five weeks to blokes who have just come through a bit of a purple patch.
“He’s got plenty of potential, he’s a guy who’s played really well, but he just hasn’t played a lot of football and you’d be reluctant to put him in a big game which he’s never experienced before and expose him to that.
“And one thing I’ve always wanted to do is make sure I know they’re ready rather than hoping they’re ready and I think that’s always been a key in Origin. That’s how I approach selections.”
It was hard to argue with Daley’s logic, and NSW did go on to beat Queensland in Game 2, but one effect that a 52-6 flogging in a series decider should have is to put all the cards on the table for the beaten side.
Austin starred again for Canberra in their win over Newcastle on Friday night. I can only assume that if he maintains consistently good form between now and early next season he will make his Blues debut then.
‘B’ is for Wayne Bennett
The master coach took his formula – which has worked everywhere for him except at Newcastle, and look at them again this season – back to Brisbane and the results have been excellent.
What Bennett has done with the Broncos may not be rocket science, but when you start putting all the parts together it is simply brilliant.
Bennett brought Darius Boyd with him as fullback, dispensed with Josh Hoffman and Ben Barba and went with Anthony Milford and Ben Hunt as his preferred halves. Then he played some early-season mind games with Sam Thaiday that brought the best out in the representative forward.
Brisbane lost 36-6 at home to South Sydney in the first round, but there was no hint of panic. It was early days. The aim was to get the defence right and the attack would come.
In the 15 games since Round 1, Brisbane have scored 365 points at an average of 24.3 points per game and conceded 220 at an average of 14.6. Overall, they have scored the most points of any team in the NRL and rank fourth best in defence.
The Broncos didn’t do anything spectacular to beat Canterbury on the road on Saturday night. They just did everything a bit faster, a bit smarter and with a bit more intensity.
Watching the game, I got the feeling from the way the Bulldogs were playing that they thought they were going to get on top of Brisbane eventually, but it never happened. And for good reason – Brisbane were just that little bit better at everything that mattered.
‘C’ is for Cooper Cronk
Melbourne are struggling at the moment, but halfback Cronk did his best to help get them the win they needed. But even he couldn’t come up with the necessary magic against the Warriors on Sunday.
In the lead-up to the Storm’s first try, the play in progress had barely begun before Cronk motioned for the ball to come back the other way on the next tackle.
He had identified a potential weakness in the Warriors’ defence and Melbourne almost scored, but once they hadn’t he went straight back to the other side and brilliantly hooked a kick around for Marika Koroibete to score.
We couldn’t hear what Cronk was saying, but when the camera focused on him addressing the rest of the team while captain Cameron Smith lined up the conversion attempt the message appeared to be very clearly defined.
Right near the end of the game, with the Warriors already having wrapped up a win, Cronk – backing up from Origin 3 – made a tremendous, long chase to prevent a runaway try. It was commitment in the extreme.
Cronk manages a game better than any other halfback in the NRL. His vision and judgement are extraordinarily good. I don’t know what he plans to do when he retires from playing, but if he went into coaching I’d be stunned if he wasn’t successful.
‘L’ is for Luke Lewis
This player of great ability and even greater character accepted Laurie Daley’s decision not to include him in the NSW team this year with tremendously good grace.
He was disappointed, naturally, but he accepted the coach’s decision to go with younger forwards without bitterness, and voiced his heartfelt support for the team.
Major illness and injury have not stopped Lewis from putting together a fantastic playing career at club and representative levels and on Sunday he played his 250th NRL game when his Cronulla side met St George-Illawarra.
Fittingly, the Sharks won and Lewis scored a try. His body has taken a battering over the years and he turns 32 next month, but his recent form has been great.
‘W’ is for Warriors
Wow, all of a sudden the Warriors are in the top four. Can they stay there? We can only hope so, because whether you follow them or not you’ve got to admit they bring an awful lot to the table in terms of entertainment.
Even when they are well on top they still sometimes err by giving the opposition a sniff at getting back into the game. That happened against Melbourne on the weekend, early in the second half. In a weird way, that is part of their appeal – at least for the neutrals. I can’t imagine Warriors fans like that part of the team’s make-up too much.
There was, of course, a freaky try included in their win over the Storm, with an incredible, back-flip pass from Nathan Friend followed by a flick pass from Shaun Johnson in the lead-up.
Crazy good.
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