The NRL season is now in full swing. After three rounds there are only two undefeated sides and only Parramatta yet to score a victory. All sides will be looking for a win in round four but it’s an especially big week for a number of sides, players and coaches.
Who goes into round four of the 2012 NRL season under the most pressure?
The Gold Coast Titans
News of the Titans financial woes continued to fill the back pages of newspapers this week. The Titans are due in court tomorrow. Other NRL clubs must be worried that the club could fall over financially.
One radical plan being discussed is allowing the club to fold with the Independent Commission than setting up a new club. Even more bizarrely, the Gold Coast have splashed the cash to sign Dave Taylor and are reportedly making a massive play for the services of Cooper Cronk.
What this does though is take focus away from the Titans on-field woes. Despite heavy recruiting the Titans have been extremely lacklustre so far this season.
Since beating a woeful North Queensland Cowboys in round one they have been completely out-played by the Canberra Raiders and the Melbourne Storm. Apart from Greg Bird, the side was atrocious across the park with recruits: Luke Douglas, Beau Champion and Nate Myles all failing to impress.
Luke Douglas looks a shadow of the player who was the Sharks second best for a number of years.
The Titans cross the Tasman to take on the Warriors Saturday afternoon and must show more spirit and commitment than they have so far this season. The best way to take attention away from their off-field dramas is to start winning football games.
The club needs to boost their average attendance from the roughly 11,000 it is averaging this season and to do this they must rapidly improve across the park. Without a good performance this weekend the club may be looking at crowds in four figures and even more negative headlines.
Stephen Kearney
The pressure on Stephen Kearney has increased dramatically this week after his side’s third straight loss last Saturday night. The Eels were destroyed by the North Queensland Cowboys 42-6 in conditions that should have led to a low scoring game. This is the first time since 1991 Parramatta has lost its first three fixtures of the season.
Reports of friction between Kearney and senior players at the Eels has done little to ease the pressure on the New Zealand national coach. Rugby League Week claims that players are extremely upset over the dropping of Luke Burt and other selections concerning players coming off contract.
Before joining the Eels, Kearney was considered the next big thing in the world of coaching, after a successful period as an assistant at Melbourne and as the World Cup winning coach of New Zealand.
But Kearney has been unable to get any consistency or commitment out of the Parramatta side. Without a reversal in form Kearney may be out of the job before the halfway point of this season and would be at long odds to get a crack at another head coaching role in the short term.
Therefore, it is vital that Kearney leads the Eels to a win this weekend over their western rivals the Penrith Panthers. The Penrith side lacks real fire-power and isn’t favoured to get near the top eight this season, so if the Eels can’t win here they may struggle to win all year.
Perth’s bid for a NRL franchise
Perth are the favourites to be given one of the licenses when the independent commission decides on its plan for expansion. Perth can all but secure this license if a big crowd turns out to watch the Brisbane – South Sydney game at NIB Stadium this Friday night.
Last season this same fixture drew a crowd of 15,371 despite torrential rain, while 13,164 fans saw the Rabbitohs take on the Storm the year before. Figures like this are extremely hard to ignore for the NRL and hopefully with good weather conditions the crowd will go close to the capacity of 18,000.
Dave Taylor
Dave Taylor was at his rampaging best last weekend even adding a grubber kick and chase to his repertoire. However, consistency has been Taylor’s problem his entire career. He explodes one week and does very little the next.
Now that he has signed with the Titans for 2013, he must put all the contract talk behind him and maintain his current form for South Sydney in 2012.
Taylor will be a key player for the Rabbitohs against the Brisbane Broncos as two of the best forward packs in the NRL square off. The Rabbitohs forwards must win the battle up front to give young half-back Adam Reynolds the time he needs to get his outside backs, such as Greg Inglis, into the game.
Questions will be asked about Taylor’s motivation if he struggles over the next month.
The Newcastle Knights and Wests Tigers
The two pre-season favourites have struggled so far in 2012. Both have lost two of their first three games and boast only a victory over the Cronulla Sharks.
Supercoach Wayne Bennett has not turned Newcastle into a super team yet. The Knights missed far too many tackles against the Broncos and must toughen up their defence if they are to defeat the Canterbury Bulldogs.
Injuries have not been kind to the Knights and they will need a big performance from Jarrod Mullen to avoid starting the season with one win from four matches.
Wests Tigers have started the season horribly.
Lucky to get a win over the Sharks in round one, they improved against Manly in round two but were soundly defeated by the Dragons last weekend. If the Tigers are unable to beat Canberra on Monday night, the panic alarms will really start to ring at Leichhardt and Campbelltown.
Hackett98
Guest
To be fair that wasn't the original headline. I was simply looking at sides and players that it was an important week for.
AndyMack
Guest
Its round 4.
Jaceman
Guest
The Titans crowd will be OK next week because they received freebies for turning to see them lose against the Storm. The Club sponsor must be ruing running this promotion with the Titans real financial position now becoming obvious. BTW why was the manly v St George game not in the top 4 games for TV???
Ray Cashmere
Guest
The Titans could really do with a good-un like Ray Cashmere to bolster their depth. But, make or break after less than a handful of rounds?
The Barry
Roar Guru
I don't think the Tiges need to worry just yet. Too much class to be down for too long. The Titans have weaknesses all over the park. Their forward pack are all the same, good honest toilers but no big impact game breakers. Their 1,6,7 and 9 are inexperienced and / or out of form. Their outside backs are flighty and mistake prone. The Eels just don't have the cattle to play Kearneys grinding style. Melbourne still do it but when they have a chance players like Smith, Slater, Cronk and Widdop take the opportunity. Last weeks game against the Titans is a perfect example - close (on the scoreboard at least) for 60 minutes and then all over in about a 5-10 minute window. It never looked like being anything but a Storm victory. The Eels don't have that type of player. Roberts, Sandow and Hayne can make something out of nothing but they can't convert opportunities like Melbourne do, which is a key requirement for that style of play. I wouldn't read too much into Taylors form. Consistency has always been his big problem and he's a feast or famine style player. Grubber and score this week, six dropped balls next week.
terrykidd
Roar Pro
The Titans and Eels will share the cellar this year. Why? The Titans players have the distraction of the club's financial problems and a halfback who is no longer dangerous on his feet and no longer dangerous with the ball in hand. He is no longer going to the line and putting players into space which makes it easy for defences to adjust. Until the Titans change that then they will continue to lose because they can't score enough points. The Eels will share the cellar because Kearney has tried to instil a style of play that the players clearly don't like and have no confidence in. Thus they play the style in order to maintain their first grade spot but they play without commitment or enthusiasm. I wonder when Cartwright will drop Prince and I wonder when the Eels Board will drop Kearney ??
Gaz
Guest
How the West-Tigers were early premiership favourites ia beyond me. They are far to inconsistent to ever be favourites and must drive their supporters crazy not knowing week to week what side is going to turn up. when Benji is on and the side is on the same page you could't ask for better entertainment however that doesn't happen nearly enough for supporters and tipsters alike.
B.A Sports
I think it will be a bit early for any panic alarms at the Wests Tigers, even if they do go down this weekend. They are used to starting the season slowly