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Wow. is it safe to come back out and watch the final game of the round between Melbourne and St George Illawarra or is someone else going to sustain a major injury?
You would forgive the Storm and Dragons players if they went into Monday night’s game a fraction nervous about the injury toll in the first seven games of the season, but of course they won’t.
The commitment to the physical challenge is one of the great credits to the NRL as a competition – and the main reason players are so often hurt.
They do everything they can to avoid it through their meticulous pre-game preparations and post-game recoveries, but once they get out there and the collisions come at high speed, or the unfortunate twists occur in the tackles, they are rolling the dice.
Sometimes it can happen just through a change of direction when a player runs the ball, as appeared to be the case when Cronulla’s Paul Gallen did his knee against North Queensland.
Gallen, Canterbury’s Michael Lichaa, Brisbane’s Jordan Kahu, Canberra pair Blake Austin and Aidan Sezer, Penrith’s James Segeyaro, and South Sydney’s Adam Reynolds and John Sutton headed the list of those who finished the weekend considerably the worse for wear.
On the positive side, I’m almost afraid to mention that one of my favourite players, Wests Tigers fullback James Tedesco, safely negotiated the first round, for fear of putting the mock on him. But I’ve said it now.
Tedesco was again terrific for the Tigers in their roller-coaster of a game against the Warriors. You will recall he had some horrible luck with injuries in his first three years in the NRL, but last season he was one of only three Tigers players to play all 24 games.
Tedesco scored the runaway try right at the end that confirmed a Tigers win after a big second-half comeback from the Warriors.
The try had to go to the NRL bunker before it was awarded and the officials there made a pretty quick decision that what looked like a knock-on from Tigers five-eighth Mitchell Moses was, in fact, a knock-back.
I was intrigued to the extent that I replayed the incident on video about a dozen times afterwards and came to the conclusion that they got it right. The ball went ever-so-slightly backwards off Moses. The fact he got knocked backwards himself made me think the ball went forward.
The speed with which the decisions generally came out of the bunker was the key.
The biggest problem with video referees over the years was the amount of time they took and the number of looks they had before making decisions in many instances. Their apparent uncertainty invited everyone else watching to lack confidence in and find fault with their decisions.
The weekend results left Warriors coach Andrew McFadden as the stand-out when it comes to coaches under the most immediate pressure. The loser of that Tigers-Warriors game was always going to be left carrying that tag.
The Tigers weren’t that convincing either when you consider the pickle they got themselves into after halftime, but a win is a win and their coach, Jason Taylor, can breathe easier.
The Warriors now face Brisbane at Suncorp Stadium on Friday night. The Broncos are coming off a win and will have had more time to rest and prepare, having played the season opener against Parramatta on Thursday night.
It’s not looking good for McFadden. The Warriors spent up big to acquire fullback Roger Tuivasa-Sheck and hooker Issac Luke and quick results will be demanded by the club’s management.
The game against the Broncos will be followed by back-to-back home games for the Warriors against Melbourne and Newcastle.
I can’t see McFadden surviving past the first four rounds if the Warriors haven’t got a win by then.
Apart from that, it may only be one round but good luck to Newcastle in their bid to avoid back-to-back wooden spoons. They’re going to need a truckload of it judging by their 30-12 loss to Gold Coast on Sunday night.
And beware Canterbury, who have issued the most impressive challenge so far, in these early days, to last season’s premiers, North Queensland, and runners-up Brisbane. The Bulldogs went to Brookvale Oval on Friday night and kicked rebuilt Manly’s butt.
Canterbury coach Des Hasler may not have won a premiership with the Bulldogs yet, but he has taken them to two grand finals and a third trip there this season is a big possibility.
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