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Round 11 Questions: Can Potter do magic trick? Which coach is next? RCG Origin? Did Anasta drop Munster value?

18th May, 2022
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18th May, 2022
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With Trent Barrett becoming the first coach to trudge through the exit door this season, the only way is up for the last-placed Bulldogs.

Or is it? Long-suffering Canterbury fans thought that was going to be the case two years ago when Dean Pay also walked out of Belmore mid-season because he had lost “the full support of the board”.

But they collected the wooden spoon last year and are last after 10 rounds with a 2-8 record and have had the worst build-up imaginable to a rare winnable game against the only other team with the same record, the Wests Tigers.

Mick Potter has stepped into the breach which is a case of the rugby league universe shining down on someone who was given a rough time of it in his two-year stint coaching a Wests Tigers squad which was ageing and overpaid.

If he can turn Canterbury’s week around with a down-trodden, flu-riddled team on the back of two training sessions to get a win at Leichhardt, then it will be the most magical trick performed by anyone with the Potter surname on record.

And as the old saying goes, there’s only two kinds of coaches – those who’ve been sacked and those waiting for the axe to fall. There are several candidates who may also not see out the season with Potter’s Round 11 rival Michael Maguire at the top of the list although Nathan Brown, Anthony Griffin and Adam O’Brien could very well follow Barrett’s ignominious end before too long.

Here are all the big questions for each club in Round 11.

Round 11 Questions

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Knights v Broncos at McDonald Jones Stadium, 7.50pm (AEST)

Does Anthony Milford have anything left in the tank? Newcastle have taken a gamble by signing the former Broncos playmaker and with Jake Clifford’s season going south quickly after a promising start and fellow playmaker Adam Clune failing to make his mark, it’s worth a punt. But will he be fit enough? The knock on Milford at the Broncos was that he was a poor trainer and that translated to the playing arena. He hasn’t been subjected to the intensity of an NRL match since September and his old team will not make it easy for him.

Kurt Capewell and Adam Reynolds of the Broncos

Brisbane’s 2022 marquee recruits Kurt Capewell and Adam Reynolds (Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images)

Did Broncos sign the two best recruits of 2022? Adam Reynolds is an almost universal selection as the buy of the year for the way he’s transformed Brisbane by giving them the on-field general they’ve lacked for several year. Second-rower Kurt Capewell’s impact is not that far behind – not only has he given them a strong ball runner on the left edge but he’s brought leadership and experience to what is still a relatively young pack. Sharks halfback Nicho Hynes, Storm speedster Xavier Coates and Cowboys veteran Chad Townsend are the only other recruits who would rival Capewell for runner-up honours.

Friday

Tigers v Bulldogs at Leichhardt Oval, 6pm (AEST)

Is Brent Naden an NRL centre? Part of the reason why he left Canterbury was being shunted to the wing. He looks like he will get a chance to have an extended run at centre with the Wests Tigers but it’s time to show he can perform consistently because he’s never been able to nail down a spot despite severl opportunities at Penrith and the Bulldogs.

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Will anything change at the Bulldogs? Nobody can expect Mick Potter to alter much in the extremely short space of time he will have to prepare this team for Friday night’s match but perhaps a few different ideas will spark the side over the remaining 14 matches of the season. Josh Jackson raised more than a few eyebrows when he claimed on Wednesday they could still make the eight and Josh Hannay nearly resuscitated Cronulla’s season into a finals berth last season when John Morris got the chop but most Bulldogs fans would be happy just to move away from the wooden spoon and finish in the relatively respectable 10-13 range after such an abysmal start to the year.

Eels v Sea Eagles at CommBank Stadium, 7.55pm (AEST)

Should RCG get an Origin recall? Reagan Campbell-Gillard has played five Tests for Australia, including the 2017 World Cup final win, but has just one lonely old Origin on his resume way back in the 2018 series opener. With Knights prop Daniel Saifiti in a form slump, and Dale Finucance, Victor Radley and Cameron Murray injured, the Blues are looking for a middle forward or two. RCG has played all 10 games for Parra this year and is averaging 24 tackles and 154 running metres in 50 minutes per game so he should be a strong chance of at least getting an interchange berth behind Eels teammate Junior Paulo and Broncos behemoth Payne Haas.

Reagan Campbell-Gillard

Reagan Campbell-Gillard is one of the Eels’ enforcers. (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)

Are Sea Eagles over-rated? After Tom Trbojevic led them all the way to the grand final qualifier last year, most people assumed Manly would be all but certainties for the top four in 2022. But they are 5-5 and in ninth spot after last week’s 38-0 Magic Round thrashing at the hands of Brisbane. And their wins have come against last-placed Canterbury (by one point), the Raiders during their early-season slump, the Knights, Titans and Tigers. They are 0-5 against teams currently in the eight.

Saturday

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Dragons v Warriors at Netstrata Jubilee Stadium, 3pm (AEST)

Has Anthony Griffin done irreparable damage to Tyrell Sloan or protected him? Tyrell Sloan is a gun young fullback who has now been dropped for the second time this season. He was recalled when Andrew McCullough was out last week with Moses Mbye shifting to hooker and he clearly hasn’t found the confidence that Griffin said he would discover back in the NSW Cup. He’s still a baby in NRL terms and hopefully these are just growing pains that every fullback goes through at the start of their career and he bounces back to make the red and white No.1 jersey his own long term. You would hate to see a talent like him go into a downward spiral of confidence from constantly being dropped and recalled.

Wouldn’t Jazz Tevaga fit in well in a good team? The Warriors stalwart brings up 100 games in the NRL in Saturday’s clash with the Dragons at Kogarah. He’s the kind of player that every good team needs – someone who does a mountain of defensive work and doesn’t complain despite being shuffled between hooker, lock and the bench. Unfortunately for him, the Warriors have been dismal since he made his debut in 2016 and the first-round finals exit two years later is the only time he’s sniffed the playoffs. And this team is pretty damn unlikely to be seeing any finals action this year. He’s got a player option for next year but any rival CEO worth their salt should be enquiring about his services.

Cowboys v Storm at QCB Stadium, 5.30pm (AEST)

Can Cowboys break Storm hoodoo? The North Queensland club has not collected any competition points from their past 12 clashes with Melbourne. Most of those games have been over by half-time with the Cowboys averaging a paltry six points in the first halves during that span. Riding high on a five-game wnning streak and playing at home against a side without star fullback Ryan Papenhuyzen and big prop Nelson Asofa-Solomona, they won’t get a better chance to break their Storm pattern.

SUNSHINE COAST, AUSTRALIA - SEPTEMBER 10: Cameron Munster of the Storm in action during the warm up before the NRL Qualifying Final between the Melbourne Storm and the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles at Sunshine Coast Stadium on September 10, 2021, in Sunshine Coast, Australia. (Photo by Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images)

(Photo by Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images)

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Did Braith Anasta hurt Cameron Munster’s asking price? As he tries to straddle the extremely tricky juggling act of being an on-air pundit for Fox Sports and a player agent, Braith Anasta may have damaged the market value of his star client during the week. Anasta on NRL 360 called Bulldogs general manager Phil Gould a liar, labelling him Pinocchio due to some of his comments about Trent Barrett in the lead-up to the Canterbury coach’s abrupt exit earlier this week. The Bulldogs have been talked about as a potential landing spot for Munster in 2024 when his Storm deal ends but whatever hope they had of getting an offer out of them is now dead as Gould is one of the Greatest Game of All’s great grudge holders.

Roosters v Panthers at SCG, 7.35pm (AEST)

Does anyone doubt Joseph Suaallii’s credentials now? There had been a few whispers of “what’s all the fuss about” regarding Joseph Suaalii in the early stages of this season as he found his feet again at NRL level after a fracture in one of them ended his rookie campaign early and sidelined him for the start of this one. But that catch last week. Whoa. Comparisons with amazing athletes of the not-so-distant past can be fraught with danger but the skill and hang time he displayed in leaping sky high to score was very much in the Israel Folau mould from his amazing Origin try in 2008.

Can anyone spot a weak link at Penrith? If you can there are 15 NRL coaches who’d like to hear from you. The Panthers have made 18,244 run metres this season, which is 4901 more than they have conceded
(13,343) – it is not only the best positive differential of any team but 2,70 metres more than the next best team, North Queensland Cowboys at 2531. Yet they only have two players in the NRL’s top 40 for running metres per game – Dylan Edwards, first with 197, and rookie winger Taylan May, 10th with 151 – which shows you how evenly they distribute their workload across the park.

Sunday

Rabbitohs v Raiders at Apex Oval, Dubbo, 2pm (AEST)

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Can Rabbitohs start climbing ladder? They’re eighth with a 5-5 record and only one of those wins was over a top-eighth team – the Roosters in Round 2. They have the Raiders and Tigers, then Titans and Dragons either side of the bye over the next five rounds. At the very least they should be collecting three wins there to put a gap on the chasing pack.

Should Raiders offload less? The offload can be a dangerous tactic and it can be overused. Canberra are leading the league in this stat with 126 for the season, a whopping 44 more than Souths have mustered, but the Green Machine is the 12th-best offence in the most important attacking category – points on the scoreboard. Taking the tackle and getting a quick play-the-ball is often more beneficial than flinging the ball out the back to further stagnate your attack.

Titans v Sharks at Cbus Super Stadium, 4.05pm (AEST)

Can Titans challenge the line? Gold Coast are ranked 15th when it comes to line engagements, better only than the Raiders. Their playmakers need to put on their big boy pants when in possession and take the pill to the line, cop a bruise or two and that will create space for their edge forwards and outside backs. Young halfback Toby Sexton (seven per game) is the only Titan in the NRL’s top 40 in this category, nearly double that of halves partner AJ Brimson.

Will Miller time hit the spot? It’s been a while since the NRL had a rugby convert make a mark and sevens exponent Lachie Miller will make his debut at fullback after Sharks coach Craig Fitzgibbon switched Nicho Hynes back to halfback for the second match of Will Kennedy’s two-game ban. Miller is unlikely to keep his spot when Kennedy returns next week but he can show he’s worth another try down the track if he can slot into Cronulla’s complicated backline moves.

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