MICHAEL HAGAN: NRL soap opera keeps us entertained but only strong survive this time of year

If the NRL was a soap opera, the scriptwriters would get the sack because no one would believe the storylines.

I don’t know the reasons why, maybe it’s been a full moon, but the period over the last few weeks has tossed up some of the strangest plot twists I can remember in my decades involved in rugby league.

Ricky Stuart’s “weak-gutted dog” press conference spray capped off a weird and wonderful few weeks where we’ve had the Cowboys-Tigers result being threatened with legal action, Kevin Proctor posting on Instagram about vaping in the toilets during a game, the Manly pride jersey saga and David Klemmer being stood down by Newcastle because his run-in with a trainer became an HR issue.

This time of year when you’re a month out from the finals is the most stressful time of year for players, coaches and officials.

A lot of teams are fighting to make it into the finals and some of them are coming to the end of the road when they know they’re not going to make it.

Players and staff members are already getting the tap on the shoulder to say their services won’t be required next season.

Raiders coach Ricky Stuart looks on during the round 21 NRL match against Penrith. (Photo by Mark Evans/Getty Images)

These tensions can manifest themselves in strange ways and we’ve seen plenty of that over the past month.

In no way am I defending Stuart for his press conference rant because he deserved to be punished for it. He knows he was out of line and he’s paid the price. 

But what I will say is it’s a tough gig when you have to front up to the media after a loss. Try as you might, sometimes you get asked a question about something that has already riled you up and you take the bait.

You’re the person who has got to front up on behalf of the team and you’ve got to be calm and concise, not overly critical of anybody, particularly the referees.

Unless you’ve been in it when you’re sitting at the desk, the bright lights are on you, the cameras are all focused on you, it’s hard to explain how difficult it can be to keep your cool moments after your team has just lost a game, sometimes in controversial circumstances. 

From the outside it’s easy to be critical but when you’ve got the questions being fired at you and certain agendas being run by media organisations, it’s quite a challenging part of the job. The coaching and footy stuff is straightforward, it’s what happens externally that makes it such a tough gig.

Wayne Bennett had a time many years ago when he was disgruntled about one thing or the other and he didn’t want to front up to the press conferences. He was told he had to turn up and answer the questions, which he did, usually with responses of one or two words.

There’s nothing in the rules that says you have to tell the media much about anything, only that you have to answer the questions.

(Photo by Mark Evans/Getty Images)

Back in 2005 there was a game in Newcastle when I was coaching the Knights and we had a team decimated by injuries that had lost a stack of games in a row. 

Parramatta, who went on to be minor premiers, beat us 50-0 and a young journo asked me “so Michael, you lost by 50, do you think your team has a problem with defence?”.

I looked at him and said “no mate, why would you think that?”, sarcastically. And everyone laughed. That’s how I chose to handle that one.

Dealing with adversity is what any good team should be able to do.

Manly have competed hard in the two games since the pride jersey dramas came to light but they’ve lost both of them at a critical point in the season and their finals hopes are pretty much shot.

Des Hasler handled the drama well but the team didn’t respond.

The Dragons had a disruption a couple of weeks ago with their assistant coaches being told they wouldn’t have their contracts renewed and they’ve gone down in a heap in their last couple of games and are in a similar position to the Sea Eagles where even if they win all their remaining games, it might not be enough to sneak into the eight.

Adam O’Brien had his own press conference faux pas just over a week ago when he made reference to winning grand finals at his previous clubs. He did the right thing and corrected himself the next day but then the Knights shot themselves in the foot again the following the David Klemmer fiasco.

That issue was handled really poorly but the team (and their coach) actually reacted by being galvanised in a positive fashion on Sunday in their win over Wests Tigers.

Canberra are going to have to go through it now that their coach is not going to be there this weekend. 

(Photo by Ashley Feder/Getty Images)

How they respond to that adversity will decide whether they can take advantage of a pretty soft run in the final four rounds and make the eight.

There’s a snowball effect which will amplify if the Raiders put in a poor performance against St George Illawarra. With the Knights’ example, they were able to nip it in the bud but the problems have been amplified or the Sea Eagles and Dragons because the losses have kept coming.

If you don’t stop the snowball, it becomes an avalanche. But if you get the right result, you are in the clear and soon enough it’ll be another club’s turn.

Just like any good soap opera, if there is such a thing, the next episode begins and someone else becomes the star, or the villain.

Chapter 22 of the NRL kicks off on Thursday night and we’ll all be tuning in to the next episode. 

(Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)

Melbourne, a club that’s not used to being under pressure, could become the main plotline if they go down to the Panthers at Penrith.

They’ve had to deal with plenty of injuries, Brandon Smith being suspended, the Cameron Munster contract situation bubbling around in the background and now Jahrome Hughes is out for a couple of weeks with a shoulder problem. 

The Storm are a little bit behind where they normally are at this time of year but they have a knack of winning big games against the odds.

Then on Friday night we’ve got Eels vs Rabbitohs in prime time. Parra have done well so far without Mitch Moses and Souths have some momentum so this could be a real telling game around where both teams land. 

And I really like the look of Saturday’s early afternoon matinee feature of Roosters vs Cowboys being a finals dress rehearsal. 

Especially for a young team like North Queensland, it’s a good chance for them to see where they line up a month out from the playoffs against a club that’s used to performing at this stage of the season. 

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