NRL News: Ticket fiasco enrages fans, Hasler, DCE fight to keep jobs, Bronco plays with collapsed lung, Croker faces ban

The NRL has been left red-faced after many Rabbitohs fans missed out on sought-after tickets to their highly anticipated finals clash with the Roosters on Sunday at Allianz Stadium after a huge computer error.

An incorrect code was emailed to Souths members to purchase priority tickets, which showed an error message when they tried to log in. More than 500 angry members called the club trying to work out what was going on.

After 20 agonising minutes, the club sent another email stating “The code provided by the NRL in the previous email was incorrect,” and proceeded to provide the correct code.

By the time Souths fans could log in, many of the tickets had been purchased – mostly by Roosters members who received the correct code in the first place.

The ticketing drama will fan the flames of controversy in the lead-up to the clash between the NRL’s oldest rivals.

While the Roosters are enjoying being back at their rebuilt stadium, christening it with a rousing win over the Rabbitohs last Friday, they are against South Sydney using the venue as their home base next season.

The Roosters have several injury concerns for the elimination final and centre Joey Manu has been ruled out while Rabbitohs skipper Cameron Murray said on Monday he was confident of being right to play on Sunday despite suffering a concussion last week.

NRL chief executive Andrew Abdo has played down claims from Canberra coach Ricky Stuart that the Raiders have been dealt a rough hand by having to play their elimination final on a six-day turnaround.

Stuart’s side sealed their passage to the NRL finals with a 56-10 win over Wests Tigers on Sunday to set up a sudden-death clash with Melbourne on Saturday.

The Storm, who finished their regular season last Thursday, have a much longer time between games compared to the Raiders.

“We look at the scheduling for finals across not just week one, but across the whole series,” he told AAP.
“We don’t want five-day turnarounds between week one and week two so when you look at it from that perspective, it’s very consistent.

Abdo, meanwhile, said the NRL would continue to allow clubs to host games in week one of the finals at suburban grounds.

Cronulla’s highest finish since 1999 has meant they will play North Queensland on Saturday at PointsBet Stadium, which is currently operating with an 11,500 capacity.

Many fans are expected to be locked out of Penrith’s home game against Parramatta when bigger venues in Sydney are available

“They deserve the right to get a home game in front of their home fans for week one,” he said.
“Then there’s an opportunity later in the final series to play in bigger stadiums and I think that’s exciting.”

Hasler, DCE face fight to keep jobs

Des Hasler’s chances of returning as Manly coach next year hinge on a raft of sweeping changes that new CEO Tony Mestrov is considering over the off-season.

While star fullback Tom Trbojevic has shot down speculation suggesting there’s a rift in the playing ranks, captain Daly Cherry-Evans could be in the firing line as well as the coach with Jake Trbojevic having support among the team to take over as skipper.

The Sea Eagles were arguably the biggest under-achievers in the NRL this season, capitulating with seven straight losses at the end of the season to fall from the top eight to 11th place.

Their season ended with Canterbury upsetting them 21-20 at Accor Stadium on Friday night in the last match for club stalwart Kieran Foran before he joins the Gold Coast.

Tom Trbojevic, whose season-ending shoulder injury in May contributed to Manly’s struggles, told The Sydney Morning Herald that he wanted Hasler to remain as coach and that the players had not fallen out with Cherry-Evans.

(Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)

“We wanted to play finals football and we’ve underachieved. But a lot of the stuff being said is being over-dramatised. I don’t have any plans of leaving because as far as I’m concerned, Des is still the coach. Des is the best person to get us out of the hole we have got ourselves into at the moment.

“There are so many different personalities and characters within a football club that it’s only natural for some people to be closer than others. But to suggest there is any personal unrest from my end to anyone in the team is untrue, especially not with Chez.”

Hasler is off contract at the end of next year – he had a clause in his contract that could have triggered a 2024 extension if the team finished in the top six this season.

Trbojevic said he and his brother Jake were committed to seeing out their contracts at the club which run until the end of 2026.

Te Maire toughs it out with collapsed lung

Te Maire Martin played on with a collapsed lung on Saturday night in Brisbane’s away loss to St George Illawarra before an overnight stay in hospital and a 12-hour car trip home.

The 26-year-old was unable to fly so was driven back to Brisbane from Sydney by Broncos football manager Steve Walters, who told AAP the 26-year-old seemed “OK and comfortable enough” on his return

Dr Matt Hislop, the Queensland team doctor who has worked with the Broncos, tweeted that Martin had sustained “blunt trauma to his back” in a tackle in Saturday night’s 22-12 defeat to St George Illawarra, which ended the Broncos’ season.

Hislop said Martin had “respiratory distress and went to emergency where a pneumothorax was confirmed”. The pneumothorax, or collapsed lung, was “small and a chest drain was not needed”, Hislop said.

Walters said the injury occurred in the first half but Martin continued to play until replaced in the 56th minute in what Walters terms a tremendous display of bravery.

“The injury happened in the first half and he just battled on,” Walters said.

“He went back on in the second half but while he was out there it was really tender and he couldn’t run properly.

(Photo by Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images)

“We took him off and that’s when Selwyn Cobbo went back to fullback. It just shows how resilient Te Maire is. He is a tough little fella.”

Martin was taken to hospital on Saturday night, where he stayed the evening. He was unable to fly so the Broncos secured a hire car.

“I drove him home and spent 12 hours in the car with him. He seems OK and comfortable enough,” Walters said.

“We got back to Brisbane at 9pm last night (Sunday). He has to have some more scans but it certainly rattled him a bit. It was quite painful, I am sure.”

Martin will join the New Zealand Warriors from next season after resurrecting his career at the Broncos following a bleed on the brain which kept him out of the game for for three years

“Te Maire is a terrific fella and his is such a good story with what has happened to him this year,” Walters said.

“There are plenty of good news stories at the Broncos this year.

“(Forward) Zac Hosking is another one. He’d never played NRL before but he got his chance and now he has won a contract with Penrith.

“The other good news story is that we won 13 games this year, nearly double what we won last year. I can’t believe how much people are bagging (the team).”

The Broncos lost five of their final six games to crash from fourth to ninth position after finishing 14th last year and securing the wooden spoon in 2020.

Croker facing three-match ban

Knights forward Mat Croker is facing a ban of 2-3 matches in 2023 after being charged for a hip-drop tackle which has placed Sharks centre Siosifa Talakai’s finals campaign under a cloud.

Talakai limped off in the 79th minute of Cronulla’s win over Newcastle on Sunday after Croker’s tackle in which he landed heavily on the NSW representative’s ankle.

He will be banned for the first two matches of next season if he enters an early guilty plea but risks a three-game ban if he challenges the charge.

Raiders prop Corey Horsburgh will be free to face Melbourne after he was charged with a grade-one careless high tackle for a hit on Tigers half Jock Madden. He is facing a fine of $750-$1000.

Wests hooker Jake Simpkin ($1800-$2500) and prop Zane Musgrove ($1000-$1500) have been fined for dangerous contact incidents involving Horsburgh during Canberra’s Leichhardt Oval rout.

(Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)

Bunnies must hold firm from the start: Nicholls

South Sydney have the statistics on their side but veteran Mark Nicholls says it will take more than that to avenge their round 25 loss when they meet the Sydney Roosters in an elimination final.

On Sunday, the Rabbitohs and Roosters will become the 20th set of teams since 2011 to meet in the last month of the regular season and then again in the finals series.

On 14 of the 19 previous occasions, the result has flipped in the finals.

The turning of the tables held true for the Rabbitohs and Roosters when they last had a rematch in the finals.

In 2019, the Rabbitohs defeated their local rivals in the last round of the season, only to fall to them a week later.

But Nicholls says the Rabbitohs can’t sit back hoping for the trend to continue, and instead must zero in on doing two things well come Sunday: starting fast and defending.

“You’ve got to start fast in every game but especially in the finals,” he told AAP.

“We know we can attack. For us, if we defend well, we know we’ve got points in us throughout the whole 80 minutes. It’s about defending for us.”

The Rabbitohs managed to outscore the Roosters in the final three quarters of Friday night’s clash between the two rivals but were left to rue a slow start that had them trailing 14-0 after 20 minutes.

“We can take positives out of our second half but they definitely turned up and started very physically,” he said.

“If we don’t do that next week, we’re going to get the same result.”

Nicholls was a member of the 2020 South Sydney team that came within a sliver of a grand final berth despite finishing sixth.

The veteran will be imparting some wisdom on his younger teammates as they look to defy the odds and make it further this time around.

“It doesn’t matter who you’re playing in the big games,” he said.

“In rugby league, anyone can win on their day, and I think that’s always been the message. 

“I’ve seen plenty of times when teams are expected to win and they lose, and vice versa. Anything can happen, especially in the big games.”

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