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Opinion
We’re starting to see Penrith’s depth get stretched with a few players out but Wests Tigers deserve every bit of credit that comes their way for their effort in the wet at Bathurst on Saturday night.
Penrith were without James Fisher-Harris and Spencer Leniu up front and Izack Tago out wide and it’s clear that Nathan Cleary is carrying an injury and funnily enough it was their old hooker, Api Koroisau, as the Tigers’ marquee recruit, coming back to bite them.
It’s not just big names like Koroisau, Matt Burton and Viliame Kikau that they’re missing, a player like Sean O’Sullivan was their back-up half last year but he left to go to the Dolphins and they don’t have the calibre of player in their depth as much as they’ve had in previous seasons.
The Tigers got through 90% of the sets, I put that in the exceptional category for any team. Everyone’s talking about it being the upset of the year but I think their execution in the wet was fantastic.
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Tigers don’t go into hibernation, that’s bears, but they like to have a rest before they go for a hunt so maybe that’s what’s happening with them this year.
Wests Tigers players celebrate victory at Carrington Park. (Photo by Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images)
Luke Brooks was sensational with a couple fo 40/20s, the challenge for him now is he needs to keep doing that to keep the fans and media off his back.
A few teams copped heavy defeats this weekend but I don’t think any of them should be reaching for the panic button just on this round alone.
The absence of quality players is going to take effect at some point and that’s what we saw with the Cowboys in their loss to Cronulla without Jason Taumalolo, Manly at home to the Gold Coast missing Tom Trbojevic and Brisbane having Payne Haas suspended for their game against South Sydney.
And then there’s Viliame Kikau and Josh Addo-Carr, it looks like they’re going to be out longer than expected for Canterbury.
Those players are all in the million-dollar a year category or close to it and you can try to get by when they’re out with replacements but it’s hard to keep performing when you’ve got a significant amount of your salary cap out injured.
It can sound like an excuse from a coach in the post-game pressers but they’re genuine reasons for why teams can’t perform to your best and sometimes you’ve just got to deal with the cards you’re dealt.
If you look at the teams that have got something like their full complement of key players, like Souths in their big win over the Broncos who had Lachlan Ilias, Cody Walker, Damien Cook and Latrell Mitchell from a coaching, game plan, execution point of view, it’s an enormous difference.
The Rabbitohs look like they’ve got a bit more time and space at the moment when they get themselves going.
The quality of their attack and their execution is top notch. Brisbane had probably been in that category as well up until this week.
Souths have got more threats on either side of the field which makes them defensively very hard to handle.
Cronulla are in the same category at the moment with their key positions but I really like their forward power with Braden Hamlin-Uele, Royce Hunt, Briton Nikora and Teig Wilton.
They seem to have a bit more leg speed and drive in their go-forward and then Nicho Hynes, Matt Moylan and Will Kennedy are playing behind that. As a ballplayer, your job is so much easier when the play-the-balls are quicker.
(Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)
North Queensland were missing a few of their better forwards on Thursday night so they just didn’t look like they had the physicality to go with them, to be honest.
Newcastle, after a tough two-point loss to the Cowboys the week before, also looked like they lacked energy on Friday against Parramatta and I think the tight turnarounds that get thrown up now and again for each team in the draw are having a large effect.
I think Magic Round next week will be a good chance for a few teams to take a moment to reset – with there being no game on Thursday, everyone gets a decent chance to prepare, they get to go away for a few days together and build some cohesion.
It was nice to see Jack Wighton play so well for Canberra in their narrow win over the Dolphins in Wagga Wagga on Saturday after the emotional week it was for him after deciding to sign with Souths next year.
Like most players of his quality, he can set that stuff aside and still put in for the Raiders for the rest of the season. We’ve seen that many times in recent years with players like Kikau and Koroisau at Penrith last year signing early and then still playing at an elite level.
The system is far from ideal and I can see why the fans get upset by it.
It is a bit of a sore point for Ricky Stuart and the Raiders and the game, but but ultimately they had an opportunity for him to stay, didn’t they? And he made a decision to go elsewhere.
(Photo by Mark Nolan/Getty Images)
I don’t mind the idea of a transfer window in the middle of the season – if there’s a player who isn’t being used by their club and there’s an opportunity for them to move elsewhere, which suits both parties, then it should happen.
If you said there was a four-week window for that to occur, that’d be the ideal set-up.
The players and their association will argue that you’re not giving players enough time to weigh up their future and look after their family and move and so on.
But it gives the club and the player enough time to see what other interests is out there and it gives the incumbent a club the time to make the best offer they can for the player to stay.
The rules of engagement in contract negotiations have always been murky no matter what system has been in place and that’s always going to be the case.
It’s hard for the NRL to definitively say that a club or a player has been negotiating (due to the strong influence of player managers) in secret when they’re under contract.
There’s been talk around all offers being publicised and everyone knowing what player salaries are, but I can’t see that ever happening.
I don’t think there’s an absolute transfer model that’s going to suit everybody.
They were very ordinary in their second-half meltdown the week before against the Dolphins, but I liked what I saw from the Titans at Brookvale in their win over Manly on Saturday night.
Their goal-line defence was so much better after it was virtually non-existent at times the previous week and some of their skill to score tries was brilliant from the likes of David Fifita, AJ Brimson and Kieran Foran.
Brimson looks like he’s done a hammy again so hopefully he’s not out too long.
With Foran, Fifita and young Alofiana Khan-Pereira operating down the left edge, there were some good signs for the Titans.
(Photo by Matt King/Getty Images)
I thought it was a tough day for the Warriors after their bruising Anzac Day effort against the Storm (who had the bye this weekend) and they were a bit flat in their effort against the Roosters.
Their senior players, including James Tedesco, Luke Keary and Angus Crichton, kept their team on track for the majority of the game in tough conditions and their defensive effort was outstanding.
The Warriors tried hard enough but couldn’t find enough quality field position and it was the first time they have been held scoreless this season.
The Bulldogs whose coach Cameron Ciraldo has moved Matt Burton to halfback and pushed Josh Reynolds to five-eighth just did enough to win against the Dragons.
The Dragons looked out of sorts defensively after their gripping one-point loss against the Roosters and their youngsters failed to back up for their game at WIN Stadium.
Michael Hagan is a former dual-premiership winning first grade player and current assistant coach of Australia's Kangaroos team. Hagan played 183 games for Canterbury and Newcastle and represented Queensland five times. He transitioned into a successful coach and took the Knights to a premiership in his first year in charge back in 2001. He went onto coach 205 NRL games and six times for Queensland in Origin.