Back to some semblance of NRL normalcy, if you ignore all the injured Origin players. Here come your talking points.
Stop hanging the refs, Graham Annesley
For the last few seasons NRL head of football elite competitions Graham Annesley has been spending Monday afternoons holding his weekly football briefing for journalists, where he looks at refereeing decisions, answers questions and shows selected data from the round just gone.
Those of you who’ve sat through one or two of these know they’re interesting enough on occasion, but mainly a dirge that’s not really worth the time.
But what bugs me the most about these is that Annesley makes a point of highlighting referee errors. There’s nothing to be gained from hanging the refs out to dry. All it does is further inflame aggrieved fans and add days of bullshit in the NRL media about how bad they think the refereeing is.
There aren’t many sports in the world that disrespect match officials more than rugby league and the NRL in particular. It’s a demanding, incredibly difficult and heavily scrutinised role that I doubt most of us would be able to hack.
So if Annesley simply must get himself in front of a camera, he should back his match officials and move on. Don’t feed the beast and when errors are made, talk about it behind closed doors.
Victor Radley is sent to the sin bin. (Photo by Matt King/Getty Images)
Beat someone good, Cronulla
They sit in fourth place, are +80 in their points differential. So why are there still doubts about the Sharks?
Last year Cronulla won 15 games, but only four of them were against top eight sides and they crashed out of the finals in straight sets.
In 2023, they’re 7-5 with not one win coming against a top eight side. They’ve had embarrassing reversals in games they were expected to win against Canberra, New Zealand and Brisbane last week.
Jesse Ramien celebrates after scoring. (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)
It’s one thing to cash in against poorer sides, but teams with serious credentials have game plans that stand up against examination by genuine contenders.
The Sharks have five games left this season against teams currently in the finals spots. Right now, they’re coming up short, but there’s time to rectify.
Good games this week
Our full NRL weekend is back, with the round starting Thursday when the Titans and Tigers do battle. Will they be able to replicate their iconic 8-6 balltearer in 2022? Probably not.
The Titans remain an unstoppable conundrum and got towelled up big time by South Sydney last week. Wests took 75 minutes to crack the Raiders’ defence and almost turned over 18 points into a win, but fell short. They need to aim up early and there’s likely to be a few points in this one.
Friday’s early game sees New Zealand head to the capital to play the role of spoiler in Canberra co-captain Jarrod Croker’s 300th game. The Warriors were workmanlike in shutting down the Dolphins 30-8 in Auckland and they’re a strong chance to poop the local’s party.
Primetime Friday we’ve got Manly and the Dolphins back from the bye. Wayne Bennett’s starting to lose more and more of his roster to injury while Manly are running with star fullback Tom Trbojevic, who is able to put his long-term health at risk thanks to a technicality in concussion protocols.
St George-Illawarra game it a good crack against the Panthers, undone by late fades and a shocking referee discussion which went against them. They’ll face up to South Sydney on Saturday afternoon who are still racking up wins.
The Broncos are the real deal and they’ll host Newcastle in Brisbane at the bizarre time of 5.30 Saturday, a most un-bronco scenario. The Knights had the bye last week and are still in touch with the finals, it’ll be worth seeing how they attack Brisbane’s strong middle defence.
Penrith and the Roosters finish Saturday in what’s usually a highly anticipated matchup, but expectations for this one have changed. The Roosters got away with one last week to squeak past Canterbury while Penrith also had a close run thing with St George-Illawarra, but it’s the premiers showing a more consistent on-field product so far.
Sunday has an interesting matchup when Cronulla travel to Melbourne seeking a genuine scalp. Normally you’d expect the Storm to be livid and ready to destroy after getting touched up 45-20 in Townsville but this version of the purple monster might not be able to live up to the type… We’ll see how they come out from the blocks.
Last game of the round is Canterbury and Parramatta, and if the Eels win they’ll likely be in the bottom section of the eight. The Bulldogs played well last week but their problem (among other things) has been backing that effort up once more.
The bye once again pulls the handbrake on a team in form, with the Cowboys taking the week off.
Week 15 random observations
– Disgraced former Cronulla coach and hopeless Fox League special commenter Shane Flanagan is favoured to take the Dragons job, a classic St George-Illawarra move.
– Apparently NRL CEO Andrew Abdo is blowing the ceremonial Viking Horn in Canberra as the Raiders run out for Jarrod Croker’s 300th game. One question – WHY???
– Jack Cogger takes the reins for Penrith with news regular halfback Nathan Cleary is out for 4-6 weeks. Cogger’s a decent player who will plug nicely into the Panthers system.
– Being knocked into next year by Joseph Aukuso Sua’ali’i’s knee hasn’t stopped Reed Mahoney being picked by Canterbury, who have applied for an exemption from the mandatory 11-day concussion stand down. If Mahoney’s allowed to play, after Tom Trbojevic was too, what are we doing here?
What’s got you talking ahead of Round 15, Roarers?
NQR
Roar Rookie
All good. I to think that concussion is serious and clubs/ coaches / players need to understand why the stand down period is for their safety. Exemptions??? Not a fan unless you say I was just looking for a penalty. LOL then I’d give them a nice fine and suspension if it’s repeated.
KenW
Roar Rookie
OK I have no real argument with that. I'm not a fan of the exceptions to the standdown rule and the opportunity for milking (or even just the perception) is one of the downsides. A bigger concern for me is the safety aspect, the whole point of the rule is that we have strong, mandatory processes to protect the players and, by extension, protect the game itself. The experts are already saying that it's barely enough, so I don't think scratching out the 'mandatory' element pushes us in the right direction.
NQR
Roar Rookie
I agree. My point is if as you say “both players were clearly hurt “ (concussion) why are they suddenly getting exemptions? I’m also suspicious when I see a second rower rolling on the ground in agony injured straight after they coat hanger an opponent (Olakau’ate Manly). It similar dishonest play to racing a player straight off the field as soon as they commit foul play so the Ref doesn’t bin or send them off ( Paulo (semi final Cowboys) , Cherrington ( NSW origin 1)? I believe Koloamatangi changed the momentum and score board faking injury and gaining a penalty (Souths v Titans). These are instructed tactics and I believe it’s dishonest. Anyway the HIA interchange had become a tactic so 11 days was a measure of both protecting player safety and addressing milking ( dishonest play). Now 11days isn’t a deterrent or a safety concern for those who want to exploit rules IMO.
KenW
Roar Rookie
Sure, and I'm no fan of it. But it isn't relevant to either of the incidents here, both players were clearly hurt.
Nat
Roar Guru
Sounds a bit like Harvey Dent.
NQR
Roar Rookie
Little bit of pot stirring regarding Payten’s thoughts on Barrett’s coaching style. Milking penalties is something that many appear to accept as gamesmanship and acceptable. Lying down and acting hurt will most definitely win you a penalty as opposed to getting up and continuing. Do it well enough and you’ll receive a free interchange and your opponent down a player. You don’t have to look too far to see skullduggery in the NRL.
Redcap
Roar Guru
Sort of. It's one of those things like: everybody in the Netherlands is Dutch but not all of them are from Holland.
Tony
Roar Guru
cranks, crackpots and Queenslanders Tautology?
Bernie
Roar Rookie
how about four try assists and one massive dummy to then crash over for a try.
Fraser
Roar Rookie
I'm happy for all but the most blatant acts of foul play to be handled by the MRC. Grey area offences like hip drops, crusher tackles, late hits, etc. are too 50/50 for a team to lose a player and most likely the game. However, the sin bin still needs to be used for things like deliberate fouls to slow the team who is about to score, or multiple indiscretions while defending the line, etc.
souvalis
Roar Rookie
Brooks: 'in this particular case, it’s that push and extension of the arms that turns this into what I consider to be an illegal action that should have been acted upon.' Campbell G: 'In a collision like that where there’s no deliberate action to take a player out, then I think it’s perfectly legitimate for the try to be awarded' Both are carefully worded Jordan Peterson like to emphasize their contrast in intention. It's worth remembering Annesley is not the lone wolf on these verdicts, before the media session he sits with the refs of the round and discusses the controversies with them (he often alludes to these) and together post mortemize before collectively drawing summaries. So I wonder why he uses first person 'I' instead of first person 'we'.
DP Schaefer
Roar Rookie
:stoked:
Maxtruck
Roar Rookie
Twal $51 1st try scorer
RedcliffeFan
Roar Rookie
Flanagan did an amazing job in driving Cronulla to a premiership. He did it with far fewer staff than other clubs and with an extraordinary dedication. Cronulla was a pauper club - I remember him borrowing a mate's truck to drive to Melbourne to pick up secondhand gym equipment. He also did maintenance work on facilities. Everything he did was for the club. He's a hero in the shire and will always be so. Dragons will finally have a good coach if they are smart enough to sign him.
Farmyard Friend
Roar Rookie
Looks like the Eels are going to be without “Dill”an Brown for the time being.
Tony McKillop
Roar Rookie
Alan would have been perfect, I hear Croker wants friends and family around the tunnel so that’s probably where Campo will be. But surely there is someone better than Abdo. Why not Travis Fimmel who played Ragnar Lothbrok in Vikings. He was in Canberra a few months ago wearing a Raiders jersey at the Dock.
Nat
Roar Guru
I know. I’ve had a sister being held hostage there for 20yrs. It’s all very Stockholm Syndrome now…
eagleJack
Roar Guru
No idea mate. I do know that Dr Gibbs used to be the Manly doc in the late 90s. So you could still say he is the Manly doc. Once you're in, we never let you go! :silly:
London Panther
Roar Rookie
Put downs are the worst for me, because even going to slow motion generally doesn’t get to a conclusive answer. Just show how hard a job the officials have; if reasonable people find it hard to agree on the principles they should apply, how the hell are they going to get universal agreement on real time interpretations.
Nat
Roar Guru
Taking the player and situation out of it, I agree. Once they open that can of worms where they can question and over rule the independent Doc what is the point of having them? The NRL brought in the Ind Doric because we couldn’t trust club Docs and now they have been offered the chance to challenge them.