“Finucane’s departure is still a major blow …”

Not on-field. He would have struggled to get a place in top 17, if he had declared himself fit.

Off-field – by all accounts – is a different matter. From what I read, and people to whom I have spoken, he is a force-for-good in the squad.

He is on $750K this year and $350K next. I presume the club will pay him out for this year, and the $350K for next year will not be counted in the cap because he retired before the start of the season. (Anyone who understands the rules better than me, please correct me).

So if they have his $350K and Orego Kaufusi’s $600K, then they will have just about covered AFB’s $1000K

Jack, Maybe the $600K is represented by the $400K he has already had for 2024, plus $200K for the rest of the season – just like the remaining three seasons.

“Nat Butcher (41.2), Kurt Capewell (39.6) and Jacob Preston (38.0) work tirelessly without the ball yet with average running metres of only 42, 68 and 77 respectively, they fall well short of the class”
.
You said it yourself Stuart – you are penalizing the guys who focus on tackling, and promoting the guys who do the running.
.
If you want a more useful metric, have you considered “Tackles + Post Contact Metres” ?
That might help even out the different roles that coaches demand from specific players.
.
However, even that is dubious, in my eyes.
I don’t see how Jurbo is going to get a look-in on either your stat or mine, but I would love to have him any team that I support.

…. and in another 12 months he will have completed the transition to Stickey.

Vivalasvegan nailed it when he said “but it’s split second stuff, under pressure, under fatigue.”

There were 34 players, three on-field officials and three more in the bunker. Each one did some great things and some god-awful things.

Coaches only remember the calls that don’t favour their team. They forget the 50:50 calls that went their way.

Chill out coaches. As long as the ref isn’t actually biased, over the course of a match the “dubious” calls that go against you will be balanced by the ones that go in your favour.

Since Barry Gomersall hung up his boots there have been no referees (that I can remember) who have let personal bias determine their professional calls. Chill out !

AJ Mithen says “Cowboys” in his text, but the table says “Sharks”

“change in precedent” does not apply in a commercial setting.

The NRL is not bound by decisions it made in the past. If its management today is more attuned to community sentiment than the managers of a decade ago, then there is nothing to stop them refusing to register Jennings, on the grounds that it will jeopardise the popularity of the sport (or even “bring the game into disrepute”).

“Does he (Demetriou) continue to play Mitchell at his preferred position of fullback, drop Gray back to reserves and hope for the best?”

If the coach wants to change attitudes at South, then going back to the old line-up is not the way to do it. He should put Latrell in the centres, and if Latrell doesn’t like it, then JD should drop him to NSW Cup until he is prepared to put the team before his personal desires.

Yes he is. Uncles, I believe.
For Brett, what I would say is that Iro has been killing them in the reggies last season. Too good to waste there. Sure, first grade is a bit quicker, and he has to get accustomed to working with Ramien and Mulitalo, but give him half a dozen games before you write him off.

If Craig Fitzgibbon does not get off his backside and re-sign Kayal Iro, then I can see Trent Barratt picking up the phone.

I have to say, if Teddy decides a double-digit number of concussions is sufficient, then Roosters will be in serious trouble for their back-line for 2025

Out of interest, Steveng / Mike, do you have any idea who is the Retention & Recruitment manager at Souths?

Or even whether they have such a position, or whether decisions are made by some “collective” of coaches and managers?

“Surely there’s a simpler way to either expand the bench, or to let the 18th man come on as soon as one player is ruled out from a failed HIA”

Couldn’t agree more. Let’s make it really simple. Expand the bench to FIVE players, keep the number of interchanges the same, and scrap the 18th man.

“ … said that he was confident he’d be leading the club to Melbourne after next week’s bye.
.
“I won’t walk around with my head down,” he said.
.
“I’ve got no reason to. I’ve worked my backside off to get into this position as head coach of one of the biggest rugby league clubs in the world.
.
“I’m really proud I get to represent these boys, our fans, members and staff, and I’m excited about turning it around. ”
.
Assuming this report is accurate, Mr Demetriou isn’t doing himself any favours, spouting such guff.

He cannot be “confident he’ll be leading the club to Melbourne”, when it’s an open secret that Souths have been talking to Mal Meninga.

He may have “worked his backside off” but the yarstick for successful coaching is about what the coach achieves, not the effort he puts in.

He doesn’t “represent the boys” – he’s there to set the on-field strategy, coach the players to understand it and motivate them to execute it.

“Excited about turning it round” “Excited”? Maybe he is confident that by the end of the season he will have it turned round, and will have Souths pushing for a spot in the eight. If so, he should have said that, rather than blurt out the inappropriate “excited”.

He ought to have accepted that his time as South’s head coach is over, and every statement that he has made over the last week should have been directed at showing he is worth re-employing as a coach at some other club.

Annesley, not Abdo, is the man who has responsibility for sorting out this mess.

But yes, I agree that it’s time NRL Central stopped warming the bench, and sorted out the inconsistencies.

Reece Walsh coming back early?

Can someone explain the concept of “Duty Of Care” to Kevvie, please.

I thought the big problem for a player leaving mid-way through a contract is the rule that says “if he takes a new contract, it can’t be for less than the one he is leaving“. This is the problem that clubs have with Zac Lomax.
The big difference between the two players is the Zac Lomax is playing really well and Schuster isn’t even cutting it in the NSW Cup.
His best option is for his manager to tell him to realise that three seasons at $800K is as good as ever it’s going to get, so buckle down and DO NOT let the club force him out.
Stay there and take the money. , Get fit, play NSW Cup, save as much money as you can, and see what the future brings.
No other club will be interested in him this year, because he is playing badly, and they will want whatever is left of their cap for someone who is fit and going OK.

I would have had some respect for him if he had started by saying: “Gentlemen, I’m happy to answer all your questions about the team selection and the up-coming game. I’m not going to take questions on speculation over my future – this press conference is limited to the up-coming match”. .

Then at the first question about his future, he would have said: “OK, if there are no more questions about the team and the match, we’ll finish the press conference.” .

At which point he could have walked out with some dignity.

Looking at the Dally-M points…..

I wonder if Kikau looks like he is doing more than he is, because he is so instantly recognisable with his black face and his blonde hair. Any time he gets the ball you instantly know it’s him.

Very few other players are that recognisable, so maybe the judges discount them and subconsciously mark up the guys who they can identify easily.

Just a light-weight, good-humoured thought – I don’t expect a Nobel Prize for it.

Mario

From the NRL web site:

Against Manly 120 metres (inc 35 post contact metres and 37 kick-return metres)
Against Bronx 177 metres (inc 40 and 26)
Against Roost 131 metres (inc 34 and 43)
Against Dogs 97 metres (inc 36 and 26)
Against Wahs 84 metres (inc 32 and 12)

Previous seasons
Year Total Ave
Run Run
Metres Metres
2016 2401 100
2017 2226 96
2018 1886 78
2019 2145 65
2020 1500 107
2021 2310 135
2022 1716 100
2023 2040 127
2024 611 122

Note: to get these figures, go to NRL.COM, select the Players tab and choose your player.
The page will display a bunch of basic stats about Appearances, Scoring, Kicking, Attack, Defence etc then give a breakdown of the current season.
The current season stats are shown in columns. You’ll see only half a dozen (limited by the width of the screen). Click on one of these then use the right-arrow key to move the cursor to the right, and to open up extra columns.

Hard to see where Cronulla could find the money for Schuster (even if they wanted him, which I doubt – given the way Williams is coming on.)

Sharks have to find money for Addin Fonua Blake for next year, so finding an extra $800K for Schuster will be a bridge too far.

Glory Bound: you’ll note Tetley’s entry is marked “Edited after posting“.

The Roar’s user interface software has a habit of dropping paragraph breaks in edit mode. You should know – you’re a frequent poster and I’d be surprised if you have escaped it.

Serious question: can anyone explain the rationale/justification for the rule that says: “the new club cannot offer him a deal less than the one he is walking away from” ?

It’s sounds like a crude RLPA union ambit claim that somehow got included in the CBA, to the surprise of everyone.

To avoid players (and managers) gaming the system and asking for a release mid-way through a contract when they reckon that there is more money to be made elsewhere, I would like to see the rule changed to “the new club cannot offer him a deal more than the one he is walking away from”

The two teams put together in the article reflect one underlying aspect. That is that those players that Mike has selected are guys with recognisable names. The teams don’t contain guys that are unknown to sixteen seventeenths of NRL fans.

Each seventeenth of the fans will know the names of at least one or two of the players in their feeder club who have been knocking on the door of NRL first-team selection, but who have never quite pushed their way through and so are completely unknown to everyone who doesn’t support the club.

(Mike, that’s not a criticism of you. I don’t expect anyone to be familiar with who’s who in the zoo for every reggies team. That’s the reason why each NRL club has a recruitment manager and scouts)

If Mike’s two teams had been put together after round 1, a couple of the contenders might have been Tuku Hau Taphua and Kayal Iro. However, they probably would not have been included because Mike is a Manly fan and can’t be expected to know about Cronulla’s depth players. Last week, THT and KI were in the Sharks first team. They are back again this week. (So is Billy Burns, a player whose name is quite well known, but who couldn’t squeeze into the hypothetical Bears and Kea teams.)

I suspect that the reggies squads for (nearly) every NRL team contains at least one “unknown” guy who would not be out of place in a first grade team. Straight away, that’s an extra half squad for one of our expansion teams.

It’s reassuring to see at least one of our fellow Roarers has had the benefit of a classical education.

Remember sir, “Consistency Is The Hallmark Of the Unimaginative”