Scott I think you need to look at the roster and resources available to a coach to determine how good a job they’ve done, not just look at results. For example Meninga won 9 out 10 Origin series as coach where as Bellamy lost all 3 series he coached. Is this because a) Meninga is a vastly better coach at Origin level or b) Meninga had better players and resources to work with?

The Titians were widely tipped to get the wooden spoon this due a roster which, on paper, looked one of the weakest in the comp. Therefore I think if the Titans make the 8 Henry should definitely enter the conversation.

Flanagan and Bellamy have no doubt done amazing job this year, but both have much stronger rosters what Henry has to work with. In particular the Storm have covered the injures to the outbacks well and Sharks were outstanding without their Origin players. I expect one of them will get coach of the year, but Henry should defiantly be considered

How can Leeds have a player sent off, yet the still receive the penalty? People complain about refs in the NRL, but IMO this ref has been pretty poor. In particular the pace of the play ball has been really inconsistent, plus few other poor calls

Great article Justin.

I remember before Nadal became consitent on surfaces on other than clay, some people were diminishing Federer’s achieves, saying he wasn’t playing any ‘greats’. I know boxing is totally different, but the same logic can be applied to Klitschko – you can oppose what’s in front of you. In the case Klitschko I guess it’s unfortunate he hasn’t really had another great or rivalry to enhance his reputation. In saying that, hypothetically speaking, if he was in the say era as say Ali, Frazier and co he might have struggled against (or at least not beaten) those guys and not even been considered amgoust the top 10 or 15 fighters.

In regards to your top 10, if someone had said to me Tyson was the tenth best heavy weight of all time, I would have said they’re mad, but all boxers you listed, apart from maybe Klitschko, have a claim to being better. Also I’d have Frazier at number 3 and close to being number two. Remember Ali had told his team to cut his gloves off in Manilla, when Frazier threw in the towel. Literally all Frazier had to was stand up and he would have won. If your capable of beating the best of time twice, including in the greatest fight of all time, I think that is pretty incredible.

Had Bennett just said ‘I don’t agree with golden point, I think grand finals should be replayed’, then I could accept that as fair opinion. But when he says things like ‘the Cowboys weren’t better than us, it was 16 all after full time’ and that golden point was ‘most unfair here tonight’, I think that is sour grapes. These two quotes are also proof he wouldn’t of have said the same thing had the Broncos won in golden point (although he almost certainly would have still been against golden point in general).

The Broncos should of had the advantage of having first use of the ball in golden point, and had the opportunity to win the game without letting the Cowboys use it. Furthermore, in regular time the Broncos played not to lose, rather than trying to put the result beyond doubt too early. And if the Broncos really deserved to win, they would of scored again and won the game in regular time

The issue for the Tigers is for the last decade they’ve played expansive football and don’t have much to show for it. In recent years, all the premiers have been very solid in defence, with the Tigers of 2005 the one exception. The Tigers over the past 10 years look fantastic when they are winning, but they are often inconsistent and could be found out by the top teams.

I the Tigers have to get the right balance between having high completion and solid defence, and allowing their young playmakers a chance to attack. If you look at Dragons, there has been a lot said about their attack. Dugan, Widdop and Marshall can still play well, even when the Dragons aren’t scoring a lot of points. I think the same can happen at the Tigers.

Although this style of footy is considered boring, I think it will be worth it long term. Winning is more important than entertaining and I think that in the modern game winning is built on defence.

Hi Jordon, good summary. But I think you’ve been rather generous in your ratings!

I’m not sure why think the draw will affect the Cowboys chances to win matches – they play the Eels, Raiders and Sharks twice, plus they play Manly and Titans once. If the Cowboys don’t finish well from here I think it will be because they still have periods in matches where they don’t play well, not because of the draw.

Also in regards to the Storm not being able to win close matches without their stars (I’m assuming this is Origin players), I think the same is true about any side. If you take the starting hooker, halfback and fullback out any team they will struggle, especially to win close matches

Lui is out injured, otherwise he would have been playing tonight. But he is only on a one year deal, his manager has already said he will look elsewhere for a chance in first grade. At the right price, I think he would be a pick up for either the Warriors or Manly.

Interesting article Bailey. These articles always draw a lot of debate. It is so subjective how to rate a pack and so often people let biases towards their own team influence their views.

Did you only use this year’s performances to make these rankings or were past years a factor? Overall I rank the Bulldogs as the best pack, largely because of their bench. I think this is what holds the Broncos back from being the best – they have arguably one of the best starting pack but lack impact off the bench.

“The Cowboys’ woeful start rests on the shoulders of their pack, who have turned it around.” This is so true. Everyone just says when Thurston plays well, the Cowboys win, but Thurston can’t do anything when the forwards aren’t aiming up. Cowboys (whole team) average the most meters and concede the least meters of any team. This is largely due to their forward pack. Lowe has been a revelation this year, plus guys like Bolton, Hannant and Asiata done their job really well over the past five weeks.

I agree Mayweather is an incredible boxer. It’s hard to compare people from different eras in any sport, but he will go down as one of the greats. But I don’t think he’s even near the class of the likes of Ali or Robinson because he didn’t the ‘rivalries’ in his career.

I remember reading a while ago someone from Golovkin’s camp said he would be willing to go down a class if it meant fighting Manny or Mayweather. But even if weight and promotion weren’t an issue I don’t think Mayweather would want to risk his unbeaten record in potentially his last fight.

Great article Jack. As much as I dislike Mayweather, I’m sick of people saying Manny was robbed or that Mayweather won by ‘running’. I think this fight showed why Mayweather has never been beaten. As the saying goes ‘winning ugly is better than losing pretty’. I love seeing fights end via KO, but that was always unlikely in this fight.

I’m glad this fight happened but I’ll forever be disappointed it didn’t happen 5 or 6 years ago when Manny was at his peak. I wonder if all Manny’s commitments away with boxing slowly caught up with him.

I don’t think this fight did much to enhance Mayweather’s legacy. They could of had two or three fights when they were at their peak, rather than one during the twilight of their careers. Had Mayweather beaten him in say 2010, it would have been more impressive. The other thing that stands out about Mayweather’s career is I think he should of had a rematch with De La Hoya.

I think if Mayweather really wants to enhance his reputation as one of the greats he should fight Golovkin. I’ve only seen Golovkin’s fight against Geale, but his KO record is seriously impressive. But given Mayweather has said he only wants one more fight I think he’ll see it as too big a risk.

Coconut the reason South Africa were more at disadvantage in regards to pacing their innings is because they would have been working on really increasing their strike rate from about the 35th or 40th overs. Had they known from the start of the innings that it would only 43 overs they probably would have planned on ‘launching’ from about the 30th over.

Like I said New Zealand deserved to win. South Africa missed chances in the field, they lacked a 5th bowling option and Steyn went for more than 8 and half an over. But I still think South Africa were somewhat disadvantaged by the rain

It was outstanding game, even as a neutral supporter it was edge of your seat stuff. It is disappointing though that game had to be reduced to 43 overs each. Duckworth Lewis generally favours the side which is batting second, as the team knows from the start of their innings how many overs they have. While New Zealand 100% deserved to win, South Africa were unlucky the rain occurred right when AB and Faf looked set give SA a massive total

According to reports, Neil Henry was interested in signing Carney when he was sacked by the Roosters, but there were others at the club against it (instead they signed Lui). I don’t think the Cowboys should try and get Carney now given Morgan has resigned and Coote is contracted for next year.

TB, I agree that an enforcer is the least of the Cowboys worries. Defence (specially communication, marking players and missed tackles) and ball handling are far bigger issues.

However I don’t think they are two quality players short in their spine. IMO both Coote and Morgan are very good players.

The bigger issue is hooker. I don’t think Granville should play 80 minutes. The Cowboys have traditionally had success using two hookers. Given both Cooper and Taumalolo play 80 minutes so I think the Cowboys can afford to a dummy half on the bench. I haven’t seen Cameron King play this year, I think their best combination could be King starting with Granville off the bench.

Geoff I agree, this match would have been an ideal opportunity for Clarke to get some time in the middle. I think he should have come out at 4, with no pressure him.

The other issue for the side at moment is lacks specialists. One solution would be to bring Bailey in at 5 and play Faulkner at 7. A line up of Finch Warner Smith Clarke Bailey Haddin Faulkner Johnson Starc Cummins Hazlewood /Doherty gives Australia five batsmen, four bowlers and an allrounder. It means Australia wouldn’t have the safety net of Faulkner at 8 and it would very harsh to drop Maxwell. But it would give Australia a very strong bowling attack and probably their strongest possible top 5.

Rona is great player, I was disappointed the Cowboys weren’t able to retain him. He was fantastic in limited opportunities in top grade. I wish the Cowboys had kept him instead of signing Moga

Amusing article Alex. I can’t stand Hadley but I’m not sure Joffery is the right comparison. Although he’s not evil, I think Hadley is like Hodor. Repetitive and never says anything worth listening to.

Interesting premise Allan, and sound logic to support it. I thought when I saw the headline this was just going be an article by someone who simply didn’t like Saturday footy, but it was an original and interesting read.

In saying that I couldn’t disagree more. As has been said earlier this works in the USA because high school and college football have much larger followings. TV stations over don’t want college football clashing with NFL because they can make more by showing both live. Over here stations would be losing out by not having live top line footy to show on a Saturday.

The other major issue is Saturday footy suits some clubs and people. The cowboys actually request Saturday night home games, because it suits their large out of town support base. Personally I live about 4 hours from Brissy. I can drive down to watch a game on a Saturday, but not any other day due to work.

I attended a pre season trial earlier this between the cowboys and titans in Toowoomba. It was on a Saturday night, and despite most people having to stand with limit viewing it a sell out of about (from memory) 7 and half thousand people. There were people who turn just before the main game getting turned away. Later in the year the NRL clash between the two sides on the Gold Coast only got a few hundred more supporters, however the game was played on a Monday night. I think this highlights how Saturdays suit fans.

Haha I was over hearing about Hayne the morning after he announced he was leaving!

Yeah I agree Morgan is no where near the class of JT, but really who is? When he retires the Cowboys are seriously going to have to restructure a lot of their plays. One positive is that this year was the Cowboys best year ever defensively.

I’ll be pretty annoyed if Taumalolo leaves the club, given he’s been on decent coin since he was 15. It was bad enough losing Sims, given time he’d been out and the potential to have one the best backrows in the comp in a few years. The ace for the Cowboys keeping Taumalolo will be if he doesn’t want to leave his family – he spoke about it last time he resigned. Have heard he is thinking of leaving (I heard he wanted to if Henry remained coach) or have you heard the Roosters are going to offer him massive money?

What are your thoughts the Cowboys hooker position. I think the best option is Cameron King – Bennent had massive wraps on him a few years ago.

Yeah I thought that is an issue, capping the amount players can earn. However, individually aren’t players already capped at how much they earn through third party? Also the issue with NRL giving additional funding/cap room to certain clubs is that those clubs may then be at an advantage. Also a club such as Cronulla could be receiving funding when they should be able to attract sponsors. But regardless the NRL must do something to even out the competition.

This discretionary power is ridiculous. Firstly it rewards players who are disloyal to the game. Secondly it rewards clubs who star players are signed, not developed. Thirdly all it takes is a player saying he thinking of leaving to for Smith to hand him more money. Whats stopping a player such as Thurston saying he is thinking of leaving for French rugby just to get a top up?

Or a star player leaving for one year, their club then signs a star player to replace him, after a year the player ‘has a change of heart’ and saying he want to return to his club. The club would then have both star players with NRL paying one of them.

Don’t mean to get off topic on this thread, but I think Michael Morgan will be key when JT retires. If he doesn’t move into the halves next year, he could move there when JT retires. Given the abundance of talented outside backs that come out of North QLD they could find another gun fullback. If he steps up I think, in time, after JT retires they could be competitive.

Great article Scott.

I remember Bruno Cullen, while he was still at the Broncos, saying something along lines that you can basically spend any amount in the salary cap due to 3rd party payments. Apparently when the Raiders officially lost Milford, they couldn’t believe that the Broncos were able to better the money were offering him (which makes sense when you compare the clubs rosters and consider Milford is far more important to the Raiders than the Broncos)

Also when you look at various clubs rosters, even considering poor management, how some clubs rosters can be so poor and others so good. Furthermore, how clubs supply have a full salary cap and then sign a decent player, or how can sign a gun player despite not losing anyone?

Maybe the NRL should cap the amount club’s players can receive through third party. Hypothetically, say it was 8 million. If a club can provide proof that say the can’t find 7 million worth of sponsorship the NRL the could get their sponsors to fund these clubs. Ie they could have a clause with Telstra act as a sponsor for clubs should those clubs not be able to find sponsors.

You’re right everyone is entitled to their opinion. However I find it unnecessary and somewhat disrespectful to share this when he’s retiring.

Yes he did punch a player on the ground, not that this justifies it, however there were a lot of players who did grubby things in that game and he did as retaliation. A number of players do things completely out of character during the heat of Origin. I also think you need to let it go – remember all the niggle between JT and Reynolds, earlier this year? Straight after the game they shook hands and left it on the field.

As far as the penalty thing, having watched most of his games at Cowboys and Maroons, I can’t recall him feinting an injury (although nearly every player, despite their denials, has at some point overplayed an injury for a penalty). Did you ever consider in Tate’s case however he may have been more sensitive/worried about neck injuries? Also if you twisted your neck the wrong way, it doesn’t take much to hurt it.

Squidward, if Alex Mckinnon had said is was the most scared he had every been during the tackle that ended his career, would you mock him? For that split second Tate, a player with a history of neck injuries, had no idea (same as Mckinnon during his tackle) if the tackle could have been as bad or worse.

When I rodeoing there were times when you’d come off in bad position for a split second you are worried about hurting yourself. It can genuinely shake you up afterwards.

And please don’t tell me only said to influence the jury outcome – does anyone actually think the jury would be swayed comments from the victim?

Jack, you’re right that team did have a fair few stars. Also in 1997 the Knights didn’t have to play Broncos due to the Super League war.