Join The Roar
Become a member to join in Australia's biggest sporting debate, submit articles, receive updates straight to your inbox and keep up with your favourite teams and authors.
Oops! You must provide an email address to create a Roar account
When using Facebook to create or log in to an account, you need to grant The Roar permission to see your email address
By joining The Roar you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions
Login and get Roaring
Oops! You must provide an email address to create a Roar account
When using Facebook to create or log in to an account, you need to grant The Roar permission to see your email address
Expert
Joined February 2011
1.82m
Views
493
Published
7.8k
Comments
"Serious sport has nothing to do with fair play. It is bound up with hatred, jealousy, boastfulness, disregard of all rules and sadistic pleasure in witnessing violence: in other words, it is war minus the shooting." - George Orwell
Published
Comments
Given the hysterics this summer, if you were none the wiser, you could be mistaken for thinking Australia was anchored to the bottom of the world rankings, getting beaten by an innings every match, embarrassing the country with their on-field performances.
After the Melbourne Storm’s victory over the Penrith Panthers in the NRL Grand Final on Sunday night, it was unfortunate that a significant chunk of the chatter was dedicated to the commentary of the game – specifically Gus Gould’s – rather than the game itself.
After a couple of seasons of blistering-hot form with my annual fearless predictions, I think I’ll come falling back to earth with an almighty thud this year.
On Saturday night, Joey Leilua gave away a crucial penalty that led to a field goal by Penrith’s Nathan Cleary.
2020 will go down in history as a very strange and unique year.
With 5 rounds of the 2020 NRL Premiership now played, there’s one blatantly obvious question that needs asking: where exactly did all the talent go?
Can you smell it? It’s in the air. No, not the false optimism emanating from every team’s fan-base. That’s a given at this time of year, before dreams are inevitably and brutally squashed.
On Saturday, notorious motor-mouth Draymond Green was it again. Never shy of giving an opinion or trash-talking someone, this time it was NBA Hall of Famer Charles Barkley in his sights.
At 6:30am this morning, my (nearly) four-month old baby stirred in his cot. I got up to check on him, and though he immediately went back to sleep, I knew he’d probably be waking up soon.
As we’re now at the halfway point of the 2019-20 NBA season, it’s a good time to take a breath, step back from the frenetic offensive pace that’s being set, and objectively look at a few things happening around the league.
You would assume that when an Australian team returns from an away Ashes series with the urn in tow for the first time in 18 years, said team would be settled, stable and with close to eleven automatic selections.
Another NRL season is now over, and as the realisation dawns on many fans that they won’t get a chance to whinge about the refs for another six months, the only comfort I can offer is that it also means it’s time revisit my fearless predictions.
The NRL season is sadly over, with the Sydney Roosters claiming the premiership on Sunday night, unfortunately under controversial circumstances.
As the Sydney Roosters and Melbourne Storm played out a brutal, tough and entertaining preliminary final on Saturday night, much of the Harbour City breathed a large sigh of relief when the final siren eventually sounded, due to the realisation that a grand final between two interstate teams was an impossibility.
Last week I did something embarrassing and out of character. Unfortunately, after years of ripping into people that rip into referees, I inadvertently did the exact same thing.
The opening round of the 2019 NRL finals was dominated by touches. Well, two and a half touch-ups and one touch judge controversy, to be precise.
We’re finally at the business end of the season, with eight teams playing in the NRL finals this weekend, and the other eight probably nursing grade-one reckless hangovers all morning, courtesy of their Mad Monday celebrations.
Ben Stokes’ incredible innings didn’t just save the Ashes for England, it completely reinvigorated the series – not to mention the England versus Australia rivalry.
With two rounds remaining in the 2019 NRL season, the team all the way down in twelfth spot is still in contention for the finals series.
Last Saturday, I had a stupid idea. I’ve often been told there is no such thing as a stupid idea, but I assure you, that’s not true.
Yep, agreed that we’re all experts in hindsight, but I think that’s the issue: many people predicted this when Leilua was signed, rather than just mouthing off now.
If in 3-4 years Joey has matured and eradicated the mental errors in his game, I’ll happily eat humble pie. He won’t be the first player to grow up and change the narrative on his career. But at 28 years of age and ten seasons of experience, time is running out. At a certain point, some players are simply who they are.
Joey Leilua the “worst signing by any club in the NRL era”? Hmm, he may well be
Aiden gets it! 👍
Joey Leilua the “worst signing by any club in the NRL era”? Hmm, he may well be
No, they weren’t! That’s what makes it a horrible signing! It’s like dating a girl that everyone tells you will break your heart, and then dating her and getting your heart broken anyway.
Joey Leilua the “worst signing by any club in the NRL era”? Hmm, he may well be
” . . . the people in charge of these Clubs are not silly”. Not sure I could disagree more with that statement! Plenty of clubs, including the Tigers, have made very silly decisions in recent times.
Agreed that many coaches/management back themselves to be the club that can harness a player’s ability and minimise their deficiencies. But like I said, with Leila that is a massive risk, because the evidence is stacked against you. All 3 of Leilua’s previous clubs showed him the door, and if you’ve watched a decent amount of his games, you’ll know what type of player he is.
It’s fine to roll the dice with a player like that, and believe he’ll be better when he’s playing for your club, but when it fails – and the evidence told you it would fail – you need to need to bare the brunt of criticism.
Joey Leilua the “worst signing by any club in the NRL era”? Hmm, he may well be
Well, if you read past the headline, you’ll see it’s a little more nuanced than that, but I take your point, as I hate pieces that are purely based on tweets as well.
Two things though: as mentioned, it’s more about the Leilua signing than the tweet. And second, after Smith attacked fellow News Corp “journos” last year for being sensationalist and bashing refs, he has my respect as someone who isn’t just a headline chaser.
Joey Leilua the “worst signing by any club in the NRL era”? Hmm, he may well be
Cheers mate – now that there’s some actually footy, it’s (ironically!) a bit easier to find some time to write!
Forget an asterisk, the 2020 NRL premiers may be the most impressive winners ever
I don’t disagree that it’s (potentially) unfair; but the concept of unfairness during the course of a season is not uncommon.
We could rattle off a number of things that have happened to teams over the years that was “unfair”, but we don’t give the resulting premiers an asterisk because of it.
Forget an asterisk, the 2020 NRL premiers may be the most impressive winners ever
It is quite different, but only in the specifics of what is actually different. The fact is, teams had to adjust in both seasons, in mid-season, to changes in the way the game was officiated. And that advantages some teams and disadvantages others.
(And it’s happened before: the shoulder charge rule came in mid-season, for example. Not sure how much that would advantage some teams or not, but it’s still and adjustment players needed to make.)
Forget an asterisk, the 2020 NRL premiers may be the most impressive winners ever
But is that any different to the crackdown on the ruck last year? Which they then reversed halfway through the season? Penalties decreased by 20% or more at one stage. Didn’t that advantage/disadvantage teams last season in much the same way?
Forget an asterisk, the 2020 NRL premiers may be the most impressive winners ever
I concur.
Forget an asterisk, the 2020 NRL premiers may be the most impressive winners ever
Not often we disagree, TB, but here we are! Guess it would be boring if agreed with each other all the time!
eels47 has actually saved me a lot of time by replying with what I was going to say, but one thing I’d add to, is your point around ‘magnified’. I do things are magnified this season, but that merely draws more attention to the changes. The reality is, if you magnified every season, you could find things that arguably deserve an asterisk.
Last season the refs changed how they called the game during the season, going from a ‘crack down’ to totally reversing it, mid-season, which advantaged/disadvantaged different teams. The Origin period advantages/disadvantages teams every single season (and no two seasons the same either). There are inequities in the draw each year which advantage/disadvantage teams. Etc, etc.
However, these changes weren’t/aren’t as magnified as they are this season, therefore no one talks about previous seasons with an asterisk, when in reality, if you pushed hard, you probably could.
Each season brings its own challenges, and when everyone is facing the same ones, I don’t believe any type of asterisk should be put next to the premier – especially this season.
Forget an asterisk, the 2020 NRL premiers may be the most impressive winners ever
You were right . . . I did enjoy! And you’re 100% right – the lack of data, analytics and analysis in rugby league is quite staggering.
Using the comparison of the NBA, where is the data that shows defenders Corey Norman will put up a bomb 92% of the time he goes right on the fifth tackle inside 20 metres (and that the kick will go out on the full . . . jokes).
The sooner teams are run by smart people, the better.
Hey NRL, where did all the talent go?
Well, in 2015:
– Canberra were 2 wins out of the top 4
– Parramatta were 2 wins out from finishing 7th
– And Newcastle – despite winning the wooden spoon – were 2 wins out of the 8 (and looking at their roster, it wasn’t completely horrible!)
Hey NRL, where did all the talent go?
*whispering: it’s not that great of a side, is it?!
Hey NRL, where did all the talent go?
Totally agree. there does need to be market correction with Milford, Hunt, Johnson, etc, are getting that type of money.
Hey NRL, where did all the talent go?
Geez, you’re generous calling Croft a “quality player”!
Hey NRL, where did all the talent go?
Yeah, but I was kind of including that into things now. That’s only two years ago, so I kinda cheated and considered that part of this ‘era’.
Hey NRL, where did all the talent go?
Excellent points, Paul. I think having depth at the key positions is arguably the most important aspect of having an abundance of talent.
Hey NRL, where did all the talent go?
All fair points, and taken onboard. What it doesn’t address is the very real, non-subjective opinion that the top 7 are much better than the bottom 9. And I can’t recall it being like that in my lifetime (or just my memory!).
Hey NRL, where did all the talent go?
Is it scary to you (or anyone else) that this roster might still win the wooden spoon?!
Hey NRL, where did all the talent go?
I didn’t say the Dragons roster was bad, more than the amounts on the contracts they have handed out is a bit high. Having $2 million (reportedly) tied up in Corey Norman and Ben Hunt is . . . sub-optimal.
Hey NRL, where did all the talent go?
That’s not quite the way it was reported . . .
(Coach Rick Stone:) “Culturally, we have made a decision and made a bit of a stand for what we think is acceptable at our place. I know it’s a hard one to pull the trigger on and possibly, it mightn’t make our team any better but we think for the long run, it will be better for our club.”
The breakdown in the relationship between Leilua and the club can be traced back to Stone’s public criticism of the centre in The Daily Telegraph back in February after he returned to pre-season training from the Four Nations tournament a few weeks prior badly out of shape and weighing 111kg.
At the time, Stone fired a rocket at Leilua because of his poor attitude to training and suggested he was no certainty to start the season in the NRL.
Around the same time, Leilua also had a run-in at training with senior player Beau Scott, who accused him of not putting in.
Leilua’s reaction to the criticism was to seek an immediate release which was when his management first put feelers out with other clubs.”
Joey Leilua the “worst signing by any club in the NRL era”? Hmm, he may well be