Monday Bunker: Jury out on big-money NRL star
Are Cronulla better off playing a young gun over Shaun Johnson? Plus why the Storm, Roosters rivalry is just heating up — our rugby league writers analyse the NRL’s big talking points.
NRL
Don't miss out on the headlines from NRL. Followed categories will be added to My News.
With Round 15 of the competition now done and dusted, our team of rugby league writers analyse the NRL’s talking points in the Monday Bunker.
NRL MUST GET TOUGH ON UGLY TACTIC
Tigers v Rabbitohs: Read the full match report
Robbie Farah is right, attacking the eyes of another player is as low as it gets.
So how about the NRL start throwing the book at offenders?
And consistently.
Forget fines of a few grand.
Or suspensions where the weeks can be counted on the hand of Homer Simpson.
If the NRL wants this ugly tactic gone, go big.
And please, be consistent.
In Thursday Night Football, Farah confirmed South Sydney’s George Burgess had poked a finger into his eye during the opening stages of their clash at Bankwest Stadium.
Burgess, who has been referred straight to the NRL judiciary, was also found guilty of gouging only last November.
Elsewhere, North Queensland backrower Josh McGuire has this year been pinged twice — yes, twice — for questionably placing his fingers either in or around the eyes of an opponent.
In June, McGuire was fined $4,500 fine for giving Manly’s Dylan Walker a facial. And two months prior to that, the contentious Cowboy also shelled out $3350 for an alleged gouge on Melbourne’s Cameron Munster
Munster, however, refused to make an official complaint against his Queensland Origin teammate.
Then you have the case of Canberra backrower Hudson Young, who received five weeks for a gouge on Canterbury prop Aiden Tolman.
Like the crusher tackle, it has to be eradicated.
With big penalties, the best deterrent.
Either that, or the NRL gives every player a pair of those goggles once worn by NBA legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
— Nick Walshaw
GREEN WANTS BETTER PROTECTION FOR PLAYMAKERS
Dragons v Cowboys: Read the full match report
North Queensland coach Paul Green has confirmed Te Maire Martin won’t play again this season.
The young playmaker has been sidelined with a small bleed on the brain.
The club maintains it’s unable to determine just how and when the brain injury occurred.
Green said Martin was recovering well.
St George Illawarra’s Tariq Sims is facing three weeks on the sideline if he’s found guilty for his hit on Cowboy’s five-eighth Michael Morgan. Sims will cop two weeks with and early plea.
The Dragons enforcer will have to fight and beat the charge at the judiciary if he’s any chance of playing in the Origin decider in Sydney next Wednesday.
After failing the head injury assessment on Friday night, Morgan will have to pass all concussion protocols in order to take his place in Kevin Walters’ Queensland outfit. Green said more needs to be done to protect smaller players from being taken late.
“They’re the dangerous ones with the whiplash and they can cause concussion. I’m not saying that was the case — I haven’t had a good enough look at this particular tackle — but it’s been spoken about in the game and how we need to protect the players,” he said.
— Fatima Kdouh
STORM SURGE CLEAR BUT ROOSTERS REMAIN RIGHT IN HUNT
Roosters v Storm: Read the full match report
The first rematch of the 2018 grand finalists was a desperate battle, waged until the final breath as both the Storm and the Roosters defied fatigue and each other until Latrell Mitchell won it all with one of the great plays of the season.
It was the best match played this season, one of the best of the last few years and may well be the greatest game in this nascent rivalry.
The second grand final rematch was not any of these things. It was a good game for sure — both teams used the ball well, stayed staunch defensively and generally showed why smart judges are tipping them to meet again in the grand final.
But it was a little muted, without the jagged edges of the first meeting. Perhaps the venue was to blame — although the previous times Melbourne and the Roosters have played at the Adelaide Oval the matches crackled with the kind of intensity they write songs about.
This game felt like the opening rounds of a fight. The two teams were feeling each other out, getting the measure of the other without revealing too much of what they could, should or might do in more desperate circumstances. A jab might have landed here, an uppercut sneaking through there, but the good stuff was saved for another time.
Both sides will improve if they meet again. Melbourne were without Jahrome Hughes and Curtis Scott, the Roosters were missing Luke Keary, Jake Friend and Jared Waerea-Hargreaves.
Melbourne played the better and deserve their win. The scenes at full-time show how much it meant to the players after last year’s grand final. But nobody is deserting the Roosters as premiership favourites and nobody will until the moment their season ends.
The Storm, six points clear at the top of the ladder and still with improvement in them, would be underdogs against a full-strength Tricolours side. But the Storm do have the benefits of this win, the demons it would slay and the confidence it would bring could give them the edge they need in a potential third meeting.
— Nick Campton
TITANIC HEADACHE FOR STRUGGLING GOLD COAST COACH
Titans v Sea Eagles: Read the full match report
Will Titans coach Garth Brennan survive beyond this season? That is the big question after Manly’s 30-12 thumping of the Gold Coast consigned the Titans to their eighth finals bombout in nine years.
It would be unfair to blame all of the Titans’ ills solely on Brennan, but in the cutthroat world of NRL coaching, results are everything. And after 27 defeats in 39 games since taking charge of the Titans, Brennan is now firmly in the firing line.
Performance boss Mal Meninga will table his club review in the coming weeks and Brennan could be a victim of a cultural shake-up. But the players should also take responsibility. The Titans’ tryline and ruck defence this year has been appalling and that’s an insight into the attitudinal issues of a playing group operating well below expectations. The Titans would do well to take a leaf from the Sea Eagles. On paper, Manly don’t have a star-studded roster but they have surged into the top six with a committed squad and a hard-nosed coach in Des Hasler who drives high standards. Back-rower Curtis Sironen was outstanding in his 100th game, scoring two tries, while five-eighth Cade Cust has emerged as a handy foil for Daly Cherry-Evans. The Sea Eagles can be real nuisance value in the playoffs.
— Peter Badel
PONGA-LESS KNIGHTS FRANK FINALS CREDENTIALS
Knights v Broncos: Read the full match report
No Ponga, no worries for the Newcastle Knights.
Though the Broncos were simply woeful for 40 minutes of Saturday night’s game, the Knights notched up their eighth win of the season without their star fullback Kalyn Ponga.
The Newcastle No. 1 was ruled out just minutes before the game with a calf injury which forced a reshuffle to coach Nathan Brown’s backline.
Kurt Mann filled in for Ponga at fullback while classy playmaker Mason Lino proved to be the matchwinner at five-eighth.
Lino managed to seal the win with a try in the 69th minute while his goalkicking was absolutely perfect.
A try assist, a linebreak assist and a tackle break capped off a fantastic night from the 25-year-old.
The Knights were equally tenacious in defence as they held the Broncos from crossing the tryline on more occasions than they would have liked.
Brisbane had 44 tackles in their opposition 20m zone (compared to the Knights’ 11) but only managed two tries.
That says something about the Broncos attack, but also Newcastle’s desperate defence.
If they continue this run, they are well and truly in finals contention and even nearing top four material.
— Chris Honnery
RICKY RAGES AS RAIDERS BLOW GOLDEN CHANCE
Eels v Raiders: Read the full match report
It was the most unlikely of results given how much Canberra dominated in the opening half an hour.
The Raiders then imploded in what coach Ricky Stuart labelled as the “worst 50 minutes of football in years”.
Canberra threw this one away and a chance to sit second on the premiership ladder before this week’s bye.
The Eels, though, showed the resolve coach Brad Arthur has been searching for all year. He questioned if his side would have been able to come back from 16 points down five weeks ago.
Two tries just before halftime gave the Eels a chance they didn’t deserve before a very strong second half performance allowed them to finish on top.
— Michael Carayannis
YOUNG GUN PROMISES BRIGHT PANTHERS FUTURE
Warriors v Panthers: Read the full match report
Talk of Tyrone Peachey returning to Penrith has been dragging on almost since the 2018 NSW State of Origin utility put pen to paper on a deal to join the Titans.
A mid-season switch failed to materialise as Gold Coast held firm, but there’s still suggestions he could return to the foot of the mountains in 2020.
If that move does eventuate, Peachey might have a battle on his hands to win back his starting spot in the Panthers backline following the emergence of Penrith’s latest rising star — Brent Naden.
Naden has been bouncing around the fringes of the NRL for a couple of seasons, initially leaving Penrith to try his luck in Canberra and then Newcastle.
“I trained with him last year, he’s a really talented player,” Knights skipper Mitchell Pearce revealed.
“I thought it would have been good if the Knights could hold on to him but it wasn’t to be and he’s gone on to get some really good opportunities.”
Naden certainly has made the most of his chance, winning promotion to the club’s top 30 roster after making his NRL debut in Round 12. He scored a try in each of his next two games, before announcing himself with a double to help spark the Panthers to a gutsy comeback victory against the Warriors on Sunday.
His second against the Warriors was an absolute beauty, busting through opposite centre Patrick Herbert and leaving the likes of Roger Tuivasa-Sheck and David Fusitua in his wake as he sprinted 90m to dot down and put Penrith in front.
— Dominic Burke
INCONSISTENT JOHNSON A SELECTION HEADACHE FOR SHARKS
Bulldogs v Sharks: Read the full match report
There is no question Shaun Johnson is one of the NRL’s most electric players who can tear a game apart at any given moment.
But the question Cronulla coach John Morris would probably be asking himself today is whether the Sharks are a better team with Johnson partnering Chad Townsend in the halves, or having young Kyle Flanagan wearing the No 6 jumper and also taking the shots at goal?
In his post-match spray following Sunday’s 14-12 loss to Canterbury, Morris unleashed on some of his senior players and, without naming names, there is no doubt he had Johnson and Matt Moylan in particular in his sights.
They are both on huge money and it would be a tough call to drop either. But the simple fact is no team can carry anyone, let alone two blokes on megabucks, who come up with as many errors as these two did against the Bulldogs.
Moylan made six in total while Johnson basically went missing for most of the match, only to stick his head up with a schoolboy error every time you started wondering if he was still out there.
Moylan is a proven matchwinner and there is no doubt he is the best choice the Sharks have to play fullback. But he has to find a way to get more consistency in his game, and ultimately it comes down to attitude.
In respect to whether Johnson is the best man to be wearing the No 6 jumper, the jury is out.
While Johnson is undoubtedly way out in front of where Flanagan is right now when he is at his best, the difference is every time Flanagan runs onto the field he busts his gut to deliver his absolute best.
Johnson also missed all three of his shots at goal Sunday while Flanagan is a sharp shooter.
Chad Townsend also didn’t have a great game against the Bulldogs but he has been one of the NRL’s most consistent players this season.
I also wonder if Townsend felt more comfortable playing alongside Flanagan when Johnson was out injured.
While no one has ever questioned Johnson’s talent, probably the biggest reason he fell out of favour at the Warriors was because too often he came up with performances like he did yesterday.
He’s the only one who can make that change to his game, unless of course Morris beats him to the punch.
— Paul Crawley
Originally published as Monday Bunker: Jury out on big-money NRL star
‘The Panthers era is over’: Three reasons there’ll be no ‘five in 2025’
At the risk of being made look foolish again, DEAN RITCHIE claims 2025 will mark the end of the Penrith Panthers dynasty, with the tyranny of travel and lack of home ground just the start of the issues that club must conquer.
V’landys rejects Western Bears’ bid in NRL expansion bombshell
In a massive blow for Perth and a stunning development in the battle for the 18th NRL licence, the Western Bears have had their bid to join the league rejected by Peter V’landys and the ARL Commission.