Bunch of five: It’s All uphill from here for Queensland NRL sides

BUNCH of five: Feel free to book your September holidays, safe in the belief that a Queensland NRL team is not going to be in the grand final.

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FEEL free to book your September holidays, safe in the belief that unfortunately a Queensland NRL team is not going to be in the grand final for an eighth successive year.

The Broncos, Cowboys and Titans won’t in the top four and history says that draws a felt pen through their chances of winning the premiership.

Brisbane somehow is only one win out of the top four with an 8-7 win-loss record and the Cowboys and Titans two wins outside.

But none of the clubs has won enough tight games to be a factor when the pressure is really on.

The rally by the Cowboys last Saturday to narrowly hold off South Sydney gave their supporters some hope, but the long-term absence of Matt Scott and three consecutive away games loom as massive hurdles.

Corey Parker of Brisbane.

The injuries to Scott and Corey Parker combined to be one of the biggest contributors to Queensland’s loss of the Origin shield in Origin II and also the dismal outlook for a strong northern flavour in the finals.

Parker didn’t make game night. Scott lasted 10 minutes of Game Two.

Parker’s absence from the Broncos last Friday was heavily felt.

No Bronco was able to change the momentum in their costly and wasteful loss to Cronulla. When their team started to panic in the second half, under pressure from a side which hadn’t scored a point in their previous three games, Origin stars Sam Thaiday and Justin Hodges were unable to make a play that mattered.

Parker could just have been the man to change the game again.

North Queensland, for its part, have not won a game away from Townsville this year and in the next month play away against the Dragons, Sharks and Bulldogs, in addition to a bye.

SHARKS LET CARNEY LOOSE

LOTS of times football clubs make decisions purely on the basis on self-interest and winning games.

Cronulla would undoubtedly have won more games with Todd Carney at the helm this season than they will now without him.

So their decision can be respected on that basis, even if an employee is entitled to expect a chance to explain themselves before getting the sack, a chance Carney was denied.

Carney’s life without an NRL job will be testing indeed. Did he drink to get away from the pressure of being a well-known NRL player? Guess we might find out.

SYDNEY SHOCKER

IT”S the looming Sydney shocker that could keep Queensland sports fans awake at night.

As if NSW’s Origin series win wasn’t bad enough, how unsufferable would the Blues fans be if the Waratahs, Swans and any Sydney NRL team won their respective championships this year.

TattsBet’s Gerard Daffy said if you placed that four-leg multibet bet in a hypothetical market in February the odds of all four outcomes would have been at least as long as $215.

The odds of titles for the Waratahs, top of the Super Rugby table, and the Swans, on a 10-game winning streak and any Sydney NRL team would be $13.

“The Tahs and Swans are gaining momentum and the non-NSW teams in the NRL would have to improve,’’ Daffy said.

MAL FEELS CRONK’S PAIN

IF anyone would be inclined to not press Cooper Cronk into Origin duty, it would be Mal Meninga.

Meninga had four breaks of his forearm, the first from a stomach-turning slide into a goalposts at Seiffert Oval in 1987. He missed 10 weeks, spanning Queensland’s 1987 Origin series win.

But after that painful run, the determined Meninga won three premierships with Canberra and captained Australia on two successful Kangaroo tours.

AUSTRALIA’S NEW TENNIS STAR

NICK Kyrgios’ rise in tennis will be good for Bernard Tomic.

There is nothing more motivating for a bright young thing in sport than the emergence of another brighter, younger thing on his patch.

It will challenge Tomic, now out of the top 100, to again be Australia’s No. 1 player.

Whether the motivational challenge lasts for one week of training, six months or five years is entirely up to Tomic. But Australian tennis needs him, still.