Crash Tackle: Robert Craddock’s likes and dislikes from NRL Round 20
AN old-fashioned sidestep from Titan Phillip Sami was a highlight of the weekend’s NRL action, but ROBERT CRADDOCK says Sharks coach Shane Flanagan provided us with one of the low points of the round after losing to the Broncos.
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The Courier-Mail’s chief sportswriter Robert ‘Crash’ Craddock looks at the big talking points from Round 20 of the NRL.
DISLIKES
PUT A SOCK IN IT
Enough is enough. The NRL referees are far from perfect but they don’t deserve to be the whipping boys every time a rugby league team misfires.
Sharks coach Shane Flanagan went off about some poor calls against the Broncos but there were other factors at play.
What about Chad Townsend’s dreadful missed attempt at goal from near the posts or the fact that Cronulla had umpteen sets of six on the Broncos line yet could not crack it?
Or the fact that they had the luckiest call the week before against Canberra balancing the ledger.
AN UN-MANLY EFFORT
It is hard to know what was worse at Manly on Saturday – the team or the crowd.
Daly Cherry-Evans keeps his inner thoughts well away from public view but the sight of him rubbing his shattered face with his hand after the Sea Eagles conceded four tries in seven minutes to be run down by Penrith said all you need to know about one of the great implosions of all time.
Such has been the drop-off in interest in the Sea Eagles that just over 6000 fans turned up at their Manly home on a balmy Saturday afternoon.
NO CHERRY ON TOP
Did Manly really know what they were doing when they signed Cherry-Evans up on a $10 million, 10-year deal?
To commit just over a sixth of their salary cap on one player was a stunning leap of faith and, as well as he has played, the club has stagnated ever since the deal was done.
And what of the man himself? Cherry-Evans has set himself up for life but could be sentenced to a decade of misery and internal bickering when a fresh start might have freshened him up.
TRUE ENIGMAS
One of the delights of retro round was seeing and old-fashioned silken sidestep from Titans Phillip Sami, which left decorated Warriors fullback Roger Tuivasa-Sheck a crumpled mess.
And Konrad Hurrell’s kisses to the crowd were a welcome throwback to the “anything goes’’ ’70s and ’80s.
But the lingering impression of the game was how the hot and cold Warriors will ever be a premiership force when their bad days are so dreadful.
WAYNE’S WOES
Wayne Bennett took it upon himself to announce at a press conference last week that his future beyond next year will not be discussed until the end of the season.
That was the way it should have been all along.
We are tipping unless the Broncos make the grand final Bennett’s reign will end next year.
LIKES
MELBOURNE MAGIC
Let’s be honest about it. The Melbourne Storm put the rest of the competition to shame.
As famous old clubs like Parramatta and Canterbury, with their generations of fans and time-honoured junior nurseries, scrap it out for the dreaded wooden spoon, the Storm have stormed to the top of the competition ladder and could well defend their premiership.
Whether it’s recruitment, coaching, looking after fans, injury management … you name it, the Storm do it better than anyone.
BIRDS OF A FEATHER
Nice to see James Roberts and Jack Bird having a quick bite together at Rosalie on Saturday.
Bird is probably getting advice from everywhere how to redeem his season but Roberts is the man with the key messages because he has lived through the special pressures of coming to the Broncos.
Roberts had a modest, almost bashful, first season but has blossomed since. If Bird can hold his nerve he might just do the same and might then look back at his disastrous first season as the biggest character-building experience of his career.
BOY ON THE RISE
The Broncos have exceptional young forwards coming from everywhere and don’t be surprised if David Fifita proves the pick of the bunch.
Fifita was the first player to be born in the 2000s to play first grade, a fact that surprised none of the talent scouts who have been tracking him through junior Queensland rep sides as a schoolboy at Keebra Park High School on the Gold Coast.
For an 18-year-old to play with such courage and maturity in his first season is a stunning achievement.
THE MAGIC DRAGON
Finally, and with merciful relief, rugby league will take a break from referee bashing when the ninth and 10th Immortals are inducted in Sydney on Wednesday.
For our money, two out of Mal Meninga, Norm Provan and Dally Messenger should get the gongs but, most of all, it is hoped that Provan is the first man up.
To play in 10 premierships in a row with the Dragons, four as captain-coach, as well as having distinguished careers for NSW and Australia meant he left a mark on the game that has glowed through the decades.
BOOK IT IN
Sam Thaiday has done an honourable job of capturing his colourful life in his new book Tries, Lies and Meat Pies.
Like the man himself it’s quirky and bit different.
The one sporting book we would love to see is former Bronco turned All Black Brad Thorn’s life story for that is a tale like no other.
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