Crash Tackle: Robert Craddock’s wrap of the week in rugby league

How Brisbane made right call on boom rookie, warning for Broncos forwards, cult hero’s milestone moment and more — Robert Craddock looks at the NRL’s big talking points.

Payne Haas is seen during the Brisbane Broncos training session in Brisbane, Sunday,March 31, 2019. (AAP Image/Dave Hunt) NO ARCHIVING, EDITORIAL USE ONLY

• MONDAY BUNKER: Brown must pull pin on Ponga switch

Each week, The Courier-Mail’s chief sportswriter Robert Craddock looks at the big talking points coming out of the NRL.

ONSIDE

SHORT-TERM PAYNE

The Broncos are doing right what Australian cricket once got wrong by dishing out tough love to boom youngster Payne Haas.

Former Australian captain Ricky Ponting was about Haas’ age, 20, when he made his Australia A debut in Hobart and went out on the town before his first training session and arrived late and was secretly told not to do it again.

Australian officials cursed themselves for years for not being stronger, believing if they had publicly embarrassed Ponting early they could have jolted him back on the rails for good and events such as his Bourbon and Beefsteak incident would never have happened.

The four-week ban on Haas for not complying with an integrity unit investigation is good form as history tells us, not simply with Ponting but many other youngsters, the harder the whip is cracked now the better he will be.

Payne Haas. Picture: AAP

HAPPY HOOKER

John Lang used to coach the Sharks, now he tries to avoid them.

You have to admire the 68-year-old former Test hooker who stays fit by swimming across the canal he lives on at the Gold Coast.

Much to the anguish of his son Martin, the region is known for its bull sharks but John is so tough any shark that bites him would probably lose its teeth.

TEAR-JERKER

Rugby league has produced a litany of sordid tales in recent times but the extraordinary story of Braidon Burns deserves to go down as one of the most inspiring in all of sport.

Nick Walshaw’s account of Burns’ rise with the Rabbitohs, despite his father being jailed for armed robbery and finding his mother after a drug overdose, was a terrific story which reminded us all about what a life-changing force the game can be.

STERLING KNOWLEDGE

Peter Sterling reckons coaching first grade would have driven him mad and cost him a marriage so he’s never done it.

But his canny observations from the commentary box continue to suggest he could have cut the clipboard mustard.

Yesterday he explained how Tevita Pangai Jr’sobsession with keeping an eye on James Graham played a role in the Broncos conceding two tries on Thursday night and he warned the youngster not to be too consumed with one player.

DON IS GOOD

Unconventional Gold Coast winger Anthony Don gave hope to every late-bloomer when he took the ­Titans’ try-scoring record off David Mead against South Sydney.

Don was plucked from Grafton to debut for the Titans at age 25, proving you don’t have to be a whiz kid to go the long journey in the NRL.

Anthony Don has reached new heights for the Titans. Picture: AAP

OFFSIDE

ROOKIE BLUES

The most deceptive word in the sporting dictionary is “potential”, and Broncos forwards should be warned they now wear a target on their backs.

The most interesting quotes after the Broncos’ loss to the Dragons came from seasoned Saints forward Paul Vaughan, who said he had been reading “massive raps’’ about the Broncos’ young pack all week and how it fired him up to challenge them.

The Broncos will cop that all season. They will need to grow up in a hurry.

COWBOYS LACK SPARK

The Cowboys have got their new stadium and a $15 million grant for a new Centre of Excellence … any chance they could find a few extra bucks for a new backline?

Don’t worry about missing Johnathan Thurston. The man they needed almost as much was the axed Ben Barba, who could have added some snap and crackle to a backline which makes dripping honey look as if it’s positively gushing along.

Ben Hunt’s absence still niggles the Dragons. Picture: Getty Images

A HUNTED MAN

The Broncos did not do much wrong in losing Ben Hunt — but his absence still niggles.

Brisbane offered him a sound $850,000 a season but the Dragons slapped down an extra $400,000 and got their man.

Hunt’s no Allan Langer or Peter Sterling but he almost won a premiership with the Broncos and life without him remains complex and challenging.

THE BIG GAMBLE

It cost Penrith about $7 million to unite the father-and-son team of Ivan and Nathan Cleary, but the jury is out over whether the extravagant play is worth the money.

Nathan seems a solid young half with a fine future but is he really the next Thurston? Uniting father and son sounded great in theory but many father and sons have often done their best work apart.

ONCE WERE WARRIORS

The Warriors are on the nose … again.

They had a stinker against battling Manly in Christchurch on Saturday and unless things change dramatically, they will not improve on their record of a best finish of eighth in their past seven seasons.