Crash Tackle: Where have Queensland’s champions gone?

The issue is coming to a head for Brisbane: as the winter grinds on it’s impossible to see how Darius Boyd’s posting at five-eighth has a happy ending, writes Robert Craddock.

The Broncos were brought back to earth by the Storm. Picture: Getty Images

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

OFFSIDE

THE BIG DROUGHT

Queensland rugby league clubs have stopped producing the three things that win titles … playmakers, leaders and champions.

In the first 20 years of this century there has not been a genuinely outstanding playmaker or skipper raised and retained by the Broncos, Titans or Cowboys, who this round were beaten by a collective 126-14 margin.

That’s distinct from a Johnathan Thurston who came to Cows via the Bulldogs, Brisbane and Toowoomba and Darren Lockyer who started in the 90s.

If you can’t produce champions and leaders you just can’t win titles. Sadly, it’s that simple.

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The Broncos were brought back to earth on Friday night against the Storm. Picture: Getty Images

TERRIBLE TITANS

So boys, what is your problem now?

This is the sentence that Titans club owners can rightfully ask of their shamefully lacklustre playing troops after they continue to play dreadfully despite the removal of coach Garth Brennan — at the players’ behest.

Not only have they conceded more than 100 points in three games since Brennan left, their pre-match warm-ups have caught the eye of former players turned commentators for having about as much zip as a Sunday barbecue.

THE DARIUS ISSUE

This column has admired the way Darius Boyd has manned up to the public and the media in a season in which his career has stalled badly and is now in its final chapter.

But as the winter grinds on it’s impossible to see how Boyd’s posting at five-eighth has a happy ending. If he stays there it means the Broncos have run out of options.

If the club unearths a decent pivot he must drop out of the team. The sad, inescapable truth is that you simply cannot carry an out of form five-eighth who barely kicks.

Darius Boyd isn’t the answer at five-eighth for the Broncos. Picture: AAP

WRONG CLUB MATE

The Broncos were all pumped up for their contest against the Storm then something terrible happened. They had to start the game.

Kotoni Staggs has been a revelation for the club this season but his kick out over the dead ball line from the opening kick-off was like a pin pricking a balloon. Doing it once was reckless. Twice was inexcusable.

THE KNIGHTMARE

Professional coaching is a ruthless business. Just because you put down the bricks and mortar does not mean you will be there when the job is done and the keys get handed over.

Nathan Brown has done a fair job reshaping Newcastle from being a basket case to a competitive force but after five losses in a row they are looking very much like a team which needs a fresh voice to take them to the promised land of the finals.

Newcastle have lost five games on the trot. Picture: Getty Images

ONSIDE

MR UNSTOPPABLE

The question seems absurd but it does cross the mind … could Cameron Smith play until he is 40?

I’m not saying he will — he’s 36 — but could he? Smith is like one of those old Bentley’s without a scratch on them which just glide agelessly along the highway with no sign of visible stress.

If Smith’s Melbourne Storm don’t win the competition this year it will be a major injustice given the three games they have lost have been by one, one and two points, making them one of the most dominant club teams of all time.

Cameron Smith is showing no signs of slowing down for the Storm. Picture: AAP

TITANIC CALL

The Titans get criticised for just about everything and it did not take long for them to copped some arrows for giving new coach Justin Holbrook a two-year deal.

Some said it was hardly a vote of supreme confidence but the Titans got it right.

If Holbrook shines he will be rewarded with a rich contract extension. If he cannot shift them up the ladder then two years is more than enough but our spies in England and south of the border swear he is a gamble well worth taking.

BRING HIM HOME

Wally Lewis was a former captain-coach of a Gold Coast team so there would be a neat symmetry in the club bringing home his nephew Lachlan to Queensland.

Halfback Lachlan is no Uncle Wally but he’s back in first grade at the Dogs and looked foreman material in their hardworking win against Penrith. He is contracted to the Dogs for next season but his debonair style of play and colourful personality should make a perfect target for the Coast, especially as he played his junior football up the road at Capalaba.

Lachlan Lewis should be a target for the Titans. Picture: Getty Images

ASH’S GIFT

Former Queensland player Ash Harrison provided the emotional punchline to a memorable night on Saturday when that wonderful rugby league nursery, Wavell State High School, celebrated 60 years of involvement in the local league scene.

Harrison was interviewed by Warren Boland and as the night drew to a close, he surprised the crowd by pulling out an old State of Origin jersey and told the school it was his gift to the school for what they had done for him.

DIAMOND JIM

Gorden Tallis always said his favourite rugby league player was tiny Geoff Toovey because of the brave way he harassed the mountain men around him and James Maloney deserves similar praise.

It’s a shame Maloney is moving to France next month because he still has such a lively presence on and off the field, even stretching to last week’s quip that his team Penrith are not good enough to win the competition.

James Maloney will be missed in the NRL. Picture: AAP