NRL Tackle: Highlights and lowlights from 2022, horror Wests Tigers call will stain season
There were plenty of superstars on show this season and one young gun looks ready to take the league by storm. Full highlights and lowlights from 2022.
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From Freddy’s Blues losing the Origin series to Billy’s Maroons, to the Brisbane Broncos’ capitulation, the season that ends with the battle of Sydney’s west between Penrith and Parramatta has had plenty of ups and downs.
Our team has picked their highlights and lowlights from a 2022 season where the game was hit by the tragic loss of a favourite son, a young superstar emerged and controversy was never far away.
LOWLIGHTS
WORST CALL IN A DECADE
The unmistakeable daylight robbery of the Wests Tigers in round 19 by the Cowboys in Townsville. It was, and is, the worst officiating call in more than a decade.
With only one second on the clock, Cowboys skipper Chad Townsend used a captain’s challenge, claiming Kyle Feldt was escorted off the ball attempting to recover a short kick-off. Bunker referee Ashley Klein ruled Asu Kepaoa ran sideways to block Feldt.
The wrong call led to the Tigers investigating their legal rights.
– David Riccio
MANLY PRIDE TORN APART
Manly’s late-season collapse was disastrous on the back of key injuries and the pride jumper fiasco. The decision by seven players to refuse wearing the ill-fated rainbow jumper split the club – and ended the Sea Eagles’ season. And the repercussions are still being felt.
While players have constantly maintained the division has healed, some on the inside at Brookvale maintain the rift remains. It may never totally mend.
Manly coach Des Hasler, who desperately attempted to keep his playing group united, is now fighting for his future. Never before in Manly’s 65-year history has the club been ripped apart so publicly and savagely – on and off the field.
– Dean Ritchie, Peter Badel
BUNKER DOWN … AND OUT
The bunker has a bigger influence on rugby league than Peter V’landys. Too many stoppages, too many sin-bins and too much nitpicking to justify their existence. Always interfering with the on-field referee down their ear pieces. Inconsistent decision making. A rule interpretation one week is different the next week.
It cost the Canberra Raiders victory against the Warriors early in the season when they fell for a Matt Lodge dive near the end. No action was taken on almost identical incidents in other games throughout the season.
We don’t need another off-season review. Keep the bunker but only for try rulings and captain’s challenges.
– Phil Rothfield
TRAGEDY SHAKES THE SPORT
Rugby league was rocked by Paul Green’s passing in August. There was an outpouring of grief from the sporting community when news broke that he was gone, having passed away in tragic circumstances.
Green was a magnificent player and a premiership-winning coach, having led North Queensland to their first title. Above all, he was a great bloke with a loving family. His death devastated so many people not just in rugby league, but across the sporting divide. Green left a lasting impression in the code and it is still hard to believe he is gone.
– Brent Read
The tragic death of Paul Green was the biggest rugby league story of 2022. Green’s unexpected and sudden death sent shockwaves through the game at all levels and is still difficult to comprehend. While there have been plenty of lowlights and controversies on the field this season, nothing compares to the loss of Green.
– Travis Meyn
TERRIBLE TIGERS’ NEW LOW
The inept performance of the Wests Tigers was highlighted by their 72-6 thumping at the hands of the Roosters. The Tigers were embroiled in one drama after another which resulted in the axing of coach Michael Maguire after round 12.
The Tigers won just one more match from their remaining 13 games and allowed the likes of Luciano Leilua, David Nofoaluma and Oliver Gildart to play out the rest of the season elsewhere. They virtually gave up on the year and it resulted in their first wooden spoon.
– Michael Carayannis
ANOTHER FITTLER FAILING
NSW losing another State of Origin series they should have banked. Again, the Blues picked the wrong team for game one at home in Sydney and played catch-up from then on, not for the first time in recent seasons. When will they learn?
– Paul Kent
UNFATHOMABLE DISASTER
The Brisbane Broncos’ spectacular late-season collapse to go from top four after 19 rounds to drop five of their final six games and miss the eight completely.
It’s almost impossible to comprehend how a team that at one point put together seven straight wins crashed so badly.
The disastrous finish came to a head in round 23 when they were humiliated 60-12 by the Storm. Yet the following week was probably worse when belted 53-6 by the Eels in a match where the Broncos were literally playing for their survival. That’s three straight years the former powerhouse has missed the play-offs.
– Paul Crawley
SIN BIN FARCE
The elimination final between the competition‘s fiercest rivals, South Sydney and the Sydney Roosters at the new Allianz Stadium, descended into an ill-disciplined farce with a record seven sin bins dished out by referee Ashley Klein.
Even Roosters coach Trent Robinson admitted at times the contest resembled anything but a game of rugby league.
Dangerous hits, head-high shots ruled in what was supposed to be an advertisement of the best that rugby league had to offer. Instead, it finished as a blight on the game.
- Fatima Kdouh
HIGHLIGHTS
A STAR IS BORN
The emergence of future star Roosters winger Joseph Suaalii. We had all heard how unique a talent he was, but in 2022 the 19-year-old displayed extraordinary development to become not only an attacking weapon out wide, but physically imposing with his fearless carries and one-on-one shots. A move to the centres in 2023 is inevitable.
– David Riccio
RETURN OF LATRELL
Latrell Mitchell has become the biggest star in rugby league. Arguably one of the biggest in the country thanks to his exploits over the latter stages of the 2023 season.
The South Sydney and NSW sensation was sidelined for the start of the year but when he got back on the field, he did so with a bang. He embraced his status and led Souths deep into the finals. Few rugby league players have the capacity to transcend the sport like Latrell.
He is a magnet for kids and a beacon for the Indigenous community. What a star.
– Brent Read
WATCHING HISTORY UNFOLD
Alex Johnston — the first man ever to score 30 tries in two straight years. At just 27, with 166 tries already to his name, he will eventually break Ken Irvine’s long-standing record of 212. He is a wonderful player on Souths’ lethal left side.
It’s hard to believe the Rabbitohs were about to release the champion winger two years ago. Only Ethan Lowe’s forced medical retirement created enough room in the cap to keep him at Redfern Oval. There almost needs to be an inquiry into his continual snubbing at representative level. Brad Fittler has never been interested for the NSW State of Origin side and we’re hearing Mal Meninga is unlikely to give him a Kangaroos jersey for the World Cup. What more than this man do?
– Phil Rothfield
THE ULTIMATE REBUILD
The stunning resurgence of the North Queensland Cowboys from 15th last year into premiership contention. The Cowboys were written off by many in the pre-season, and were wooden spoon favourites among a host of experts, but stunned all to rocket up the ladder.
Despite their success, the Cowboys didn’t receive the credit they deserved but will be a force to be reckoned with in the coming years. They have a superbly balanced squad and a very bright future.
– Travis Meyn, Peter Badel
PAYTEN DELIVERS A COACHING LESSON
Todd Payten’s emergence as a genuine coach. In an era where many head coaches simply repeat what they learned as an assistant elsewhere, Payten showed coaching is really the lost art of teaching. From 15th to third in the space of 12 months is no fluke, and from a man who was so heavily criticised in his first season at the club, particularly over his handling of North Queensland star Jason Taumalolo.
– Paul Kent
IMMORTAL RETURN
Nathan Cleary’s opening-week finals performance. It was the closest we have seen to anyone playing like Immortal Andrew Johns. Throw in the fact that Cleary had missed five games through suspension in the lead-up to the clash. Clearly laid on three tries and terrorised the Parramatta back three with his kicking game. Defensively he was outstanding and he produced a showing worthy of a 10/10 rating.
– Michael Carayannis
SLATER’S ORIGIN SPIRIT
Queensland’s stunning State of Origin victory over a NSW team many thought was unbeatable. It doesn’t matter which state you support, how could you not be blown away by the Maroons’ amazing fightback — and what was also an incredible coaching performance from Billy Slater.
In his first year in charge, Slater somehow found a way to pick up his team after the disastrous 44-12 game two hiding and rally the Maroons to an against-the odds 22-12 victory in the decider. But what made it even more outstanding was the fact they did it without their best player Cameron Munster, who missed game three through injury.
– Paul Crawley
TAPINE TURNAROUND
Joe Tapine’s turnaround from maligned bench warmer to the NRL’s best prop forward has been nothing short of incredible. While the likes of Payne Haas, Junior Paulo and Nelson Asofa-Solomona, stole the headlines this season, Tapine quietly led Canberra’s late season resurgence. That rich vein of form from Tapine helped catapult the Raiders into the finals, repaid with a four-year extension in the nation’s capital.
It’s hard to believe it was only last year that Tapine’s wife, Kirsten, took Canberra coach Ricky Stuart to task over how he was using her husband in the side’s forward rotation.
— Fatima Kdouh
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