Richard Hinds: NRL finals launch leaves us all at sea

RICHARD HINDS: IT was difficult to tell what message the NRL was trying to send by launching the finals series aboard the HMAS Leeuwin.

IT was difficult to tell what message the NRL was trying to send by launching this keenly anticipated finals series aboard the HMAS Leeuwin.

Even more difficult with the whir of helicopter blades and the drone of the ship’s engine drowning out the speakers.

After a season in which bad news has constantly floated to the surface, was the motif Six Months In A Leaky Boat?

Your team's road to the Grand Final

Or, with some nervous administrators at NRL headquarters, Man Overboard?

Whatever it was, by the time the official ceremonies were concluded with an eight ball salute - eight balls kicked from the main deck into the harbour by the finals captains - the NRL had again demonstrated its indomitable spirit.

NRL Captains Call

Drugs? Spousal abuse? Maladministration? No, mercifully, people were talking rugby league.

If only, in the case of Cronulla captain Paul Gallen, before a hasty exodus. The Sharks’ captain’s eagerness to abandon ship was understandable at the end of a season tainted by a controversy. One that still threatens to sour whatever the Sharks achieve in the coming weeks.

Asked if it was good to be talking about the game, rather than the ongoing drugs investigation, Gallen was dogmatic.

‘’That’s all we’ve been worried about all year,’’ he said. ‘’Playing footy.’’

If so, Gallen’s mind is stronger than his famously robust body. Even allowing for the Sharks’ fifth placed finish, it seems inconceivable the ASADA investigation has not had a profound impact on their season.

Sometimes, it seems to have galvanised the team and created an air of defiance, even strength. On other occasions, they have seemed deflated and vulnerable. Who knows what we get against the Cowboys on Saturday?

But, Gallen insisted, the possible fallout from the peptides scandal has not left him considering taking actual blows, rather than metaphorical blows, by turning to boxing.

‘’I’ve never spoken a word to Khoder Nasser in my life,’’ said Gallen of reports of some matchmaking with Sonny Bill Williams’ promoter. ‘’I’ve been doing boxing training for four or five years so there’s nothing in that.’’

Ultimate finals breakdown

For now, Gallen is entitled to contemplate more immediate matters. Like how his teammates will counter the brilliance of the Cowboys’ Matt Bowen and Brent Tate.

NRL Captains Call

The type of questions the other seven captains were answering, very loudly, over the buzz of the copter blades.

The things that mean you don’t have to blush when you wonder if this could be the best finals series - ever.

Can the Storm be the first team to go back-to-back since 1992-93, Cameron Smith?

‘’Yeah, we’ve been reminded about that since round one,’’ says the Storm’s consummate leader. ‘’But trust me, it’s the last thing on our minds.’’

Was Manly’s home defeat to Penrith deflating ahead of a big final against the Roosters, Jamie Lyon?

‘’We’ll look at the video and fix a few things,’’ said Lyon.

When, in reality, the Sea Eagles are more likely to watch replays of Kevin Rudd’s concession speech than a terminally ill rubber that Manly put to death.

What has Trent Robinson done to turn feather dusters back into proud Roosters, Anthony Minichiello?

‘’He was assistant with us in 2010 and he worked hard on our defence,’’ said the fullback, whose try-saving tackle on Sam Burgess last Friday symbolised the Roosters’ newfound defensive steel.

‘’It didn’t surprise us (Robinson) did so well there (in Super League). He’s a great coach, a great bloke.’’

NRL Captains Call

How do the Rabbitohs bounce back against the Storm, John Sutton? We left none the wiser. Not because the helicopters drowned Sutton out. But because Souths play their cards so close, most of the players have the seven of diamonds tattooed on their chests.

How have the Cowboys won six straight with a lame-duck coach, Matt Scott?

‘’The pressure was off after the (18-16) loss to the Broncos,’’ he says. ‘’There was just not as much pressure for us to play well.’’

Which, in turn, makes you wonder why the contracts a talented group of players signed in good faith did not create enough pressure to play well earlier in the season.

But give the Cowboys credit for getting back on the horse, even after it bolted on coach Neil Henry.

NRL Captains Call

The forgotten Knights? Why should we care, Jarrod Mullen?

‘’We’ve got a coach who knows how to win grand finals,’’ he said, without fear of contradiction. But, of course, there is the small matter of getting there first.

And the last word from a man who usually likes to get in first. Bulldogs captain Michael Ennis, who has made the job of referees’ coach redundant, on his instructions to the officials on Sunday: ‘’Hopefully we’ll just get a couple of good ones this weekend, and see how we go.’’

You could say something similar about these finals.

Let’s hope we get a couple of good ones, and away we go.