Monday Buzz: Weekend highlight, lowlights and talking points

MONDAY BUZZ: Phil Rothfield’s highlights, lowlights and talking points from another memorable weekend in sport.

Jarryd Hayne leaves the ground after sustaining an injury.

THE highlights, lowlights and talking points from another memorable weekend in sport.

HIGHLIGHT I

Turf legend Kenny Callander’s description of the mighty mare Winx as the best horse he has ever seen after she trounced her opposition for a 16th straight win at Rosehill on Saturday.

HIGHLIGHT II

How good is Latrell Mitchell at 19 and Tom ‘Turbo’ Trbojevic at 20. Both had barnstorming games over the weekend. Imagine the next 10 years. Both are potential champions.

HIGHLIGHT III

Canterbury’s ‘Dogs of War’ defence against the Warriors and, in particular, James Graham’s try-saving tackle on Jacob Lillyman. What a leader.

MONDAY BUZZ: NRL must stop the thugs

SIMONA ‘SCOOP’

Another sad attempt from the former girlfriend of Tim Simona to try to justify allegedly blackmailing the former NRL star with a demand for $10,000. Her latest ‘exclusive’ story appeared exactly a week after colleague Jess Halloran delivered the real scoop.

PLANE SAILING

A lot of fans are noticing how the Gold Coast Titans perform better WITHOUT Jarryd Hayne in the team. Since he joined the club last year, the Titans have a 25 per cent win record when he plays. When he’s NOT playing they have a 58 per cent win record. And they say stats don’t lie.

Jarryd Hayne leaves the ground after sustaining an injury.

OUR AFL STARS

In a good indication of the incredible strength of the GWS Giants and the Sydney Swans, 13 of their players have made Herald Sun chief AFL writer Mark Robinson’s list of the top 50 players in the game. Four Swans cracked the top 20: Lance Franklin (3), Josh Kennedy (7), Dan Hannebery (13), and Luke Parker (19).

FORWARD MARCH

See you on Fox Sports on Monday with Ben Ikin and Paul Kent on NRL 360 as we discuss all the big issues from round three of the competition.

WHY I ENDED UP FEELING LIKE A RIGHT TWEET

The Cowboys-Sea Eagles game is a good example why Twitter and your mobile phone can be dangerous companions while watching NRL games.

After Daly Cherry-Evans threw two absolutely shocking passes I tweeted: “You’d think a $10m player could pass the football.”

Within minutes the Manly skipper did the most amazing 40-20 (it was actually a 30/20) you’ll see and the Sea Eagles scored. It changed the entire game and DCE got a clear points decision over Johnathan Thurston.

You'd think a $10m player could pass the football #NRLCowboysManly

— BUZZ ROTHFIELD (@BuzzRothfield) March 18, 2017

It gets worse. At the half-hour mark when the Cowboys led 8-2, I text messaged veteran official Peter ‘Zorba’ Peters and declared: “Your mob will run last.”

I can’t print his reply at the end of the game.

SHORT DROPOUTS A NO-BRAINER

THERE’S one part of the Canterbury Bulldogs’ game that makes rugby league a better spectacle.

It’s the contest for the football from their short line dropouts.

When you think about it, every club should be doing it.

By taking a shorter kick, you’re probably a 25 per cent chance of getting the ball back.

If it doesn’t work, your opponents start their tackle count 15 or 20 metres out.

From the regular and longer line dropouts, the opposing team is usually back to the 20 metre line by the second tackle anyway. So it’s worth the risk.

Now that scrums are such a farce, any contest for possession makes the games more interesting.