Monday Buzz: Weekend highlights, lowlights

A NEW contract for Jarryd Hayne, the NRL’s toughest player and the next Sonny Bill Williams - check out the highlights, lowlights and talking points from another memorable weekend.

Jarryd Hayne had a big night for the Eels in Newcastle.

CHECK out the highlights, lowlights and talking points from another memorable weekend in sport.

HIGHLIGHT

Jarryd Hayne’s performance for the Eels against the Knights. He made 160m and 11 tackle busts. He also looked the fittest and sharpest he has been for two years. I have no doubts coach Brad Arthur will soon extend his contract.

MORE MONDAY BUZZ: A $250k ‘reward’ for an assault

Jarryd Hayne had a huge game for the Eels.

LOWLIGHT

Referees and touch judges who continue their shocking inconsistency with forward passes. It’s not the NRL’s idea, so it probably won’t happen, but surely the bunker should be able to decide on forward passes in try-scoring plays.

SPOTTED

Former Manly coach Des Hasler at the Brookvale Hotel on Saturday afternoon for lunch and a beer with some of the 40-nil premiership-winning side from 2008.

Des Hasler caught up with some of his former Sea Eagles charges. File photo

SHOOSH

Which chief executive at one NRL club has fallen out with key commercial and community partners to such an extent that his job is on the line?

WEATHERING STORM

What a difference it has made for Melbourne to have Cameron Smith available during Origin. For the first time in the club’s history, the Storm won every game during the series.

BRAVE RAIDER

Surely there isn’t a tougher or more resilient player in the NRL than Raiders skipper Jarrod Croker. He not only stayed on the field for 15 minutes with a dislocated knee cap but threw the final pass for a try.

Jarrod Croker is as tough as they come.

360 VIEW

Catch you on NRL 360 tonight on Fox Sports with Ben Ikin and Paul Kent to discuss and dissect the biggest issues in rugby league from round 18. The special guest is Newcastle Knights coach Nathan Brown.

PANTHERS GIANT THE NEXT SBW

PENRITH’S edge forward Viliame “Billy” Kikau is a freakish talent.

We will be hearing as much about this 23-year-old Fijian forward as Knights star Kalyn Ponga in the next 10 years.

And I’m about to make a huge statement.

This guy reminds me a lot of Sonny Bill Williams.

The way he can hold the football in one hand, the way he can offload, and the power in his running.

With good coaching, in two years he could be anything.

Rising Panthers star Viliame Kikau has a huge future.

KIDS CAN’T COMPUTE STATE OF ORIGIN

IN the days of State of Origin rating more than four million viewers, young fans had far fewer entertainment options.

Millions of teenagers now play, and are addicted to, games like Fortnite on PlayStation and Xbox.

I think this is the major reason why Origin ratings have dropped so alarmingly. Teenagers are not watching football as regularly as they once did.

The ratings figure last Wednesday night of 2.6 million was ridiculously bad considering the quality of the game. The standard of football throughout the series was fantastic.

This is a big problem for the NRL and all sports in the future. Broadcast deals normally double in value every five years. Not anymore.

The Bulldogs are battling, just like their opponents this week Parramatta.

ONCE MIGHTY CLUBS HAVE FALLEN HARD

WHO would have thought at the beginning of the season that the Parramatta Eels and the Canterbury Bulldogs would be in a “playoff” for the wooden spoon on Thursday night.

The two premiership powerhouses from the 1980s meet at ANZ Stadium for a game that is normally one of the highlights of the season.

At least the Bulldogs have had the excuse of dealing with a salary cap sham that was created by the previous chief executive and coach.

Parramatta, for a team we tipped to make the top four, have been the biggest flops of the season. A 61 per cent completion rate against the Knights sums up their season.