Monday Buzz: Weekend highlights, lowlights
INSPIRATIONAL leader, exciting future for Eels young gun, excitement machine back in NRL and more — check out the talking points from another memorable weekend in sport.
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CHECK out the highlights, lowlights and talking points from another memorable weekend in sport.
HIGHLIGHT I
Boyd Cordner is an outstanding attacking edge forward for the Sydney Roosters but it was his thundering crash tackle on Sam Burgess against South Sydney that forced a turnover and lifted his teammates more than anything else.
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HIGHLIGHT II
Kyle Feldt’s magnificent 55m penalty goal for North Queensland against Brisbane in Townsville. It gave his team a huge lift going into half-time.
LOWLIGHT
Ivan Cleary slamming the media for the “misinformation” about his future at the Wests Tigers. This is the guy who could have called a press conference and put the story to bed last Tuesday. It was his call to wait until Saturday to inform his own fans he was staying.
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LOWLIGHT II
Ben Hunt. Zero runs and zero metres, according to Fox Sports stats, in another miserable St George Illawarra performance against the Parramatta Eels.
HOOKED ON SALMON
Mitchell Moses, Jarryd Hayne and David Gower were Parramatta’s best but, my goodness, rookie five-eighth Jaeman Salmon is going to be a very good player.
SPOTTED
■ Former Penrith Panthers boss Warren Wilson at the Mooney Mooney Club on Saturday afternoon having a punt and watching his old team get out of jail against the Titans.
■ The great John Sattler at the 9am Sacred Heart mass at Clear Island Waters, Gold Coast.
BARBA STEELS IT
The news that excitement machine Ben Barba is returning to the NRL next season is fantastic for the game. He has been so brilliant and so dominant in the UK Super League that bookmakers have suspended betting on him winning the Man of Steel award.
360 VIEW
Catch you on NRL 360 on Fox Sports tonight with Ben Ikin and Paul Kent to discuss all the latest drama in the NRL. Special guest in the studio is Cronulla Sharks coach Shane Flanagan.
CLASS ACT CRONK BUY OF THE YEAR
WHO has been the best buy in the NRL this year?
James Tedesco, Kalyn Ponga, James Maloney, Blake Green and Cooper Cronk would be the top contenders.
My pick is Cronk at the Sydney Roosters.
No player started the season under as much pressure as the former Melbourne Storm halfback. As Mitchell Pearce’s replacement he was under the spotlight from round one.
If the Roosters had struggled it was always going to be the playmaker’s fault.
Cronk stylishly guided the Roosters to victory over archrivals the Rabbitohs on Friday night.
He has controlled the attack beautifully but still respected Boyd Cordner and Jake Friend as the co-captains. He has played tough and stood up to some brutal punishment from big forwards.
If the Roosters can stay on top and make it to the grand final, no one will be more responsible than the former Maroons and Kangaroos halfback.
WOEFUL DRAGONS LOOK SPENT FOR 2018
SO what has gone wrong with St George Illawarra?
On Saturday night against the Parramatta Eels they looked and played more like a team fighting to avoid the wooden spoon than premiership contenders.
Take nothing away from the Eels but the Dragons were disgraceful.
It’s hard to believe this is the same side that, before State of Origin, looked to be a huge chance of going all the way.
Across the park players are nowhere near their form from earlier in the season.
Ben Hunt is hopelessly out of form. Euan Aitken has made us all look like fools for suggesting he should play Origin.
Not one of their forwards, who were so dominant earlier in the year, made more than 82m against the Eels.
Their lack of possession and poor completion rate were the reasons why.
It’s easy to say this team has choked again. To me, it looks to be more of a fatigue problem.