Monday Buzz: Weekend highlights, lowlights

MONDAY BUZZ: DCE big slide down the pecking order, Manly’s culture shift, plus the weekend highlights and lowlights.

HIGHLIGHT

Getting the opportunity to interview Mitchell Pearce and discovering first-hand how nicely he is doing after three months of intense rehab treatment.

LOWLIGHT

The passing of Roosters legend Ron Saddler in the indigenous round. He was the first aboriginal to captain NSW back in 1967 and went on the Kangaroo Tour that same year. Our condolences to Ron’s family and many friends.

MONDAY BUZZ 1: Inside the Cowboys coaching box with Paul Green

SPOTTED

The NRL’s No. 1 referee Gerard Sutton sitting in the media seats for the Manly-Broncos game — and not even saying hello to the scribes.

CULTURE SHIFT

Manly used to be a blokey football club like most of the others. Now they employ Jacky McCauley as the NRL team manager and Jodie Evans in marketing and community. They both did a fantastic job to ensure Manly’s ‘home’ game in Brisbane went smoothly for sponsors, players, fans and members.

BUNKER BELTING

Four days after it happened, I still can’t work out how two referees, two touch judges and bunker officials didn’t penalise Dragons forward Joel Thompson for belting Blake Austin in the nose at Kogarah on Thursday night. It was a bigger blunder than even Jack Wighton’s pass in golden point.

Joel Thompson wasn’t penalised for his shot on Blake Austin. Picture: Mark Evans

POINTLESS CASH

Manly got the cheque for $350,000 but the Broncos got the two competition points at Suncorp on Saturday night. I have never seen a more parochial crowd. Normally at Origin games there are about 7000 Blues fans and 45,000 Maroons. This time it was more like Broncos 49,000, Manly 1000.

SIXTH CHOICE

The one thing that has become blatantly obvious at the Manly Sea Eagles this year is that Daly Cherry-Evans is not worth anywhere near his $10 million price tag. In the Queensland Origin halves he is now behind Johnathan Thurston, Cooper Cronk, Michael Morgan, Anthony Milford and Ben Hunt.

Daly Cherry-Evans has slipped down the pecking order for Queensland.