NRL 2020: Cowboys coach Paul Green under pressure; Monday Buzz
Paul Green is one of many NRL coaches under pressure following a pathetic first-half performance against the Wests Tigers — check out all the talking points from another big weekend.
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In what is probably a good sign for Cowboys coach Paul Green, the club’s new chairman Lewis Ramsay didn’t say “he has the full support of the board” when we spoke on Sunday.
Green is one of many NRL coaches under pressure following a pathetic first-half performance against the Wests Tigers on Saturday when they trailed 34-0 at the break.
I asked Ramsay if Green’s job was safe with the Cowboys having won only two from six after finishing 14th last year.
“There’s has been no discussion at board level around the coach,” Ramsay said. “He’s contracted to us for another year and a half and there’s nothing at this stage
to suggest we won’t be honouring that.”
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Green and director of football Peter Parr will meet with the board this week.
“We’ll talk to them about everything around the team’s performances,” Ramsay said. “We’re determined to try to arrest this current slump.”
The pressure on NRL coaches this year is getting ridiculously out of hand.
We wrote only last month how NRL clubs had spent more than $12 million sacking 14 coaches in the past five years. Stephen Kearney became the 15th on Saturday. His dismissal is as brutal as any in recent years.
Brutal because he has led the Warriors magnificently off the field during the most challenging coronavirus times.
Many thought he deserved the remainder of the season to try to turn it around.
We also have John Morris, Dean Pay and Paul McGregor fighting for their jobs. The pressure on Anthony Seibold is increasing with every loss.
Never has the blowtorch been on coaches like this year.
Check out the highlights, lowlights and talking points from another big weekend in sport.
HIGHLIGHT
The Roosters-Eels game was played with the brutal intensity of State of Origin. It was a magnificent contest between two great football sides that could well meet again in the grand final. The Roosters got the chocolates but there is little between the two teams.
LOWLIGHT
The sacking of Stephen Kearney, a very decent man who is respected across the game. He might have struggled to get results but did a superb job to hold the team together in trying circumstances.
CHALK AND CHEESE
Just an observation. Trent Robinson’s post-match press conferences after Roosters games are always enlightening and a great promotion for rugby league. Wayne Bennett’s post-match press conferences after Rabbitohs games are always snarly and uninformative.
FRIENDLY REMINDER
Veteran hooker Jake Friend played so tough and so magnificently for the Roosters on Saturday night that it ended any suggestions the 30-year-old warrior would step aside for Sam Verrills at the end of the season.
DE BELIN’S BIG DAY
St George Illawarra forward Jack de Belin is back in Wollongong court this morning to try to have sexual assault charges thrown out. If successful, he will play next weekend against the Roosters.
SPOTTED
● Ryan Fitzgerald counting a wad of $50 notes after backing a $14 winner at Morphettville on Saturday. He was at Randwick in the Racing NSW Directors’ suite as Karl Stefanovic’s handbag for the day.
● Former Cronulla Sharks star and fishing guru Andrew Ettingshausen catching half-a-dozen huge king fish off Kurnell over the weekend.
● 2GB broadcaster Ray Hadley buying 10 beanies for the Mark Hughes Foundation at his local Lowes store.
● Roosters chief executive Joe Kelly winning A-grade at Monash Golf Club on Saturday afternoon with 40 Stableford points.
PASSING THE BUCK
Which underperforming coach is blaming his assistants for his team’s woes, telling anyone who will listen: “They give me nothing.”
360 VIEW
Catch you tonight on NRL 360 on Fox Sports at 6.30pm with Ben Ikin and Paul Kent to discuss all the biggest issues in rugby league.
TESTING TIME FOR HALVES
It was a late night at Bankwest Stadium for halfbacks Kyle Flanagan and Mitchell Moses who were among four players drug tested by ASADA.
It took Flanagan two hours and Moses 90 minutes to provide urine samples, so low were their hydration levels after such a brutal contest.
Parramatta edge forward Shaun Lane and Roosters lock Victor Radley were also tested.
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This is a massive week for the Flanagan family.
St George Illawarra’s assistant coach Shane Flanagan will be planning to bring down his own son Kyle when the Dragons play the Roosters on Saturday night at Bankwest Stadium.
These two are as close as any father and son. In the Shire, Shane often goes to the local park to retrieve the football while Kyle is practising his goalkicking. They talk footy at home 24/7.
It’s noticeable the Dragons have improved in the last two weeks since Flanagan took over the attack at St George Illawarra training.
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There was one player we forgot to mention when we revealed all the Blues and Maroons State of Origin contenders last week.
South Sydney centre Campbell Graham would not be out of place in a NSW Blues jersey.
He is only 21 and maybe the competition for centre positions is too hot this year among Tom Trbojevic, Jack Wighton, Kotoni Staggs, Latrell Mitchell, Josh Morris and even Bradman Best.
However he is an outstanding footballer who would fit right into the strong culture that now exists with Blues teams under Brad Fittler.