That’s all for today! Fire up for Thursday night footy. I’m backing the Tigers to get home and fire up the battle for the top eight next week.
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GREEN LAUDS HUMILITY OF RETIRING THURSTON
North Queensland coach Paul Green admits he owes a lot to Johnathan Thurston as he prepares to farewell the star half from rugby league.
Thurston will play for the final time in Townsville on Friday in what is essentially a battle with Parramatta to avoid the NRL wooden spoon. Green arrived at the Cowboys in 2014 as a rookie head coach in charge of a team containing one of game’s greatest players.
But he said there was no rock star attitude from Thurston and that his humility had been crucial as they combined to deliver the club’s long-awaited breakthrough NRL title in 2015.
“I didn’t find it that way (intimidating), I think probably because his attitude made it a lot easier for me,” Green said.
The former Queensland halfback has since extended his contract in Townsville until at least the end of the 2021 season and is poised to surpass the late Graham Murray as the club’s longest-serving coach.
“He’s played a big part in that, certainly he was very supportive as a rookie coach for me,” Green said of Thurston’s impact on his career.
“It made it easier for me to implement what I wanted to.”
Eels coach Brad Arthur admitted it would be nice to finally see the back of the Cowboys No.7.
“The times that … we’ve been beaten has purely been on the back of his game management and control and his patience,” Arthur said.
“He’s an outright champion and going to go down as one of the greats of the game.”
The Cowboys will be without young fullback Te Maire Martin (ankle) for Thurston’s hometown farewell, with Ben Hampton his replacement and Ethan Lowe added to the bench.
North Queensland and Parramatta are level on 12 points at the foot ladder, however the Eels are ahead of the Cowboys by 10 differential points with two matches to play.
History is pointing to a fitting swansong though, with the Cowboys winning 10 of their past 12 Townsville tussles – with a combined score of 343-164 – and the Eels yet to win one away from home this season.
But Green has warned his players not to get ahead of themselves in what is also prop Matt Scott’s 250th and Jake Granville’s 100th game for the club.
STATS THAT MATTER
* Gavin Cooper needs a try to become the first forward to score in eight consecutive matches since Frank Burge in 1918.
* A Cowboys win would give Johnathan Thurston 100 victories at his hometown NRL venue.
* Parramatta will be out to avoid a winless season on the road and their 14th wooden spoon since 1947.
STORM SAY MUNSTER WANTS TO STAY IN MELBOURNE
Melbourne are confident of securing Cameron Munster beyond 2019 with Storm boss Dave Donaghy saying the NRL superstar has told him he wants to stay with the club.
The 23-year-old utility is the most sought-after player in the competition with up to seven NRL clubs chasing him, led by the Sydney Roosters, who see him as a replacement in 2020 for Cooper Cronk.
Melbourne won’t let him go without a fight, particularly with Billy Slater retiring and Cameron Smith yet to commit to another season.
Munster has put contract extension talks on hold until the end of the season, but chief executive Donaghy says the delay shouldn’t be a concern for Storm fans.
“The one thing that I know about Cam is that he’s straight up with us,” Donaghy told SEN Afternoons.
“He wants to stay in Melbourne – he’s looked us in the eye and told us that.
“For us it’s about working through a structure and a contract arrangement which is acceptable to both parties and that’s going to take some time.”
Donaghy says he believes it’s a sign of Munster’s growing maturity that he has chosen to focus solely on helping the Storm defend their premiership rather than be distracted by contract negotiations.
Munster had a long-term extension pulled by the Storm during the off-season after the club was unhappy with his behaviour while away with the Kangaroos at the Rugby League World Cup, but he has redeemed himself with a stellar season.
“Pleasingly for us he has grown as an athlete and a human,” Donaghy said.
“The maturity I feel he’s shown to say that he wants to put the team’s performance and his own performance during the finals before his own contract talks – I think that’s a really good thing,” Donaghy said.
“If I was a Storm member or fan I wouldn’t be too concerned.” Melbourne have three months to get a deal done or Munster will become a free agent on November 1 and could command money in excess of $1 million a season from 2020.
– Melissa Woods
NRL CONFIDENT MANLY CAN REMAIN IN SYDNEY
NRL chief executive Todd Greenberg is confident embattled Manly have enough resources to remain on the northern beaches for the long-term future.
Coach Trent Barrett’s expected departure at the end of the season amid reported concerns over football department resources has raised concerns over the club’s viability at Manly.
Sea Eagles owner Scott Penn has vehemently denied a lack of financial support for the club.
And Greenberg said the introduction of a football department cap, as well as annual club grants about $3 million over the salary cap, meant every club should be resourced adequately to be competitive.
Asked whether the NRL funding was enough for Manly, Greenberg said: “Yeah, that’s right.
“Ultimately those are decisions for clubs to make about their salary cap, their rosters, their football departments, their revenue generation.
“But make no bones about it – we’re in the first year of a five-year strategic cycle for the game.
“We’ve invested more money into clubs than ever before. Clubs have the very best opportunity in this period of time to be sustainable for the long-term future of the club.”
Greenberg admitted he has held numerous talks with Sea Eagles chief executive Lyall Gorman concerning their struggles, and believes the club is merely having a disappointing year.
However, he reiterated the governing body’s stance that the game would be unable to save any club should their ownership structure fall over.
“And there’s a reason for that – we can’t fund them because we haven’t got reserve funds inside the game to do what we’ve done previously. All clubs are acutely aware of that,” he said.
Meanwhile, Greenberg also revealed a final decision on holding a NRL season- opener in the United States needs to be made within the next three weeks. It is understood a “round zero” fixture is pencilled to be played in California.
“We want to make sure that if we could do something innovative like that, which I’ve said a number of times I’d really like to do, you’ve got to be able to make the numbers stack up,” Greenberg said.
Negotiations for a Test match between Australia and Tonga in New Zealand at the end of the season are also ongoing.
He met with NZRL representatives on Wednesday and hoped to provide an update next week.
– Matt Encarnacion
Bit of Tigers-Manly action for all the punters at home. They’ll play again tonight.
WOODS RELISHING EXTRA MINUTES
Aaron Woods has welcomed his increase in playing time as Cronulla coach Shane Flanagan tweaks an all-Origin rotation of big boppers ahead of the NRL finals. Mid-season arrival Woods’ spike in minutes in recent weeks coincided with a decrease for fellow prop Andrew Fifita, which is believed to have been the catalyst for Fifita’s outburst at the coaches’ box last week. While that created controversy, it’s the sort of selection headache most coaches would welcome.
Flanagan has to balance his use of starting props Fifita and Matt Prior plus skipper Paul Gallen and Woods, all of whom have played State of Origin and are capable of big minutes.
In the past three weeks, Woods has played a total of 163 minutes compared to 118 for Fifita.
Fifita’s long bench stint following an error last weekend fired him up as he returned to score a crucial try and the Sharks hope it was a sign of more to come from him.
Preparing for his first finals football in seven years, Woods said he was grateful to get more action but there were other contributing factors. “It’s been a shock to get those extra minutes the last two weeks but we’ve had a few injuries in the game,” Woods said.
“We’ve lost two centres on the weekend so we’ve had to push our backrowers out and get a bit more minutes from our tights.
“The same thing happened in Melbourne, we lost Wade (Graham) early and had to get a few minutes from other players.
I’m enjoying any time I get on the footy field. I can’t thank Shane enough for giving me a role.” Halfback Chad Townsend enjoys the momentum benefits of playing behind such a strong quartet.
“Earlier in the season when we had our whole starting forward pack out and Andrew (Fifita) was named captain, he was playing 80 minutes in back-to-back weeks,” Townsend said.
“So he’s shown he can play 80 minutes and still produce good numbers. “Now we do have the luxury of having Aaron here who, since he’s been here, has been exceptional for us. I think he’s carried over 100 metres every single week he’s been here.
“He’s got extremely good go-forward and together with him and Matt Prior and also Gal, I do think we have one of the best, most experienced, forward packs in the competition.” Meanwhile, Woods keenly anticipates ending his long finals drought. “It’s been quite a while. I’m quite excited. I’ve been lucky enough to play Origins and Test matches but I suppose I’m really looking forward to playing semi-final footy again,” he said.
-AAP
SHARKS SERVE AN OFFICIAL WARNING TO FIFITA
Cronulla have reprimanded Andrew Fifita for his foul-mouthed tirade against The Daily Telegraph’s Phil Rothfield.
Fifita was a guest on a podcast earlier this week along with Josh Dugan and he launched into Rothfield for his reporting on a scuffle between Paul Gallen and Dugan at the start of the season.
More here: https://bit.ly/2wiRt1s
DCE BACKS CARTWRIGHT AS MANLY’S NEW MAN
Manly captain Daly Cherry-Evans is backing John Cartwright to step up and succeed Trent Barrett if the disgruntled coach parts ways with the club, as expected, at the end of the NRL season.
Manly chairman Scott Penn will meet with Barrett in the coming days but their relationship appears untenable after months of in-house bickering at the Sea Eagles.
Cherry-Evans is all but resigned to losing his trusted coach and says, if Barrett walks as he has threatened to, he hopes his assistants are given first crack at the job.
“I’m not sure if anyone internally is going to put in their application but, if that was the case, I’m certainly really happy with the people we have there right now,” Cherry-Evans said on Fox Sports’ League Life program. “John Cartwright’s an assistant and we’ve got a good up and coming young coach in Chad Randall so, look, if those guys were to get the big opportunity, I’d certainly back it.
“But I’m not naive enough to not think that the club is probably going to go and do some homework on it – but hopefully they look internally first.” Manly’s next coach will be Cherry-Evans’ fourth at the club since debuting in 2011 under Des Hasler, then playing for Geoff Toovey before Barrett’s appointment in 2016.
The incumbent Queensland State of Origin halfback believes he has flourished most under Barrett and admits, if he goes, it will be an emotional last two games under the former Test player.
But the skipper says he is “so lucky” to have signed a lucrative deal until the end of 2023 and, regardless who is coaching, he hopes to end his career as a one-club man.
“It doesn’t change what I’m paid to do, which is play footy,” Cherry-Evans said. “I obviously have a really strong affection for what ‘Baz’ has been able to do and help my footy career.
“And, look, if he’s not there next year, I’m going to have to find ways with the new coaching staff to improve, and the new playing group. “It’s not all doom and gloom. Just the biggest disappointment is the impact he’s had on the playing group in such a short period of time. “It’s going to be sad to see him go if that comes locked in in the next couple of days, or couple of weeks.” Despite the expected upheaval, Cherry-Evans believes Manly’s problems are “easily fixed”.
“We’ve got a great playing group that’s really committed to getting better,” he said.
“Coaches change all the time and it’s probably more common (at Manly) than other clubs.
“That’s not ideal but, as for the politics around why Trent wants to leave, that’s for him and the management.”
-AAP
CRAWLEY FILES: ROOSTERS ARE NO TRANSIT LOUNGE
Our own Paul Crawley has an interesting one in today’s paper- Crawls believes the Roosters do not deserve their reputation as a transit lounge given how many of their players they developed off their own bat.
It’s an interesting theory, check it out.
More here: https://bit.ly/2w8xcfy
NRL FAN SURVEY RESULTS
A big cheers to everyone who responded to our NRL fan survey over the last few weeks.
The results are now in and they’re interesting to say the least.
Take a look at them yourself. What fo you make of them?
More here: https://bit.ly/2BCtwrJ