Crawley Files: Proof Nick Politis and the Sydney Roosters don’t buy premierships
THE Sydney Roosters have a reputation of buying premierships, but closer examination reveals they’re just smarter, not richer, than everyone else writes PAUL CRAWLEY.
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THERE’S an old saying in rugby league: what Nick Politis wants, Nick Politis gets.
The latest rumour doing the rounds this week is Cameron Munster might be the next star the Sydney Roosters will try and snuggle under their so-called salary cap Sombrero when Munster’s deal with Melbourne expires at the end of next year.
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It might be true. Then again, I’ve heard so much speculation these past few weeks, I’ve just about given up believing any of it.
So today I don’t want to deal with rumour. I want to deal with cold, hard facts.
And this might surprise those who have lost all faith in the concept that loyalty still exists in the game.
Because what I’ve discovered is loyalty is not dead — and Politis’s work in developing the Roosters into an NRL powerhouse doesn’t get nearly the credit it deserves.
And it goes way beyond spending the most money on the biggest names.
Back in the 1980s, the Roosters were known as the transit lounge. But these days they are more like the Qantas Club.
And it’s not so much a place VIPs go to put their feet up, as it is where a footballer goes if he wants to work hard and buy into what Politis is selling.
Which is success, sustained success.
In fact, of the 16 NRL squads named for round 24, the Roosters are equal-fourth when it comes to the most players who debuted for their current club.
Penrith has the most with 17 of the 21 named this week, followed by Melbourne and South Sydney with 15. Then comes the Roosters and Brisbane with 14.
So that’s five of the top eight teams, including the three at the top of the ladder, with the most players who have made their debut for their current club.
Below them, Canterbury has 12, followed Wests Tigers, North Queensland and the Warriors all with 11.
St George Illawarra has 10, Newcastle, Canberra, Parramatta and Manly nine, Gold Coast eight and Cronulla seven.
But the club that surprised me most on the list was the Roosters.
For all the wise cracks constantly thrown Politis’s way, this shows the Roosters do produce talent and, better still, they back their judgment.
This week, six of the Roosters who have played more than 100 NRL games actually made their debut at the club.
Yes, you can’t dispute they did buy Cooper Cronk and James Tedesco this year from the top shelf.
But how many clubs fork out big money on players who just don’t aim up to their price tag?
And when was the last time the Roosters bought a dud?
While Cronk’s arrival ultimately pushed Mitchell Pearce out, if Pearce wanted to stay, Politis always maintained the club had the money left in its salary cap to accommodate him.
Cronk was also off contract and leaving Melbourne because he wanted to be with his partner in Sydney. So he was fair game.
So was Tedesco, who was also off-contract and wanted out of the Tigers.
Yet, go through the rest of the Roosters’ squad that will take on Brisbane on Saturday night and it is a roster built on smart recruitment and development, as much as anything else.
In the starting side alone, Daniel Tupou was a Parramatta junior but debuted for the Roosters, and young centres Latrell Mitchell and Joseph Manu came through the junior representative ranks.
Blake Ferguson was sacked from Canberra, while the reason behind Luke Keary’s exit from Souths is no secret.
In the forwards, Jake Friend and Boyd Cordner are one-club veterans, as is Dylan Napa.
Young tornado Victor Radley is also a local junior and Isaac Liu has played nowhere else.
Sio Siua Taukeiaho had one NRL game at the Warriors before joining the Roosters in 2015.
On the bench, Mitch Aubusson is another one-club veteran while Nat Butcher and Ryan Matterson have come through the system and Zane Tetevano was sacked from Newcastle.
Jared Waerea-Hargreaves has been at the Roosters since he came over from Manly in 2010, with six NRL games in the bank at that point.
On the extended bench, Sean O’Sullivan, Paul Momirovski and Lindsay Collins also debuted at the club.
So do we call that buying a premiership?
Or is it more to do with careful recruitment, development, strategy and patience?
Penrith, Melbourne, Souths and Brisbane rightfully get a lot of credit for the systems they have in place for developing talent. But the Roosters are right up there with them, and rarely is their good work acknowledged.
While Craig Bellamy is the longest serving one-club head coach, Trent Robinson is next, in his sixth season at the Roosters.
In that time, the Roosters have won three minor premierships between 2013 and 2015, and they finished 15th in the disaster that was 2016 before bouncing back to second last year.
Yes, it’s true, what Politis wants he most often gets. But it’s not always about having the most money. It’s more about how he chooses spend it.
NERVOUS WAIT FOR DRAGONS
ST George Illawarra got their season back on track with a gutsy 20-10 win over Wests Tigers last weekend at Leichhardt.
But the Dragons have every reason to be feeling nervous ahead of their showdown against the Bulldogs this Sunday.
Last year Canterbury knocked St George Illawarra out of the top eight in the final week of the regular season. That opened the door for North Queensland to make their charge to the grand final.
Almost 12 months on and this time the Bulldogs have a chance to bury the Dragons’ top four hopes.
The Dogs have an imposing record against the joint venture, winning a total of 23 out of 35 games played between the two clubs.
Canterbury lost 18-16 to the Dragons in round 14 but have won 11 of the past 13 match-ups.
TONGA’S TEST BEGGING BOWL
I STILL can’t believe Tonga is being forced to beg to get this end-of-season Test match against Australia over the line.
And it astounds me more that people within the rugby league community aren’t embarrassed.
You’ll remember, everyone from NRL boss Todd Greenberg down dined out on Tonga’s success at last year’s World Cup.
Greenberg even put out a tweet last November ahead of Tonga’s game in Auckland saying: “Incredible atmosphere … Massive amount of red in crowd! Great to see King and Queen of Tonga at the game.”
Then they started saying Tonga might get a Test against Australia in Hawaii this year. Then talk was about it being played in New York.
When all that fell through, they tried to take it to New Zealand.
But the Kiwis didn’t want a bar of it because of fears it might take away from their crowd for the match against Australia in Auckland on October 13.
So now, the only hope is if Greenberg gets behind it and finds a way for the match to be played in Australia on October 20.
It’s crunch time. If this game doesn’t get the green light in the next week or so, it won’t happen.
And the thing we all have to understand is that if Tonga don’t play Australia this year, it won’t happen at all before the next World Cup in 2022.
This would be a massive opportunity missed.
It’s not as if money is the issue. Tongan players have even agreed to play for nothing.
You are entitled to question if the powerbrokers really want to grow the international game or is it just more lip service?
We will know the answer soon enough.
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