NRL Tackle round 25: Fringe Sea Eagle puts Josh Schuster to shame, Rabbitohs robbed in 8th tackle farce
Josh Schuster is earning the big bucks but it’s a player on a fraction of his $800,000 pay packet turning heads at Manly. THE TACKLE
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Jake Arthur deserves a rap for his effort after taking over from Josh Schuster as the Sea Eagles’ five eighth.
While Arthur might be on a fraction of the $800,000 Schuster is earning since his midseason switch, the former Eel is certainly earning his keep.
Arthur is technically such a good player, and he backs that up with effort Schuster could learn plenty from.
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‘UNACCEPTABLE’: RABBITOHS ROBBED IN 8TH TACKLE FARCE
Just when you thought you’d heard it all about the NRL’s refereeing blunders this year ... Now the NRL is investigating an eighth tackle try scored by Daniel Saifiti in the Knights 29-10 win over the Rabbitohs.
And what will have Souths fans irate is how the try was scored 15 minutes into the second half when the Knights at that point only led 12-4.
It occurred after the Knights had been awarded a seven tackle set, before Saifiti crashed over from a Phoenix Crossland grubber on the eighth tackle.
It’s just not acceptable that this can happen in a billion dollar sport where you have officials on the field and in the Bunker keeping a tackle count.
It’s also the second time this season a try has been scored on an extra tackle, after the Dragons got a seventh tackle try against the Dolphins earlier in the year.
Back then NRL head of football Graham Annesley said measures had been put in place to stop this going forward.
Apparently not.
While in the wash up few will argue the Knights were not the better team, who’s to say the game wouldn’t have played out in a completely different manner had this try not have been awarded.
South Sydney chief executive Blake Solly did not want to blame the loss on the decision, but was flabbergasted how it could happen. And Solly will be asking the NRL for a please explain.
“I don’t want to take anything away from the Knights because I thought they were fantastic and probably deserved to win,” Solly said.
“They outplayed us on the day.
“But it is at the business end of the season. Teams are playing to get into the finals or they will be in the finals very soon.
“And these decisions need to be right.”
DID LATRELL BRAINSNAP RUIN SOUTHS’ SEASON?
Latrell Mitchell was shot gunning beers on stage with American singer Luke Combs during the week.
Now a brain explosion has the potential to absolutely destroy South Sydney’s NRL season after the superstar fullback was sensationally sin-binned in the final minutes of the 29-10 loss to Newcastle.
It came after Mitchell looked to have intentionally elbowed Tyson Frizell in the back of the neck.
The two had been involved in a first half melee after Mitchell took exception to Frizell throwing the ball in his direction.
But while this incident wasn’t what you’d classify as overly vicious, the consequences could be enormous if Mitchell ends up copping a charge from the NRL’s match review committee.
With Souths clinging to eighth spot on the NRL ladder, they have the bye next weekend before taking on the arch rivals the Sydney Roosters in the final round when both teams could be potentially playing for the last remaining top eight spot.
There is no question Mitchell played with plenty of effort in the game in Newcastle.
Latrell was sin binned in the dying moments of the game for this elbow on Tyson Frizell.
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But he was so far off his best, Rabbitohs fans would be entitled to wonder if his appearance on stage with Combs during the week was the ideal preparation ahead of a match so important.
Because you just can’t hide from the fact that aside from the sin-binning, Mitchell also had some really forgettable moments throughout the match.
While Kalyn Ponga was absolutely on fire for the Knights, Mitchell also missed an absolute sitter kick for goal after Damien Cook’s try, while a second half fumble opened the door for Bradman Best to race away with the match clincher.
If the Rabbitohs end up missing the finals, it will be the biggest shock of what has been a season of huge shocks.
It’s been a stunning fall from grace for a team many were rating among the teams to beat earlier in the season.
In fact, since Souths earned premiership favouritism in May they have lost eight games and won only five.
Those wins were against Wests Tigers twice, the Dragons, the Titans and the Warriors.
There has been talk going around for weeks that the Rabbitohs haven’t exactly had their minds totally on the job in recent times.
That speculation will only intensify after what they dished up in Newcastle.
NRL BACKFLIPS ON SIN BIN CRACKDOWN
What on earth happened to the NRL’s sin bin crackdown on high tackles?
A week after Wayne Bennett hit the roof over Ray Stone’s controversial sin bin, suddenly we didn’t get one sin bin in the first six games of this round.
Do we put that down to luck, or were we watching the NRL version of an Olympic class backflip here?
It’s also worth noting it came after we pointed out during the week that there had been 110 sin bins in 180 games this season, which made it the most of any year of the NRL era (and the most since the Super League war back in 1995).
Yet there were still players getting hit high in tackles over the round.
How the NRL justify sin binning Stone the previous week yet not sin binning Sivo for the tackle that wiped out James Tedesco defies belief.
Yes, Tedesco was falling in the tackle, but so was Hutchison the previous week.
It just goes back to gobsmacking double standards we’ve been watching all season.
TIME FOR REFS TO FRONT MEDIA AFTER GAMES?
You have to feel sorry for NRL coaches being forced to front up to media conferences after games when their teams have been duded by poor/controversial decisions.
No wonder they can be guilty of the occasional blow up.
Yet the NRL don’t get the refs or anyone from the Bunker to go down immediately after the game and front the media.
Maybe it would help calm some of the controversy if the NRL got either Graham Annesley or head of referees Jared Maxwell to do a media call to explain their version of events.
At least it wouldn’t be just left to coaches to cop the heat when they are clearly in an emotional state like Anthony Seibold was on Friday night.
Or Wayne Bennett a couple of weeks back in Perth, or young Ryan Carr when the Dragons were robbed recently.
You wouldn’t need them going over every moment of the match, just two or three decisions that may have sparked debate so at least we can all know their thought process.
It’s no different to what the NRL is asking of the coaches.
SLOAN’S DEFENCE A MAJOR ISSUE FOR DRAGONS
There are not many players as exciting to watch as young Dragons fullback Tyrell Sloan.
But as dangerous as the 21-year-old is with the ball in his hands, his defence continues to be a huge concern for Shane Flanagan moving forward.
When a footy player is getting paid $350,000 a year, you expect them to at least put their body on the line and do all they can to stop a try.
Yet Sloan was dreadfully shown up on two occasions by Will Warbrick and Xavier Coates in the loss to the Storm.
No wonder Flanagan is looking at moving Zac Lomax to fullback next year.
Hopefully in time Sloan will develop and become a better defensive player.
But right now he is as massive liability in that department, every bit as much as he is a strike weapon in attack.
DON’T BLAME ARTHUR FOR EELS PREMIERSHIP WINDOW SLAMMING SHUT
It’s fair to say that Parramatta’s premiership window has officially slammed shut ahead of the grand final rematch against the Panthers this Thursday night.
But you’d be heading down the wrong path blaming Brad Arthur for what went wrong this season.
Although there are a few others at the club who should be putting their hands up.
For starters, Ryan Matterson for copping a three-match ban instead of paying a fine. When that initially happened you knew immediately what a dumb decision it was.
But as a club they still allowed Matterson to go through with it.
Then you had Dylan Brown, Reagan Campbell-Gillard and Maika Sivo all serve lengthy bans at crucial stages.
They also made some costly recruitment and retention blunders allowing the likes of Reed Mahoney, Isaiah Papali’i and Marata Niukore to walk out the door, especially without the roster depth to maintain where they finished last year.
Usually when a team’s season goes down the drain the coach is left wear the brunt of the criticism.
While I’d questioned previously if Arthur was going to be the man to lead this club to a premiership, that was before they made last year’s grand final.
I still think the club made the right call extending Arthur’s contract because it wasn’t coaching that let the Eels down this season.
You don’t need to be Jack Gibson to realise what the real issues were.
NRL COACH KILLERS
NRL head of football Graham Annesley needs to get down from his ivory tower and realise the fans are just as frustrated and angry as the players and coaches at the moment.
And this is not about bashing up on the refs for another week just to create a cheap headline.
The definition of an ivory tower is someone living in a state of privileged seclusion or separation from the facts and practicalities of the real world.
I can’t think of a more appropriate way to sum up the NRL football department right now.
Because the concern from many spreading right across the game is that too many matches are being decided by inconsistent decisions.
And it’s all because the referees and Bunker officials appear as confused as the rest of us with the rules they are trying to enforce.
Whether it’s controversy over what constitutes a sin bin and what doesn’t, what is a penalty and what isn’t, forward passes that get called up and others that don’t, off-side plays leading to tries, the inconsistency surrounding six-again calls, you could bang on about it all day.
The frustration we saw from Wayne Bennett and Anthony Seibold over the weekend was only pointing the mirror at what many fans and experts are feeling.
Seibold had every right to question that call not to penalise Warriors fullback Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad for putting Manly’s Reuben Garrick in a dangerous position.
I happen to agree with Annesley saying “it was nothing more than an accident” when Garrick jumped for the bouncing ball and landed on his back.
But the issue for Annesley is it goes against a stack of decisions we have seen almost every week this season where players have been penalised for accidental contact.
You only have to go back to Ray Stone getting sin binned and copping a two-match suspension for his shot on a falling Drew Hutchison last round.
Yet this week Maika Sivo doesn’t get sin binned for hitting a falling James Tedesco with a clenched fist.
The Warriors Bunty Afoa also escaped the sin bin for a high shot on Jake Arthur.
As for Bennett questioning if “a new rule” had been introduced after the Dolphins were pinged for trying to drag Junior Tupou into touch, that gifted Wests Tigers a 24-23 victory, how often have we seen a tackle like that not penalised this season?
Like Bennett said, usually in this instance when the ref calls held the player in possession goes back and plays the ball.
Yet this time referee Ben Cummins blew his penalty and Api Koroisau landed the matchwinning conversion.
It’s a dead set lottery.
And it’s not just the players and coaches who have had a gutful.
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EMOTIONAL SOUTHS ICON RETIRES TURNER’S JERSEY
*WARNING: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised this story contains the name and image of a deceased Indigenous person.
South Sydney paid an emotional tribute to former premiership winning forward Kyle Turner before the game against the Newcastle Knights at a sold out McDonald Jones Stadium.
In a mark of respect after the passing of the 31-year-old, the Rabbitohs’ 2014 premiership winning captain John Sutton was given the honour of taking Turner’s former No. 15 jumper and placing it on a chair on the Rabbitohs’ bench before the match.
Turner wore No. 15 during the breakthrough NRL grand final win that was his first season in the NRL.
He then wore No. 11 after he moved back to his home town and played for his local team the Coonabarabran Unicorns, who were also going to retire the jersey numbers he once wore.
Former Rabbitohs teammate Luke Keary and current Souths coach Jason Demetriou also spoke of the man Turner was.
“It’s devastating mate to be honest,’ Keary told Fox League.
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— South Sydney Rabbitohs 🰠(@SSFCRABBITOHS) August 20, 2023
#15
— South Sydney Rabbitohs 🰠(@SSFCRABBITOHS) August 20, 2023
“Devastating for the rugby league community, the South Sydney community, the Coonabarabran community there that he was living in, his family and his friends.
“There is not too many words to describe it.
“I will speak on Kyle as a man.
“He was a caring, gentle man.
“I got to play with him through under 20s, coming into first grade with him, won a premiership with him.
“He gave so much to the community. He gave so much to Indigenous community too.
“He was a special human.”
Demetriou also told of the player he remembered.
“It was really difficult news to get yesterday morning and the night before for some of the players,” Demetriou told Fox.
“Kyle was an integral part of this team and this club.
“He played over 100 games and his name is etched in the history of this club being one of those premiership winners from 2014.
“So there is still a large number of players that played with him that are feeling his loss.
“We want to remember him with our performance today but also remember the fact he was a great teammate.
“He did everything he could for the team.”
Turner played 130 grade games with the South Sydney club, including 91 in first grade between 2011 and 2019.
He also represented the Indigenous All Stars on two occasions in 2015 and 2017 as well as Country Origin once in 2017.
EDWARDS BANGING DOWN MAL’S DOOR
Mal Meninga certainly won’t be short of fullback options for the end of season Kangaroo tour with James Tedesco, Reece Walsh and Kalyn Ponga all in the mix.
But it will be a travesty if Dylan Edwards is not on the tour.
Every single week this bloke just turns up and plays the house down.
And while Edwards might not own the highlights reel of the other fullback contenders, none of them consistently get close to his work rate.
Edwards’ stats again were outrageous in the 40-14 win over the Titans, finishing with 22 runs for 252m that included two tries, six tackle busts and two line break assists.
That is now eight straight wins for the Panthers as they close in on the finals aiming to become the first team in four decades to win three straight premierships.
It was also another huge performance from Liam Martin and Stephen Crichton.
ROOSTERS’ SUPERMAN SOARS AGAIN
Fresh from his superman efforts for Queensland in State of Origin, Lindsay Collins continues to come up with huge plays as the Roosters keep their finals hopes alive.
Collins was absolutely enormous in the 34-12 win over Parramatta.
On one occasion he refused to give up on a play to ultimately stop Will Penisini from scoring when he came flying across and in desperation and flung out a hand to knock the ball out of Penisini’s grip.
Collins also produced another great moment when he ran down speedster Dylan Brown who he wouldn’t have a hope in hell of catching if it was a 100m footrace.
What a player.
CRACKING KOTOA OWNS TACKLE OF THE ROUND
What about the shot from Eliesa Katoa when he hammered Ben Hunt to force a crucial turnover in Melbourne’s 38-28 win over the Dragons?
It was a hit the former Storm hitman Felise Kaufusi would have been proud of.
Poor Hunt looked like he’d been struck by a thunderbolt as Jahrome Hughes raced away for the match clinching try.
Both Hughes and Katoa were outstanding, as were wingers Will Warbrick, who finished with a hat trick, and Xavier Coates.
There’s still a way to go before the Storm can be considered up with the Panthers and Broncos as genuine premiership contenders after what was a pretty shabby performance, especially defensively.
But don’t worry, they’ll be there when the whips are cracking.
SHARKS ON A WINNER WITH FULLBACK REPLACEMENT
When Will Kennedy suffered his season-ending hamstring injury, many thought the Sharks were done and dusted.
But hasn’t Connor Tracey again showed what an underrated player he is filling in at fullback.
In the three games since, the Sharks have been unbeaten against the Rabbitohs, Titans and Cowboys to be back in top four contention.
Nicho Hynes also had another really good game, while dummy half Blayke Brailey is another of the game’s really underrated players.
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