The Tackle Round 17: Paul Crawley reveals his likes and dislikes for round 17

Backing up from a horror State of Origin series, James Tedesco’s nightmare run got even worse against the Raiders. Full likes and dislikes from round 17.

Paul Crawley runs the rule over round 17 of the NRL, revealing his likes and dislikes in The Tackle.

ROUND 17 DISLIKES

TORMENTED TEDDY COPS MORE PUNISHMENT

One thing you can never question about James Tedesco is his effort.

But the Roosters captain is sure having one major nightmare under the high ball at the minute.

And his recent struggles continued with two crucial errors off towering bombs leading directly to tries in the heart-stopping 20-18 defeat to the Raiders.

Under a first half aerial assault from Jamal Fogarty, Tedesco was out jumped by Jack Wighton for one try, before another bomb led to a try to young centre Matt Timoko.

It comes on the back of the embarrassment of being out-jumped by teammate and Queensland prop Lindsay Collins for a crucial try in Origin I.

James Tedesco is in a big form slump. Picture: Getty

The loss just adds more pressure to the Roosters who sit 12th on the ladder and just have to find a way to get Joey Manu more involved.

Manu finished with two of the Roosters’ three tries coming from just 10 runs for 106m.

Compare that to his 29 runs for 285m in the last round against the Knights when Manu was filling in for Tedesco at fullback.

RABBITOHS BIGGEST ISSUE EXPOSED

What has gone wrong with South Sydney’s defence?

In their last five games they have now conceded 164 points, at an average of 32.8 a game.

To put that in perspective, the Rabbitohs only conceded 150 points through the first 11 rounds, for an average of 13.6.

Sunday’s 31-6 loss to the Cowboys also makes it one win in their last five games, while missing a total of 36 tackles here.

They don’t say defence wins premierships for no reason.

It’s a bit of a worry when you throw in the fact Latrell Mitchell is going to be missing for a few weeks to come, and they now take on the inform Warriors on Friday night.

Latrell Mitchell remains sidelined. Picture: Matt King/Getty

SIVO’S ACTIONS WORSE THAN TINO’S

For all the outrage about Tino Fa’asuamaleaui escaping suspension for the raised bumper that broke Api Koroisau’s jaw, it was nowhere near as blatant as the elbow from Maika Sivo on Jamayne Isaako.

As Andrew Voss said in the Fox commentary, this was like a flashback to the 1970s.

And the fact it happened right in front of the touch judge and he did nothing about it was outrageous.

But to make it worse, even when it was picked up by the bunker and Sivo was placed on report, there was still no penalty, let alone a sin bin.

Instead, the Eels maintained possession and scored soon after.

Just to rub the salt in the Parramatta winger escaped with a fine for a grade one dangerous contact charge.

Maika Sivo lands a monster elbow on Jamayne Isaako. Picture: Fox Sports

It’s laughable when you see some of the suspensions handed out.

And don’t ignore the fact it was Sivo’s fifth charge this year - this was his fourth grade one dangerous contact charge to go with a grade one contrary contact.

While the Dolphins won instant respect with some incredibly brave defensive efforts early in the season, their last three matches have been hugely disappointing.

At least there were some positives to take out of the second half after trailing 42-4 at the break to eventually go down 48-20.

TIME FOR KNIGHTS TO FIND A NEW COACH?

No one ever wants to see an NRL coach sacked.

But the time is fast approaching where the Newcastle Knights have to have a serious look at whether Adam O’Brien is the coach to take the struggling club into the future.

This is now O’Brien’s fourth season.

And if you were a Knights fan watching the team’s third straight loss to the severely depleted Panthers, you would be entitled to be feeling a little bit sick and tired of all the promises they are building towards a better future.

While the Panthers were without six Origin players, the Knights were at full strength aside from missing Jayden Brailey.

You’d imagine the next two games against the Bulldogs on Sunday followed by the Tigers on Friday week will be the making or breaking for O’Brien.

The talk is Michael Maguire, Paul McGregor and John Morris are the three men in contention to take over.

Is Adam O'Brien’s position under threat after the Holbrook decision? Picture: Ian Hitchcock/Getty

HUNT’S ‘POOR ME’ INTERVIEW

Who runs the game: player power or the NRL?

We are about to find out.

If it wasn’t bad enough watching the Dragons’ miserable 48-18 capitulation to the Warriors on Friday night, fans then had to sit through Ben Hunt’s embarrassing “poor me” performance at the post match media conference when he was questioned about his ongoing commitment to the club.

Fair dinkum.

It is a joke that anyone is feeling sorry for Hunt right now regardless of how he has performed for the club on the field through troubled times.

And if Hunt is that aggrieved by what has gone on at the Dragons he should just walk away from his contract and go and get a job in the real world.

But the St George Illawarra captain should not be allowed under any circumstances to simply go and pick up another multimillion deal at another club because he is frustrated.

And even if the Dragons end up granting Hunt a release in the coming days to try and put the matter to bed and move on, that should not in any way influence which direction the NRL’s investigation heads moving forward.

Ben Hunt wants out of the Dragons. Picture: NRL Photos

Because the lack of ethics and integrity that have been exposed throughout this whole sorry saga has also dragged the game’s credibility into the gutter.

And it is time for NRL chief executive Andrew Abdo and chairman Peter V’landys to draw a line in the sand and say on behalf of every loyal fan that this will not be tolerated any more.

Rule 36 of the Playing Contract Remuneration clearly states that every player is only free to negotiate at any time for the period which they are not contracted unless it is with written permission from the existing club.

In this case that means Hunt up until this point could only talk to rival clubs for beyond his current deal which expires at the end of the 2025 season. Not for this year, or the next two.

And even if it is not a written or formal offer, as has been suggested, it doesn’t matter.

Now there is no proof at this point this has occurred.

But it is now up to the NRL to conduct a thorough investigation to make damn certain that is the case.

The NRL also has the power to request all correspondence, whether it be through phone conversations, text messages and emails form either the player, his agent or any club.

Furthermore, the player, the agent or the clubs can’t simply say that they didn’t make any notes because that is also a breach of the rules because they are required to do so.

So will it be thoroughly investigated, or conveniently swept under the carpet?

We wait and see how it plays out.

WERE BRONCOS ROBBED?

Surely it’s time for the NRL to allow the bunker to rule on forward passes so fans don’t walk away feeling cheated.

On the back of a blatant forward pass leading to a Queensland try in Origin II, there was another controversial call in the Broncos’ 18-12 loss to the Titans.

This time it was a line-ball pass from Reece Walsh to Corey Oates that proved match-defining.

With the Broncos trailing 16-12 with nine minutes left on the clock, it would have locked the scores with a kick to come.

While referee Chris Buttler looked to get the call right in this instance, there wasn’t much in it.

And the point here is that there is an easy way to take pressure off the ref while avoiding any potential fallout by simply allowing the bunker to rule on forward passes in potential try scoring situations.

Like I said, they probably got this one right.

But you don’t need a chip in the ball to spot the howlers, just a bit of common sense.

It’s madness ignoring the technology.

ROUND 17 LIKES

PANTHER DEMANDS BLUES SELECTION

How much longer can NSW coach Brad Fittler ignore Dylan Edwards?

Even if Fittler is not willing to move James Tedesco from fullback for the dead-rubber, surely Edwards at least deserves a spot on the wing at the expense of Josh Addo-Carr.

While Addo-Carr got his spot on the fact he was overlooked last year, there is no way the Bulldog has performed up to his own standards in the first two games.

And that cheap shot punch at the end of game at Suncorp should be the final straw.

But the brilliant Penrith fullback was again outstanding with 18 runs for 168m including a try against the Knights.

I said before game one that Edwards would have handled the wing role even though he doesn’t play there for the Panthers.

His runs out of the back field are as strong as anybody in the game, and he never, ever takes a shortcut.

Dylan Edwards is banging on the Blues’ door.

WINGERS NO LONGER WEAK LINK

Speaking of wingers.

There was a time not so long ago where they were ridiculed as the blokes who got paid to hang around real footballers.

But some of the efforts we see in the modern game is just unbelievable, and it was on show again over the weekend.

From the Warriors’ Dallin Watene-Zelezniak’s four tries in the win over the Dragons, to the superhuman finish from the Storm’s Xavier Coates for that touchdown against the Sea Eagles.

Backing up from Origin, Coates finished with 15 runs for 192m including two tries.

But the one where he soared over the corner post was as spectacular as you will ever see.

Throw in that pass from Will Warbrick for Jahrome Hughes’ try as another exceptional effort that just highlights the power, skill and talent on display from the modern wingers.

HOW TO DEAL WITH ADVERSITY

There’s no doubt Manly was always going to struggle against Melbourne following another luckless injury to Tom Trbojevic in Origin II.

But as significant as Turbo’s loss is going to be for the Sea Eagles in the race to the finals, it gets overlooked that Craig Bellamy has been dealing with pretty much the exact same issue all season in respect to the ongoing absence of Ryan Papenhuyzen.

But you never hear the Storm using that as any sort of excuse as they just get on with business, sitting in the top four regardless.

Don’t forget they were also without Cameron Munster on the weekend, but what a capable replacement young Jonah Pezet is proving to be.

And what about Nelson Asofa-Solomona playing on the edge, finishing with 14 runs for 147m including a try where he rolled past Josh Schuster like the big kid in under-10s.

EELS PROVE THEY ARE TITLE CONTENDERS

We said going into the Origin series this was the period that would define Parramatta’s season after such a shaky start where the Eels only won four of their opening nine games.

Well, on the back of their fifth straight win in the eight tries to four demolition of the Dolphins, they are well and truly back.

Since their round 12 win over the Rabbitohs, they have since strung together wins against the Cowboys, Bulldogs and Sea Eagles,before cruising past the Dolphins.

Even without Dylan Brown they haven’t missed a beat as Mitchell Moses goes to another level. With Parramatta only scraping into the top eight in round 16, it sets up what should be a ripper against the equally impressive Warriors the following round after this week’s bye.