The Tackle Round 19: The switch set to ignite struggling Dragons star Zac Lomax
There were signs of Zac Lomax getting back to his best in a brief stint against the Raiders, leaving Shane Flanagan with a big decision to make. Paul Crawley’s likes and dislikes.
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Paul Crawley runs his rule over round 19 of the NRL, revealing his likes and dislikes in The Tackle.
ROUND 19 DISLIKES
GUS LIVING IN DARK AGE OVER ‘NO FUN POLICE’
Does Phil Gould want match officials to rule by the technology available today, or how the game was adjudicated back in the days of the horse and cart?
Gus’ blow up on Channel Nine about the no try ruling against Wests Tigers centre Tommy Talau after he was ruled to knock the ball into Nicho Hynes is just another example of him living in the dark ages, not the officials getting it wrong.
What might have been “a try for a 100 years”, as Gould put it, is no longer a try today if the technology proves it was a knock on.
Yet it didn’t stop Gus accusing the Bunker of being the “no fun police” and arguing “who cares if it bobbles”.
I have little doubt if the refs went the other way against the Bulldogs and it ended up costing them the game it might be a different reaction. Or if a grand final was on the line and the Bunker comes back saying, “it’s just a bobble”.
It’s such a bloody ridiculous argument.
If we don’t want to use the technology and have tries determined in super slow-mo, as many fans don’t, that’s up to the NRL to make the change.
But it will never happen because even if the match officials went that way where they ignored technology, it wouldn’t stop others slowing down the play to prove the refs got it wrong.
Imagine the blow up then?
They just can’t win.
DEMETRIOU’S HORRIBLY WRONG BUNKER RANT
South Sydney coach Jason Demetriou comes across as a thoroughly decent man but he got it horribly wrong ripping into the NRL Bunker over the so-called controversial sin binning of Taane Milne.
If Demetriou has a beef with the fact he doesn’t think the Rabbitohs are getting a fair rub of the green for incidents in other areas of the game that is an entirely different debate.
But the fact is the Bunker would have been crucified if Milne was allowed to stay on the field and Bulldogs forward Ryan Sutton had ultimately ended up with a catastrophic neck injury.
Thankfully Sutton has since been cleared of any serious damage but that does not excuse Demetriou’s post match rant that just went too far.
At that point no one was clear how serious the damage was to Sutton’s neck and surely that should have been everyone’s first and only concern immediately after the game.
Not blowing up about whether or not Milne should have stayed on the field due to the Bunker’s delayed reaction over whether it constituted a sin bin or not.
What people also need to understand is that initially the Bunker could only look at a few angles before referee Liam Kennedy put Milne on report but judged it didn’t warrant a sin binning.
But as the game was delayed as Sutton received medical attention that gave the Bunker further time to look at other angles at which point they obviously deemed it a sin bin offence.
Even though Milne did not appear to be leading with his shoulder, by the same token he did turn sideways just before impact which in my books was a careless act because he lost control of the outcome of the tackle.
There was also the secondary side impact from Tevita Tatola that could have caused the injury, but that still doesn’t excuse Milne.
Of course players can get injured in tackles that aren’t illegal but in this case there was head contact.
Milne has since been hit with a grade one careless high tackle charge that will result in a $3000 fine if he cops the early guilty plea.
He should thank his lucky stars.
Let’s also not downplay that since 2021 Milne has a shocking judiciary record that is one of the worst of any NRL player, pleading guilty to four careless high tackles and one reckless charge.
But I just thought it was a really poor reaction from Demetriou that lacked any genuine compassion for the injured player.
Many rugby league fans will never forget Cameron Smith’s carry on a decade ago when Alex McKinnon suffered his catastrophic injury and the way the highly competitive Melbourne captain stood arguing if it should be a penalty or not.
I won’t put this in that category but probably only because Sutton is OK.
EELS CAN’T BLAME ORIGIN FOR DEFENSIVE WOES
Parramatta fans have every right to be filthy at the fact the Eels didn’t get a bye during the State of Origin series when the rep players were unavailable.
But that doesn’t excuse the performance they dished up in the 46-10 defeat to the Warriors.
Remember, Parra were missing Mitchell Moses, Clint Gutherson and Reagan Campbell-Gillard.
Yet some of the defensive efforts were just terrible when you compare them to what a team like the Panthers are capable of even when they are missing half a team.
Brad Arthur gave credit to the Warriors while conceding “we put a good enough team out there to be better than that”.
At least the Eels’ recent run of five straight wins has put them in a position to still have some hope of finishing top four even though they have an incredibly tough run home.
Their final seven games kick off against the Titans on Sunday, followed by the Cowboys, Storm, Dragons, Broncos, Roosters and Panthers.
RAIDERS’ FADE OUTS NEED TO STOP
There is no better team to watch in the NRL than the Canberra Raiders when they are on their game.
But how can anyone rate them as genuine premiership contenders until they put a stop to these second half fade outs, after they nearly blew a 30-10 lead against the Dragons to eventually finish 36-26 winners?
Ricky Stuart said after the game it’s not a question of the Raiders lacking courage or character or not being fit enough, it’s simply that they have to play smarter.
But a fact you can’t ignore is that despite the Raiders sitting fifth on the ladder they actually have the 14th most points conceded of any team this year, with only the Bulldogs, Dragons and Dolphins behind them.
ROUND 19 LIKES
FINALLY A REF BLOWS A GOLDEN POINT PENALTY
It was the bravest call we have ever seen from a referee in golden point. And good on Grant Atkins for showing the guts to make an offside call to deliver the Dolphins a drought breaking 23-21 victory over Titans.
Too often we see players blatantly break the rules during extra time and the match officials let it ride through fear of the fallout that may follow.
On this occasion Atkins spotted Titans’ forward Erin Clark was clearly offside as he attempted to shut down Jamayne Isaako’s field goal attempt.
Yet instead of turning a blind eye, Atkins made the bold call, delivering a penalty goal for Isaako to snap right in front of the posts for the Dolphins to finally end a four-match losing streak.
Yes, it might have been a tough way for the Titans to lose. But if we are going to have golden point, it can’t be a free-for-all.
Match Highlights 🎥 - #NRLTitansDolphins
— NRL (@NRL) July 9, 2023
A penalty goal in golden point to Jamayne Isaako has helped the Dolphins secure their eighth win of the season following a 23-21 victory over the Titans pic.twitter.com/po5U7yFrAE
Bad loss for the Titans in their battle
— The NRL Tweet (@NRLTweet) July 9, 2023
for the Top 8 but a great crowd once again on the Gold Coast.
3 of their last 4 homes games have been 18k plus.
18,335 this arvo but you gotta win those 😞#NRLTitansDolphins#NRLpic.twitter.com/1OKmypC45n
TAAFFE’S TALENT TOO GOOD TO WASTE
Off contract Rabbitoh Blake Taaffe certainly put himself in the NRL shop front window with his sizzling performance against the Bulldogs.
With Latrell Mitchell expected back from his calf injury after the bye to take on the Broncos in round 21, Taaffe will understandably struggle to hold his starting spot.
But even though he’s played the majority of his NRL at fullback, the 24-year-old looks like a player who could easily adapt to a switch to the halves, where he played a fair bit of his footy coming through the grades.
When Jason Demetriou took over from Wayne Bennett he made the call to make Lachlan Ilias his No. 7 to replace Adam Reynolds when some thought Taaffe could be a chance for the halfback role.
And with such blistering speed and a real ability to create something from nothing, Taaffe could be a good pick up for a club like Wests Tigers who need to find a replacement for Luke Brooks, or even the Raiders chasing a five-eighth to take over from Souths-bound Jack Wighton.
One thing’s for certain, he’s got too much talent to waste.
WHY ORIGIN SHOULD NOT BE STAND ALONE
How good has it been seeing some of the young stars emerging during the State of Origin series when the rep players have been unavailable for their clubs?
Just look at the Bulldogs’ action packed 36-32 win over the Rabbitohs as the perfect example with young guns Tyrone Munro and Blake Wilson putting on such a show. And what about Tallis Duncan’s second half?
For all the complaining about how Origin impacts teams during this period of the season, you’d hate to see the day when the comp was put on hold and these youngsters didn’t get their chance to show what they are capable of.
WHY WOULD DOGS NOW WANT DRAGONS PLAYMAKER?
If the mail linking St George Illawarra’s Jayden Sullivan to the Bulldogs next season is on the money, Phil Gould might need to have a rethink on the back of what we saw first up of the Toby Sexton/Matt Burton halves partnership.
Sexton was outstanding in his debut for the Dogs, while you could clearly see the immediate impact his arrival had on Burton.
Gould only said last week the Dogs had to be very careful how they spend their salary cap so they don’t fall into the same trap that has haunted them in the past.
It makes little sense signing Sexton for two years and then bringing Sullivan to the club, unless of course Sullivan is happy continuing his NRL career playing mostly off the bench.
IS LOMAX DRAGONS’ LONG-TERM FULLBACK?
While Zac Lomax had a brief stint in the No. 1 jersey under Paul McGregor a few years back, he really looked comfortable after taking over from the injured Paul Turner in the Dragons’ comeback against the Raiders.
You’d reckon it would have given Shane Flanagan some food for thought going forward as to who should be the Dragons’ long-term fullback.
Everyone knows Tyrell Sloan is a hell of talent with the ball in hand, but his defence remains his biggest issue.
It will also be interesting to see if interim coach Ryan Carr chooses to keep Lomax at fullback even when Sloan is due to return from his calf injury in Thursday week’s potential wooden spoon play-off against the Tigers in Wollongong after the bye.
God knows Lomax is getting paid like one with his current $700,000-a-season salary.
RAIDER TIMOKO COMES OF AGE
Arguably the standout performance of the weekend came from unsung Canberra Raider Matt Timoko.
The blockbusting centre was just about unstoppable in the Raiders’ first half onslaught before finishing with 15 runs for 229m including two tries, nine tackle busts and three line breaks.
This 23-year-old is as good as any young centre coming through in the game.
WARRIORS LOOK A TOP-FOUR CERTAINTY
Have a look at the Warriors’ run home and tell me they aren’t good things to finish to four?
On the back of their thumping 46-10 of the Eels, they now take on the Sharks this Sunday in New Zealand followed by the Raiders in round 21 also at home.
But after that the Warriors (currently sixth and just one win outside the top four) don’t play another team currently in the top eight in their remaining five games.
Those matches are against the Titans, Tigers, Sea Eagles, Dragons and Dolphins. What a magnificent rookie head coaching performance it has been from Andrew Webster to turn this club around.
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