Weekend Read: Rumours swirling around a Roosters side on the brink

The Roosters’ clash with the Knights on Saturday presents a fork in the road for the usual premiership contenders, and a loss could exacerbate the plight of the glamour club, writes Brent Read.

Weekend Read Knights v Roosters image

As a Broncos fan from way back – it’s no secret, you only have to look at my tips for the last 20 years – it shames me to say it, but I almost found myself cheering for Newcastle last weekend.

Even grizzled old columnists seemingly have their moments of weakness. How could you not feel a modicum of sympathy for the Knights given the nature of their loss to the Broncos?

Newcastle have done it tough in recent seasons and everyone has felt the pinch. The future of coach Adam O’Brien has been a subject of intermittent conjecture.

The dedication and commitment of star fullback Kalyn Ponga has been openly questioned, not to mention his playing career after a series of head knocks.

Kalyn Ponga and the Knights were just pipped by the Broncos. Picture: Getty Images

The club’s development and recruitment has caused its share of headaches. Then the Knights turn up at Suncorp Stadium, produce one of their best performances of the season, and walk away on the end of a heartbreaking defeat.

Sit through that 80 minutes and tell me the players aren’t having a dig for O’Brien. Or Ponga isn’t committed to the cause. You don’t go that close to beating one of the competition’s high flyers without having a red-hot go.

The one thing that couldn’t be questioned afterwards was their commitment. They played with passion and spirit, two qualities that were once in rich supply at the Knights during the club’s halcyon days.

Newcastle coach Adam O'Brien is getting plenty from his team. Picture: Getty Images

Compare that with the side they will play on Saturday afternoon at McDonald Jones Stadium. The Sydney Roosters have been abject in recent weeks but few performances this season have been as fraught as the 80 minutes they produced against the Panthers.

O’Brien once sat at Robinson’s side. He can stick a dagger in it this weekend. The Roosters and Knights sit one point and one spot apart on the ladder heading into Saturday afternoon but if commitment and effort was given its just reward, the gap would be much wider.

And the Knights would be looking down the ladder at the Roosters. A Newcastle win would send the Roosters tumbling into the bottom four and form suggests you shouldn’t bet against the Knights. Their position on the ladder doesn’t really reflect the way they have played.

Four of their losses this season have been by four points or less. They fought out a draw with Manly. They have only lost twice at McDonald Jones Stadium and one of those came with a large core of their first grade squad on the sidelines.

Goalkicking has been their nemesis. Small margins have cost them a handful of games. Had they managed to eke out half of those, they would be sitting in third spot.

Instead, they are in 13th and an innocent meeting between head of football Peter Parr and Bulldogs boss Phil Gould becomes a big deal. The perception was that they snuck into a Newcastle cafe to do some wheeling and dealing.

Can the Knights cook the Chooks in Round 16? Art by Boo Bailey.

The truth is that they were there to talk about pathways, an area they both know well from their previous times in North Queensland and Penrith. The upshot is that the Knights aren’t that far away. O’Brien has them trending in the right direction after some difficult years and a bit of luck is all they need.

If it comes on Saturday afternoon, it will exacerbate the Roosters and Robinson’s plight. The glamour club have won just one of their past five. Over that period they have been thrashed twice by Penrith.

There’s generally no shame in that but this is the Roosters. They don’t get thrashed by anyone and, as a result, Robinson is enduring one of the most difficult periods of his tenure as the Roosters become a hotbed for rumours.

Roosters coach Trent Robinson. Picture: Getty Images

If you listen to the whispers, some players are off the coach. They’re off each other. It feels like the Roosters are on the brink and it will take all of Robinson’s nous to turn them around. Talent has never been the issue. Suddenly commitment is.

The good news is that it is not too late. Nowhere near it. Yet their season is spiralling and while a loss to Newcastle would not be terminal, it would create more headlines and heap more pressure on a club that goes into every season expecting to contend for a premiership, not wary of being dragged into a wooden spoon battle.

Pressure does funny things to people. It does even stranger things to football clubs. It feels like the Roosters are on the verge of implosion. The last thing they need is another loss. Don’t bet against the Knights. They’re having a dig and that’s half the battle.

* * * * *

Freddy’s open door policy is no more. The days of Blues players being up for grabs the day before the game are long gone. As the pressure on Brad Fittler has grown, the curtain has come down on the NSW State of Origin side.

Back when Fittler began his tenure, the entire Blues squad were available for interviews on Origin eve. Turn up and do your best was the media policy.

The view was that if players couldn’t handle media interviews on Origin eve, how could they handle the game? Slowly but surely, the shutters have come down.

Blues coach Brad Fittler has shut-out the media. Picture: Getty Images

The latest incarnation is to ask the media to leave training after 10 minutes, apparently because some television crews took liberties with their filming in the lead-up to Origin I.

Fittler was a media darling when he first took over as Origin coach but the walls have closed in as results have waned and he clearly hasn’t been a fan of the criticism.

There is a view in some quarters that the NSW media and the respective papers should be cheerleaders for the Blues. It’s a ridiculous assertion, particularly when the side is losing and selections are leaving some scratching their heads.

Last year after defeat in Origin I, NSW made mass changes. This year, after defeat in Origin I, they have made a series of changes again. Some were forced, others by choice. One was to bring back Latrell Mitchell, who has subsequently withdrawn to the relief of Queensland after failing to overcome a calf problem.

Mitchell and Tom Trbojevic are the two players to put fear into the heart of every Queenslander. One is gone but the other will arrive at Suncorp Stadium with a point to prove.

As does Fittler. He won his first two series but results have been mixed since. Lose on Wednesday night and it will be three series losses in his past four.

Fittler’s future will be in the lap of the gods. Things are getting serious. Free-wheeling Freddy is long gone.