Queensland players should audition to be contestants on The Biggest Loser | Bulldog’s Bite
Queensland may be the Sunshine State, but there is a dark cloud hanging over it’s rugby league teams, with the Maroons, Broncos, Dolphins and Titans all floundering, writes DEAN RITCHIE.
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The sun still shines, the beaches remain golden but there is a dirty black cloud hanging over rugby league in Queensland.
A once-proud rugby league state has descended from showcase to basket case. Queensland footballers could audition to be contestants on The Biggest Loser.
Queensland’s NRL teams have won just 18 from 46 games this season. Throw in men’s and women’s State of Origin and it’s 19 victories from 50 matches.
That’s a miserable winning success rate of 38 per cent.
Queensland was once Queens-grand. Now they’re Queens-bland.
Remember Queensland’s eight straight in Origin and the mighty Broncos – through Gordie, Kev, Locky and Alf – dominating the NRL?
Brisbane’s forwards these days would be lucky to break through wet tissue paper.
The TAB has seven teams – Melbourne, Canterbury, Cronulla, Canberra, Warriors, Manly and Penrith – ahead of the first Queensland side, Brisbane, in premiership betting.
Queensland’s NRL sides, and their men’s and women’s Origin teams, lost all eight games at Suncorp Stadium during May. That’s right, not a single victory.
Feeble stuff at the so-called Cauldron.
North Queensland is the only Cane Toad team sitting inside the first nine teams on the NRL ladder.
The Maroons were well beaten in Origin I, scoring just one try which came from a Blues mistake. The Maroons didn’t post a single try in game three last year, which they also lost. Both games were played at their beloved Lang Park.
I have never heard a quieter Suncorp Stadium crowd last Wednesday night in my 30 years of covering Origin games in Brisbane. The one-time brash, cocky Queenslanders were like timid puppies expecting, and accepting, failure.
The Maroons lost the women’s Origin series 2-1 although it should have been a 3-0 clean sweep had Blues centre Isabelle Kelly grounded the ball after crossing the try line untouched.
Queensland has lost three successive men’s Origin games because, quite frankly, they haven’t been able to shamelessly steal any more NSW players.
Brisbane sit 11th on the NRL competition ladder and look clueless having won one of their past seven matches. They have won five of their 12 games this season and are being pumped through the middle.
The Dolphins have also five from 12 this season and are another club teetering on the edge of failure. They sit in tenth spot, only ahead of Brisbane on for-and-against. Granted the Dolphins have a dig, the team has been largely uninspiring this season and are struggling to find their identity.
Gold Coast are stone-motherless last with three wins from 11 games with Titans coach Des Hasler is under increasing pressure. They have a hefty injury toll but results are still unacceptable.
The Titans are $251 outsiders to win the grand final, according to TAB, and clear $2.40 favourites to record the most losses this season.
Only North Queensland is fighting for Queensland credibility this season although the Cowboys aren’t exactly flourishing. They sit in fifth place with five wins from 11 games although the club’s standing has been inflated due to two byes.
And, after all this, we now read that Melbourne Storm is poised to sever ties with Queensland in favour of a move to the NSW Cup.
Ain’t it sweet – Queensland’s misery is NSW’s joy.
Queensland, beautiful one day, crap at footy the next.
DOG TREATS
South Sydney coach Wayne Bennett and high-profile co-owner Russell Crowe want to sign try scoring winger Alex Johnston to a life contract.
However, Johnston may end his wonderful career with the NRL’s new franchise in Port Moresby given he has PNG heritage.
It is understood Johnston, who comes off contract after this season, may look at re-signing with the Rabbitohs for another two years, allowing him a move to PNG for 2028, the team’s first season in the NRL.
Bennett and Crowe would like Johnston to finish his career at the club but the consistent winger could pocket nearly all of his PNG contract under the nation’s tax-free laws. He would be deemed a ‘statement signing’.
The 30-year-old scored a hat-trick against the Warriors last weekend and has now posted a history-making 200 tries. He is just 12 tries short of equalling the all-time tryscoring record of 212, held for more than 50 years by former Norths and Manly winger Ken Irvine.
Some old-timers claim Irvine could have posted another 100 tries over his 16-year career had he not played in an era where corner flags were deemed touch-in-goal.
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Wests Tigers centre Starford To’a quickly ended online speculation he has agreed to a contract extension at Concord until the end of 2027.
To’a took to social media to post a photo of himself with an accompanying message: “All rumours.”
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Which NSW player managed to avoid the headlines last week despite carrying an injury?
Our man was spotted in the foyer of Brisbane’s Sofitel Hotel, where the team was housed, just two days before Origin I with a massive ice pack on his right thigh.
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Don’t be surprised if Beau Fermor starts for Queensland in Origin II with Reuben Cotter to come off the bench. Some believe the Maroons need more punch from their backrow.
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Which Blues star was spotted heading to Fiji for a short holiday post-Origin I in Brisbane?
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Bulldog’s Bite loves a beer but there’s a time and place.
So what about the two Queensland fans, decked out in maroon, downing schooners at a Queen Street Mall bar at 9am on game day – 11 hours before kick-off.
Imagine the poor buggers who had to sit next to them at the game?
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Alex de Minaur has claimed he is suffering from “burnout.”
This from a tennis player who has travelled the world this year playing tournaments in iconic locations including Paris, Rome, Madrid, Barcelona, Monte Carlo, Miami, Dubai, California, Qatar and Rotterdam.
And this from a 26-year-old player whose career-earnings are closing in on a juicy $18m.
You want to know about burnout, Alex?
Try being a single parent who works three jobs a week to put food on the table. Try being a person who clocks up 60 hours a week to pay the bills. Or try being someone who suffers from mental burnout because you can’t pay your rent?
De Minaur is a talented tennis player, he is currently ranked ninth in the world, but please don’t talk about burnout when you’re playing sport for a living and visiting some of the world’s most beautiful cities and staying in five-star hotels.
After being bundled out of the French Open, De Minaur said: “I’m tired mentally. The solution is to shorten (the tour), because what’s going to happen is players’ careers are going to get shorter and shorter because they’re just going to burn out mentally. There’s just too much tennis.
“Just a lot of tennis, a lot of weeks, a lot of matches, a lot of training days in and out and it’s obviously taking a take on me.”
De Minaur deserves his success but won’t find much sympathy from everyday Aussies, especially those who are working long hours, overtime, weekends and pulling in $60,000 a year.
Maybe take a break from tennis and work on the tools for a few months, Alex. Then you might really understand burnout.
Originally published as Queensland players should audition to be contestants on The Biggest Loser | Bulldog’s Bite
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