Crash Tackle: Matt Lodge must speak up before he plays for the Brisbane Broncos
COURIER-Mail sports columnist Robert “Crash” Craddock takes a look at the major highs and lows of the NRL pre-season, calling on controversial Brisbane Broncos forward Matt Lodge to speak up before he takes to the field on Thursday night.
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COURIER-Mail sports columnist Robert “Crash” Craddock takes a look at the major highs and lows of the NRL pre-season, calling on controversial Brisbane Broncos forward Matt Lodge to speak up before he takes to the field on Thursday night.
THUMBS UP
1 CAM’S WAKE-UP CALL
The leaking of the story about Munster being sent home during the World Cup for disciplinary reasons could be the luckiest break of his career. Suddenly the heat is on Munster from all directions to shape up when he could have still been off the rails.
How this gifted but wayward talent fits back into rigidly structured Melbourne Storm this year will be one of the most interesting stories of the year. The Storm have big challenges on several fronts.
2 WOEFUL WARRIORS
There’s a war on the Warriors which, like the team itself, is long overdue.
Normally the Kiwis are kissed and cuddled to death pre-season because of their great potential. Not now.
Big voices like Gorden Tallis have had enough, describing them as being like that girlfriend who always lets you down. Don’t be surprised if this proves the smelling salts which stirs them into action for they are the ultimate upside-down team.
3 HAIR RAISER
BALDNESS may be a fashion trend but it’s overrated.
Darren Lockyer has let his hair grow in the off-season and looks a younger man. It’s a message to fellow commentators that the billiard ball look might not be as cool as it’s made out to be.
It must, however, be conceded comedian Vince Sorrenti had a point when he said you’d still rather have a receding hairline than an advancing one.
4 A GOOD LOOK
Rugby league’s trendy new television ad featuring Cameron Smith, James Tedesco and Greg Inglis might not rival the Tina Turner masterpiece for the game’s best ad but it works. The sign of a decent ad is that you want to watch it every time you see it and there’s something about this one that has that vibe.
5 THE MASTERS
Johnathan Thurston and Billy Slater chalk up their 300th NRL games this weekend, an astonishing effort for two kids who struggled to get a start because they were deemed too small.
Thurston was rejected by almost every NRL club while Slater somehow slipped through North Queensland’s net despite being a Cowboys-obsessed youngster who used to play in the puddles with his North Queensland jersey on.
6 POINT TO PROVAN
Wayne Bennett’s push for Norm Provan to be the next Immortal has merit from all angles. Apart from his stunning league deeds with St George, a sign of Norm’s decency was he once scrapped his own 80th birthday party to attend Arthur Beetson’s memorial service. Provan just couldn’t stand the thought of spending a day eating prawns and oysters when one of the games iconic characters was being laid to rest.
7 WAYNE’S WORLD
The biggest question of the league week is who is going to organise soon-to-be-married Bennett’s buck’s party. Master event organiser Allan Langer could be the man on a night expected to rage all the way through to around 8pm.
8 TITANIC EFFORT
Life is about to get challenging for new Titans coach Garth Brennan but he has shown admirable early zest in his debut year.
Brennan has tirelessly sold the game around the Coast, going to many clubs and functions as you have to do in a region of fickle support.
We also like the way he was bold enough to put the heat on his playmaker Ash Taylor and claim that some teams were playing boring football.
9 BORN-AGAIN BOYD
Less than a week out from the Broncos opener, Darius Boyd was out on the hustings talking to school kids about mental health and tinkering with his own presentation. These days that is not astonishing news but it would have been beyond comprehension a few years ago when he was one of the game’s most reclusive players.
10 COWBOYS COUP
We do worry about long-term deals but it was still great to see Michael Morgan signed a $5 million, five-year deal to stay at the Cowboys.
It would’ve been awful to lose a player who grew up watching the pre-match fireworks at the ground in the distance before going to bed.
THUMBS DOWN
1 MATT MUST MAN UP
It’s time for Matt Lodge to front up on and off the field.
Lodge will make his debut for the Broncos this week but given the tidal wave of negative publicity over his night of rampage in the US, he would do well to publicly address the issue at a media conference before he plays. Lodge needs to lance the boil by fronting up to the media this week and saying “honestly, ask whatever you like.’’ No matter what his lawyers say about being very selective in his media comments, Lodge does not have much to lose.
The only way to go is up, such is the level of anger and frustration among many fans over his signing for the Broncos. No question should shock him because he has been addressing community groups and telling his story for some time.
2 MEDIA MADNESS
The Northern Pride have launched a Wednesday-to-Monday media ban in the Intrust Super Cup to protect their players from harassment from the fourth estate.
It’s a very strange move from an outfit which should celebrate any skerrick of publicity they get. What’s next?
Giving the players dark glasses so they can walk down the main street of Innisfail without being recognised?
3 BORED IN THE USA
The plan to launch next season with a game in the United States sounds exotic but what does it actually achieve? The US World Cup is seven years away. Maybe take a Test there but club footy should be for the fans.
4 PLAY ON
Have you ever heard anyone say “Wow, I just loved the smoothness of that play-the-ball?’’
Neither have I. Which can only make us think rugby league’s crackdown on playing the ball properly is misguided.
How does it enhance the product? Aren’t we better getting a faster game where the big men tire, even if they are a bit sloppy in the play-the-ball?
5 UNHOLY MOSES
How many chances do you want? Moses Suli is expected to join Manly today, his third club in a month. Suli was axed by West Tigers and then the Bulldogs for turning up late to training four times during his four weeks with the club.
You could call him the silliest player in the game if it wasn’t for ...
6 DAVID TAYLOR
It sounds like a story of romantic symmetry – Rockhampton-born forward Dave Taylor (right) back playing for the CQ Capras. But the truth is it’s perhaps the final chapter in a torrid tale of wasted talent.
Taylor is only there because he blew a $1 million, three-year deal with the Toronto Wolfpack without playing a game because of two indiscretions at his first pre-season training camp in Portugal.
At 29, there still may be some NRL potential left but would any club take a chance?
7 GREAT DANE
HERE’S a long-term challenge to the scouts of Queensland’s three clubs ... bring Dane Gagai home.
As Gagai prepares to start his career at South Sydney, it remains a regret the former Bronco could not have been lured back to Queensland.
Skill, courage, personality and a deceptively good media talent, he’s a beauty and would be a long-term pin-up boy for any Queensland club.
8 EXPANSION
It’s only March but already we can’t take much more of league’s most stagnant issue – expansion. It gets chewed over weekly but has been stuck in the mud and going nowhere for years. Andrew ‘‘Joey’’ Johns yesterday suggested Queensland could support two extra teams but this issue is much like the weather – the topic you talk about when there is nothing to talk about.
9 NOT JOSHING
Josh Dugan was in trouble again for abusing people at a pub during the off-season.
It wasn’t a major incident but does anyone ever stand up to this bloke any more or has the league community just collectively run out of puff?
10 GRAND GLORY
There’s a feeling that Queenslanders are desperate to host the NRL grand final but I’m yet to speak to one fan who is obsessed by it.
I’m not sure that watching say Melbourne Storm play Manly in a Suncorp Stadium decider is at the top of every Queenslander’s wish list.
The Cowboys’ epic extra-time grand final win over the Broncos lost nothing for being at ANZ Stadium, where the atmosphere was superb.
Originally published as Crash Tackle: Matt Lodge must speak up before he plays for the Brisbane Broncos
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