Weekend Read: Wests Tigers and Bulldogs need fast start to take heat off their coaches
The Wests Tigers and Bulldogs need a win more than most to start the season otherwise the heat will intensify on their coaches.
NRL
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As their season spiralled out of control at the end of last year, one result in particular is hard to erase from the mind of suffering Wests Tigers supporters.
The Tigers were already in the doldrums when they played the Melbourne Storm on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast. Their season was on life support but last rites were delivered over the ensuing 80 minutes.
At halftime, the Tigers were already down by 40 points and while they managed to stem the bleeding in the second half, they still conceded a half-century for the second time in three games against the Storm.
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That game was in the midst of a woeful run to the end the year that almost cost Michael Maguire his job.
The Tigers lost eight of their last 11 and some would have you believe that if the Tigers had been able to interview Penrith assistant Cameron Ciraldo and convince him to commit to the club, Maguire would have been sacked when the season came to an unceremonious end.
Instead, Penrith lost on the opening week of the finals, Ciraldo was busy preparing to save the Panthers’ season and the Tigers couldn’t convince him to come to the table.
Maguire kept his job and his bid to stay there begins against the Storm on Saturday night at CommBank Stadium. It seems fitting that they open the season with Melbourne. What better way to keep the wolves at bay than to beat mighty Storm and avenge last year’s embarrassment.
It’s a feeling Maguire is yet to savour as Tigers coach. He won’t get a better chance than this weekend. The Storm are shorn of Cameron Munster, Harry Grant and Jesse Bromwich. Nelson Asofa-Solomona is short of a gallop after returning late to training.
Maguire and the Tigers have enjoyed a relatively serene lead-up to their season opener given what is at stake. Canterbury coach Trent Barrett has been the man under the gun thanks to his side’s terrible performance last season and insipid preseason.
That’s about to change. All eyes will be on the Tigers on Saturday night and the result will have ramifications for the days and weeks ahead. If the Tigers win, the focus will be elsewhere. If they lose, the attention will intensify.
The Tigers have had a solid pre-season. They’ve lost some players to injury but shown some promise. Jackson Hastings has looked like a smart pickup. Luke Brooks has run the football.
Maguire caused some ructions with his decision to name five captains but it was only a momentary distraction.
The club has overhauled its football department under Tim Sheens and given Maguire the room to breathe. Eight weeks is traditionally the time frame given to coaches to secure their future but it feels like a losing start may fast-track that, particularly with Ciraldo still up for grabs and likely to attract admiring glances from elsewhere.
His resume only gets more impressive by the day - on Friday night, the Penrith defence he is responsible for negated Tom Trbojevic and held Manly to one try. Ciraldo can’t do much more and a head coaching job is in his future, most likely this year where the Bulldogs and Tigers seem the logical fits given he already has relationships with people at both clubs.
Coaches tend to be turned over in cycles and after a year of relative stability, the season will start with at least two on the brink. Maguire will have his hands full with the Storm while Barrett will be bound for Townsville where the heat will be well and truly on.
It’s been steamy in north Queensland but nothing like the blowtorch that has been applied to the Bulldogs coach. Barrett needs to start well, which in all likelihood means winning his opening two games, because after that it gets tough. Real tough.
The equation is pretty simple. The Tigers and Bulldogs need to win. Winning, after all, solves everything.
COVID RULES NEED CLARITY
The email that sent the Brisbane Broncos into a flap this week arrived back in January. Two days after New Year, doctor David Heslop — Project Apollo boss — sent the missive to all club doctors and chief executives.
In it, Heslop outlined how clubs should handle players who succumb to Covid. Heslop spelt out that his email wasn’t a rule or regulation. Nor was it a protocol or directive that was to be blindly applied to every patient without consideration.
Clubs and their medical officers would have the ultimate say over a player’s availability, but the NRL was giving them some guidance. A little nudge in the right direction. A helping hand if they found themselves in a Covid bind.
Attached to Heslop’s email was a study published by a renowned expert outlining guidance on return to play. It was summarised by Heslop and added to the confusion because it suggested that Reynolds — or any other player for that matter who was vaccinated and either asymptomatic or suffering only mild symptoms — should return to sport without restriction at day 11.
That seemed to put a line through Reynolds for the grudge match with his former club on Friday night. Only the NRL suggested he could play as long as he returned a negative covid test after seven days.
It caused some head scratching in Brisbane before they ultimately decided to err on the side of caution with their marquee off-season signing. They have signed Reynolds for three years, not for one game. Rushing him back made no sense.
As the week went on, Cronulla coach Craig Fitzgibbon was ruled out of this maiden game as an NRL head coach and Jesse Bromwich had been scratched for the Storm, even though he had returned a battery of negative RAT and PCR tests.
Bromwich’s problem was that he had family members who were positive and that meant a line was put through him for the weekend. Bromwich seemingly has no Covid but he will miss as much footy as Reynolds, who has Covid.
So much grey in a world where black and white are the colours of preference. Clubs and players operate better when they have clarity — and the Covid rules as they currently stand are too indecisive.
The NRL needs to mandate at least 11 days. Make it black and white because the problem isn’t going away.
O’SULLIVAN PROVES HIS WORTH
It’s amazing what a bit of love can do. Sean O’Sullivan arrived at Penrith over the off-season just looking for a chance.
He had been given one at the Warriors, handled himself okay, and then been dropped after leading the side to a win over St George Illawarra in round six.
He ended up playing 12 games but never really felt like he had the faith of the coach or the club. He has found that feeling again at Penrith, the club where he played junior football alongside the likes of Brian To’o and Mitch Kenny.
O’Sullivan was outstanding in the Panthers’ win over Manly. It says so much that the Panthers didn’t miss Nathan Cleary, arguably the best player in the game.
With Covid circling, depth will be more important than ever this season. O’Sullivan wasn’t one of the highest-profile recruits over the off-season, but he may finish up being one of the most important as the Panthers attempt to defend their title.
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