Crawley Files: The Matt Lodge red flag that Roosters coach Trent Robinson missed
CRAWLEY FILES: The common theme around the league is that the Roosters’ troubles started with recruitment and retention, with one signing proving telling in the club’s disastrous season.
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It’s not as if the three-time premiership winning coach is in any danger of losing his job even if the Roosters miss the eight.
It’s more a case of people scratching their heads as to what has gone so wrong for a star-studded roster pencilled in among this year’s genuine title favourites.
Yet ask around the game for anyone to put a finger on where it went so bad for the Roosters and more often than not it turns into a debate about retention and recruitment.
And you would be astounded how many come back to the arrival of the polarising Matt Lodge as the moment the Roosters stood on the wrong side when drawing their line in the sand in respect to team culture.
Fair or unfair, what can’t be disputed is Lodge’s reputation as a divisive character at some (if not all) of his five previous NRL clubs.
For that reason it was always seen as a red flag the Roosters were heading down a dangerous path.
But Robinson was on record only last July upon Lodge’s arrival saying that he felt the Roosters’ strong culture could get the best out of a player who had worked his way through systems at the Panthers, Storm, Tigers, Broncos and Warriors.
Of course, a year on Lodge has now moved to the Sea Eagles, and the Roosters most certainly aren’t in a better place.
Yet it’s not the blame of one man but more to do with a shift in standards, because across the board there has been a multitude of other decisions that have left many just as confused.
ROBBO, KEVVIE TRADE PLACES
At the start of this season the popular belief was Kevvie Walters was a dud coach – and Trent Robinson was a genius.
Talk about trading places.
Who in their right mind could have imagined just five months ago the storylines surrounding the coaches at two of the NRL’s most powerful clubs would change so dramatically.
Now Walters is legitimately in the conversation for Dally M Coach of the Year leading into Thursday night’s blockbuster between the Brisbane Broncos and Sydney Roosters at the Gabba.
Meanwhile, Robinson is having more questions asked about him than at any other point in his previous 10 years.
That includes the Roosters’ 15th-placed finish in 2016 where injuries and an eight-match suspension to Mitchell Pearce for his poodle party trick led to an embarrassing end for all.
The difference this season is there are no excuses other than the fact the Roosters have massively underperformed.
Even allowing for last round’s 36-18 demolition of the Titans, the Roosters are still walking the finals tightrope.
Sitting 12th on the ladder (on 22 competition points), a loss this week will leave them four points adrift of the top eight with just five rounds to play.
While the Broncos are sitting pretty in second spot, and on equal competition points (32) with the Panthers in the hunt for the minor premiership.
UNCERTAINTY WITHIN
Brandon Smith for one just hasn’t aimed up to expectations that greeted his $800,000-a-season price tag, while the musical chairs approach to team selections is further proof of uncertainty within.
At the top of that list is Sam Walker, with the young halfback dropped early in the season because his combination with Luke Keary wasn’t working.
Now Walker is being talked up as a potential saviour after months on the sidelines.
The Roosters also had a crack playing Joey Manu at five-eighth before moving him back to the centres.
Yet on the rare occasions Manu fills in at fullback (when James Tedesco is on rep duties or being rested), the superstar Kiwi goes out and shows where he really belongs.
Although last week against the Titans it all came together with one sizzling first half that left everyone in no doubt that it’s still not too late to save their season, providing they back that effort up here against the Broncos.
But that’s the million dollar question going into this game because the Roosters have shown next to no consistency all season.
Yet if a finals finish doesn’t eventuate it will only lead to a post-season review that will hold a blowtorch to the belly of everyone at the club, including a coach who was previously seen as untouchable.
While one bad season doesn’t erase Robinson’s incredible success over the first decade of his head coaching career, missing the eight will still be catastrophic for a club that prides itself on winning, and spares no expense in the pursuit of premierships.
‘GOOD PERSON … NOT THE BEST COACH’
Think back to Selwyn Cobbo’s comments on a podcast last October when quizzed if Walters was a good coach or not?
Talk about backhanded compliments.
“I reckon he’s a good person,” Cobbo said at the time.
“He’s a good person, like a good bloke, but I don’t think he’s a good coach. He’s not the best coach but he’s all right.”
Of course, the Broncos later released a statement saying Cobbo had apologised, while somehow claiming the comments had been taken out of context.
But it didn’t help that Tyson Gamble also had a crack on his way out the door when he pretty much said Adam Reynolds ran the show.
TIME TO GIVE KEVVIE CREDIT
For those two reasons among many more, that helped create the public perception going into this season that the six-time premiership winning playmaker was well out of his depth.
But look at the Broncos now, surely all the credit can’t just go to Reynolds for where they are today.
It’s like saying Cooper Cronk was the only reason the Roosters claimed back-to-back premierships in 2018/19.
Or Sonny Bill Williams in 2013.
Because when the Roosters were flying Robinson always shared the spoils, as most coaches do when a team is successful.
And if we were all pointing the finger at Walters when the Broncos were going like busteds, it’s about time he started receiving at least some of the accolades for getting this club back on track.
While Wayne Bennett always handled coaching the Broncos like a walk in the park, none of the others including Ivan Henjak, Anthony Griffin or Anthony Seibold could survive the pressure of coaching a club where the day-to-day scrutiny can be unbearable.
Yet here is Walters in his third season and the so-called dud coach has never looked more comfortable with his team sitting right up near the top of the ladder.
TOOVEY’S DCE PRAISE
The man rated Manly’s toughest ever pound-for-pound player has given his verdict on Daly Cherry-Evans’s 300th match milestone.
Former premiership-winning captain Geoff Toovey gave the current Sea Eagles’ No.7 the ultimate praise, labelling him “the man you want in your side when the game is on the line”.
“It is a magnificent achievement for any player to punch out 300 games in any era, and he has done it in style,” Toovey said.
“He has won a grand final (2011), has been in a losing grand final (in 2013 when Toovey coached and Cherry-Evans was awarded the Clive Churchill Medal in the loss to the Roosters).
“And he has done a fantastic job particularly in recent years representing Queensland (where Cherry-Evans has captained the Maroons to three series victories, while overtaking Allan Langer for the most consecutive games in the No.7 jumper).”
It would have been unfair to ask Toovey if he rated Cherry-Evans’ career above what he accomplished given they played in very different eras.
These days playmakers get better protection than they ever did, while advancements in sports science have seen so many more reach 300 games. Cherry-Evans will be the 49th.
Yet Toovey takes nothing away from Cherry-Evans’ longevity, and the fact that at 34 he continues to evolve into a better playmaker, and an even better leader.
Toovey survived 286 games where he pretty much played every single minute of every match without a hint of self-preservation.
Toovey was also awarded the 1996 Clive Churchill Medal for best on ground in the Sea Eagles’ premiership win, while arguably the most memorable image was of the little halfback getting his head stomped by Adam ‘Mad Dog’ MacDougall in the 1997 grand final loss to Newcastle.
Toovey laughed at the irony that MacDougall recently sold the major stake in his Man Shake business for $400 million, while Toovs still works as an accountant.
REPEAT OF 2003 DALLY M DISASTER
The Rugby League Players Association are kidding themselves over their threat to boycott this year’s Dally M Medal to try and win the war over the collective bargaining agreement.
Seriously, talk about biting off your nose to spite your face.
The only losers if they do cancel the Dally Ms will be the players, who the RLPA is supposed to be looking after.
The last time the Dally Ms were cancelled was in 2003 when Craig Gower was tipped to win the main gong.
To this day Gower will never know if he would have joined the honour roll or not.
Yet imagine if Nicho Hynes never got the chance to live the dream he did last year when he got to take his mum to the celebration.
Who would be the real loser if that was to happen this year?
Will it be Shaun Johnson, Scott Drinkwater, Adam Reynolds, Dylan Edwards?
Maybe they won’t care now. But I bet they do in 20 years if the awards are cancelled.
GIVING PLAYERS A BAD NAME
It frustrates me so much how the actions of the RLPA are only painting the players of today as greedy and ungrateful, and not realising how bloody good they have it.
Not only compared to the players of past generations who used to have to work a fulltime job while playing footy.
But also the Aussie battlers out there just trying to make ends meet paying their mortgages or rent, and put food on the table for their families amid climbing interest rates.
Yet they would have to shake their heads at the fact the footballers union still won’t sign off on a deal where NRL players get a minimum wage of about $130,000, an average wage of $400,000, along with a pay increase of 37 per cent, and nine weeks holidays each year.
And it’s still not enough?
You could understand if the RLPA was fighting for more money to help grow grassroots footy, or assist the clubs in the country regions that are struggling just to survive.
But no, this is just a power struggle at the top end of the game, where RLPA boss Clint Newton has obviously got too carried away with his own importance and seems to be really enjoying the limelight of it all.
Yet you wonder if he truly understands how much damage this is actually doing to the brand of the players the RLPA is supposed to be representing.
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