Festival of the Reboot. Impressions? New Zealand grabbed the heart. Canberra grabbed the head. If one was to gamble responsibly, one might like to plonk a few quid on the Raiders.
Parramatta grabbed the imagination. At the risk of making Russell Crowe go all Romper Stomper on us … the hatred between Sydney and South Sydney players is a crock.
See the way the Roosters and Rabbitohs embraced under the Friday night lights?
That is not a rivalry steeped in hatred. That is no blood feud. It’s the sort of jocular rivalry you have with a mate who lives just up the road. You want to beat the dopey bugger but really, you’re quite fond of him. It’s the rivalry you have with a brother.
There’s been some pre-match banter from Souths about the Roosters being Neville No Mates and the Most Hated Team In The Comp and so forth, but it’s all been a bit jokey. Hatred? Ha.
Roosters 28, Rabbitohs 12, and then they’ve hugged and embraced and slapped each other’s shoulders. I thought Dane Gagai was going to give James Tedesco a kiss.
They’ve laughed and smiled and chatted like neighbours over the back fence. When these players bump into each other in pubs or cafes around town, they get together, thick as thieves, partners in crime.
That’s not hatred. Hatred doesn’t know a fulltime whistle. Hatred means you cannot look at the other bloke without wanting to give him a knuckle sandwich. Hatred is Kelly Slater walking into Andy Irons’ house in Hawaii and being told: “There’s no one here you’re looking for.”
I believe Crowe, the Souths owner, hates the Roosters like Hando, his Romper Stomper character, hated the world. I believe Souths fans hate Roosters fans, and vice versa. But among the players, all those Origin and Test teammates and roommates — Damien Cook and James Tedesco, for example — most of whom live within a par-five of each other in the eastern suburbs, I’m not buying it.
Parramatta 34, Brisbane 6. The Eels were great. Mitch Moses gets raps but his halves partner Dylan Brown has enough electricity in his fingers and his feet to light this premiership up. There’s the real superstar.
Canberra 22, Melbourne 6. The Raiders were great, too. The Nine Network is off its rocker by slashing their free-to-air broadcasts. Storm coach Craig Bellamy said it was a blip on the radar but as he added, it is a bloody big blip.
The NRL has cleaned up the ruck in every area except Cameron Smith’s beard. You never write off a champion club or player, et cetera, but the glory days of the purple metre-eaters may be over.
New Zealand 18, St George Illawarra 0. Oh, the Warriors. Previously viewed as barely worthy of their NRL licence, they have become the Mother Superiors of the premiership. They have been fortunate to face the embodiment of inferior, the Dragons, who have less points in them than a circle.
It will be a fairytale, of course, if the Warriors make a run for the finals. But fairytales often get bundled into touch in sport. The downside for the Warriors is that they won’t get to play the Dragons every week.
But who hasn’t watched that win and saluted them? Even the palm trees at the back of Central Coast Stadium have appeared to be applauding.
“I was pretty pleased for the boys,” Warriors coach Stephen Kearney said. “Really proud of the way they’ve gone about the last couple of months. Endured a great deal. It didn’t stop today. Peta (Hiku) come off after half an hour, we had to put Karl (Lawton) out in the centres. The way they’ve responded the last couple of months, just got on with the job, that’s what I’m most pleased about.
“They worked really hard prior to the game today. Worked really hard during the game and got some reward for it. That’s what I was most pleased for.”
The Dragons did one thing right, and only one. They applauded the Warriors at fulltime for the sacrifices that ensured the Festival of the Reboot became a reality. The Warriors next face Penrith in the poor man’s version of Friday Night Footy, the 6pm game, at Campbelltown Stadium.
Kearney and his Warriors arrived in Tamworth on May 2 to save the NRL. Not even the messiah himself, the king of kings, the lamb of god, the prince of peace, the great redeemer, our lord Peter V’Landys, could have rescued the NRL without them.
The sentiment towards them has been universal. Go you good things.
The Roosters aren’t such a bad bunch. It’s easy to hate them when they win everything. When they’re in trouble, they send Tedesco up field like he’s come from a slingshot and that’s all she wrote.
Roosters coach Trent Robinson has loaned the Warriors a player, the capable prop Poasa Faamausli, in the most loving gesture in league since Todd Greenberg gave Barb Smith a diamond ring.
“Trent, and the way there was no drama — they hadn’t won a game either before now — but they still let a guy of Poasa’s quality come to us. It says a lot about him (Robinson) as an individual and them as a footy club,” said Kearney. “The goodwill has been out there from the rugby league community and it’s been really, really nice.”
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