Better than the Lego.
Support Coops Rooster Sunday. He was nothing short of a disaster. I've really seen anything like a semi walker, a C. L. Brandon Smith shortly after a cl Victor Radley scapular similar the one you did shoulder.
So he's going to delay surgery.
But I'm sure if he'd be back Nat Butcher Hia, he'll be okay.
But I went from being genuine contenders to now sort of a question mark with some of those. But in terms of their performance on the weekend, like I think even before Sam work at Walker went off injured, some of their play, particularly their attack was very sideways. It was past past past week going to score. Yeah, they was looking for shortcuts to start with. But I think sometimes you've got to find where the glass full approaches to that because Kiri, in my mind, he did in
twenty eighteen. He's done it for a couple of times where he's been the seventh, He's got it in his kit bag, So you're going to be a test on the scene. He players big time.
Cooper, it's funny, and you said that, let's go back to their attack a little bit.
It was funny. I see the Rooster's occasion.
They get out in the game and their attack gets very floury. As you said sidelined to sideline, that they've got an idea in their head how they want to play, but it's not really suiting the game, if that makes sense. There was a little bit like an example, particularly in the second half Torell Mate toyroll Mate. He was standing in the middle of the field. Now to in my opinion, is a bloke a little bit like Spencer. He just
wind him up and let him go. But he found himself in the middle of the field trying to playmate and just pushing the ball sideways.
And Lindsay Collins out of position.
They're just a zero thrust of going forward before going sideways. And this is a real critical thing. And one of the things that I picked up during the game is I get this whole notion of ad lib free play, play with your eyes, as people say, but sometimes when the opposition gives you an advantage, structure needs to take over.
So what I mean by that is Jordan Rapen went off with a broken nose, means that Weeks went to the fullback and they moved a middle forward edge back rather to three in defensive on the red in Simmessani right, So you've got to get one on one space for
Tedesco to do his thing. So move to the right side of the field, create a normal play where Tedesco can be the threat, and then when Whitehead goes off for twenty minutes, you've got an opportunity that a middle forward is going to be standing next to a middle forward, and that is the opportunity to go. Okay, the whole eyes up approach. It's great, it's cool when it works. But you know what, let's move two plays to the right hand post and let's get speed and indecision around
these two guys. So I thought they were frantic to start with and never really reset that approach to Okay, oppositions given us something here. We need to go away from this frantic free play and go you know what, We're going to be a little bit structured here for the next ten minutes because the team and the oppositions given us an advantage.
It's funny, Coops, Yeah, that makes perfect sense. Forget about all this other stuff. That's our target. That's where we go set up player there. It's funny with the roosters their natural game seems to be the sideways game, and it takes them a lot of discipline to sort of get back and start to drill the middle.
Can I make a suggestion that what I do, what I.
Will to do, you will? But what would you do? Maddie?
Thank you? And I'm waiting for you to push back on this, which I know you will.
What's this going to be if you've got a situation here where look, you're losing Brandon for parts through the middle, You've got Sammy Walker who it was he was taking over the team, so you need to play a little bit different. I think if they try to play too structured and a little bit too sideways, nothing's going to happen. I would actually I'd put Joey Marno at six. I'd put Kiriy at seven. I'd either put sand in Smith
or doctor clay in at nine. I would keep kind of Watson at fourteen and bring him onto the field. I think the best avenue for them to beat the top teams is Manu and Tedesco just one two punch through the middle.
Yeah.
Look, I'm not sure what they'll do, but from my position, I think Luke Keery's got it. Luke Keirry has got that. We've spoken about. You know, some of the great halfbacks have spirit, They've got presents.
Yep.
Luke Keary's got that at the Roosters.
So give him the responsibility of running the side and letting the other guys fall into place as opposed to trying to be a bit at ying and yang and work through it. At the end of the day, you're missing some top line players. Get talent in the team and work out everything else around it. But the key players to the Roosters will always still be the same. It's the leadership of Tedesco, Kiri har Graves when he comes back. But they can't sidestep any challenges ahead. They've
already got a poor record against Melbourne and Penrith. What was probably going to be at home final against maybe Penrith is now potentially going to be an away final against Bennerth. So going to stare it in the face and take it on right.
What we're going to do in the week's lead up to the Grand Final, We're going to pull the sheets back on some keys.
My podcast. We're doing it.
I know what you do when you pull the sheets back, you listen, listen.
So we're going to talk about the dogs.
We're going to talk about where they are, but what they have done to get them in this position. You know why they've improved out of right now the lost versus manly. Top teams suffer surprise losses going in the final.
It's not a big one.
I mean a couple of weeks ago, the dragon's knocked over the storm.
It just happens.
But the style of football coops, tell me, what do you think? What what has got them? What has been responsible this dramatic improvement?
Real number one defensive way have gone from being the worst to the best. That is a huge jump in points allowed to the opposition, which gives you an opportunity to win every football game you're in. In terms of their attack, I like the fact that they've not got how can I say this skill or high end talent into trying to fix it. They've just gone with character and reliable players. They've got footwork, they've got smaller bodies, but then they go to the fringes and their fringes
are probably bigger bodies. You mean, they've got Crichton and Jerry got kick out there as well. So what they do is got a lot of footwork, dynamic through the middle, and then they've got the big bodies as a threat on the outside and they've put a good balance together. They're not straight up and down the middle third of the field with smaller bodies. They move the ball sideways a little bit. They do the old you know, we
talk about gaining momentum before we shift. They probably do a little bit of shift to gain momentum if that makes it well.
It's funny that I said last week side that they remind me most about and a little bit so the way that chain passed through the middle and high IQ middleman is the Tigers in two thousand and five, just that, you know, just just a little bit of a different way of playing for the forwards. And you know there was little things. You know, they were very good young blace that were scanned do a little bit of short ballplaying.
Of course Toddy Payton was a main state. But you know, you think about the Tigers and you always think about how they played sidelines to sideline, but it was very much this that high IQ short passing chain passing that brought him a lot of results and.
What they did with their middle forwards, not the biggest middle forwards a.
Bit like the Dogs. So they're not going to ram down the front door.
But what they did their big bodies got into contact, got down, play the ball quick. Any ballplayer can play for quick play the ball. That is gold standard, and I think the Dogs have been doing that.
So you see they're like, I'll tell you what, Jiz, he's going to be a lot. He's a lost k Kurkman, a real loss. Kurt was at Newcastle. He was always betwixt and between what he wanted to do. He sort of had scattered folks.
We were talking about footy IQ that play the Kurtman knows his target defender and he got there perfect the same as then using kickout up as the threat condense defenders and the space out of the back. Think that was Sam and the ball played then. So their ballplayers are pretty switched on in terms of which defenders they need to get to. A big body, straight through, hard to handle on the fringes coops.
Right up, he just said something there, Right, Let's talk about their defense for one second, and you're right. You know, going forward in the game, the middle of the field is so fast now and it's so hard for a defensive side once the role starts to get any ascendency. If you've got really big forwards in the middle of the field, or one too many big forwards, oftentimes they're the third man that's got to get back.
Ye.
I mean that takes a big toll.
I was told at Souse when Wayne coached Souse and they had the real big body, Tom Burgess in the pack. Whenever Tom was involved in a three man tackle, regardless of where he was, they said, don't send Tom back.
Because his athleticism doesn't get him back to the line to fill the line, make it thicker.
And you can't get up. Whereas the dogs complete opposite.
Right, yep, get backwards and forwards really quick.
You got morn Reid, Kurtman, Samonger's names off the top of my head that have the ability and athleticism to get back to that third line come up and feel so no one's ever not in the line one of the things. And I really love what the dogs have done their desperation defensively, statistics show up, but the alarming thing for me is they missed the most amount of tackles in the comp right. What most mistackles lead to is quick play the balls. What most mistackles lead to
is line breaks. And there was a couple of tries on the weekend, Turbo's first try where a lot of mistackles led to quick ruck which meant to fatigue and retreating defense, which made a good team capitalize.
On the mistackle.
And you're right, Coop, so what it was, even though they've missed a lot of tackles through the season, they're not and I think we spoke about this.
They're not bad, Missus.
They're they're there, but still miss get up. Whereas on the weekend sometimes I caught on their heels and they're driving through. Like, I'm not alarmed by what happened the other night, because you know, there's strength of weaknesses in both sides, and all sides have got strength of weaknesses. And what we saw the other night is the big pack versus the smaller pack. And probably what happened was the Dogs did not dictate the terms of the fight and make it their style. Now you know, they got
beat up, the big pack beat the smaller guys. But if they went out and played tomorrow, you don't know, the Dogs might play a style of football that brings them into the fight and they might knock them over, so the loss doesn't really worry.
I'm with you on that one. I'm not saying that they're zero chance now. Off the back of that, I still believe that they've got the game style to win Week one of the finals potentially do some damage. Off the back of that one thing, I was sort of disappointed in a little bit of the Bulldogs and it's one of the things that I'll have to handle on a Week one of the finals is big, home, crowded, a core. There was a lot of reasons to play well.
They'd been up for a long period of time playing against Manly.
A lot of talk.
We've spoken about this before, the experience of big games in their team. If you just dial it back a little bit or redline too much, you're probably going to miss your sweet spot. So that might be a lesson for Cameron Sireldo to talk about.
Let's have listened to a couple of things now, myself and Cooper John's interviewed Cameron.
Coober Yeah for second favorite son.
We interviewed Cameron Serrauld at the start of last week, and the question I asked him is the style of football you're playing? Did you have are you playing that style of football because of the guys you found you recruited, or did you have in mind how you wanted to play and then got those guys just listen to what he had to say.
I think we truly found our style until probably six weeks ago. I think there was a lot of try and trial and error for the first probably nineteen rounds.
Some things worked, some didn't.
Then we were able to have the last buy sort of sit down and have a look at what was working and what wasn't. And but we still feel like there's another couple of levels in us that we'd like to find over the next few weeks. But obviously with the way we wanted to place, especially around defense, we need a guys who are fitting mobile, and our recruitment
strategy was more around character than anything. It was all about getting good people who want to work hard, but are also good connectors of people.
Right up right up now. The other night, let's show one more clipman seat. The other night, the big loss. Let's not forget the fact that they didn't have Kurt Man, that he won't return, so he's gone. But Stephen Crichton, who is so important to decide what a loss that is, because, as we know, when you're sitting in the dressing room and you look over and you've got Stephen Crichton, we're a player like him pulling these boots on, you go okay,
We're going to be okay. Particularly the importance that he is to that team.
Don't care how old Stephen Kricht is. This is a guy that's one three in a row. And if I'm an inexperienced dogs player, I'm looking at him saying, okay, how do I deal with this next period of time? That's a bit, That's right, That's exactly what I'd be asking him.
So his present.
And it didn't deflate the balloon, but it definitely came back a little bit and everyone got a little bit I don't know, anxious or whatever.
Well slightly yeah, Well, let's have a listening to Cameron s Frald. I had to say about Stephen Crichton.
The moment he walked in the doors of Belmore, there was a different Stephen Crichton, the one I'd left at Penrith. His first week, Stephen was into an army camp and the way he walked into that army camp and just took hold of the team. We're all sitting there going, hold, oly shit, this is incredible. But then for the six weeks after that back of training, he just led. People followed him so and the guys around that, like Reading Bird especially, have been so supportive of him. He's just
a winner, like he understands what winning looks like. He turns up wanting to win every day and his preparation feeds into that. And the scary thing he's only twenty three and he's never going to stop having that hunger to win.
Now, Coops, let's.
Go from a well a leader who's really at the start of his career, only twenty three years of age too. Blake who had the fairy tale finished, not the Grand Final fairy tale finished, but he last possession in rugby league double cut out pass for the try Seawan. I never had the opportunity to play against Sean. What was he like to play against? Was he a big chirper on the field? No, very quiet.
Didn't really notice him on the field until he did something, and sometimes that was a lot of the time that he played. I really love Sean came in as a genuine touch footy player. His ability to bounce left right, evade defenders, skip and jump and avoid contact with ball was better than most at his age. But then remember what he did last year. He became this game managing leader, sort of spiritual director of the game plan really.
Which he hadn't done for years before.
So I like that he evolved, and it's very poetic that in his last game his first try assist was one oh one Sean Johnson where he goes to the target defender on a short side four and four, skips, jumps of ages, throws the dummy, goes straight through and sets up and then his very last touch is all on him. He knows exactly what he wants to and he gets his look and he just throws his double cut out pass that ends up winning the game.
For honestly, yeah, a tear like a tear, they've really lost. It was evidence the other night was Luke Metcalf was a huge loss to that team right through the middle of the season because he balanced the football team. He balanced the creative players, you know, where as he had Wade Egan last year and started this year and Sean sort of pushing the team around the park and everything.
Metcalf was just a pure runner.
He wasn't going to push the ball sideways, he wasn't going to step on their toes. And the loss, the loss of Metcalf brought brought to Samari Martin under the top. He was fantastic, but the combination just didn't work.
And we spoke about they actually changed their system to accommodate Tomatow. Martins then seven, and Sean came back one week and played five eight and like it was well done. The sh on like tip my cap to him in that way that he finished. But if I'm a Warriors fan, I'm sitting there going, yeah, where's that being? Where's that
play being? Because off the back of up the wires and everything, they had a lot of reasons to be in the top four, and to be honest, probably should be playing finals in a couple of weeks time.
I totally agree with that.
Right, Sewan Johnson, give us your top five entertainers entertainers of.
The NRAL era, NRL era.
Well, I'm going to go I'm going to throw it Alf because he's just the greatest of all time in terms of entertainment.
But he came in a little bit after that.
Before that, Thurston, the guy that played a lot of footy with Slater, was obviously one of the greats. But I will tell you this one out of the bag. Chris Sandow right as a halfback. Chris Sandow was pure entertainment. He could win or lose you the game with one play, like the times you try to go after the biggest guy on the field and shoulder charge, get bumped off and lose, but then you chip and chase from forty meters out of his own line, regather kick the ball
down the other end of the field. So entertainment plus for him.
I've gone g I you played a lot of food.
The only player that I've ever thrown the ball to, and just started moving down the middle of the field because I knew eventually he beat three players.
Fen went off, jump over the other one and get.
Down some of that stuff he did, like he won a Clive Churchill Medal at five eight alongside you. But they went to South South played center early on the mayment. He went back to fallback was house. Everything changed, credible player. I've gone Matt Bowen, Maddie Bowen, like was when the Cowboys first come into the comp Kube in a few weeks.
They like they were a struggling team, you know, they're always probably in the bottom few, and all of a sudden, Maddie Bowen arrives right and you would oftentimes tho were the late game on a Saturday night, and you'd sit up and watch this game purely for Maddi Bowen.
He had.
If there was any young kid looking at how to throw a done me and break the line, it's watch Matt Bown highlights. He throws a dummy. And most players will slow down when they throw that dummy. He actually doesn't change place. He throws it elaborately and still accelerates through the whole.
That's why you're so dynamic.
What a great shame he wasn't in that side that won the Grand Final and we were the Cowboys, absolutely deserved to be. Benji Marshall, of course, Benji Marshall one of the great entertainers. You're let's have with this some of this stuff with Benji. I mean that you know that paramount of that night's just on the loop, pass around the back. It was just the thing that sort of reminded me that this is just ridiculous.
Bush Gar.
You couldn't do that.
If you try that one hundred times, you'd probably get that ride once.
And in a big that.
Was a finals match, wasn't it was? That was a huge game. I just remember it being a big game and he did not hesitate. And the one thing that you've got to give a rap to Benji Marshall and particularly Sean Johnson, but Benji Marshall started. I imagine Sewan idolized Benji and there is thousands of kids in Australia and New Zealand that are playing rugby league because of Benji Marshall and Shawn Johnson.
We won't show the vision of Billy because we've seen so much of Billy over the years. He's number two and Shawn Johnson and I love the try he's called. At Wembley in the World Cup semi England lot they've got this game.
This is on the buzzer foot bang.
So we're in the this is semi final twenty thirteen at Wembley. We're playing Fiji in the next semifinal after it. That was sold out Wembley, sixty thousand people there. England lost off the back of Sean Johnson doing that on the stroke of the full time siren.
Everyone left.
We played Fiji in front of like fifteen thousand people. That is a moment of international rugby league.
There just when you I read a book about Wembley Stadium once about the greatest mans at Wembley Stadium. Really amazing, like the sixty said well sixty six well Cup final Jeff hurstco was the goal England win the World Cup, the pinnacle. But there's there's so many great rugby league moments that happened to the year at Wembley and the great Champion Challenge Cup finals.
There's a vision. I'm going to urge people to dig this up.
Get on YouTube, have a thing, type in Don Fox, Don Fox, and I just reminded there when you saw sure One have to hit that kick to win the game, Don Fox, I think it might have been Featherston versus Leeds. I'm getting this completely wrong. Well anyway, what happened was they're down by four points, right and they do a short kickoff in the rain, Sure kickoff pulls are that kick kick kick again and score under the posts. So
those days three point try. So they're down by one point, but it's right in front wet weather day, puddles everywhere, leather ball, Don Fox puts the ball down. As he puts the ball down, they announce over the loud speaker that the Lance Todd Trophy winners Man of the Match is Don Fox. And he moves in and misses in front.
Lee Leeds versus Wakefield. They could be living ten.
I defined Don Fox's life after it, he throws himself on the ground and the great airy wearing goes, Oh the poor lad, the poor And it's one of the most awful moments to watch in sports history.
And I think about Sean Johnson just thinking about that, Like you said, some clutch moments on top of that, like you've done it for the Warriors, He's done it for He's now at different stages. When a golden boot, yeah, hell of a player, Hell of a player.
Dolphins, Uh did you see that coming? Did not?
Not not to that level.
We're going to show to Sean Thursday night and tip the Dolphins and they got tipped.
It was it was it was Wayne. It was Wayne.
That's where when when Wayne absolutely has to win a game, he generally wins it. Hopefully it doesn't happen this week.
The one thing I love about the Dolphins and Wayne and the win on the weekend is that we interviewed the Dolphins players after the game and he made those changes. He moved cart out of half, moving to the bench, and moved a few other players around the field, and he trained in Brisbane the whole week without that system.
He knew the media we're looking.
He knew that, Okay, we're just going to play this, play here, play that there, but really on game day you'll be playing here, You'll be playing here, and this is how we're going to do it. And he gets there on the game and that is hard to do moving x's and o's around that much. But take Jake Avarulo from the centers to five eight and don't train there that way. But this is how we're going to
play because the cameras are watching. And to go out and execute that way like that is Wayne Bennett master class.
And the second we're going to show a try that hammer sets up for Avrilla. But on Avarrilla, I reckon there's a reasons he didn't make a public or announce it to the team. He did wanted to leak out, of course, and all that sort of stuff. But I think for Jake Averillo. I think it was basically because if he had to tell him on the Tuesday to be playing a sixth, can you imagine the.
Head noise of Avarillo leading in the game.
He'd end up burning that much gas thinking make okay, I've got to play like a five eight. I do this when you spring it on him for the last second, I just get out there and play.
He made a couple of changes, right.
He pulled Trey Fuller into fullback, moved Avarilla around, and moves Hammer from fullback to center. Who are the three best players on the field.
Incredible? Yeah, incredible, honestly Yeah.
In a battle of Brisbane to keep your season alive, Layne Bennett made a change because they knew knew he had to. And you've got the response out of three players because if they don't do that, we're talking the other way around.
Coops, you know.
And the great thing about the Hammer the other night was his ability to roam. He plays center, but he played like a times a second fullback.
You have a look where he comes from. Here there's he and Fullard together.
Set move Yep, he makes the run.
Bak just appears blind pass.
Beautiful blind pass from O'Sullivan, Avarillo goes in.
Normally, when they bring this play from the other side of the field, it's called like a sort of a jockey or a hang type play. They're trying to get a defender to rush out on top and then get him through that gap that the rushing defender would come from. This time, Rogers from the Brisbane Broncos doesn't rush out. So what happens because he's passive, Hamma just hits the accelerator, gets a one on one and off floats to have realized.
So the play didn't actually unfold the way they thought it would, but eventually got the result.
Yeah, it's interesting. We have one more look at it here right from where he comes from. You I reckon, Coops the first couple of steps.
I reckon.
They thought that Hammil was going to almost come on on the inside a little bit, almost like a like an inside block.
Should I sALS doing a good job here.
It's not until the lasts, really the last second, that he appears he's going to be on the outside. For all intents and purposes, he could be like a little inside balls.
So the ballplan here at Sullivan gets Peter coup of the Broncos edge to lean in slightly and that creates a space there for having to do his thing. So yeah, good play the play.
Where the Dolphins right our second year. I know at the moment your public going, oh, can they get there or not? Regardless, it's been an incredible start to their career. To be one way, one win away from the finals and only your second year, when you're recruiting in age where there's the talent is thin, he's done a remarkable
Let's have a second years of expansion. Sides an NRL era Cowboys second year seventeenth, Warriors second year eleventh, the Crushes rest in peace like last, the Perth Reds sixteenth and Storm.
This is amazing.
They win the comp, but to be on the cusper make the finals, that's that's a mighty effort.
And another sort of reason why I think Wayne Bennett made the calls he did is this season, basically in the two years in the comp, has reflected one another great start the year entrenched in the top eight, off the back of origin lose more than win, and he just didn't want to do it again. So he said, all right, we're going to move these jigsaw pieces around and the other thing it does doesn't only put these
three players in different positions. It gives all the other players and the team going, you know what, actually we need to change here.
E gives me.
If I'm player of fifteen on the bench, I'm going, oh, I need to pick my act up here and do my bit.
It was almost like he looked at the side and went, I've got to mix the salar up here.
Everyone's just sort of too comfortable.
And then what do you think about this week? It's funny how it works out right. So the last game of the last regular season on Sunday afternoon finishes for eight spot win. It takes it all Dolphins versus the Knights, with the Dolphins being the Broncos and the Dragons falling over like they have like that's that's that's a poor lost there for the Dragons.
But the Dolphins got.
All his cues form forming already up at Newcastle. Get into the ground. O great, what your heart's going to say, but give me your head. Wayne concerns me. I've watched the Dolphins in the last month or so. They haven't looked up and I'm looking at Wayne, I'm thinking myself. This old bastard is he is he just holding on holding and he's elevating them late, you know for that final,
you know, elevate pitch. A couple of wins get in there and and I'll keep them up because if he had them up about a month ago, then there's a fair chance that they go into the finals and they're not going to make an impact. It's almost like he's only whip pulled the whip out last week and really elevated them and along the way knock out the Broncos and then two of his old clubs who didn't finish on great.
He's got the Knights too, Dragons. I think I think Wayne is the key for the Dolphins.
And like I hate saying this because we say it every time they the Knights, but Kaylas true. If Kaylen is on and is like ready to say Newcastle on his back, then I think the Knights can get it done.
But let's finish with the Panthers just quickly. And look, last week we spoke about them how they've started. They started slow, and they've just been the ground. They started much faster, There's no doubt about it. Yo and Leui really got them going just thinking before. Just watch one of the tries they scored here, and you know the inside balls, inside balls. But there's a thing called the play for the play that we're always taught by old A b.
Allen Bell. And what it is.
If you if you want to do a play for the play, if you want to play to the keep going, you hit short because the pulls are defender from the outside. If you if you want to play back across the grain, then if you drop an inside ball, it will pinch a defender or two from the other side of the ruck.
And you see that and all of.
A sudden, what happens is into the tackle there it does and they're just a little bit short, and what happens.
What happens is they.
Sort of slide a little bit just to protect the three on two on the outside.
Is that's an example of a nice little play for the play.
The smarts of Isaiah coming to play here, because the first two defenders off.
The ruck aren't line speed.
They're going sideways on Isaiah and the outside defense actually can press outside in. So what it does is because he knows he's a passer and the defense does they're trying to pressure Luai out the back. So what he does is he takes the advantage, throws the dummy, and watch the eyes of the South City defenders here completely gone.
Yeah it's a bit like what Tyren Wishart did the other week.
Yeah, that's right.
So when you're throwing a dummy, use the outside guys as your decoys. Debate, and when you feel like there's a bit of space in between you and that defender, that's normally because their eyes are looking somewhere else.
That's clever from Isaiah because when you watch him there, he he's looked up like a really good really good ballplayers can look at the structure of attends look at it there and go okay, I know what they're going to do here, because you see him go up and it's he looks out the back for Jerim and then throws a dummy. I think he knew exactly what he was going to do before the ball hit his hands, because.
If he was passing out the back, I'm pretty sure his eyes are engaging on the tonguey more trying to get his eye contact, but his eyes go out pretty quickly to lure.
It's going to be an amazing final round the season as it's been, it's been a fence. It's been as good a season as I've ever seen in the game, and it's going to be a great finish.
You've been great too.
You don't need to say that.
I know