Gus Grills the Maroons: Will DCE Drop be a Masterstroke or Mistake?

try while he was off the field. He didn't deserve to be off the field, and that was later proven that the judiciary. And it just goes to show again that our system is flawed, that our referees, our bunker, our match review committee and our judiciary are way too, way too harsh in this game. And I don't think it's fair on the players, and I don't think it's fair on the game itself. But more about that another time. I think that's pretty fair comment.

Newcastle is at the moment, I don't know. I think it was raised with Adam O'Brien after the game. I'm not sure that he heard that himself, and he made a passing comment regarding the Newcastle fans which was probably inappropriate and probably should have been recanted on the night. It took another twenty four hours for him to eventually

come back and apologize for those comments. But you know, put it down to a little bit of stress, put it down to a little bit of you know, exuberance, have such a magnificent win where they came back in the second half to scoring golden point, and put it down to emotion. And I think most people can understand that, but you know, there are some things that sometimes need to be said and other things that you know you'd like to say, but you just bite your tongue and

move on. And at the end of the day, the fans turn up, they pay their money, they're entitled to boo, and if they boo, well you've got to learn something from that or prove them wrong one or the other. And in the end the Nights had a great win. The easy solution is that those that were booing at halftime were probably cheering at full time. So it's just how the fortunes of rugby league change in the space. But you know, fans are entitled to show the displeasure.

Whether they're well informed or whether they're right or wrong is really irrelevant. They're the fans and it's up to players to perform. Newcastle did that in the second half. It was an extraordinary weekend of rugby league. Really when you really think about I know we're in yes now at the moment, but the weekend started with that magnificent comeback from the Newcastle Knights and that Golden Point victory. Calm Pongers scoring in the first session of Golden Point.

You know, the next night Melbourne Storm. They showed us again why they're probably Premiership favorites with a big win over the Cowboys that just gave them no chance at all. The Dolphins and what a great football team this is. They were brilliant in their performance, absolutely putting the Dragons to the sword by fifty points. There's such a great attacking football team and they've got plenty of upside too. The Warriors outstanding performance over the Sharks, like outstanding. Sharks

were favored in that game. And I think we said last week, I think the market is wrong, you know, but the Sharks just at the moment can't quite get their act together, and the Warriors really are. They're just motoring along it moment. The Broncos, well there's two of them, isn't there, Trichy, they just see caps from the very first set of six. They just showed again what talent

that they've got. The Raiders, you know, consummate professionals. Again, they're up there were the most wins in the competition at the moment and they beat South sitting down there on a big day for Josh Papali setting his record. The Panthers and the West Tigers was a great game of footy, real struggle for both sides and high quality and really belied their positions on the ladder the quality

of football we saw in that particular game. And then a big crowd, another big crowd at their Course stadium on Sunday in wet and cold conditions to support the Bulldogs in their victory over the Eels. So an amazing weekend, some big score lines, some dominant victories, and some concerns for a number of teams that are on the end

of those big score lines. The original question was, Yeah, Adam O'Brien probably would like to he did those comments back anyway, but experience might handle that a little bit better next time.

them firsthand. They're a powerful football team with great strike power, the ability to score points, their defenses improving all the time, and you know they got I go off to a rocky start to the season, but in recent weeks they've probably been one of the form sides of the competition. And they fear no one. That was a big win over They gave the Dragons no chance the other night. They just absolutely got them from the first minute of the game and never relented on them and beat them

in all parts of the park. So I like the Dolphins as a football team, not only for the rest of this season, but certainly into the future as well.

to have signed him at the time. But he got a big offer from the Newcastle Knights to go up there. It was an offer based on potential and it was quite a gamble. And having gone through the heartache of or not the heart ache, but the hard work of getting him out here to Australia and assimilating him and get him into the NRL and giving him some experience, they've lost him to the West Tigers. I think that's a big loss for Newcastle. It's a huge game for

the West Tigers. He's a quality player and he's still only learning the game. He's still only finding himself. I don't think the Knights have really learned how to play with him. Or He's played a little bit of football on the edge on the left. He's played a little bit of football now on the edge on the right. It seems he can play both sides of the field pretty well. He looks to be a have plenty of skill in an attacking sense, and his defense is getting better, thinks.

I don't think his career has started yet. For Newcastle, who invested so much money in him and had him there for a couple of seasons, to be losing him now is now it's a bit of a quandary because given where the Newcastle Knights are at the moment, but you know we're not. We're not running their roster. They would have a plan, I guess, but it's it's a good get for the West Tigers and I can see him playing alongside Jerome Lewie there and Jerome will have

a weapon to fire at the opposition defensive lines. And I think he's a really good young player.

what he needs to do with it. And Kyle Pispaul is probably a victim of that, to be honest. He's probably suffering from that, and you know they need to get that worked out. I noticed that they've put Jackson Hastings back in the side this week, which will solve two of the problems in attack. I think there are three elements to your attack, which is your direction, your delivery and your play direction where the set of six is going to head and what points on the field

you're going to hit. The delivery of how you're going to get the ball to your strike players, and then the players that they come up with, but without the direction and the delivery, the players don't matter. The direction is the important thing, and they've changed their hearts so often over the past couple of seasons looking for a solution, and it would appear as our Jackson Hastings may have to be recalled. He will at least give them that.

Once he gives them direction, well, then the delivery of the ball to the right people at the right time should occur and from there their talents should take over. So it'll be interesting to watching with Newcastle in the coming weeks.

top grade. Earlier in the year I think they were suffering from a little bit of inexperience and some changes toing and throwing around the outside backs in who was going to play where, But they seem to have settled on some combinations. Now they're still got to get through this Origin period, which is going to be very difficult for them, and I think they've got a really tough

part of the drawer. I think after Origin two, I think they're playing in New Zealand and probably won't be able to take their rep players across there, so they've got but they're walking a tight rope. No risk in the world, but just pass the halfway mark in the competition. I think if they could win probably seven games from there on last eleven, which they're very capable of doing, then they're going to be in the finals. Hunt. I think fifty percent of your wins, fifty percent of your

games should get you in the eight. That's the way it's tracking at the moment. Yeah, And what confuses you with the latter is the number of buyers and who's had buyers and who hasn't had buyers, who's had two and some have had now three buys. I don't know why we get two points for a buy confuses everybody. But you know, Panthers aren't that far away, and they've got the ability to string some wins together and things

could look very very different in six weeks time. If they could win three or four of the next six and set themselves up for the business end of the season, which we know they handle better than anyone else. And they've had some performances this year which remind us that they're still very very when they're needed. Their last couple of wins have been tough, you know. I mean, Paramatta and West Tigers have really taken it to them, and both those sides are going a lot better than their

position on the ladder suggests too. So Penrether had to work hard and they've had to work hard at their own good brand of football to win, and I think that will give them a great deal of confidence. Talking to a couple of the senior players at the Panthers and just on the weekend, they're really pleased with the way some of the younger blokes are coming through and they're gaining more confidence in them and the young fellows are getting more confidence. So don't write the Panthers up.

Don't write anyone off in this competition. Really, don't write anyone off. It can fortunes can change within seven days. It's remarkable some of these teams have got flogged on the weekend, could easily turn around and win again this weekend or the weekend after. It's a topsy turvy competition at the moment. What I do know is that the teams at the top of the ladder have earned their positions because of their consistency, where other teams have probably

being a little more inconsistent. But at the midpoint of the season, and this is talking about people who have predictive models or people who work on data to tell you to tell you who she's going to be winning games. You know, at the start of the season, no one could have predicted what the ladder was going to look like.

At the midpoint of the season. There is no one that could have told you that after twelve or thirteen rounds, this is what the NRL Premiership Ladder would look like as it is today, which means it could be completely different in another twelve weeks. We really don't know what's in front of us, which makes it exciting. Everyone's saying their ability to win games. Everyone is, you know, there is everyone can win and everyone can lose. That's the

nature of this competition at the moment. That's why refereeing and other seasons are so crucial, and they need to get that right, and they need to be less involved. You know. I'm so determined to keep getting that message out there because it's for the betterment of the game. It's not criticism, that's not wining. It's just for the better of the game, betterment of the product, betterment of

the understanding of the fans. That's crucial because these games can be decided on just one play and on one decision, and we don't need as many penalties. We don't need as many six agains, we don't need as many sin bins, we don't need as much match review committee, and we don't need as many suspensions as what we're getting. It's out of control at the moment.

the way of Tina for sau Maula. Are we as a leader of the pack? And he said as a natural leader? And I don't doubt that for one second. He certainly is. But my question was, well, what happens when he goes off? Because he's not going to play

the eighty minutes. So you know, after Cherry Evans has been dumbed, not only you're looking for one captain, you're going to have to find two, because you have to find someone to be captain when he's not on the field, and then maybe that person's not on the field when he comes off. So it would be natural to find someone a who was going to be an eighty minute player, and Cameron Munster fits that bill And I think that it's an inspired and I think it will do him

the world of good too. Cameron Munster has been in and out of he's best formed this year and I think that this could really help him too and his focus and his contribution to this game as well. So I think it's an inspired choice. I think it'll help Cameron Munster himself, and looking through their player list, to be honest, there was really no one else. There was really no one else that they could have chosen, so they've gone the right way from my perspective.

Grant out of that Barrows. You spoke about pat Patty Carrigan, Well he's on the bench. He's been reduced back to the bench. Calen Ponger. You know, I guess the form

of Rys Walsh in his comeback game the other day applies pressure there as to who's going to be the longer term fullback for Queensland. So I guess if they're looking for a captain just for this series and maybe into the next two or three series. When I look through this list, he is the one most likely. He is the playmaker, most likely to be around for the next two or three years and give him a few years in that position, and he's the eighty minute leader

in this team leading into this game. To be honest, it was one of the reasons why I don't think they should have dropped Cherry Evans at the moment. You know, I just think they still need his experience and his leadership and it's a big call. As I said on one hundred Percent Footy, I really respect Billy Slater for making the call. You know that he's an Origin coache, he's you know, when you put in these positions, you're responsible for making big decisions. And I totally support his

right to make that decision. Whether we agree with it or not is a different thing. But you know, he's made a bold move, and good luck to him, all power to him. He's owned the team and he's owned this decision, and he's obviously given a great consideration. It's probably just not one that I would have made at this time. I just don't think it's the right time. But you know, he could well be proven correct next

Wednesday night. I guess he felt like he had to do something because just watching his reaction during and after the first Origin game, it looked a little forlorn. I think there was a feeling that if nothing changes, nothing's going to change, you know, So he had to make some changes, whether it be attitude or personnel or you know, a view to looking more towards the future. But it seemed like a strange decision to give Cherry Evans just one game and then we'll no good, You're out. It's

unlike Queensland. They don't usually do that. So it's the enormity of the decision that they're all going to have to live with, I guess. And again, now we have a rookie captain in Cameron Munster and at origin level or rookie halfback, it's going to be very very hard for them.

is no getting away from that. You know, Tom Didden and Cameron Munster can be as active as they like in the opening stages of the game, but unless they're forwards get into the physical battle and can contain this New South Wales pack. Well it's one of the reasons too.

With Cherry Evans. I made the point the other night Cherry Evans has said, such a wonderful career, He's greatly experienced, and you know if Game two and three go exactly the same way that New South Wales are just too dominant in the middle, then Cherry Evans can handle that. His resume can handle that, his experience can handle that. You know, he's you know, he's experienced and he's professional. He will handle the fact. Well, okay, maybe we weren't

good enough this year where they're now thrusting. Tom didn't into this situation without I don't think improving what the real problem was from game one. So if Tom did and as a rookie comes in behind a beaten forward pack, if they get monster the same way as they did in Game two and three, well I don't think Tom didn't can help them, and what does that do to his development? And his confidence at this level. I think

this was really Cherry Evans. You know, if the ship was going to go down, they had to take the captain down with them. I don't think that changing the halfback is going to change their fortunes unless the forwards stand up, and Queensland need their forwards to stand up. Now it could happen. I mean they've made some changes, They've put Carrigan back to the bench, and I fully suspect that Harry Grant won't start the game. I think the Kurkman will and they'll try to get on the

front foot early. And the early parts of this game could be completely differ friend Dean bar in Perth. They could get a couple of penalties, you know, there could be a couple of hia's. There could be anything happens in this opening stands and against Queensland into the contest and then it's a completely different game. But what we saw in game one was obvious. Blind Freddie could see what was happening in game one and Queensland just were

never in it. The only try they scored was against twelve men with an unfair and ridiculous sin bidding, which should never have happened in State of Origin football, and that was the only time they looked dangerous in the game was when New South Wales were vulnerable down to twelve men. Other than that, New South Wales completely controlled them. So I don't know that Tom did And can turn that around on his own no matter how well he plays. They're forwards have got to waim up and that'll be

the whole focus of their week. Surely to give Tom did and Cameron Munster a platform on which to play. It might sound a bit harsh, but you know, if Game two and Game three games the second and same aay as Game one, then I think Cherry Evans was the one that that needed to go down with the ship rather than bringing a rookie in to play that position.

four runner there. But Stefano, he's been in this group before. He understands the landscape very well. He trained with them for round one. They had a good win, they had a dominant win. If they can learn out of game one from winning, if they can take it to another level, they're going to make it extremely hard for Coin then extremely hard. I personally, I think they'll win handsomely. I think they'll be They'll be too good again. But Origin

is a funny beast. It doesn't take much at the start of the game for the game to tilt in the other direction. I can tell you. So the opening stands. They need to be strong, if not stronger than what they were. I think they can be a little more adventurous than what they were, a little less can conservative. I don't think they can just rely that Game one will be repeated In the opening stands. They've got to go out and earn it. But I'm sure they will too.

They're professional footballers. They understand it. Coaches know what they're doing. I think they're extremely hard to be. It's a good looking team to.

lot of tackles and he was terrific. The CIEO has learned that Origin is not club football, the club football that he brought to Origin in previous years. I think Queensland did a good job of handling, so he had less passing. Was a great runner at the ball. He's got a big frame and a left foot step and very very strong and he put the passing away in this game. And they played it more like an Origin structure than just bringing their club football to the Origin stage.

And I think that helped Cleary in particular as well. It was harder for Queensland to contend with and I think those two players were extremely impressive for me. I thought they were the best two players in the first half hour play in Paynhassen a sieo, and then off the back of that, I thought Cleary had his best

ever Origin. I'd mixed reports people talking about Nathan clearing what he did, but I think Nathan Cleary too has learned that it's not club football and he plays a different way and I thought he was really good in that game. He had a huge number of runs. He made people misstackles, he got some offloads, he had a hand in all the tries that they scored. I thought it was his best origin and I think he'll only get better.

through a series with the same seventeen players and win three nil. I said, it may be equaled at some stage, but it can never be better. You don't get any better than that. In those days. There was no eight eighth man either. We didn't need another one on the bench. I think by Game three a couple of the players played with injury. We had the series one and they sort of came in and played with injury because they

just wanted to be a part of history. To win three nil and with the same seventeen players, they are a special group, a really good footy team.

well and then the last game was a battle. But as I say, we played with the same seventeen players right throughout the series. They all went back and backed up for their club football as well, so it was a draining effort. But to go through and win three zero with the same seventeen players, Like I said, may be equaled one day, it hasn't. It may be equaled one day, but it'll never be bettered. It's one of the great Origin Series wins.

maybe whoever scores next will get the ascendancy. But then all of a sudden, Dolphins got a couple of tries off kicks, a couple of kickchases, and then scored again and then got out to a lead at halftime. The second half, they just never let the Dragons in it whatsoever, and Dragons capitulated. It was a bad sign for the Dragons, but we've seen them do that before. We've seen them get beaten by big scores and bounce back the next

week and win. And there'll be nothing more than the local derby to probably bring the best out on them, and the fact that they have got their backs to the wall. They need to win. They're up against the Sharks team that you know, there's not as other're going terribly to Sharks where are they on the ladder. They're only on I think or seven wins or something or other. They're not that pretty ordinary. Yeah, but then all of a sudden, you know, I don't think they've ever at

any stage this season shown us their very best form. Yeah, so that they're having their own struggles at the moment as well. I think that in this game, it's it's hard to predict. Neither side is really that battered around by by origin representation.

wins and six losses. They're they're sitting there in fifth position and haven't been anywhere near their best, not anywhere near the best at any stage of the season. We could put a lot of that down to the early season travel. I mean they went to Vegas, they went to Townsville. They played a lot of away games. Seven wins is not terrible in this competition when you compare it to the rest of them, and they're running fifth out of seventeen and I think they're pretty much assured

of finals appearances again, which is a good result. But we still haven't seen their absolute best. If they produced their best, they'll beat the Dragon and I think that's the way. We'll tip down there at the Bermuda Triangle on Thursday night to open the round.

they looked at the drawer. At the start of the season, they probably thought this was a game where they'd be missing a number of their stars, but they're all there for this game, which I think is a huge advantage for them and the Titans. Again another disappointing result last week. They're two big forwards are out. It's hard to see them turning it around against the Seagulls. He'll be desperate for a win, so I'm going to go manly in that game.

South Wales Cup last week. John Young comes in on the win. Marky Mark goes to the centers to cover for Robert Toyer and the Faro White and Nat Butcher come back as well.

straight in. Interesting that their news they put Hugo and Go go to five A, Hugo Zava to five A and sand and Smith has gone back to the bench. Now I find that surprising. Nevertheless, I'm not in the camp and I'm not the coach, and we assume that he knows best looking at the two teams and how they're going. The last time that games were Origin affected, the Knights beat the Panthers, but the Panthers were obviously very heavily affected by Origin representation. But there'll be a good feel

coming out of that group. Jackson Hasting coming back in and he's playing the nominating in your number six. I think he'll be doing most of the directing in the game, and that could bring them to light a little bit more to you there. You could player that Fletcher Sharp.

centers with the hammer in origin. Camp Ray stones back from his shoulder injury on the bench for the Dolphins.

going to be another another confidence builder for them. I think the Dolphins will beat the Cowboy.

him back. Lucky gal One's going to start at five eight with Matt Burton the designated A. He has the world record for most appearances is eighteenth man for New South Wales.

Strangely enough, South Sydney have named Campbell Graham and an extended bench for this game. Now. We got a word on the weekend that Campbell Graham was out of the South Sydney game against the Raiders last week and was unavailable for Origin two. Yet here he is. He's poping up on the extended bench for the game this weekend against South Sydney, knowing full well that if you did go was eighteenth man in Origin too, it would probably be Matt Burton that was going to take his place.

It's a nice swifty, isn't it. Anyway. It remains to be seen if he plays. But I think it's fair too. I think they should. I think they should move the eighteenth man around to help the clubs, you know. And sometimes I can't see why they can't take it from a team that's got the buy. There are plenty of teams having a buy this weekend that could provide some

support for them. But by the same taken, we never begrudge Matted the opportunity to go into Origin camp and he learns more and even if he doesn't get to play, being around those great players as good for him. So we're very happy for him to be in there, and Maxi King and Kurt Man is obviously playing for Queensland and Stephen Crichton, so we've got good representation this year. It was a battle the first time around when we

played without those repsides. The Dolphins had a big win that night in the wet and this will be an equally tough battle against the Rabbit this weekend. It's the Rabbit game, even though it's played today Course Stadium. Earlier this year on Good Friday, this game attracted sixty five thousand fans, had a new attendance record. So hopefully both sets of fans get out to support these two teams on the weekend for the Rabbit O' home game and that's on Channel nine from three o'clock on Sunday.

and they've traveled. They've basically traversed the whole face of planet Earth. It's an amazing effort.

players each team has used. The team that's used the most players of any team in the competition is paramatteriels they've used thirty one players in their NRL program this year, so obviously in the early part of the year with some injuries and searching for new combinations and trying new players in the top side. They've settled down on it

because their last month of football have been terrific. They built at Newcastle, they builded Manly, they went very close to breeding Penrith and they put in astellar performance against the Bulldogs on the weekend. So Paramatter Reels have used the most thirty one, Panthers have used twenty eight, some of that through origin representation. Obviously they've had their problems. Newcastle Knights, Gold Coast Titans and the Bulldogs have used

twenty seven. So that's still a large number of players to be using at this stage of the season. At the midpoint of the season, Paramatta thirty one, Penrith twenty eight, Newcastle Titans and Bulldogs on twenty seven. Then on twenty six we've got West Tigers, Dragons, Melbourne Storm and Manly and even twenty six is getting up there. Twenty five Roosters,

Rabbits and Warriors. Dolphins have used twenty five, Broncos have used twenty five, North Queensland have used twenty four, Sharks have only used twenty three and the canber Raiders, who have won more games than anyone have used the least number of players. They haven't twenty three, so that's one

of the reasons why they're in such great form. And they've been able to get through the first their first eleven games without loss with or their first thirteen games with how many they played thirteen or fourteen now fourteen fourteen, fourteen games they've played there one eleven and they're won more games than the other team in the competition, but they've used the least number of players of any other team. So it's interesting how that'll get to at the end

of the year. Do is for all these teams will be using that number of players at the midpoint of the season. That's a high number of players.