The Dinosaurs Get Their Way (2018)

Rugby League's dinosaurs have seemingly got their way and put an end to the crackdown by referees on ruck, play-the-ball, marker and offside infringements, which had seen a myriad of penalties blown in the opening four rounds of football.

The reasoning, aside from enforcing the rules, was to try and do something to eliminate grappling and wrestling, holding down in the play the ball and a restriction of fast attacking football.

Phil Gould stated on Channel 9’s 100% Footy, that:

“Referees were given instructions Sunday morning to tone back on it, to just get back to refereeing the important penalties the ones that were obvious.”

(See the video here: http://the81stminute.com/2018/04/referees-told-to-tone-it-back-phil-gould/)

Gould, along with Andrew Johns, Paul Vautin and Brad Fittler have been strongly opposed to the penalty bonanza's, aggressively repeating their disdain on Channel 9 from Round 1.

And while many other former players, commentators and fans have welcomed the crackdown, it appears that the NRL has yielded to the whinging old clowns and decided to pull the pin on the crackdown.

This is very bad for a number of reasons:

1.       Essentially clubs and players have got their way. The game has given control of the game to clubs and players to dictate how the game should be officiated. As the saying goes “the inmates run the asylum.” This is the biggest issue of all and directly attacks the integrity of the game.

2.       A handful of whinging commentators, notably Gould, have far too much authority, somehow, over the game, to have something like this modified to suit his agenda. How and why does he have this much power. It’s clearly wrong.

3.       The argument that the crackdown still made mistakes, notably the one that cost the Wests Tigers the game against Brisbane in Round 3 during Golden Point. While a valid argument, the problem with this perspective is that the alternative (less penalties) means infringements have to be ignored. And no matter which way you cut it, ignoring infringements will not eliminate howlers or game-changing mistakes, but will serve to continue their existence. It will not make the game better in the long term.

4.       The whole purpose of the crackdown has been completely eliminated. Everyone has demanded an end to the wrestling, holding down in tackles and off side markers and edge defenders. But they also don’t want the short term pain of a few rounds worth of games with high penalty counts. So now we’ll go back to the massive eyesore of grappling and wrestling, because some people didn’t like hearing the refs whistle.

5.       It makes it pretty clear that the referees are impacted by the NRL and indirectly media scrutiny. So why bother having referees? If they cannot be trusted and respected for the job they are doing, what’s the point of their existence?

6.       Finally, this enforces a modern day issue in all sport, that bitching and moaning about referees is not only accepted, but it brings results, despite the refs doing the right thing on the vast majority of occasions. Referees are accountable for every decision they make. But players and clubs can complain to avoid accountability of their decisions.

The onus should have been on players and clubs to realise that the refs were cleaning this part of the game up and in turn, they should have changed their play to be rules compliant. That’s how the system works. That was the point of the exercise. Because penalties, everywhere in life, have two purposes:

1.       Enforce the rules/law

2.       Deter you from reoffending

Given that after 4 weeks, penalties were still being given in copious numbers, the only step after this was not backing down, but instead utilising the sin bin far more aggressively.

Also, despite the games being low scoring and high in penalties, it certainly had little impact on ratings. Perhaps seeing even contests, producing unexpected results has been great for the game? 

Not one of the top 5 sides from last year are in the top 5 right now. Furthermore, three of the bottom 5 sides last year are in the top 8, while the other two are placed at 11^th and 12^th. It may only be early days in the 2018 season, but there’s been a lot of transformation on the game which has drawn a lot of interest from fans. Crowd numbers are up, ratings are strong. 

Perhaps this crackdown was working.

Tough 'Tooves' Can Cure NSW's Blues (2017)

Last Sunday, Fox Sports Lara Pitt spoke directly to Phil Gould amidst rumours and speculation that he could be stepping in, as part of a unique trio with Brad Fittler and Andrew Johns, to coach the New South Wales Origin side in 2018.

The most honest and correct statement he made regarding Laurie Daley’s sacking was, “Laurie’s not a professional coach. This is not what he does for a living.”

And that right there hits at 50 percent of the Blues’ issues. He isn’t a professional coach. That is exactly what NSW needs.

This is exactly the same issue that Fittler and Johns have. They may do some assistant coaching on the side – and ‘Freddy’ did coach the Roosters with mixed results a decade ago – but they aren’t full-time professional coaches of football teams.

Fittler and Johns are also very similar to Daley in another aspect. They were all magnificent players, undoubtedly the best of their generation in the world. But they are all laidback characters.

With stories emerging such as Josh Dugan and Blake Ferguson having some drinks before engaging in some less-than-professional interior designing of a hotel room prior to Origin II, coupled with the duo’s pub session and Andrew Fifita reportedly forcing Daley to backflip on his decision to have him start from the bench prior to the decider shows that the players did not respect Daley enough.

It’s not because they didn’t think he deserved it. It’s because Daley, like Fittler and Johns, comes across as one of the boys. There’s nothing wrong with that in some team environments. But it clearly doesn’t work for the Blues.

However, there is one coach who oozes passion and professionalism, is a full-time coach, played plenty of Origin footy and is looking for a gig.

Geoff Toovey.

Why hasn’t ‘Tooves’ been put forward as a candidate? The intense Manly club legend and former coach spent 2017 coaching the financial basketcase that is the Bradford Bulls, whose relegation to the third-tier competition would render Toovey too expensive to stay on. He wants to be back in Sydney and ideally at an NRL club.

But while he is yet to be picked up by any club, why not line him up to coach the Blues? 

Furthermore, let him have full control of the side. He doesn’t need helpers like Daley did.

The decision to move Bob Fulton on for this series in favour of Peter Sterling would make the role more enticing for Toovey.

Toovey has bled for the Blues. He demands respect from his players and he is a smart tactician. He has all the qualities required to be an Origin coach.

 
And he will provide them a huge injection of the one thing they need the most: passion.

****This article appeared on Commentary Box Sports website on September 1, 2017****

Mad Monday - Ricky Stuart & the new NSW Origin coach (2012)

So it appears that Ricky Stuart's desire to be an NRL coach was far far greater than winning a State of Origin series. There's nothing wrong with that, God knows we'd all prefer full time work to casual work.

Good luck to him, hopefully the Coaches curse at Parramatta comes to an end under his reign, for the sake of the Eels fans more than anything.

But it does now leave a big question.

Who will be the New South Wales State of Origin coach in 2013?

A few people have put their names forward but I personally don't think they have the credibility or coaching ability to get the job done. Names like Laurie Daley and Brad Fittler have already been bandied about.

But I think its time to go to someone who has actually coached in pressure situations. Someone who has played Origin and been a victor. Someone who has adapted to the changing game from when they once played.

So I think it's time for the Blues to look at some older heads as Blues coach, not younger and inexperienced ones.

Daley's coaching victories at the elite level can be counted on one hand (not including the thumb). And not one of those games has been played in a pressure cooker environment. They have been one off games, some may even regard them as 'novelty'.

In short, Laurie Daley is a novelty coach.

Brad Fittler is a great ambassador for the game and he's an affable larrikin whom everyone sees to like. He won't get the respect or performance from the players that is required at Origin level. This is easily proven when looking quite simply at how quickly his NRL coaching career took a nosedive.

In short, Brad Fittler is a boy who giggles at naughty words.

We need to look back at previous coaches who can inspire and motivate his players. Someone who was able to do the very same with his actions in the Origin arena.

I think it's time to coerce Wayne Pearce back to coaching the Blues.

As an Origin coach, his reign lasted three seasons, earning a drawn series in 1999, a won series in 2000 and a lost series in 2001. NSW won 5, drew 1 and lost 3 games under his tenure.

Sure people will use the infamous horse riding incident as some sort of dopey argument against him, but no one can deny with any intellect or honesty, that he wouldn't be a better coach at Origin level than Daley or Fittler.

The only concern would be the lack of coaching he has done since that 2001 series. And if that were to be a hurdle then there is but one remaining option who is currently looking for a coaching gig, has been an NRL coach, has played and won in an Origin series for NSW and has coached at the highest levels in club footy.

Come on down, Royce Simmons!