Madge FIRES BACK, Gus Drama Explodes & NRL Blowout Backlash

Good day and welcome to Kentie Blitz, your daily hit of NRL news.

Welcome back, Krolls.

Thanks for coming back in.

No drama.

Let's mate.

I'll just give you a little bit of an update.

The way we're going to handle this for the next week or so is Kentie will kind of do

one day on, one day off.

Krolls will help us out.

Some other friends of Kentie will help us out.

Kentie's on a position to do every day at the moment.

So we're going to take him when we can and run from there.

So mate, let's start off obviously another week in rugby league and another controversy

at the Brisbane Broncos with, yeah, with Majora Gwai coming out and rebuking what the

Raging Bull Gordon tell us said over the Adam Reynolds and the way that the Broncos handled

that.

What did you think of that?

Well, you know, Gordy, Gordy took the first shot, matches come back and called it a

load of garbage and then Adam Reynolds after initially being picked in the side has now

pulled out of the Friday night grand final rematch against the storm is Gordon vindicated

then.

Well, in some ways he is, yes, because you know, like, matches take an exception to the

fact that Gordon's basically questioned if Adam did everything he could to be ready

for this game by, you know, he knew he had this rebe injury and whether or not the flying

affected that, but could he have done a little bit more to get him ready for that game

on Friday night?

So the background is he played on the weekend, got injured, got a ribbed cartilage injury,

threw down to Mel, I threw down a CD, did Fox Sports.

Yeah.

I sat on a chair, did the show and that's what Gordon had the issue with.

Yeah.

So, yeah.

So, you know, at the end of the day, look, Reynolds is professional.

He's been playing the game for 14, 15 years at the top level.

He knows his body better than anyone else and you give him credit for that, but Gordon

as a former Broncos captain and a bloke that knows how he handled things himself, he looks

at that and he thinks it's not what I'd want from the leader of my club.

And whether or not you agree with him, that's his opinion on this one.

So, ready between the lines, there has to be something going on here between Madge and

Talus and the animosity that Talus has for the Brisbane Broncos and Madge in particular.

Yeah.

You know, he's background of that?

Well, the background goes back to the second of Kevin Walters.

Okay.

Right.

And he's great mate.

You know, they're great mates and Gordon makes no excuses of that.

You know, like they're fantastic friends.

Gordon thought that the club did the wrong thing by him.

They probably did the way they handled it at the time.

There's also in the background.

In what way?

Well, Gordon looks at it as the fact that he was one year after a grand final taking them

to the grand final.

He looks at the fact, have they improved?

Well, they did win a comp, but has that team improved?

You know, what we're seeing today is that any different to what it was when Kevin was coaching.

Have they grown up in the two years or three years that have followed?

I don't know about that.

You know what I mean from what we're seeing today.

The other part of the story is that Gordon has animosity towards Madge because of the

fact he thinks Madge wide-handed, Kevin, to get the job.

Now, his belief is that there were phone calls made before Kevin had been sacked.

He had denied that to players or to players about joining the Broncos and Madge had denied

that.

I think they crossed paths for the first time.

I think it was the grand final the following year.

Gordon and Madge?

Gordon and Madge.

Yeah.

I think it was the 2024 grand final.

And they crossed paths.

I think Gordon had been working on radio that day.

Madge had basically said to him, mate, Gordon, that didn't happen.

He didn't smile because he's adamant it did.

The widening of Kevin.

And whether or not you agree with Gordon, mate, he is that alpha male that never, ever,

ever backs down.

And so he'll throw the first punch.

And if you want to throw one back, he'll throw the one after.

And it just keeps going on and on and on.

But at the heart of his conversation is that he believes Madge did the wrong thing by

his mate.

And he also believes the club did the wrong thing by Kevin.

And that's how he holds.

He's very, very firm on that.

And so McGuire also has basically got a history of things going pear-shaped after he's

had success at clubs.

It happened at South Sydney.

He fell out with players there and Gordon's up around that area.

And he has a lot of things that are going on at the Broncos now and he's paid to have

an opinion.

And he does have an opinion and it won't change.

It's interesting.

It's very, it's intriguing when you kind of peel it back and you look that a lot of stuff

that's said in the media is because of friendships or enemies.

And what's going on now seems to be two bikes going at each other.

Yeah, but maybe the fact that I also think was, I also think, mate, it's also about

being honest.

You know, like when you're paid to have an opinion, it's no use sitting there on the

fence and not saying what you believe to be the truth, but them telling everyone behind

the cameras.

Absolutely.

You know what I mean?

Like the punters out there, they want to know what the real reason is and they want

to know what someone really thinks and whether or not you agree with them.

That's not the be all and end all because it is just one person's opinion.

And that's what he's paid to do.

He Gordon's paid to have an opinion and he never backsed out.

That's what he always says, too.

And even this Reynolds one at the moment, you know, that came up on, I think it was

triple M on Sunday, right?

And it was part of the program that I think ran four hours.

And it was deep into the program when this was raised and then that becomes the headline.

I don't think Gordon's intention was to make that the headline, but it did become the

headline.

You know what I mean?

I think again, he was giving, he's opinion as a former leader of that club and what

he'd do in similar circumstances when it came to Reynolds.

And I think that probably, you know, blew up bigger than he'd expected it would, but

it doesn't deny the fact that's what he's thinking.

Yeah, even if he's wrong, at least he puts his head out and, you know, because people

always say, oh, the game is too vanilla.

Nobody has any sense, right?

Yeah.

Yeah.

So what do you take on the other Reynolds thing?

Well, look, I know what I said previously, he knows he's body better than most, but

I will say this.

I think Majors Quotes today pointed out that if this was a grand final, he would be

playing.

I think he said that in his article today.

And so it's not a grand final.

And I know it's round three of the season, but the Broncos are in a precarious position

at the moment, aren't they?

They've lost the World Club challenge.

They've got all this heat on their club after what happened with Paine House.

They've lost their two first games.

They're going down to play Melbourne, who they haven't beaten in Melbourne for 10 years

and the skippers out, you know what I mean?

So it's not a grand final, but it almost is a make or break game for them.

Yeah, it's good point.

Well, they haven't won in Melbourne for 10 years.

I mean, do you see that turning around this weekend?

Well, it can turn around.

The Broncos have to bet their best, they don't.

The Broncos played the storm in round 24 last year, right?

That was up in Brisbane, but it was almost the moment that flicked the switch.

That was where they went from the Roxon Diamonds Broncos to Reese Walsh absolutely getting everything

right that night.

It was a breakthrough moment for them, because on the back of that, they went and beat

the Raiders.

Again, they'd put themselves in a position where they'd looked likely to lose that game,

but they took another step in their belief, didn't they?

Then they did the same against Penrith, where they were downed by 10 points or 14 points.

Then they did it in the grand final.

They took all these giant steps forward.

They know they've got it in them, but again, you go back to what they've shown this year,

and for whatever reason, their attitude is what's offered the moment.

It's not their talent.

If they turn up with the right attitude, we spoke about it previously, mate, with their

defence last week.

Defence is attitude, and it was very swolsh with that moment where he didn't chase after

that kick when Peset put it through, same with Ezra Man on that edge.

Additude is what led him down this week.

So if they go down to Melbourne with the right attitude, they can turn it around the

blink of an eye.

Do you think this Super Sarky dropping, he's been dropped, is an attitude play?

It was interesting to see what Sam Thighday said on that Queensland show they have on

nine news.

He said that he thought Super Sarky was fatigued.

I thought that was interesting right after round two.

Is that mental fatigue?

Is the fact that he never really played as long as season he did last year?

Over Queensland, paid for Australia, maybe the whole club's fatigue.

Well, that happens, doesn't it?

You know, like you call it, the Grand Final, hang over.

He's come from the clouds last year, trying to draw contract and he ends up playing for

Australia at the end of the year, played origin along the way.

His defence is what got him into the origin team and his body shaped last year, yet on

the weekend, you know, again, he's on that mage where they just paramount a steamer

hold him.

So it can be a problem.

I've seen it in teams, not even teams that have won Grand Finals, you know, like, and

especially players who maybe haven't been accustomed to that success.

And they've been, you know, shot the lights out one year, Nana, up at the Cowboys a few

years ago.

You know, he had that great breakout season and the following season, he came back and

he was a shadow of himself.

So that can happen.

But it is strange, isn't it, like, two rounds into the season and they're talking about

fatigue.

It kind of comes hard to swallow.

Why do you say that kind of makes the whole panorath performance year after year, even

more remarkable?

Yeah.

I guess that I have fatigue.

No.

You know, last year was different.

They had injuries and they didn't start so well, but to win as many in a row, you know,

it's a different take on them.

I just want to have a quick talk about the matchup this weekend, which is the premiere

matchup with Reese Walsh and Suha Fahalongo.

Yeah.

I mean, two superstars of the game, Fahalongo is, I think it's the future.

You're looking forward to that.

Oh, well, Walsh at his best is daylight ahead of everyone, isn't it?

Yeah.

In the game, when it comes to that excitement machine, but I think we saw last week

in the space of less than 10 minutes, this Suha Fahalogo, he's a freak and his footwork.

It's like he's out there playing touch football.

You know, those tries, he's scored against the drag and it's just the way that he can

change direction, do a spin on his feet and just flies like a bullet.

And he is what the storm lacked in the final series last year.

Like Papinhausen once was that, but he wasn't that towards the end of last season.

And so the storm have taken the next step, bringing this kid in and everything you hear

about his attitude down in Melbourne.

It's spot on too, because Bellamy's made a point of coming out and speaking about the

fact that this time last year, Suha wasn't the plier he was.

Bellamy could beat him home in sessions at the storm.

Now he's leading the charge.

Yes.

So, yeah, it's a bloody, great matchup and again, it just doesn't just show you that, you

know, when one star walks out, another star walks in.

Yes, right.

Is that even kind of, you know, the whole Zach Lomax thing, you know,

the Lomax moves on, everybody says, well, the game won't be, you know, and then a new

blade comes in like for longer, even though it's not new.

But, you know, what I mean?

And he's also been taught by Billy Slater, you know, you know, behind the scenes, he's

got the greatest fallback the games ever had, teaching him the nuances of the position

and how to, you know, I guess, hold your mind together and everything like that.

Like, you'll only get better and better and better.

My, same game already for the Melbourne Brisbane game this weekend, I'm thinking Melbourne

going to start fast.

They're going to get up there, they're going to put pressure on the trial line, and they're

going to basically use their advantage on the wing through World Warwick, there's a big

tall bugger and he likes to get up in the air.

It's a nice little pickup come this Friday night.

Chances are you're about to lose for free and confidential support, call the number on

the screen or visit the website.

Hmm, yeah.

The other big thing that everybody's been talking about is the Bronx and Sherry issue, and

you've got to take on this, which I thought was interesting about, you know, he's manager

going to the club and where his position is within the club, do you want to just...

Yeah, well, you know, the Bulldogs have alluded to the fact that there's an attitude problem

behind this, but what I'll say, and I've spoken to senior people around the game about

this too, and how this has been handled is just, I don't know the order of how things

happened, whether it was Bronson Sherry's attitude about being moved from the left to

the right that sparked him, you know, to lose his way in the club, to lose faith in him

or whether the meeting with his manager, where questions were asked about his future beyond

the end of next year, his current contract at the end of 2027, and the fact that it

since come delight that he won't have that contract renewed, you know, when you talk

to people in the game and at other clubs, they struggle to comprehend why that conversation

has to be had now and why it needs to come out in the public. You know, that's the question

I have. I just don't understand. You don't know. We don't know. We don't know exactly what

the timeline has been on this story. Bronson certainly hasn't spoken about it, and there's,

you know, Gus got on 100% 40 of the other night and said absolutely nothing.

Nothing, you know, like so he keeps everyone in the dark and he thinks he's smarter than

the average bear. That's what he does, but he also has a history of doing what he needs to do

that he thinks is in the best interest of the club. And I think when you look at the Bronson

Sherry situation at the moment and the fact that it seems, you know, a million to one that he's

going to see how he's contracted that club now, and there's also a bit of scuttle but going

around at other clubs that the Bulldogs might have themselves just a bit of a salary cap

concerns for next year. And so when you look at their roster, like they've bought Leo Thompson,

I know for a fact other clubs offered Leo, Big Money, I'm talking $800,000 a year, you know,

and he knocked them back to go to the Bulldogs. Well, it was a 900 of the Bulldogs.

900 grand. Well, there you go. And then you've got Stephen Crite and you've got Matt Burton,

which again, another name that keeps coming up who, you know, may not be a long-term player

at the Bulldogs. And he's on huge money. You've got cherries on, they say, around 500. You know,

you've got Preston who's probably looking for an upgrade. He's an origin-ready Ford. Galvin's

going to get a big upgrade next year. Kings are an origin Ford, you know, like the Carazza's on

Good Money for them. So, you know, behind the scenes, who knows what they're up to? They're not

going to open their books and show you, oh no, we're sweet here. But it's just these little things

that are happening there and talk and whispers around other clubs as to what's going on that makes

you wonder if it's more to the cherry situation than meets the eye, simply that a bloke kick stones

when he was told to move to the other side of the field. Who knows what the real story is, but

I'm sure we haven't heard it. It seems, it seems harder conversation would happen

about a 2028 contract. That's what I can't get in February of March. It's madness. You just

wouldn't have like this. I'm telling you now, there's other players at other clubs at the moment

who will not be offered deals beyond this year. Absolutely. They manage to keep it in house.

And they manage to do it respectfully. And that's the other thing that annoys me a little bit

about a few things that have gone on at the dogs in recent years because, you know, there's no

question the world players will fall out of favor and they'll get dropped and clubs will be looking

to move it on. But it's almost like there's this mutual respect where, you know, they don't damage

their reputation and they also look at after Melbourne are greater doing. I've never heard

of a player leave Melbourne on bad terms. Even if there were bad terms behind the scenes, they

they somehow manage to keep it, you know, under wraps. And with the dogs in recent times, you know,

like at all Lumpur, you've had Reed Marnie who basically left the club with his reputation in

Tatters. The sexton, the way the sexton was handled was appalling, you know, all the stats that

had been leaked from someone to all the different journeys in town because all the journeys have

turned up with the same stats on the same day, reporting the same story to promote the side that

this is why the Bulldogs had to do what they did. Raymond Fatala Mariner was another one. You know,

he was appointed club captain. I'm pretty sure by Cerraldo. And within the space of about a year,

he's on the way out. Andrew Davies another one, you know, Jackson to Pines another one. So there's

all these bad breakups that they've dealt with. And I have no doubt in the world that even though

the players won't come out and publicly speak about this, in the back of their minds, they'd have

to be thinking, am I next? Am I next or why have they done that to my mate? You know, it might not

be the whole team, but there would be individuals that feel that way and maybe not comfortable to come

out and talk about. Absolutely. And team Conrad, camaraderie is a massive part of Rug League and

you know, this constant questioning, I think, would have to be undoing them. I don't know.

Is it Cerraldo or is it Gus? Well, you don't know. Like, you know, we're all led to believe that

Cerraldo is the man and he's the, he's the, he's way all the highway and the Bulldogs at the moment.

You just can't deny the fact that Gus has a history of not being far away from trouble. Tinkering.

Tinkering. He did it at Penrith. There was a famous story at Penrith when Ivan was coaching at

Penrith in his first term. And I think the story goes that Gus had done a deal with Bozo

about getting Appi Kaurasau to manly, right? And Kaurasau was only a young hooker coming through

at that stage. And they also had James Segiaro at the time. And Ivan was of the opinion,

Appi's the one we keep Segiaro as the one that goes. And then by all reports at the time,

he was driving to training the next morning. And he heard it on the radio that Appi had sung

with manly. And you know, that was sort of like the beginning of the end between their relationship.

I'm pretty, I'm pretty sure. And so, you know, when, when Ivan went back to Penrith and on the

surface, when they spoke publicly, there was no drama between he and Gus. But it wasn't long

before Gus was moved in a different direction. And Ivan took charge of that club. And in the years

since there's been five grand finals and four premier ships. And that happened before Gus,

you know, half to Gus had left. So how do we see this playing out? If you're Matt Burton,

you nervous? Oh, nervous as Captain Houghton Ruth. Like Sarah, see, you know, like again, again,

it's these, these, these stories that keep coming out about Burton being on big money and Burton,

you can't have two centers, you know, on this massive money. And even though again,

he was brought to that club to do a job and he let go of a lot of his future at

Penrith to go and help build the dogs into the club. They've, you know, now become a top four club.

And yet there's this constant narrative that he'll be the one that leaves and he links to all

these clubs. And it hasn't happened yet. But you get the feeling down the track, it will happen.

You know, so I don't know if that doesn't upset Matt Burton. He's an amazing young man.

Because these sort of things they play on players minds. Yeah. Well, one team who I'd be signing

Cherry is the, is the dragons who reached out to James Hooper on the insider program. And

that was Flano and message him and said, we're not in. So they've just re-signed a young like

Haydenby Cannon, who's a local junior, great young fellow, lots of pace. So

interesting that the dragons. Yes. Well, there you go. Yeah. So let's talk about on the field

because for both teams, it's a very big game. Dogs have had the wood on the raiders over the last

few years. How do you see that? Well, Stephen Crichton's had the wood on the raiders, hasn't he?

Stephen Crichton and kick out the two players that have terrorized the raiders in recent years.

I think it was the year before last. They played at Bill Maureen. And it was a rollercoaster

sort of match. And Crichton just brings out these big moments where he steamrolled him in the corner.

I think it was Sebastian Chris and Jordan Rapiner. And one of the game. And then last year,

there was that game in Canberra where I think the raiders were up by a good margin at half-time.

And it just seemed impossible for them to lose that game until Crichton flicked the switch.

And he just showed what an absolute warrior he is and one of the best players in the game.

And he told the raiders to shreds the difference this year is that Crichton has moved to the left side.

And he won't be up against Chris this time. He'll be up against Simis Sange, who's a pretty good

defender. So that's the like the raiders going to have to close down. But the dogs have had the

wood on them in recent times. And I think, you know, the raiders would be aware of that name

have to go out and do something special to beat them. Crichton, a lot of frustration and

discussion continues on the six again who rule. And it just seems to be a constant issue in the

NRL. We spoke earlier in the week about your opinion. You thought it was good for the game

at the six again. Not necessarily the way the referees are adjudicating it. But how do we think

the weekend will go? Do we see the refs continuing with this? Do you think they're going to pull back

a little bit? I think I think they have to continue with what they're doing. But they certainly

needs to be a little bit of a re calibration on this. You know, it's a it's a fine line that they

have to walk because yes, they've got to listen to what the fans are saying. They've got to listen

to what the players are saying. I'm not necessarily sure they need to listen what the coaches are saying

because the coaches got us in this position with the wrestle. Okay. You know, they they they

Melbourne started it and every team followed. And it became a chocathon. You know, it was who

can choke the other team out in games. Some of the football that we saw was bloody terrible

over those years. And the six again was so refreshing when it first come about. But there's no doubt

this year it's gone a little bit too far. And they've got to pull it back a bit. But again,

you'd love to see the day where the referees started refereeing games as they see it. Not

not to KPIs. You know, it's like everything's measured these game, almost like the players

are overcoached and the referees are overcoached. Once upon a time, we'll explain how the coaching

coach are the refereeing KPIs. Well, there's there's there's KPIs that they have to go out and

measure to, you know, their coaches want to know every detail in the game. How long are we allowed

to stay on them for? It should that shouldn't be the case. Yeah, it should be the referees feel.

Like if you gave power back to the referees and they were encouraged to referee the game that

they grew up knowing. I reckon that they you could have a far better contest than all these

measurements of time and everything like that because all clubs do it differently. And it's almost

like now you have to listen to what the rules are and then break that down to form a winning team.

It takes the personality out of the teams too. There's very few, most teams will play the same

structures because that's winning football where there was a time if you go back in the years when

we were kids, you know, you had the ball dogs who were the entertainers in the early 80s, right?

Then Parrock Matta came along with that red hot backline and then it became the dogs of war.

Then you moved into, you know, the rate is here and the Broncos year and it just it changed

along the way and all the teams had their own personality where that personality is a lot of the

time it's been taken out of the game because there's this winning format of rugby league where

constitutes a winning way of football, which is the Melbourne way, which is the Melbourne way,

the Penroth way. They're also the best teams that adapt ironically after the change,

the introduction of the six again, they've gone from leading the way to leading the way. So it

shows that they adapt. But it's interesting because the CEOs and the club boards decide they're

going to go those ways because they employ the assistant coaches. They employ the Melbourne

assistant coaches. They employ the Penroth assistant coaches that eat them throughout the league.

Yeah. So it's kind of like one cutter, you know, cookie cutter. Yeah. We want it to be.

It is and unfortunately I reckon the game suffers because of it. But I don't want to see

him pull back too much. You know, I've had conversations this week. I wrote a column about this

on Fox Sports on Monday and you've talked to prominent people in the game who've come out and supported

the fact that the game is far better spectacle now that it was five years ago. Yes. Yep.

I think it's really encouraged the young halfbacks and, you know, we've seen far more spectacular

games than we did during that period. One of the things that's put the squeeze on his

sister with the big boppers and the big front rowers has seen to have changed

the way the game has been played on all these big guys struggling. Well, big guys aren't as

big as they used to be. You know, I was having a conversation to Junior Paul over the other night.

He came into Fox when I was in there and I was looking at him and I just thought,

if you're looking, you know, he's looking probably more streamlined than he ever has in his life.

And I said, what are you waiting at the moment? He said, I was around 109 to 112 depending on the day.

And so we, you know, we'll talk about, and I think he's lost like about 10 kilos since roles

took over. Wow. Because he was too big. He was too big to adjust to the modern game and he knew

he had to lose the way to, you know, to stay in the game and stay relevant. And then we got

talking about the fact that when he was back at the Raiders in the day, he was 139 kilos.

So he's dropped from 139 to 109. Wow. And that's the, you know, when Nelson left rugby league

last year, you know, he said he feared for the big men. And we've seen this evolution with guys

like Jackson Ford coming through and playing front rower from edge to front rower, you know,

Hopgood. Williams at Paramat is another one. You've got these guys that have,

it's completely changed. Like if you put them guys up against a winger like Mark no longer

need a wassey. Yeah. Yeah. Who's the front rower? Yeah. You know, like they've just, they've changed

the way that the game's being played because you've just got to have that stamina ring your body.

Max King in the Bronx last year. I mean, not the Bronx. The Bulldogs last year.

The interesting thing is at the end of the season, that's what they said. Undid them. Yeah.

You know, that they didn't have big enough forwards. I heard a story about Blake Laurie who

was a big bopper for the dragons who spent the whole offseason in November of December training up

up in Cranala. And they sent him away for the club couldn't train with the club until he changed

his body shape. On his own. I saw that story. Yeah. So it's interesting because, you know,

Jackson Ford leads the Daly M. Yeah. You know, his two sixes in a row. Yeah.

Is this. So is this the modern forward? Do you think modern front rower? I think I think in the

in the game as we know it now, it has to be, you know, because you just can't carry those guys that

are that big. They can't keep up. They, you know, they can't go time and again six after six,

you know, Jackson Ford, like what a revelation he's been, you know, from a run of the millback

rower. Bit part. Yeah. To a guy in the Warriors two games this season, he's been absolutely outstanding.

I'd argue I'm not sure he's older given him the six points both games with Tanner Boyd there,

but he's been brilliant. You know, and he's just, yeah, it is dead set changed the game. Well,

one of the things about Jackson Ford is they've always said he's been super fit. The suit, the

fittest guy in every club he's gone to when it seems that the game, you know, was playing to him.

What I ask you is is that the coaches who make these decisions and then the game follows them.

You know, I look at all of the Bulldogs last year and they're small forwards,

or is it the coaches adapting to the rules because these rules were kind of dropped on the coaches.

Yeah. And all of a sudden Jackson Ford becomes a superstar. Well, this year they were,

but in times gone past, you know, you've known that's why the coaches sometimes blow up about

rule changes, you know, at the drop of the hat because they may have picked their roster and

recruited for a specific game. And then a rule change can just tear that apart, can't it? So it's

also about, you know, clubs have to, Melbourne have had to react with Nelson. You know,

they're that you have to change on the run, but you also can get yourself in a predicament if

you're not looking ahead to where the game's going. And you get caught with, you know, too many

big boppers. And it can make a hell of a lot of difference. Well, it's interesting because you

look at someone like Dan Laurie who was signed to be the 14 and it says to me, Crawls, that

the days of the specialist 14 might be over. Yeah. You know, you look at you look at corner

Watson and look at that out of the minutes that he's doing like last year, he was doing 68 minutes

again. This year's doing 40th free time. We shot 46 minutes again last year or B he did start some

games, but this year 34 and a half minutes that that specialist 14 who the clubs used to carry because

he could play multiple positions. Now they've gone to the six man bench. They can afford to carry

two backs on that six man bench, which cover the hard one covers the half one covers the backs.

Well, if you look at those two players in particular, like corner Watson, you can send out as a

hooker, you can send him out as a lock, you can send him out a half of five eight and

add a pinch throwing anywhere in the back line. You know, that's that was his speciality.

And it's the same with Wishhardt in Melbourne, you know, like it didn't matter where they put him

on the field. He could do a job, but you're right, you're still you're still going to have to carry

that second hooker and someone there that can back up in the halves. But aside from that, you

also need an outside back there. And then depending on the injuries or concussions that come in that

game, it can change. So I agree with you in that they're probably losing value out of this,

but good footballers will always still find a way to get in a side. They just might have to

specialise themselves. And I'll become a specialist for the 14. Yeah, yeah, because you know,

you see the amount of I guess the decision the coaches need to make is now when do they put

those reserves on? So that's why they're getting less time. Yes, because it's not right. I

will get to put them on with 10 to go in the first half, you know, and they come off with 20 to go

in the second half because you know, you've only got so many plays there. Yeah. And you've got to

you've got to look at the balance of the team. Pay the stake on the roosters in the first game on

Friday night. At the start of the season, a lot of people, including ourselves, thought the roosters

will be at the top and would challenge for that. They come against the Panthers who

are now the wakis favourite and look to be the team to beat. I think, I mean, obviously,

this is the big game for the weekend, right? There's also the later game, but this to us is the big

game. There's a stack of good games. That's a huge game. It's what the roosters traditionally

in recent years have had a terrible record against the Panthers. I think they beat them last year,

but prior to that, it had been, you know, they hadn't been any wins for a long period.

You're right. They've recruited this year. So on top of a final side last year,

they've recruited DC. And this weekend, we get to see Robson for the first time too,

who's come back about a month early from his hand injury. And, you know, he was brought to do a job.

And when they put that roster together this year, it had depth in the forwards. It had depth

in the key positions. And yes, they were expected to, if not win the comp, be up there on

Greenfinal Day. The Penrith Panthers, on the other hand, they just keep on keeping on doing that.

It's quite astonishing what Ivan Cleary and the people out, Matt Cameron and the people out of

Penrith had been able to do with this squad to year after year. And as we spoke about earlier,

keep their attitude up and constantly regenerate this side. If you go back through all the players

that they've lost along the way, the kickhows, the burdens, the critons, you know, James Fisher,

Harris, Jerome Leway, all these guys have left the club. And they're somehow managed to just,

you know, regenerate from the ground up or in Blase-Tolongi's case, they brought him in at

Paramatta, but as a rookie. And the roosters, on the other hand, they do it another way.

If they think they need strength, they'll go on by the top shelf, you know. You go on by DCE

or former Queensland and Manley Captain, you go on by Robson, who's the current New South Wales

Hooker. And it's just these two different strategies. That's probably an attitude of, I guess,

at the top of the roosters, there is no rebuilding. You know, they're always about playing for

being a final, playing for Premierships. And they're playing the team that rightfully right now

are the Premiership favourites. Because what we've seen from Penrith in the first two rounds has been,

you know, out of this world, for a team that has been up for so long to constantly just come back

year after year and set the benchmark. It's extraordinary. The roosters, you know, they've had

an ordinary record against the Panthers. They want to go out and prove a point here.

Crawls, we don't, you know, like to do this, but we're going to do this. And I want to ask you,

you've been around the game a long time, how do the Panthers rate against players,

or teams over the last 50 years? It's tough to answer that I know.

It's tough to answer in that if I was to look at the best

paramatter side of the 80s or the best Broncos side, which I'd probably rate their best Broncos side

1998 or the Raiders of 1994, I think they were standout teams or pre-celeric up in our lifetime,

yeah, they were. And I think, I think those teams, you know, like if they were playing the Panthers

best side of the last five years, I couldn't necessarily say the Panthers win the game. However,

what I would say is that penressability to stay where they have been at the top of the pile,

excluding last year when there was all those injuries, but they still made a pre-limp final.

That to me says that they're the best club team of probably the last 50 years, you know,

you go back to South in the late 60s and 70s, I think they won four comps in five years,

prior to that, you had the Dragon's 11 premierships, but then you had what paramatter one four

comps in the 80s, balldogs won four comps in the 80s, all pre-celeric up. Because what year was the

salary captain introduced? I think it was like the early 90s, 1990s, under the old New South

Wales rugby league, and then it, you know, it went through with the NRL era that started in 1998.

Yeah, yeah. So, I mean, you look at the team, the Panthers now have to be the best team since the

year. Well, I think it's the best, yeah, by keeping where they are. Like the Broncos too,

there was a decade there where the Broncos were up around there, weren't they? And the Raiders

were the same for a long period there in the late 80s, 90s, but yeah, I think you've just got to

say that this pen resides extraordinary. Yeah, another head battle this weekend is obviously

Edwards and Tedesco, and is that a, I guess, is that a pre-limp for the New South Wales origin?

Well, it's early days, isn't it? But, you know, Dylan Edwards was probably the best fallback

for a couple of years when Teddy had the spot in the New South Wales team, and then he had a

bit of a lean year last year and Teddy bounced back, and then both players have started this season

in great form. But I'm not sure where Teddy stands with, you know, wanting to play rep football,

moving forward. I'm not sure if that's, that's in his, you know, he's his equation, but the way he's

playing, it certainly is a challenge, isn't it? Like, the two of them are great players.

Absolutely. Finally, for the day, let's just, you've got a great little story. The rabbit

owes, obviously, to play the Tigers this weekend in Gossford, and you're telling me a little story

before about how Wayne Bennett and, and Ben, you were close. Well, they're very close, and there's been

this, you know, long-standing relationship with the two, probably dating back. I think it was

the 2008 World Cup where Bennett was involved with the Kiwis, and then along the way when, when

the Tigers have fallen out of love with Benji, Wayne always seemed to be there to, to throw him

a lifeline. I think Benji had left in the early periods of the 2010s onwards, gone to the

dragons, couldn't get a club after that. It took me a month to be, went to Super Rugby, then the

dragons couldn't get a contract after that. When Mary was coach, I think it was Bennett still

been up in Brisbane. For a year, then I'm certain they had a conversation, and Wayne said,

mate, you should go back and finish your career at the Tigers, because that's your club. But then

after two years there, I think, Matt was coaching at the time, and again, that there was no offer

for a new contract, and, and Bennett again, against what most people probably thought they would,

because they had Cody and Reynolds there at the time, and he's training him another lifeline,

and he's been a constant supporter throughout these coaching, but, but without Bennett coming in on

those two occasions, Benji probably wouldn't be standing where he is today. As a coach. As a coach,

because there was that period where he almost looked lost to the game, and this opportunity may

never arose, and even, even Bennett, I've spoken to him about Benji, and he has not only a great

affection for him, but he has a great respect for his work ethic, and things that you don't really

associate with Benji. Like when Benji went into coaching, I'm not sure I thought he would have

succeeded. I didn't think he would have the work ethic, or you think he's one of those brilliant

players that, you know, life just came easy too, but Bennett knows a different person, and then

you see those videos that we've seen in recent weeks about Benji drawing the line at the sand at the

tigers now, and you suddenly start to feel maybe there is more to this guy in the coaching

caper than meets the eye, and I think Wayne spotted that longer go, and even leading up to this game,

you know, it's, it's this backstory, but it's brilliant, and I, you know, it's going to be a great

game. I'm not going to let you run without, I know I'm not going to see you for a few days,

I want to ask about sea bowl. We haven't spoken about this, but let's talk a little bit about

sea bowl and the position he's in now before we go, because do you think he's time at Maley's

over? It's tough to say, and you don't want to go out there and, you know, say a Blake's jobs

after two weeks? After two weeks of the season, he should be gone, and it's the same with Todd

Payton up at the Cowboys, mate, you know, they've got a huge game this week and up against the

Titans. The thing I will say is that for the club, they're almost at the stage where they need to

make a decision, are we going to back him? Or are we going to sack him? Because to move forward,

you can't let a drag on when, if you have to identify the person that you're going to have to

take over, you won't be identifying someone if you think you've got the right coach, but if you've

made that decision in your mind, that we do need to move forward and we do need to find

the right coach for our club. Well, you want to be first in best dress, isn't it?

Yeah, but what about this argument that you know, you push him too early and the club

implodes? Well, we've seen that previously, you know, it happened at Cranulla with Fitsy,

didn't it? You know, I think it was John Morris was sacked and he stayed on and didn't

make the finals that year, I think he did. I might be wrong there, but anyway, the point is that

when Fitsy was a moment, Josh Hanei came in. Josh Hanei did, he did come in. The point is,

when Fitsy was appointed, Fitsy could also start making changes to the roster. Without that

emotion of, you know, moving forward and then you've got the players of the club, you can make

early decisions, you know, we've seen it with other coaches along the way too, where their

registration rehearse is another way. Yeah, good one. At Paramata where he came in and he had time

to think about the decisions he wanted to make before his feet were on the ground within the

plain group. And I just think that, you know, that manly roster at the moment, it's out of whack.

And there's some really, really tough decisions coming for whoever's going to be taking over

at that club or staying on at that club. If it's C-Bold, you know, you've got the situation with

the Travoy of its brothers, Jake's contracted for next season. He hasn't decided if he wants to

play on, but already we're talking about it was after two rounds, where's Jake's spot in that

team like he? And I think it's an option in his favor. It is. Yeah. And he's on the weekend,

he's gone out and he's Fox Sports dad had him down with two runs. NRL stats had him down for three

runs. Whatever it is, that's just not enough output for a lock in the modern game. Not when you look

around the likes of Isaiah Yell and what they're churning through Cameron Murray, all these different

lock-fords around the competition, you can't get away with two runs for the game. Jake's yes,

he's doing 40 tackles, but you've got to pick up your effort in other areas and they're playing

him out of the thing. You know, like if you're looking at that squad, there's others Nathan Brown,

like there's, yeah, you could go through a fair few players. Jake's not the worth, but it's a decision

that whoever's in charge of that club is going to have to make. Let me ask you, if you're C-Bold,

right, and you're in your last season, it's very difficult to make that decision on Jake,

because who knows how that's going to end up? Yeah, and you've got Thomas Captain,

you've got Ben Trevoivich in the side. You know, it's the sort of decision that would take

huge balls at manly of all places and Jake has not only been an inspirational player,

but he's the heart and soul of the team. You know, he's the heart and soul of the club,

they're the heart and soul of the club, but whether or not they are the future is the question.

And so if C-Bold was to make that call and change things, there's every chance in the world

it upsets the Apple card or it becomes something that can flick a switch inside. You know what I

mean? Because if there's other players looking there and they're thinking themselves, well, you know,

someone say deserves to start here. Why isn't he getting a go? You want your coach to show leadership

there. So yeah, it's a tricky one, and you'd hate to be in that situation, but mate, that's why

they get paid the big bucks. I wonder if merely very spoken to somebody. I remember the old

story about Roy Masters when you left West to go to some Georgian and he was tapped on the

shoulder very early in the season and Roy said that not another word was said spoken until

the end of the season and the end of the season he moved on. I wonder if that's what's happened to

you mainly. I don't think I don't think anyone would have been told at this stage. You know,

like C-Bold sees himself. It's been mentioned previously, you know, that he could become a general

manager and that sort of stuff. I've had a conversation with him and he's been outspoken about

the fact he wants to be a coach. He wants to be a career coach and it's an awful thing. You know,

I've said it to people. People pull you up on the street some time and they say, you know,

why are you so hard against coach? He wants to see a get coach get sacked. Coaches are paid

huge money. You know, like there's a lot of people out there in the world who have tough jobs,

who face pressure every day and they're not on the money the coaches are. You look at paramedics,

you look at policemen and all these different people that have to, you know, do tough jobs in

the world. The coaching in our role is a privilege position at a highly paid position and with

it comes pressure and that's just, you know, unfortunate. The unfortunate reality is if you don't

win your job becomes under pressure and that's the situation he faces at the moment. He's had

time to get his legs under the desk and clear out and get that team firing and so is

paid up at the cowboys and so, you know, it's their time to shine.

Very good. Crawls every time I come in here, I sit beside you and I feel like I learn a lot

more about rugby leagues. So hopefully everybody else who's watching agrees with me and

talk to me tomorrow. Thanks very much. We'll see you then. Bye-bye.

Chances are you're about to lose for free and confidential support, call the number on the

screen or visit the website.