Saturday Scrum | The Saturday Scrum is back! The Broncos and Roosters in trouble and a PNG Chiefs coach is not far away | Triple M NRL

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Here's Tony Squires.

Hello and welcome everybody.

It's sensational.

I'll be back with you after a break over summer.

My name is Peter Tony Squires.

I was made the high and much way, Graham.

Dave Ricchio returns to the fall.

Welcome, my friend.

Good to be back, Tony.

Good to be back on Saturdays with the boys.

Of course, for the rest of you, you are going to show things to him.

We'll also come here.

He's gone to Sunday.

That's basically how he can coach his kid soccer team on Saturday afternoon.

Of course, Michael Chamus is no longer with us.

He's GM football at the PNG chief.

So if you have any aspirations to get into the executive part of Rugby League.

Yeah, well, there's always a future, isn't there?

If Chami can do it, anyone can do it.

I'm joking.

We'll have a chat with him in roughly one hour.

Somehow, have we been, gentlemen?

Fantastic, Tony.

It's great to have the footy back.

Obviously, very lucky.

I mean, I needed it to travel over to Vegas for the season opener.

But it was nice last night just to have some dinner at home and sit on the couch with my boys

and watch two games of footy.

Just an observation for round one.

I know the NRL draw.

It's always going to be perfect just because the amount of footy games we play

and the amount of teams in the competition.

But I think they've got it right, round one.

Like some of the contests we had.

Melbourne and Parramatta, we've all there.

Shenanigans in the offseason.

Penderefuppet.

The Broncos.

Even today's footy, we have Josh Hernandez first.

Game is the head coach of the times.

I'm against his old club, Cornala, and then Jamal Forty facing camera.

Yes.

It's fantastic.

Yeah, no, it's good.

It's been great.

I loved it so far.

Vegas was absolutely outstanding.

I thought the Super League fans really created an awesome atmosphere there.

And the games of footy, of course, were great.

As we know, Golden Point.

But look, I'm just happy the leagues back.

I'm done with cricket now.

I'm looking forward to getting some footy enemy build.

Unfortunately, my team didn't go too close.

Well, their season is, of course, officially over.

It's not 50 points.

Wait a second.

I'm just getting 50 points to Melbourne, which means statistically,

they can't win the premiership.

No team has ever done it forever.

Having been beaten by 50 points, all had conceding 50 points.

But as I said on Thursday night,

because if you do go on and win the preseason challenge,

that no avoids anything like 50 point plus game.

So they've gone on.

That's an asterisk.

They won the preseason.

And the last team that won the preseason challenge,

what happened to them?

They won the comp.

Okay.

So there you go. Watch this space, people.

Yeah.

Watch this.

You can't get point.

But you should.

But I was just trying to figure out who won the last preseason challenge.

Yeah.

I was.

I was.

I was.

I was.

I was.

I was.

I don't know.

Much about the preseason.

Yeah.

In 2001, of course, they got beaten 49 30 in around 22 and came back.

I think that's the closest you've got to.

Let's just go back to Vegas very quickly.

Now, Waiter, you took family with you this time?

Yeah. This year was different again.

I've been lucky with Vegas, to be honest.

The first year I went, recently retired.

And I really had a crack at having a good time over there.

I was so much fun with the footy last year.

The sharks were a part of the trip.

So a bit more footy orientated.

Still had a great time with that sharky's crew.

And then this year with my wife and kids.

And I was blown away again just by the city.

And about how much fun you can have.

No matter what circumstance you're in, there's just something for everyone.

I suppose with the kids, there might be a bit of an age cap in terms of.

I was saying my boys to the circus circus, which is like an arcade and roll coasters.

Theme park all within a casino.

And they loved it.

But maybe if you get to 14, 15, 16 and you don't want to do what the little kids want to do it.

But you can't do what that old want to do.

Maybe that's a bit of a.

Yeah.

A couple of steps away from the gambling bit.

And a drinky.

But again, fantastic time.

We did a way the week before as well.

So plenty of R&R and ready to rip into the 40 season.

Beautiful.

So I took my oldest last year, but he was underage.

But he just hung around.

He was 19 last year.

But I'm having an hour whether to take the rest of the crew next year.

If the mighty blue and golds go over.

That's the tip.

That is the tip.

So hopefully they'll be over there with the West Tigers.

And who else?

So there's a dolphin's left.

Titans left and so to the Melbourne.

Someone's going to miss out.

And then even the birthbed.

So then what happens here?

Hmm.

What happens in round in season five of Vegas?

Repeat repeat teams.

Repeat teams.

Yep.

Yep.

And to be honest, the in our alarm ruling out repeat teams next year.

Oh, okay.

Such is the appetite for IE the roosters.

They're pretty keen to go back again.

Oh, really?

Yep.

What about their fans?

Will they go over this time?

Well, it depends on if they performed last like they did last night.

They may not.

Well, that's the thing.

At some point you think, oh, the quality of the game is some important.

Maybe it should be, you have to be in the top eight to get to go to Vegas.

But this is all about dragging those fans.

That's what it's all about.

Creating that atmosphere within the at the stadium.

Yeah.

You know, what people want to see back here on TV is a full house.

Well, they get 45,000 again this year.

So look, yeah, I don't, I don't really think it matters on where you finish on the ladder.

Well, you might be buying a premiums.

But that doesn't necessarily seem to you.

Your fans want to travel out of Vegas.

Well, we've got good games with three or the four teams who have featured no in near the top eight.

Yeah.

Exactly.

So I reckon just fan base is important.

So they're the site.

Look, you got West Tigers huge fan base, Parameter Reels, massive fan base, Melbourne.

They'll travel.

So it depends on who the fourth side is going to go.

The bigger picture play here, fellas, is the NRL's appetite to help prop up the English.

And, and that's where we will head down the path of a real potential season opener in London.

And, and that would not that doesn't eliminate Vegas.

That would mean a double header in, in, in quotation marks, your global round start to the season where it's London and Vegas.

I'm going to go London Vegas.

Can I just say?

We can.

Explain to somebody these after.

From somebody who wasn't invited to the Vegas experiment.

And just sat at home quite bitterly.

You're obviously out on much my day away.

Not my day away.

I imagine.

But from that outside point of view, does it really shift the needle of what's going on in the US?

In terms of the, you, you think the US is, they believe in it's America first.

And if it's not invented in America, it's not there.

So the game itself or even the gambling element of it, are, are we pushing this?

Just on a spectator's point of view at the game, I did notice there was a lot more,

like I could hear a lot more American accents at the game.

Yeah.

I don't know what that we went viewer-wise on TV or anything like that.

But I definitely, there was a lot more American accents watching the footy.

That this year that I thought than, than previous years.

So this, this was the first year of the three years that the NRL reported a $2 million win for in revenue.

So they, they actually made money on this trip.

That's the first time.

And second of that is, look, one of the big plays here is the Watch NRL app.

Yep.

That's what, that's the, the attempt to, of appeal to the US market of where the NRL want to play.

They want, they have to buy that app, right?

So the more, the more eyeballs watching Vegas, there's a more chance of that app being purchased.

And that's where the NRL want to try and make some money.

Again, like I've been asked this so many times, what type of impact is the NRL trying to have?

We're not trying to have another team playing out of the States.

You know, we're not trying to scout talent from the States.

It's not about that.

It's about eyeballs on the game and trying to create a new revenue stream through broadcasting.

And, and as you said, gambling.

That's a major factor.

But also that Watch NRL app.

Well, the impact for me is, is seen here in Sydney and in Australia.

When you, we have other strong sporting codes, you know, at the start of their season as well.

And again, I'm obviously pretty secular here in Sydney and it's all mostly rugby league.

But it feels to me that only sport everyone is talking about is rugby league when it starts over in Vegas.

It's such a big event.

It's on the calendar now.

Everyone knows that it's coming.

And as we launch into our season, rugby league is, is a thing on everyone's mind.

And I love that for the game.

I love how strong it is at the moment.

It's probably the strongest it's ever been.

And a Vegas, you know, that draw and that excitement and, and that event is one of the reasons why.

Wade makes a really good point.

And Tony, you may see this differently because you, you know, you're a swanning at heart.

But I really had no idea.

I'm a dragon at heart.

I'm a swanning because they also were red and white but going there.

Yeah, absolutely.

I really had no idea they were launching the season.

Yeah.

At the SCG, the other night.

I don't know how much you guys tapped in.

I'm a sports journalist.

I didn't see that much PR and promotion and hype and excitement that he, the AFL season is.

I never, I really didn't see it.

Yeah.

Well, they were all here.

Of course, you know, Andrew Dylan was in Sydney.

Yeah.

There was a lot going on with the AFL as well.

But you, but you're right.

What about the London cog of that wheel then?

Well, this is so pivotal as far as the English game is concerned.

The NRL are absolutely concerned about the state of the game.

And it will come via whether the NRL takes a stake in the English super league to own and operate the game to keep it going.

So I think it has to happen to be there.

When you say, when you say state of the game, no, no money in the game.

No, massive debt.

Yep.

Declining crowds.

Pitiful broadcast rights.

As far as the revenue that they earn there.

And it would take clearly the, the savvy stewardship of Perth of the Landies and Andrew Abdo to get in there and try and resurrect it.

And it's a real shame that the game over there is the way it is at the moment because the fans are amazing.

And we've seen the impact.

Our fans have had on Vegas.

We've had four teams over there now, four super league teams.

And to be fair, they, they prop up the excitement when we're in town.

We know what to expect out of our Australian based fans when they travel and obviously the wires when they're over there.

But the English fans, they just do it different and in a lot of the ways they do it better.

The way they sing and they get around their club and they support, you know, the team that they love.

It's amazing.

And you can't help we get caught up in that excitement when you there.

Even so I wasn't working until the second game.

And I was like, no, let's go down early with the family.

We wouldn't watch these English teams and their fans get, get amongst it because the songs that they sing is just hard not to get excited about the footy.

They were absolutely brilliant.

In the next three months, we'll know where, where the NRL stands as far as the English game is concerned.

They're going to make a decision on whether they want to buy a steak.

Take control and start to run the English game.

The London part, though, is also important because even though the game is, you know, it's big enough in England, London still is kind of that big area that we haven't conquered.

Weirdly.

I think one of the key factors here, guys, and we see it where Antonio would have picked it up on the coverage.

The empty seats start to pop up in the coverage in the third game.

I think one of the major factors here is it's the three games, right?

And a lot of people are touring for the first time to Vegas.

They don't have eight hours to spend inside a stadium.

They need to maximize their weekend and realize that, okay, maybe one, two games enough.

Now let's go.

And you can go watch it on the sports bars, get it in the casinos.

And I think the three games, as much as, you know, everything we've just spoken about, the English game, that's the problem.

It's a marathon effort to stay the distance inside the stadium.

Always at the end of a big week, too, because people do enjoy themselves.

They're in Vegas, don't they?

Yeah, we're all too.

Did you have an idea, actually, and enjoy themselves, didn't you?

No, I let my hair down.

Yes. Well, you're in Vegas. That's what it's all about.

You've got your savior money to go over there and splurge and do bits and pieces.

That's what Vegas is all about.

It's about celebrating what is there.

Celebrating splurging.

Celebrating splurging.

Hello, Jean, doing whatever, just letting you hear me.

I'm going to sign now.

It's just going to say Vegas.

Celebrate what's here.

A lot of people do other events while they're there as well.

There's fees there. There's always a corner there.

We took the kids to the ice hockey.

It was only a second division game, but because we couldn't get the Vegas Knights, they weren't playing all that.

And then even Charlie and Curtis, they went to watch a basketball game.

So if you're going that far...

Well, that's what I'm filthy about this year, because usually I'll play in something.

And this year, because I was over there for a shorter period this time.

So the excitement levels were stayed higher for a longer period before you get to settle down and go,

you know, I'm going to do some stuff now, like go and do things.

But deaf leopard were over there.

Oh, yeah.

And I didn't go and see them.

Last year, I went and saw Garth Brooks.

He was outstanding.

Deaf leopard, I thought I got it.

Yeah, see, deaf leopard didn't do it.

Didn't do it.

Quite a cleft of your taste.

So you go from the country of Garth Brooks to the more heavy...

For one arm drummer.

Yeah, until one arm drummer.

I would love to go and watch him smash the drums.

Oh, I love deaf leopard.

And I didn't go and see it.

That's out of hysteria.

Any charges, big injuries at all to report?

Yeah, look, no significant charges at this point of time.

He's an injury-focused Sydney roosters.

They lost Spencer Lenu in the warm-up of last night's game

against the New Zealand Warriors.

Now Trent Robinson said in his post-match press conference

that they don't believe it's serious.

Hopefully it's only a minor hamstring.

He will go for scan Spencer Lenu.

But clearly, it was a significant blow.

The roosters are on their way back now from Auckland.

So as soon as they touch down, I'll get another update.

There's another serious one here for the roosters.

And he was an off-season recruit.

It's Tommy Talow.

In the New South Wales Cup, he went down

with a non-contact knee injury.

And those who know, when I say those words,

that's never good.

Again, on his way back for scans.

And hopefully, hopefully it's better news than what they fear,

which is a torn ACL.

Warriors A.O.K.

Penruth Panthers A.O.K.

And so to the Broncos.

All right, let's get into the footy.

The Panthers 26.

The Broncos didn't get over the line.

If you thought that the Panthers

have won four of the last five premiership,

we'll put an EQ in the rack.

They're not.

They are back, baby.

Yeah, they were great last night.

The Panthers just,

a really controlled, disciplined performance,

did all the little things.

I probably made a few more errors than they would have liked.

But they can kind of expect it with some teams

to sell in the season.

Some errors that just happened under the fatigue

and match fitness.

But they really didn't give the Broncos an opportunity.

Just controlled the field position.

Nothing clear.

He was fantastic with how we got his team around the park

and just suffocated the Broncos.

I don't think there's too much of a concern

for the Broncos just yet.

They've obviously had a big preparation leading

into into the round one.

We rarely see teams.

And our old teams come back after that preseason challenge.

Oh, sorry, the World Club challenge.

And flying on all cylinders.

So not quite out there best the Broncos,

but they'll improve.

Yeah, round one.

Nothing to panic about.

But I did like the way the Panthers went about the business.

They just starved the Broncos of the ball,

starved Reese Walsh of the ball.

I don't even think he cracked 100m running meters in that game,

which is for a fullback.

Compared to Dylan Edwards,

who is in the game.

That's what I like seeing Dylan Edwards get back to his best.

Because he got a bit of stick last year

for not probably being at his best.

But he's hit the ground running round one.

And he's going to hopefully has a great season.

Your man, Tommy Jenkins.

Oh, milky.

Milky Jenkins.

Late inclusion.

How good was he?

So seriously, he's the poor bugger to miss out on those games

you missed out on last year.

Though he gets the job done.

He gets the job done.

Does it.

Well, safe as a bank.

Can read the game.

Look, I love watching the milky.

Hey, boys, boys, you're very, very chilled and relaxed

about the Broncos.

I knew this was coming.

But it's round one.

It's round one.

It's round one.

It's round one.

They're considered 56 points in their last two appearances this season.

No concern.

They're good.

They're good.

Yeah, it's only round one.

Do we really worry about?

Well, I've never played in a World Club challenge.

But do we worry?

Like, is that a concern?

Like, it doesn't mean anything in regards to the 2026 NRL season.

No, you went until I go in for a paramedic.

I want to go in about for a bit.

So I'm prepared to take you on board about the World Club challenge.

But where I'm coming from is, are you satisfied with your defensive processes

and your systems to be lurking 56 points in two games?

From the premise.

It's obviously not ideal.

But you come up against the side in the panthers.

They're like there.

They're no slashes.

They've won with that one.

A hundred percent.

A plenty of grand finals.

And I think they're in a 40% position.

The Broncos got.

So that's going to take us far.

They were.

Well, they were.

We heard it in some of the mistakes.

Yeah.

But even things like, you know, how do you kick the ball up the ass here front row?

That was so good.

Like that is.

I haven't seen that in years.

Like it.

Like there wasn't even the fact that he saw it.

And it wasn't a small person.

It was a savior.

Will listen.

That he.

That reswashed.

That reswashed kicked it into.

But he didn't have to kick the ball though.

Either.

It was like you just.

I'm just going to kick it here.

And he's like you did it on purpose.

Yeah.

That's where.

That was the Broncos night for me.

And I hear what Dave said.

I do hear what you're saying with the Broncos.

I was obviously not ideal.

And.

But concerning.

I'm not too concerned.

They got plenty of time to.

And.

Steady the ship.

And I can.

When you match the teams are low.

Just because Broncos had a different preparation.

It doesn't guarantee that they can't win the result.

But you look at the two teams.

Penner have had.

Week after week after week.

In Penner.

Preparing on the.

In their home.

Just.

Consistency.

Getting ready for round one.

And the Broncos have.

And they've had a lot to deal with.

The travel.

Maybe their focus hasn't always been on round one.

They had to.

They went over to England and they came back.

And they had to hire staff.

So it doesn't necessarily go be like guarantee the result.

That preparation.

But you could see.

A result of that happening.

That's not surprising.

But realistically.

How quick are you to jump to the.

Well, the pain has story.

What's the real reason behind that?

What does all this mean to merge?

All of those things.

Tone.

That story will remain.

They're the entire season.

And it.

And the loss is absolutely will put in an even more.

Bigger spotlight on the Broncos.

But I can't run away from the fact that.

In the dead of the night.

A press release or a.

Sorry.

Michael Cariannis from the telegraph broke the story that

Pain House was going to see our Sydney.

There was no.

Combined collaboration between player and club.

To come together and say listen.

Let's manage this.

Let's get this out there.

I'm leaving.

I just can't run away from the fact.

That there's more to this story.

They can't just be clean.

Can't just be.

But it wasn't clean.

It wasn't.

It wasn't.

As an outside looking.

It looked clean to me.

Like bang.

I've signed with Sias.

Oh, well done.

No fanfare.

No.

We're talking about.

We're talking about the best front.

Oh, yeah.

I get that.

But he's just want to.

And he's probably maybe going, you know what?

I've done that.

I've achieved that.

That goal for me at the Broncos to win a grand final.

I'm going to try and win one at another club.

Oh, with great respect to the West Tigers.

This is how I would see a player leave the West Tigers.

In the dead of the night.

No press release.

Broken biojournalist instead of the club and player managing

the message.

And I'm talking about the Brisbane Broncos here.

Yeah.

You don't lose the best front roller.

Without some type of management of the process.

And a collaborative approach.

I firmly believe that.

I thought it was.

I thought it was.

It was odd.

It was odd.

And it suggested.

It just suggests.

Or wasn't.

It did seem a bit weird when.

Like I started to think of it.

This is a bit.

When Reynolds came out straight after and announced his retirement.

I'm thinking, well, have they kind of lent on him a little bit to say.

I've never.

There's backfliped on the whole.

They're so clean.

Oh, it was.

It's good to have you back.

I'm very easily influenced.

You know that.

So if you make a great case, you know, I'm on your side.

So I'll be listening.

I'll be listening.

Certainly, Matt was looking after Painhouse during the game.

We've got one minute, 53 second break.

Yeah.

Straight back on.

Well, well, there is.

And look, he's not, you know, he's an elite athlete.

Yeah.

But there is the suggestion that while he's now going to see us, Broncos.

You know, well, we'll be getting every juice out of the lemon.

We can.

Uh, he's saying that when pain did come from the field, he was disappointed to be comfortable.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

He wanted to keep going.

I will.

You won't catch me questioning the work ethic and training, um, aspect of Painhouse.

Is attitude towards wanting to win the Premiership at the Broncos.

But it's just Wayne.

Is it Wayne Bennett?

Is that is that all it is?

Is that how good Wayne?

I don't know.

I've been lucky enough to be coached by Wayne, you know, with the kangaroo.

So I don't, but that's ain't, it's a short period.

You don't really get to know him too much.

He's a, but I, I thoroughly enjoy being coached by him.

But is he, does he have that much sway, sway, point power?

Well, well, obviously, yes, still.

Good answer.

Good answer.

Well, again, the fact that no other club sort of came into the frame.

Well, I know there was R 360 talks or whatever with, with rugby.

And it's not a surprise to me that pain didn't is leaving the Broncos.

I never thought he'd finish his career there because there's always chat about him and his contract

and, you know, possibly going somewhere else.

But I agree with Dave, how happened so quick with no input from either player or club

with a statement or a joint message to the fans and, and, and, you know, Brisbane?

Is it a DC?

So was it a DC?

Oh, that was worth it.

That was worth it.

That was worth it.

Sometimes, see, sometimes that's sport and the NRL and football clubs need to decide

whether how professional they want to be.

You know, some, we try and compare our code to the US sports all the time.

And, and I just feel as though there's days where we are an elite competition

afforded with professionalism and on an unbelievable trajectory.

And then there's other days where I think this is amateur route.

Really?

Yeah.

I'm talking about the best front rower in the game.

But how is it?

How is that amateur?

At the Premier Club.

At the Premier Club of the NRL.

Now, the Brisbane Broncos will tell you they are a money-making machine.

Yeah.

They are the biggest franchise.

We want to be the number one code code and club in Australia.

And, suddenly, their best player leaves the club and it's broken.

Who is going to be your contract anyway?

Well, great.

Yeah.

So, I don't really have an issue with it at all that he's done it so cleanly.

But that's, I like to see that.

I know what you're saying.

I know exactly what Dave's saying.

Because if he's that good, how, I know what Dave's conference was.

Well, I couldn't.

Well, I couldn't.

Malcolm McGuire.

CEO Dave Donahey.

Painhouse.

Sit down.

Organiser press conference.

Right.

Sit down and have every single question thrown at them.

There and then for 40 minutes on the decision on why I'm leaving the Broncos.

Look, seriously, is it that hard to organize?

Now, the Broncos will argue that they will 24 hours away from jumping on a flight to the World Club challenge.

Well, you find a way.

You find a way to have a press conference because it is so significant because why?

Because every single time the Broncos lose this year,

we'll be asking questions.

Is it the painhouse effect having an effect on their performance?

Well, and when you don't have that process or at least that transparency,

then all the other questions come up because you have transparency.

You haven't spoken to anyone or let anyone know the process or the reasoning.

So all the questions come up.

Is there a breakdown in their relationship?

Is he unhappy with the Broncos?

The players on the other.

I think that's where the room is.

And speculation comes from.

Now, if you want to just.

So we just straight down the bow.

Just be up front and answer the questions before they get asked.

Yeah.

Oh, I'll take that on board.

Will said.

You were such a.

I just want that.

I just like the clean break, though.

I love the clean break.

Well, it's not clean.

Obviously, there's nothing to be.

You obviously don't want to be there.

I don't want to do it.

No breaks the story.

I see where you're coming from.

Why does he not want to be there?

What is that reason?

Well, I don't think I like pain knows that.

There's a whole family stuff that's going on.

There are layers.

There are layers.

And don't get me wrong.

I'm happy to take pain asses word.

He absolutely.

He's got layers going on in his family.

The none of us would know about.

Yeah.

And there's the element of moving to Sydney.

There's the element of Wayne Bennett.

There's Dave of Feeder and Latrell Mitchell getting his ear.

What?

What?

Doze of Feeder.

What's wrong with him?

In a minute.

You checked.

You caught up with Wayne Bennett, didn't you?

Just today, I think.

Yeah.

On the way.

On the way to the M studio this morning.

He held these press conference.

I've got to say.

I'll clean these wood.

He's in a good mood.

Really?

He's in it.

Look at his stable.

I know.

Yeah, that's why he's in a good mood.

They're all.

You get the lopsided smile going.

Yeah.

Yeah.

He had a clint in his eye when he started to talk about his left edge.

Left edge.

That's all we're all talking about the edge of the moment, aren't we?

What a pick up line.

It's the same thing we're talking about.

It's the right edge.

If you were the right edge of the South Sydney rabbit.

He's kind of sitting there going, hey, we're here.

We're just as.

We're just as good as the left edge.

But they're not.

Well, but how would you feel?

Are you understanding?

I wouldn't care.

I don't know.

I'd have a chat.

Let's pump it up this Friday.

No.

I wouldn't care.

I think I'll win us games.

Just get after it.

The middle wins games, mate.

You know that.

Not the edge is available.

We'll come back.

Go the was.

All right.

The Warriors 42.

The Rooster's 18.

Before we get into just how well the Warriors played in their first up.

Performance at home.

Let's get the ugly bit out of the way.

David Rukio.

The story emerging that there were death threats to several of the Roosters players.

Post game online.

And there's a reaction obviously from the club.

Yeah.

Absolutely.

It's pretty sad post script.

I must say to this performance by the Roosters in the comment section.

Of the school graphic posted by the Chooks on their official Insta page.

That took their administration.

Their social media admin person.

To respond to like several negative.

And derogatory comments from fans.

Ultimately.

Shut.

Shutting it down.

Closing it down for the night.

Yep.

Look, the Roosters on their way back from Auckland as we speak.

I can tell you this hasn't been escalated to the inner world.

This point in time.

The inner world will act.

They take this stuff seriously.

The social side of things.

And particularly.

Or comments from Roosters fans just taking it too far on this occasion.

Now the catch the areas I must say.

We don't know entirely if they're all Roosters fans.

Yeah.

So I don't want to throw every Roosters fans out of the bus.

Yeah.

Well, that's the thing with social media.

It could be anyone.

And it's.

Disappointing as always when we see these stories pop up.

But it's.

It's the real toxic side of social media.

I've seen races in the past.

Now.

Death threats.

And you see the criticism that some players have to wear.

And.

I would say every player in almost any code of sport.

Receive.

Some messages in there.

Requires that are just.

Violent.

It's just.

It's just a bad part of social media.

Stupid.

Stupid people.

Did you cop.

We know.

Flack.

Face to face more often.

Well, see, I was in the social media age.

So I was.

You know, you're a Buddha coming off.

But who cares?

Like.

I didn't give a rat.

Yeah.

And if someone gave me a death threat, which they probably have,

I just haven't read it.

I just.

I.

I.

Yeah.

I shouldn't.

I.

I shouldn't laugh.

Sorry.

It's not funny.

They say these things online.

But I.

I think I'd be thick enough skin to ignore that.

I would.

I wouldn't be panicked about it.

I don't think anyone's going to come stalk at my house.

And all that sort of stuff.

But.

They shouldn't be sad.

They shouldn't be sad.

What about when you.

Exiting a field up the tunnel.

Do you remember?

They're just responding.

Brookie was the worst.

Brookie was the worst.

Going up the tunnel because I had that old.

Cage.

Cage.

Yeah.

All that.

Get into you there.

Massively.

Massively.

But I said one day.

The eels fans gave it to us one day.

And stupidly.

I said.

I think it was a newspaper report.

Well, come out and do a better job.

Oh, my God.

The backfire on that.

And I.

I just went.

Why was I saying?

Why did I say that?

Why did I say that to my fans or our fans?

Come out and try and do a better job when these people are paying their hard earned.

To come and watch this play.

And that was a real, you know, moment for me, regardless.

Like in how I should treat the fans, you know.

Well, it was.

It was an out of my Brian Lashy that had the durability.

Yes.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

You're trying your best and you're working your back sides off.

And we had a bad season that year.

We were coming off some horrid losses at home.

And the fans were still turning out, but they were booners coming off.

And rightly so.

Some of our performances were well below where they needed to be.

And I just, I just had the sheets.

And I said, and it was only took, it took one line, like half.

Yeah.

Coming out and do a better job.

And I went, oh.

And as soon as I read it, I went, oh, you're an idiot.

Yeah.

What a dick.

I would say in terms of four our fans.

When you're a player and you don't perform and you don't get out there

and live up or play the way you're supposed to.

No one's harder on themselves than players.

Yeah.

And the teammates, the accountability and video sessions.

So the players feel it.

So then when you do happen to, you are feeling shitty and you're down to yourself.

Then you go on a social media.

Well, that's that will be hard now.

Yeah.

Because it's doubled down on it.

You know, social media is a part of our lives nowadays.

And the players are obviously involved in it heavily.

But it helps to boost their profile.

So to go into your DMs and you'll see you made.

But I wasn't worried about my social media after I had a bag game.

I was worried to look at my phone for the message of the home.

I was just like, turn the phone over and slide it away for half an hour.

Yeah.

That was my mum.

Because she was the one who used to wait outside the shed.

And I took forever to shower and do whatever.

And she'd always be there waiting.

And there'd be people patting you on the back going, yeah, honey.

What a great game.

And I'd get to my mum goes, oh, you played like a buster.

Yes.

She was always the good leveler, my old girl.

Yeah.

Always the good leveler.

Oh, I love it.

All right.

Well, yeah.

To the wrist performance in a sec.

But let's be positive.

First, the Warriors were terrific.

Because that said, first up at home for them for the season.

They played a good game of food.

He tammed bored.

It was terrific from the beginning.

That first try.

And at an off he went.

Yeah.

Fantastic.

It was great to see him play really well.

Yeah.

Ten.

Obviously he had a couple of tough years there at the Toys.

He transitioned last year to the Warriors.

But really stepped up, controlled the team, kicked well, ran the ball, found a try.

He was fantastic.

And still a Warriors team with no Metcalf, no Mitch Barnett.

So it was a great performance for them in front of their home fans to kick off the season.

And a world as a win.

They were really physical individuals.

That's what I noticed to you.

Yeah.

They really, when they had their opportunities to get stuck into the roosters when they were coming off their own line.

They didn't miss.

They were in there in three and fours.

And the roosters had no, they had no answer to it.

But they played like Aaron Clark.

I thought the Fisher Harris.

I thought it was absolutely outstanding.

Yeah.

Because you know last year I thought he was, he was starting to notice respect.

He's a well class player.

But he was starting to look a bit tied.

The leg speed kind of was slowing down a little bit.

But last night's performance was absolutely outstanding.

Who else was it?

Jackson Ford.

Jackson Ford.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Okay.

Big lacking.

What's he do?

He comes off the bench, scores a try.

Yeah.

Like he was like it was at a training paddock.

But the roosters never looked like they were got settled.

They couldn't get into a routine.

The roosters mind you.

Again.

I thought, um, the man had a possession too that the, that the Warriors had, particularly early on that.

There was good 10, 15 minutes of opening set, that opening half where it was just all Warriors.

Yeah.

If you're a Warriors fan, but you need to be excited with what Andrew Webster and that team is building.

I know they've faded last year, but for the majority of the year, they're in the top four.

But if you take your best half in Luke May calf, he missed it back into the season.

You take one of your four leaders in your captain out of any team.

There's a potential there for you to fade as the games get more important and more important at that back end of the season.

So, you know, they'd be disappointed with the way they finished last year, but they would have learnt so much.

And we probably underestimate them a lot being over here in Sydney.

And they don't get the year time that they probably deserve with, you know, much of the Sydney clubs around us.

But they'd be quietly confident in their team and their squad and, you know, their hopes of where their season can go.

I like the half's combination of Chanel Harris to Vita and, and they're just, because Tanner's got that ability to just control things.

I thought he controlled the game very well.

And Harris to Vita, he's the one that shows a bit of spark, but a little bit of rivalry.

Right, a little bit of lival, lival, lival.

Lively, lival.

Lively, lival.

He's lively.

He's lively.

So that's a good, it was a good combination.

Yeah, good combo.

And you've got to give Tanner Boyd some credit.

Last year, he was approached by the Titans to come back.

And he knocked them back.

And he was sitting in New South Wales Cup and was such of the belief that he was enjoying the warrior's system.

And the belief that Andrew Webster was giving him that, when you get in, you're going to, you'll get your crack.

Now Metcalfs over the sideline, hopefully, are around five, six return for Metcalf.

But he's been, he deserves credit for sticking, staying to course, because so many players just jump ship.

Yeah.

And second to my point is this Mitch Barnett situation where the warrior's, it has been put out there.

There's a bit of a narrative that the warriors will only release Mitch Barnett if they get something out of it.

That's not the case.

That's what I heard that the other week.

It's not the case, Andy.

They are so acutely aware of the personal circumstances with Mitch Barnett.

They're not going to stand in, in his way of a release.

And where I'm getting to is they don't necessarily, yes, they'd like to do some business with the Buying Club.

But it's not the be all in and all of the deal.

To the point of which, what we saw last night, they've got so much belief in what's coming through.

Demetric, Varmunga, Jacob Blaben, Lekker, Halisima.

Like there's some, they're not stressed of Jackson Ford's another great example.

They're not stressed about their forward stocks if they don't get something to replace Mitch Barnett with.

It's a good little period here for them as well, because probably Harris and Boyd, they both know they're playing for their position.

He comes back into the team, but he can do both roles.

He can play seven or it can be that live wire six because of his speed.

And Harris, he has so much value to a team as that utility.

But it's a value of a utility going to go backwards because of the six man bench.

So you want people competing for positions all the time.

That makes a club strong and brings out the best in everyone.

So they're in a really strong position.

Just on the chalks.

Seriously, they need to fix their discipline.

Well, indeed, and on that point, let's have listened to Trent Robinson who talked about the discipline, but also about the penalty count.

Have a listen.

Yeah, I think, I mean, things will go against you.

I think 11-2, you know, the opposition apply a lot of pressure.

It depends on the referee about how they determine those.

And 11-2 is quite incredible in our game.

Then we had all, you know, video ref decisions and all of that.

But as I go back to, you know, depending on what team you want to be is how much of a swing against you.

Do you let in that many points?

Not particularly happy with the officials.

And I must say the team were fairly vocal with the referee during the game as well.

Yeah, Teddy doesn't want to chat with the ref.

But look, you can tell Trent Robinson is picking his words carefully there.

And I reckon in the back of his mind is it's only round one.

Now, if that's round 10 and they copped that type of penalty count,

and what I'm hearing is not too happy with the officiating, I reckon he goes pretty hard.

It was a bad loss though, wasn't it?

Like 40-42-18.

Like again, the roosters, a lot of people have tipped to win the comp.

Yeah, yeah. So 42 points.

Yeah, that's the loss meant to lend you in the warm up.

Yeah.

The hamstring problem.

But what about them?

Everybody's talking about the central plank that halves with Daily Cherry Evans, obviously arriving.

Well, I think that's going to take a bit of time, that combination.

They don't play a traditional structure of the roosters.

They're more of a system-based team.

And it can work when you get the momentum and, you know,

when you're dominating the field position because you're playing so fast over the ad line,

when you have two running halves or two halves like Sam Walker and DCU

who can identify, you know, where the ball needs to get to, it can work.

But when you're on the back foot, it's, and learning that system like DCE is,

it's a little bit harder.

I just don't know how patient you can be with that combination

because they are the roosters.

And DCE plays 300 and 70-old games.

And Sam is not a rookie either.

So it's a tough one.

They weren't at their best last season.

Listen, they don't win a lot of games this season.

But that team that they have, when they get it right, they'll get it right

and really be an issue for some teams.

But just wasn't their best last night.

And there's a few areas that they need to improve pretty quickly.

Boys, the feedback from last season and the previous seasons,

about ultimately why it mainly made this decision to let Daily go,

was he wasn't the dominant voice on the footy field.

The lead communicator, Turbo did a lot of that.

Now he goes to the roosters and you guys are much better served than me.

But they looked like they lacked a leader.

They were sideways at times last night.

And it's that Ken Daily be the guy that steers this team through his communication.

I think you'll get there.

Sorry, I thought they were a little bit sideways.

They kept running each other into the touch line a little bit.

I was really squaring up with that.

That also came from Teddy also running a few over his lines as well.

But I think that'll happen.

Like DCE's played a heap of footy.

He's a world class player.

It'll click.

It'll click for him.

It's round one.

But he's played enough footy.

Both halves are played enough footy now to get it right.

I just think they are a little bit too similar in the fact that they can both.

They both like to crab across the field and just try and find something to turn someone under.

They're not.

That's where they found a little bit of joy.

They're not traditional halves combo.

Are they really with halves?

There's a young and a young.

There's a steady player.

They're very similar in the way they play.

Yeah.

But it can still work.

Of course it can.

It can still work once they understand each other and start and play more football.

But it sometimes takes time.

No matter how experienced you are because you're playing against other good players as well.

Good opposition who, if you're not at your best, they can hurt you as well.

I just, it's hard because of DCN.

The roosters, the big club, the big signing.

A lot of expectation.

How patient can you afford to be?

And how long can you keep Sevilla?

Well, he's the one.

And with the extended bench, it's going to be really interesting when we get to that game and Sevilla's required to sit on the bench for, you know,

some injuries through the week or whatever it is, the example is he'll be on the bench at some point.

And then he'll come into that game.

And I'm really keen to see his impact on the roosters.

He is.

So I'm like, I think he's a brilliant player.

And I know they probably had this DCE deal bubbling away and it committed to it for a long way out.

And they were really unsure about he goes so well and how he would feed in.

But when he slot in at seven last year, he was perfect.

And he was a perfect combination with Sammy Walker.

He kicked well.

He got the team around the park.

Teddy and it would have been a great young harvest.

Converters keep seeing develop, but they've made that change.

And you know, they need to go with it.

So we just have to wait.

I'm not spitballing here, but could they put him at 13?

I think they could.

Sevilla.

Yeah.

Sevilla on toy.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I have the same issue that you still have right now.

Welcome to Tony's spotting quiz.

Now since we've been away for some time, I thought obviously the best way to go quizzes,

what happened while we weren't at this microphone?

It's a quiz I like to call.

Somebody that I miss.

Somebody that I miss.

What did I miss?

Okay.

Are we ready?

We need your names as your buzzers.

If you could test those for me, please.

Tenerboy.

Yes, there he is.

Good work.

Nathan.

Doctor.

Love it.

All right.

We're ready.

And here we go.

Name the new football GM manager for the...

Doctor.

Yes, Doctor.

I was going to say, if you'd let me answer the question, for the new franchise, the Perth Bears.

David Sharp is the critic.

Yeah, that I knew that I don't need it.

Yeah.

That actually occurred while we were here.

Honestly, don't...

Don't do it.

Don't do it.

Don't do it.

Don't do it.

Let's try to take control of these quizzes.

Let's just...

He spent most of his time while we were here, Mark, which Emma's totalling up scores from the quiz.

Question number two.

What sport did Cook Woods win a gold medal in at the Winter Olympics?

For Australia.

Nathan.

Yes, Nathan.

I'm going to say...

Slalom.

Oh, he shoots.

On the snowboard.

In the round.

Correct.

Ish.

Mogels.

Ah, bugger.

Mogels.

Who did Steve Smith sledge by saying he only bowed fast when the game was over?

During the actions.

Come on.

Yes.

In English, bowler.

Correct.

I'm going to give it to you.

You're going to give it to Dinda that was Joffra Archer.

That's right, Joffra.

All right, described as the dumbest shot of the Ashes.

Who was bowling when Harry Brook, when he hold out in Sydney.

The dumbest shot of the Ashes.

Boy, I'm just going to say Stark.

He got most of the wickets.

I've got no chance.

It was a manless level shot.

Who won the BBL final?

Oh, it's nice.

Nice.

He was on a...

I was drinking beer.

He's in Vietnam at this time.

Why did you say he's over there?

I didn't even check who won that BBL final.

Was it the...

Oh.

Perth?

Yes, it was.

It was the BBL 6.

Who did Carlos Alcarez beat in the Australian Open Men's Final?

Who tells?

Nathan.

The Joker.

It was the Joker that came in the early age.

It was the Joker that came in the early age.

It was the Joker that came in the early age.

You guys really don't watch anything else, do you?

I was in the football.

You usually face down on me.

But the last time I watched so much.

So much.

Big bash.

Who was?

Who scored?

OK, here we go.

Back to BBL.

Who scored the opening try of the new NRL season?

Fletcher shot point.

Correct.

Fletcher shot point.

It was.

Who is this?

And what did he do?

Hey.

Malabaya.

Malabaya.

No.

That is...

That was kind of negative.

He gets it wrong.

Bad bunny at the Super Bowl halftime.

Yes.

It is.

It is.

And finally, who is this legend of broadcasting?

No idea.

Will he give it to Rainbow?

No.

Rainbow.

Rainbow.

Runs in.

Tucked up the boot.

Oh my goodness.

Oh my goodness.

Wonderful chase.

But he's sure.

It came up behind him like a librarian.

He never heard it.

He never heard it.

He never heard it.

He never heard it.

He never heard it.

Everybody else in the library is shouting.

He's been the football.

That is the dulcet times of Dennis' committee.

Dennis' committee.

The great name.

The great name.

The great name.

Donations for TripleM as well as am arresting Pete.

You absolute legend.

This is the Saturday scrum.

The next voice you're about to hear

of course was on this very program

as a leading sports també journalist

Michael Chambers who obviously is now

as general manager football at the PanG Cheves.

He joins us here and now can I mate?

Hello Tone.

It is very accurate.

You said that it was on there.

One year behind he and he's niffed a 3 D and I.

We're gone.

dayb channel.

Two more year.

freedom. I should be worried.

Player power. That's what they did at Paramount

all those years ago and they do it in triple M.

Did you go through a few coaches that back into my career?

They were in 75 years.

Where are you speaking to us from?

I'm driving. I've got a first birthday and I'm on the way

to at the moment. So hopefully the kids in the back

don't embarrass me and we can get through without any

shenanigans in the back seat.

Where's your office officially?

You know, in this next build up to when you actually

come into the competition?

Yes, though, I will move over to PNG next year,

but for the next four months or so, a lot of the work

we've got to do here, tone, players, coaches, staff.

We've got a lot of work to do in Australia.

So I'll go back and forth to PNG over the next 12 months

and then once we all move into the play of Village,

take in the family over and we'll join in the rest of the club.

Has it struck you just the size of the challenge you've accepted?

Oh, yeah, for sure.

Yeah, going over there and you see just how much it means

to the people of PNG, you realise that this is not just

another NRL club, right?

And obviously the people will say what they say about

coming from journalism and whatnot,

but it's a huge challenge, but a huge opportunity as well.

And it's our job in this short term to get the right people

around us to make sure it's going to be a success.

But it's not lost on me to only how big this challenge is.

Hey, Sam, it's Wade Graham here mate.

Congratulations again.

And I'm back in here, okay?

So I think you're going to do a good job.

Just for me, you talk about getting the right people around you

and obviously the head coach is a big part of that.

I'm not going to ask who you're signing,

but how soon do you think you will have a head coach sign

because obviously you need to get into the market

and start putting your roster together?

Yeah, wait, that's not like that's the priority, right?

Sort of, until we have a coach,

a lot of things are on hold.

So I've said it before that the NRL,

as it was with the Perth Fairs,

the NRL will appoint the coach.

That's part of the arrangement.

And I'm working with the NRL at the moment

to go through those candidates and work out who is.

That's sooner because you have to realise

this is not just a normal job, right?

Obviously the ex-NOs and the coaching side of it

is very important, but there's also another aspect to it,

which is having to actually manage a team,

a group of families, kids,

who are all living together 24-7.

So I've been speaking to a lot of people

about what it was like during that COVID bubble

when a lot of guys on the Sunshine Coach,

Penra players particularly,

they absolutely loved their time together

when they were living at Twin Waters.

So we've got a lot of earnings from that

because this isn't a traditional job for a coach.

There's so many other layers to it.

So it's important we get that right.

Yeah, Jamie, just on the players and the families,

how do they work out schooling over there?

Obviously, I know there's going to be schools,

but is it going to be like,

is it going to be within the village, the school,

are we going to go outside of the village?

What's going to happen there?

Yeah, that's one of the options.

I've got three kids that I'm taking over

and one on the way.

So that's important to me as well

and speaking to some players and agents.

It's going to be the most important thing

to the families when deciding to come over.

Now, there's a really good international school over there.

That is definitely an option for the kids and the families.

And the other option, as you said,

behind is whether or not we provide schooling

with inside the resort and the players there.

Now, I mentioned the COVID period.

There were some, you know,

speaking of South Sydney and to the Panthers.

They provided some schooling for the kids.

Now, that was short term, right?

They all sort of saw it as a short term thing,

but that's something we're looking into

whether we're able to provide two, three teachers

to the students inside the village.

I definitely, I definitely think that

that's something the players would like for us to consider.

So we're going through that at the moment,

but the families are the most important thing for us.

I have, in terms of the players

and putting a competitive team together,

I've got no issues that we'll do that.

But unless the families, the wives, the kids,

the partners are all happy.

If the players are going home to unhappy families,

then that's where we're going to have our problem.

So our priorities making sure

that they're enjoying themselves over there.

No, Chemi, mate.

Yeah, this is a big adjustment ride.

This is a big change for you.

So who, in the administrative land,

our side of PVL has been pretty really important

here for you at this point in time.

Just as you start to get your foot out of the desk

and get down to stand, delay the land on what's required.

Yeah, and a good question, Dave.

I think obviously with PVL and Andrew Abdo

appointing me, obviously, those two guys

have picked their brand quite a bit,

but also having been in the game for the last two decades,

you develop a pretty close relationship

with a lot of those clubs.

And unfortunately enough to have guys like Matt Cameron,

Blake Soli, Adam Drewisi, Andrew Lankhaz,

a lot of these guys at different clubs

who are quite influential figures

and had a lot of success,

but also guys outside of administration coaches,

speaking of Wayne Bennett and Ivan Cleary

and Trent Robinson and Craig Fitzgibbon,

just picking their brains about what works,

what doesn't work,

the things that I might not have thought of.

And I know that these guys,

people will look at me and think, okay, he's inexperienced,

which is fair enough,

but also have the ability to then

tap into that network of people that I know in the game

and they've been in value before me, Dave,

in terms of providing me insight into what goes on,

how I should handle things.

As we all know, mate,

the biggest decision maker of any football clubs,

the head coach, and when you're trying to recruit players,

the players want to know who the head coach is.

And as you said from the top,

like it's going to take a collaborative approach

from the ARL commission to appoint that coach,

but there has to be a timeline too.

Look, when do you want to have this coach appointed

so you can get moving?

Yeah, well, the thing that I want, Dave,

is to be able to start recruiting in this player pool.

I know with Perth,

because things happen later on in the year,

they sort of didn't really enter the market

until November 1,

whereas I'm looking at this as an opportunity

to recruit players who are off contract now.

The guys who are off contract are free agents

right now at the end of 2026.

We're able to sign them for 2028.

Now, that loves you have to do something in the short term

or one year deal somewhere,

but that's a whole pool of players

that if we don't get a coach soon,

that we won't be able to look into.

So I think, you know,

it's reasonable to think in the next six to eight weeks,

we'll have a coach lined up,

and then we can start really going into the market

and signing players with a free agent now.

And they have a lot of people agents in the game,

players understand that,

that we can actually sign them for 28,

and they can do one new extension,

which would suit the incumbent club,

which would suit them,

and then it would suit us

then to bring them across in 28.

Like Wade, mate, Toby Rudolph.

Yeah, Toby, just on the players,

Toby, though,

how they are the PNG chiefs.

It's a national sport over there, Roe Billy.

How many of the players in the squad

will be coming from Puppy New Guinea

or be, you know, Puppy New Guinea?

Yeah, well, from the,

yeah, in the initial years,

I and D, it's going to be, obviously,

we're going to a lot really heavily on recruitment,

but I've got to give a wrap to Joey Grime,

and you're on mate.

He's doing a fantastic job over the last two or three years,

in PNG, developing the pathways and academy systems,

so that we're not paying when we start.

So we've got three years of hard work

already put into that,

and some of these young kids that are coming through,

they're now playing in RJDs,

taking our handful of them over to play in London

as a lot in the Super League.

There's quite a few in the NRL,

so I think that you'll find, as every year goes on,

we'll have more and more PNG players

come into the competition,

and that's the long term goal, right?

At the moment, we understand

it's advantageous financially for the players.

They get the full value contracts,

but also down the track, we don't want to rely on that.

We want to rely on the young kids that are coming through,

through the PNG system,

and that's why there's a lot of work to do at the moment,

and if I talk about the money that's been invested

from the government,

a lot of it's going to the grassroots,

a lot of it's going to development programs,

not just in PNG, but in the Pacific,

so this team can sustain itself,

all the time, you know, we're five years away,

or 10 years away, the majority of the players

will come from PNG.

And just pushing that a little step further,

you talk about the accommodation or the village

and that kind of living,

but how do you make that team part of the PNG community?

Yeah, I think one thing that I've really been strong with

and the people that I've spoken to about coming over

is that this isn't, if you see this as just a paycheck

and you want to just hide inside the village

and not embrace the community,

well then you're not the right person for us

because of course it's going to be a unique situation,

but it comes, what comes with it

is a great responsibility to actually change that country

and make an impact on people's lives.

And yeah, some of you guys have been over there,

but been over there and played over there.

They are going to be treated like gods over there.

And yeah, there are a lot of security measures

that we'll put in place,

but the number one thing that the players will have

to come to terms with is the privacy change, right?

Because you can't just walk down the street

and think no one's going to come up to you.

They're going to be swarmed by people

who just adore them, right?

And that's going to be a change for them.

I'm like it to Indian cricketers back home in India

when they go back home.

These guys are going to be gods in PNG.

So...

Will you be god in PNG, Chemi?

I don't think I'll be god.

LAUGHTER

Maybe some sort of royal robick, can you?

You sure you're right.

I don't know, something.

The great to talk to you,

but it is interesting for you for this moment, isn't it?

Because you've been, as a general,

you've been one of the watches.

You've now become one of the watched.

Is that kind of dawn on you?

Yeah, all those people I judge for all those years

are going to come back and judge me back.

So I'm looking forward to it.

It's probably a few targets on my back,

but it's a great opportunity, boys.

I'm really excited. I will miss you guys.

I know you're going to get rid of me anyway,

but I will miss you.

Chemi tried to recruit me for the PNG.

Nine team next year.

You've got to pick better targets than that, Chemi.

Yeah, he couldn't run further.

He couldn't run away further.

He was not interested.

Come in for some spicy rice, mate.

Always good to see you.

Appreciate it, boys. Thanks for having me.

There is Michael Chambers joining us

who is the general manager of football at the PNG Chiefs.

Sounds like he's up for the job.

Oh, I like it for him.

I totally respect the decision to walk away

when he's probably at the, you know,

just getting to the peak of his powers in journalism.

He did, like he said, 20 years of it to get to this point.

And then an opportunity in a completely different,

well, not completely different field, but a different job.

And he goes, you know what?

Discuss with my family.

I take that challenge on.

I can't help but respect him for that.

He's spot on in relation to, and it's something I underestimate,

to be honest, our networking power.

There's not a day that goes by that we're not talking to every single,

sorry, not every single, but the most influential figures in the game

across a cross-section of the clubs and the NREL.

And they are ultimately the people behind the game

that makes it so successful.

And we're talking to them every day on the phone,

understanding why they're making that call this decision

and getting background on a particular player,

a contract or a movement or a stadium contract or whatever it is.

And so we do have a large network of communication

with these people.

So he's right.

He can pull levers that maybe a GM of footy

who's come through the club land process of apprentice

and moving up through the chain.

That I necessarily have.

All the best to you, Michael Chambers.

Can we take a moment to marvel at just what the Melbourne storm can

and have done under Craig Bellamy?

24 years in a row.

They have won their first round game.

That is incredible.

It's ridiculous.

Ridiculous.

When early in the rounds, when you're not quite match fit,

no one's really at their best.

A couple of errors at the wrong time or a couple of penalties

that can really hurt and swing the momentum of a game

to win 24 in a row.

It's unbelievable.

And you know what, I'm not going to be disrespectful.

But like in 24 years,

it's surely someone could have knocked them off.

Yeah, but like there's no,

boys, we know there's some average players.

Not everyone's a superstar at the storm.

You know what I'm like so many and over those 24 years,

Bellamy's had the coach a huge array of different players.

And so they're not all superstars to go get job done.

They know their jobs.

That's the thing.

That's what he has.

The knack have been able to do to get these,

not going to say average players,

but they're less known players just to do their role

and do their role the best they can.

And that's what it's done.

He's got his nucleus of his players there.

Their spine is outstanding.

Everyone else, do your job.

Do the job your best can.

That's what makes it even more incredible.

Players have come and gone.

There's been, he deals with changes every year,

even this year.

No paparazzi, no Nelson,

a pretty big change to the spine there.

I know the other three are pretty handy as well.

So that makes it a little bit easier,

but to do that continuously for 24 years,

it'll never be beaten.

Well, never beaten.

Even the dragons who won 11 years in a row,

they didn't win the first game of the season.

I don't know.

It's just, you know, you know, every time I say,

I might be his last year.

I might be his last year,

but he just continues to coach.

I think maybe when he drops his first row,

I want to just go, that's, you know,

I've lost it.

I've lost it.

I've lost the step.

It's not a bad for that here.

Had a handy little number nine in Harry Grant,

the other nine.

How good was that performance?

Well, these, you know,

he started to remind me of Cameron Smith

because you can do all the homework on him you want.

You know, it's going to happen,

but it's when he does it.

That's the thing,

but that's when we used to do all the,

the sit there doing the video sessions on Melbourne.

You would watch like more taped on Melbourne's tour

than you would on any other side.

And you know, they were going to do them.

They just had the knack of doing them at the right time.

There's little inside balls or whatever,

but look, the eels,

the eels middle was weak.

It was poor.

It honestly was.

Well, I thought, you know,

from what we saw from Riley Smith last year

at playing nine for Para,

keeping that glue,

he was the glue to kept that middle together.

He was, he had a bad game.

And lucky he got out of the way round one

because,

and he wasn't alone there,

their middle was loose

and Melbourne capitalized on it.

When you've got someone like

Harragrant getting out running

really nearly whenever he wanted to.

Yeah.

All of a sudden Hughes gets on the back of that.

Then in the second half months ago,

as you know,

I'm going to get involved now as well.

So there's another one for him.

And it was just,

they just could not handle it.

And they went down there.

I had high expectations for Para going down there.

You know,

this could be a,

this is going to be a close game.

If not,

I think we find it because

people had high expectations

of Paramount of this year going off

quite rightly back in the last season.

People also had lesser expectations

of the storm going into this year.

And Rumbles all flipped.

All right.

For me, I think we said Paramount up.

It's disappointing

to concede 52 points at any time.

And they're going to have to live with that

at the start of the season this weekend.

Again, like they did last year.

Yeah.

And it was 5618.

Yep.

But they did themselves

no favor.

The Melbourne storm

scored 52 points.

And I don't even know.

I know Harry played well

and Sioux Farlonger had a,

a couple of nice touches,

but they were just

getting through their sets.

Doing what they had to do.

Yeah.

They found nothing exciting.

They, why don't you, they,

Melbourne have them.

I, I, Moses, is it,

Moses, Moses Leo?

Yeah.

In the centers, I thought he was,

he was bloody and crazy.

It's quite a nice tragedy.

Yeah, he looked really,

really good, really sharp and

Cooper Clarke.

The, you know, the young boy coming

off the bench for his day,

but the big boy thing that

Sidney, yes, yes, yes,

was 104 and four kilos.

Yeah, sometimes.

But he was, he was really good.

So they just,

they just have these players

they're just going to keep

drawn on and keep in their

stocks.

I, I know this game wasn't

lost by the paramatter outside

backs.

I know there's, I know there's

layers to the loss, right?

But what I want to get asked you

is, are you concerned,

I'm really, I'm concerned

about the depth in your outside

backs.

Are you concerned about your

outside backs now that low

max is not there?

They, they, they were,

low max wouldn't have made an

absolute, not a lick of

difference to that side.

So for someone wrote an article

today, I think in the tele go

and they should, they should,

you know, try and, you know,

reach out and get him back.

Well, let me get,

absolute shot.

Let me get, let me get.

I could have been ready.

Was it ready?

That's it.

Well, there you go.

There you go.

Um, they, they were, they were,

they were, they were beat for

speed a few times.

The centers there.

Um, look, I, I thought Sean

Russell was going to

should have probably started

in the centers.

He's, he started on the wing.

He scored their only trial

for the yields.

He's been in a standing form.

Um, but look, there's,

you know, they're not,

when you look at other sides,

you go, oh god,

get, get that center of the ball.

You know, yeah, you'll have a

frighten.

You look at the trail,

the trail of the clean,

you know, all that,

get, get, get the ball in

this center's hands.

You know, I think you've got that.

Not yet.

No, no.

I think there's,

there is room for a strike

center there at Para.

Um, but also too,

I think there's also

room for another power forward as well.

So, but I'm, I'm not catching

this just from looking on,

from the outside, looking in.

Just for me,

it doesn't matter who's in your team.

If, and who you're playing,

like particularly Melbourne,

if you go down there,

and on play two, go,

here you go, Melbourne,

here's the ball back.

And then you exhaust some pressure.

And then the very next set,

you go, here you go, Melbourne,

here's the ball back.

And then you exhaust some pressure,

and then you give away a penalty.

If you dish up the fundamentals of the game

and get them completely wrong and,

yeah, and not give yourself an

opportunity in the contest,

you're going to get a rinse.

And I think I was,

it's an easy,

I was an easy fix for him.

Yeah, it is, it is,

it is, yes.

It is, yeah.

And give your,

stay tight.

Yeah, trust you, trust you,

trust you,

I don't think it's the end of the ball for me.

It's disappointing.

I don't know that it's,

it's round one.

And look, they,

the ears end up finishing like 12 last year after.

They do have broncos, actually, what?

I know, yeah,

up there, after them suffering,

you know, a heavy defeat.

But look,

we do have confirmation it was indeed, Brent Reed.

I'll do it.

You sent in,

yes, it was,

it takes us from the great man himself.

And what does,

what does I'm keeping tabs high on, Ash?

What does that mean, really?

No, number of times you mentioned his name, maybe,

or have a crack at him.

He gets, he gets a second say now,

because of course,

we roll into Sunday,

send me into my,

which is a great show.

And absolutely.

I don't,

Reed is going to just keep an eye on you this year.

What point of that game

and that score do you think,

Ryan Madison was saying,

is the office still on the top?

Once we saw that first try

from Sean Russell

and how well it was executed

and the way everyone,

you know, I've gone,

oh, we're on you.

And they were,

and I'm a man short as well.

And then all of a sudden,

it just,

he's the ball back.

He's the ball back.

And you can't keep doing it.

And that's very similar to what we saw

from the broncos last night.

And the,

and the worries and the chooks,

you know, you need your,

your fair share of possession,

but you give Melbourne storm too much ball.

They're going to score that on,

on both sides, I reckon.

It's not going to be a fun video session

for them to watch and be a part of today,

but is it,

why don't one of those sessions

where you just go?

You don't watch it.

No, no, no,

you do watch it because it's,

it was all around,

it was all around the rack.

They'll lose it.

It looks awful, it looks awful,

but there's easy ways to fix it.

And not necessarily get the result,

but to give yourself a chance in the contest,

that they were in no chance.

As soon as they started turning the ball over,

I think a couple of times,

half opportunities thrown out the back,

it's, you can defend errors

and survive that maybe a few times

at the back end of the year

when you're match fit and you know exactly

where you are as a team.

But early in the year,

if you did not give yourself a chance,

you just fall over,

you fall over as a team,

all your structures under pressure.

They just fall over.

And that's exactly what happened

when Harry Graham went straight through.

The markers are out of play.

I only, he comes up into the defensive line,

gives up his inside shoulder