The Rabbitohs pulled off the most stunning signing coup in recent years and they have one man to thank for it.
Newcastle were wrongly criticised for their so-called ‘Bali boys trip’ but the club is at a critical juncture with some of their best players.
The Roosters aren’t firing on all cylinders but a quick trip down memory lane will remind us to write them off at our peril.
Here are my observations and predictions after 11 rounds.
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The Rabbitohs can thank Wayne Bennett for their stunning signing of Jack Wighton.
The critics say Wayne has a reputation of leaving a mess when he departs clubs, but one recent decision was as selfless as they get when it comes to NRL coaching.
Back in late 2020, Joseph Suaalii’s camp demanded a series of clauses be added to the contract the Rabbitohs had tabled for the then 17-year-old.
Wayne flat out refused the clauses which effectively would have allowed Suaalii to leave the club at any point to join rugby union.
It saw the prodigious talent sign with arch rivals the Sydney Roosters – who allowed the clauses – in what appeared a major coup at the time.
But fast-forward less than 30 NRL appearances later and Suaalii signed to defect to Rugby Australia on a massive $5 million contract.
Around the same time Suaalii sealed his controversial exit, Souths were preparing to add Dally M Medal winner Wighton to their already stacked roster.
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The Roosters now have a $700,000 elephant in the room at their club for another 18 months and their form has nosedived since Suaalii signed with RA.
The Rabbitohs on the other hand are flying at the top of the table and they’ll only get stronger when Wighton joins next season.
Wayne already knew he was leaving Souths when he rejected Suaalii’s clauses and it would have been so tempting for a coach in his position to accept them.
It would have put the teen freak on Wayne’s roster for the final year of his contract at Souths, but he stuck to his guns for the greater good of the club.
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Trust me when I say most NRL coaches would have taken the selfish option in that situation, knowing the looming shitstorm wouldn’t be a headache they’d have to worry about.
It speaks to Wayne’s character and if Wighton wins his elusive premiership at Bunnies, he should pick up the phone and thank the skinny old coach.
NEWCASTLE MUST KEEP THEIR KNIGHT IN SHINING ARMOUR
The way the media went after the Knights for an alleged boys trip to Bali during their bye round you’d think they’d committed the crime of the century.
The reality?
ONE PLAYER, Bradman Best, went over there to catch up with a mate and help a local family build a house in their village.
In any case, the Knights returned from the bye and beat the Titans convincingly with Kalyn Ponga producing his best performance of the year.
But while the club was falsely accused of having a culture problem last week, there will be genuine uproar from the fans if they don’t correctly handle their current retention situation.
I’m not sure how, but there’s word saying Newcastle are facing salary cap pressure and that the club could lose Tyson Frizell, Daniel Saifiti and Bradman Best.
I worked in recruitment for Newcastle and left at the end of 2021, while the club parted ways with recruitment manager Clint Zammit in March this year.
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Zammit’s departure came in the wake of veteran administrator Peter Parr joining the Knights as their director of football last November.
It’s a real gripe of mine that whenever a new coach or general manager or head of recruitment arrives at a club they always say there are salary cap issues.
It’s just an insurance policy they give themselves as something to point to in case the shit hits the fan on their watch.
Every single club in the NRL operates under constant salary cap pressure, to come out and say your club is the outlier is just taking an unnecessary pot shot at those who preceded you.
The club offered Dom Young a huge contract at the start of the year but now they’re under cap pressure? That doesn’t really make sense.
Frizell has been Newcastle’s best player this year but he’s off contract at the end of the season, meaning he could sign with a rival club today.
The club has really struggled for leadership over the past 10 years and they finally have a man to follow in Frizell.
The veteran backrower has emerged alongside Saifiti and Dane Gagai as real leaders in the team it’s critical to keep those players around.
The Knights simply cannot afford to lose a player like Tyson Frizell. Not only do they lack depth there but there’s a shortage league wide.
I’d also hate to see them lose local juniors like Saifiti and Best to instead spend money on imports.
To hear the club needs to make big changes due to cap pressure is alarming to hear considering where it was 10 years ago and how much work was done to avoid this scenario.
If the club isn’t under salary cap pressure, these headlines can create lots of uncertainty in the playing group and potentially derail their season which looks promising.
CHOOKS AREN’T COOKED YET
The Roosters haven’t copped this much bad press since 2018 … the year they won the competition.
That was Cooper Cronk’s first season at the Tricolours and after a clunky opening 11 rounds they had six wins, five losses and sat 7th on the ladder with the critics calling their new-look spine a failure.
Sound familiar?
They’ve had another shake-up to their spine this season, also due to a high-profile recruit in Brandon Smith, and after 11 rounds they have five wins, six losses to sit 10th.
There’s simply too much talent on their roster for the Roosters to miss the finals this year because once they click – look out.
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I find it interesting that everyone has been critical of Joseph Suaalii’s performance, because his form is a reflection of what’s happening inside him.
It all starts at dummyhalf and Smith needs to provide quicker service for his halves, but it’s interesting nobody was bagging Joey Manu when he was quiet in the centres.
The narrative was Manu would shine if he got more touches, but when Suaalii doesn’t get his hands on the ball it’s because he’s dreadfully out of form.
Just because experts say the Roosters should be going better doesn’t mean they should be, you can’t just plonk players in and expect things to flow immediately.
If we’re sitting here in 10 games time and things aren’t in sync then sure, it’s time for panic stations, but right now there’s no need to throw the baby out with the bathwater.
