COLUMN
The Roosters are walking a tightrope with one of the best young playmakers in the game, while the Blues can’t pick one of their best in Origin this year.
I’ve got a proposition for the NRL on how rookie coaches should be blooded, and why Angus Crichton owes us nothing.
Here are my observations and predictions after the first eight rounds.
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WALKER COULD BE OFF
The Roosters must be careful how they handle the Sam Walker situation because the kid is a future State of Origin player who would start at 10 other NRL clubs.
Walker might only be 20 but he’s already a genuine first-grader who has already played 51 games and he won’t stick around forever waiting for his next one.
Luke Keary is contracted until the of the next season and that’s simply too long for Walker to be playing reserve grade.
That’s also ignoring the fact that if Keary stays fit, he’s every chance of going around again in 2025 which is the year Walker’s contract ends.
History shows the Roosters aren’t afraid to move on their star players – think Mitchell Pearce and Latrell Mitchell – and Walker could be next.
If Keary stays healthy and Joey Manu continues to thrive in the halves like he did against the Dragons on Anzac Day, then there’s simply no room for Walker as he’s not a bench player.
But are the Chooks prioritising short-term wins over long term success?
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Braith Anasta said on NRL 360 last week that Walker will spend the next decade in the NRL and I agree. Keary has three seasons tops left at this level.
The Roosters obviously got it right axing Pearce for Cooper Cronk, but I think allowing Mitchell to leave has cost them more premierships.
The knock on Walker is he free-flowing style doesn’t suit the Roosters. It’s a situation that reminds me of when Johnathan Thurston left the Bulldogs.
When Thurston went to the Cowboys he was given time to find his own way and build a team around him and although they immediately made the grand final, it took another decade to get back there.
Players aren’t given that kind of time at the Roosters, where the expectations that come with playing for the club are immense. Their attitude is to win a premiership every single year.
Walker plays a very unique style of football and his game needs to be tinkered to fit the Roosters mould, but it appears they don’t have the patience to wait for him to adapt.
That organised and measured style that Cronk mastered is successful and it stands up under pressure in finals footy, but it takes time to learn.
If the Roosters don’t wait on Walker, he’ll have his pick of at least 10 NRL clubs.
TURBO-LESS BLUES
The 2023 State of Origin result will come down to who New South Wales picks in the centres, with his injury cloud Tom Trbojevic isn’t one of them.
The centres are so important in terms of providing the strike power that so often proves the difference in Origin.
How often did NSW look to finally be ending Queensland’s years of dominance, only for Greg Inglis or Justin Hodges to break Blues hearts yet again.
Turbo is quite clearly injured, you only had to watch him get run down by Tigers prop Stefano Utoikamanu last weekend to know how seriously it’s impacting him.
Jack Wighton’s rep footy retirement bombshell means there’s only three genuine candidates to partner Latrell Mitchell in the centres – Stephen Crichton, Campbell Graham and Kotoni Staggs.
‘The salary cap is a joke!’ – Kenty | 00:36
I think it should be the man who played in all three games last year in the absence of Michell and Trbojevic – Panthers star Crichton.
He’s an attacking weapon who can defend and already has that lethal combination with Blues halfback and his club teammate Nathan Cleary.
As for the Maroons’ centres, you can bet your bottom dollar Billy Slater will stick with Dane Gagai and Valentine Holmes.
Gagai was below par last series compared to his past performances but he’s back close to career-best form for the Knights this season, while Holmes is starting to find his rhythm at the Cowboys.
But their form is pretty much irrelevant anyway because Queensland always pick and stick.
COACH THEIR OWN TEAM
The NRL coaching merry-go-round looks set like it’s about to roar back into full swing, with reports Anthony Griffin and Justin Holbrook are on the chopping block.
And just clockwork there’s two groups of coaches being nominated as their potential replacements; rising rookies and sacked premiership winners.
I have absolutely no dramas with the appointment of coaches like Des Hasler, Shane Flanagan and Michael Maguire. They all have extensive head coaching resumes which include premierships.
But I think the rising rookies – mostly former NRL players turned assistants – shouldn’t be eligible for a head coach role until they’ve actually been a head coach.
Guys like Jason Ryles, Ben Hornby and Dean Young have been linked with the Dragons job. While they were all great NRL players, none have actually been head coaches.
Here’s the solution.
The NRL should employ players with ambition to coach and pay them as ambassadors to go coach in the bush and then after two years transition them back into an NRL club.
Warriors burnt by controversial try? | 00:43
It would be a great way not just to develop bush footy but to develop coaches.
A lot of players become assistants without having ever managed a team – not necessarily strategy and tactics – but real man management. There are guys who have become NRL head coaches without ever having to have dropped a player.
I’m not saying it can’t be done, Craig Fitzgibbon is a good example that it can, but if I was running a club and hiring a coach I would like to know they’ve coached a team.
Most clubs are so scared of failure that they’d rather take a chance on a champion ex-player over a champion lower-grade coach, simply because the former has a profile.
If it all goes wrong, the club’s board can point to a resume that has decades of NRL experience as a player and an assistant, but doesn’t prepare you for man management.
CRICHTON OWES NO EXPLANATION
It was fantastic to see Angus Crichton return for the Roosters on Anzac Day after his tough summer.
Crichton’s family went public with his bipolar diagnosis at the start of the year and he missed the first six rounds seeking professional help.
Mental health is no joke and if Crichton chooses never to fully explain his absence, that is absolutely fine.
In this day and age of a 24-hour news cycle, people are so eager to hear every little detail of every player’s lives.
People forget that NRL players are humans and shoving them in front of a camera to talk about something they’re still working through is never the solution.
Crichton is the incumbent Kangaroos and Blues backrower so I understand the attention, but people need to realise there’s more to life than football.
I hope Crichton’s return continues to go from strength to strength but most importantly at his own pace.
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