September is exposing the builders, the bluffers & the clubs without a clue
Cronulla have run out of excuses
Cronulla are genuine premiership contenders, and the old flat-track label is now stale enough to curl at the edges. They have won nine of their past 10, reached the past two preliminary finals and, after overcoming South Sydney’s fast start, look fitter, healthier and more ruthless than at any point in recent September campaigns.
Craig Fitzgibbon’s decision to start Oregon Kaufusi and Jesse Colquhoun while holding Addin Fonua-Blake and Tommy Hazelton back was clever roster management disguised as a tactical wrinkle. It reduced the early punishment on Fonua-Blake, exposed other middles to the opening speed and created insurance against the injury snowball that can flatten a finals campaign.
The halves are humming, with everything Braydon Trindall touches seemingly turning to gold alongside Nicho Hynes, while the defensive intensity has finally given Cronulla the hard edge their critics demanded. Even their goalkicker sits three conversions short of Hazem El Masri’s record of 35 straight and, refreshingly, has embraced the chase instead of pretending records are beneath him.
The hard question remains whether Cronulla can take the final step. My answer is yes: making the grand final is now the standard, not some pleasant surprise.
Souths need Murray’s calm, not more chaos
South Sydney’s problem is composure, and Cameron Murray’s return cannot come quickly enough. They remained competitive against Cronulla for about 60 minutes despite their absences, but too often lose their minds at precisely the moment a serious side needs to cool the contest down.
Murray supplies the quick play-the-ball they have been missing and, more importantly, the calm authority around it. Tallis Duncan, David Fifita, Euan Aitken and Murray return against Parramatta, so the excuses disappear with them.
The Rabbitohs are in the eight, but their run home is awkward: Parramatta and Gold Coast are games they should control, then they must take down at least one of three other top-eight opponents, two of them top-four sides. If they qualify, they will have earned it. If the brain explosions continue, the table will remove them without sentiment.
Parramatta won a game and lost the argument
Parramatta’s victory over the Tigers proved almost nothing beyond the mathematical fact that somebody had to win. The Eels had 45 per cent possession, completed at 67 per cent, made 16 of the game’s 34 errors and missed 49 tackles. That is not resilience; it is footballing vandalism with two competition points attached.
Jason Ryles has made difficult calls, and the decision to replace Clint Gutherson with Isaiah Iongi has probably worked in hindsight. Iongi arrived after one NRL appearance and has shown he belongs, while Mitch Moses has been secured long term. Yet recruitment remains Parramatta’s recurring failure: they missed Mitch Barnett, lost Dylan Brown and have rarely made the sort of major signing that changes how rivals view a club. Jarome Luai arrives next year, but I see that as a band-aid unless the pack and standards around him improve.
Ryles is still building and deserves next season, but patience cannot become an alibi. A depleted team can lose; it cannot abandon fundamentals. He and Benji Marshall will begin next year under the blowtorch because professional sport eventually stops accepting blueprints and asks to see the building.
Benji must stop retreating from his own plan
The Tigers need conviction more than another reshuffle. Returning Adam Doueihi to halfback after planning to give Javon Andrews time there looked like surrender, particularly after Andrews was handed a brutal debut assignment on the opposite side of the field to his usual position against an in-form Canberra.
Now the Tigers are 16th and their season is gone, Andrews should return on his preferred side alongside Jarome Luai, who remains their calmest and most experienced organiser. Doueihi should move to lock, where his size, leg speed and appetite for contact can give a soft pack some thrust through the middle, particularly in support of Terrell May’s offload.
The communication with Doueihi was poor — my understanding is he heard about the original move through teammates before chasing Marshall for confirmation — but that does not make the football idea wrong. Alex Twal can shift to prop, Doueihi can play through the middle and May must mix his upright wrestling with harder, more direct carries. Six consecutive losses and another false dawn demand more than moving magnets back to their familiar positions.
The Roosters are arriving with steel, not sparkle
Putting 80 points on the Cowboys naturally turns heads, but the scoreboard disguises what is really driving the Roosters. This is not a side relying on trick shots and pretty football. Trent Robinson has them winning collisions, defending from the inside and applying pressure until the opposition cracks. The sparkle is merely the consequence. Steel is the cause.
Salesi Foketi captures it. He is a hard-running, hard-working back-rower whose effort gives everyone outside him confidence to defend aggressively. Naufahu Whyte has become one of the competition’s most improved players for the same reason: he rolls up his sleeves, gets the Roosters on the front foot and carries himself like a man who knows there is more to come.
The hard question is whether this form survives when September strips away the space and easy points. My answer is yes, because the Roosters are already doing it without Angus Crichton and Lindsay Collins, while James Tedesco was forced off at halftime against the Cowboys. Their depth is not merely filling jerseys; it is reinforcing the identity of the team.
That is why the Roosters are becoming dangerous. Flash can disappear when finals football tightens. Toughness travels, and Robinson’s side is packing plenty of it.
Ivan Cleary is still the Coach of the Year
Ivan Cleary should be Coach of the Year, and the award loses meaning if the best coach with the best body of work is overlooked because excellence has become routine. Penrith have won 15 games and lost four, despite the constant salary-cap churn that has taken Matt Burton, Stephen Crichton and a procession of others out of the system.
The coaching drain has been just as severe, with Cameron Ciraldo and Andrew Webster becoming high-quality head coaches elsewhere, yet one figure has remained constant. Cleary has won four premierships with his son at halfback and rebuilt around continual turnover without allowing standards to sag.
Justin Holbrook has done an outstanding job taking Newcastle from the wooden spoon to around fifth or sixth, particularly while key representative players have been missing. But if that makes him the winner, rename the prize Turnaround of the Year and be honest about it. Coach of the Year should reward the best coaching performance. That is Cleary’s.
Dearden staying is the right ending
Tom Dearden recommitting to North Queensland is exactly how this story should end. He floated the possibility of a release earlier in the year amid family considerations, but he will confirm he is staying through 2029 and finally kill speculation that has followed him since January.
His deal rises with the salary cap because it is set at 12 per cent next season, which is excellent work by his agent, Sami Ayoub. More importantly, it fits the football story: Dearden is the captain, one of the faces of the Cowboys and the club gave him the platform on which he became a star.
Friday’s games — Penrith in Auckland and the Bulldogs against the Roosters — will clarify the top eight, while Manly’s improved differential keeps them alive if they rediscover hard running and hard defence after the bye. But North Queensland already have their most important result of the week. Their captain is staying, and a club wobbling on the field has at least kept its compass off it.
