Broncos review is a sham & Maguire enters next season on borrowed time
The Knights lost, but found something bigger
Newcastle’s defeat to the Warriors was among their bravest performances of the season, because a 12-man side then lost another three players from the bench and finished the second half with one reserve against a red-hot opponent. The Warriors, even without both halves, could have run up the year’s biggest score; instead, the Knights refused to disappear.
Sandon Smith was outstanding and I think he is a terrific young playmaker, although his greater value might be the way he studies and understands the game. Newcastle have also rebuilt their junior pathways over the past couple of years and, after a choppy beginning under their recruitment operation, the ship has steadied. I think they have six players in the Australian schoolboys side. This season may run out of troops before it runs out of courage, but the foundations for next year are genuine.
Trindall is the Shark who makes the machine work
Cronulla are unravelling at precisely the wrong time, and Braydon Trindall’s absence has exposed just how dependent their attack had become on his nerve and invention. They have lost three of their past four, fallen outside the top four and started losing to teams below them after a run that began with 66 points against the Dolphins.
Craig Fitzgibbon left-hooking the television in the coach’s box was wildly unlike a normally measured operator, but the frustration also spilled onto the field when Sio Siua Taukeiaho freed an arm in a tackle to make an obscene gesture rather than an offload. That is not controlled aggression; it is a side losing its emotional grip.
The pack has generally generated enough power, but nobody is turning that work into points. Nicho Hynes needs help, while Will Kennedy offers pace rather than the on-ball X-factor required to split a game open. Ronald Volkman’s magical solo try drove the point home: he targeted Hynes, sold him multiple dummies and tore through a yawning gap. I think Trindall is due back in week one of the finals. Cronulla need him immediately.
The Dolphins have built a finals side the proper way
The Dolphins produced their best performance of the season because their glamour survived only after their workers had done the ugly stuff. Defending with 11 men while two players were in the sin bin was the clearest statement yet that this is no longer an entertaining collection of athletes; it is a serious football side.
Kodi Nikorima has been brilliant since cementing his position, the Hammer supplies danger from the back and the outside backs bring an imposing mix of speed and strength. Yet the real engine is the no-fuss work of Max Plath, Ray Stone, Tom Gilbert and Kurt Donoghue, who receive little fanfare because hard labour rarely gets its own highlights package.
Too many clubs recruit sparkle and hope character arrives in the same suitcase. The Dolphins have developed the workers who create the quick play-the-balls, then added the players capable of finishing the job. That balance travels in September.
Perth blinked on Junior, while PNG are aiming enormous
Perth should have pursued Junior Paulo harder, because new clubs do not attract genuine marquee experience by behaving like careful suburban accountants. Perth withdrew its interest once Corey Horsburgh became available from Canberra and ultimately signed him, but Junior would have brought a decade of leadership, skill and physical presence to a side starting from scratch.
I don’t know where Junior will land. Papua New Guinea will not enter next year, meaning he would need to wait another 12 months, but Perth’s reluctance over a late-career two-year deal was understandable only until you remember expansion clubs must sometimes pay above market value.
PNG, meanwhile, are thinking much bigger. The Raiders have offered Hudson Young $1.1 million a season for three years, forcing PNG to get as close to that figure as possible, while Michael Chamus is apparently bullish about Nathan Cleary and Liam Martin is another name I keep hearing. Ambition is healthy, but landing superstars will require more than noise, government money and third-party possibilities. It will require a football operation players trust.
Walker’s season is over & the Roosters look rattled
The Roosters have lost more than Sam Walker for the season; they have lost their composure. Walker requires tightrope surgery after scans on Saturday night, with Hugo Savala expected to move into the halves, but the warning signs were visible before the injury.
Walker has always been cool and controlled, yet recently he has been storming up to opponents and even confronted Ray Stone. At 73 kilograms and about 5ft 8in, that is not the contest he should be seeking. The Roosters looked frustrated and deflated, and turning their chief playmaker into an angry traffic cop will not fix them.
Penrith remain the standard, but the minor premiership matters
Penrith are still the side everyone must get through, although the Warriors have earned every advantage available to them. The top four is locked, the Warriors sit marginally ahead of Penrith on differential and both top-two sides can rest players this weekend.
I would rest a few, but nobody should dismiss the minor premiership as a trinket. Finishing first confirms that a team has mastered both the difficult and simple parts of the game across an entire season, while home-ground advantage adds genuine weight in September.
Penrith have won four of the past five premierships and another would make it five in six. The Warriors, in the competition since 1995, are still chasing their first. That history gives the contest its pull, but sentiment does not tackle anyone: Penrith’s experience and class still make them the benchmark.
Brisbane’s review has been reverse-engineered
The Broncos review is a sham designed to preserve Michael Maguire for the final year of his contract. It is almost complete, Maguire is apparently safe for next season and Ben Hunt has not been interviewed, while only selected players will be consulted before the club leans on existing RLPA survey results. That is not a root-and-branch review. It is pruning the hedge while refusing to look at the tree.
The previous process was reverse-engineered to remove the coach; this one has been reverse-engineered to save him. If Brisbane genuinely wanted answers, every player from the top 30 through to train-and-trial, pathway staff and football employees would have an anonymous avenue to speak, while managers would also be consulted because they know which relationships are fractured.
The players cannot escape responsibility: they missed tackles, made errors and behaved like rock stars without consistently playing like an elite team. But Maguire also looks trapped in an unforgiving, work-harder philosophy while the modern game demands adaptation to different personalities and bodies.
I remain a Maguire fan and his intensity suits short camps with elite players, but the day-to-day washing machine of NRL coaching is different. He gets next season to correct the ship; from the opening round, the blowtorch will be on him.
