The Tigers finally got one decision correct. Now they must stop creating their own disasters
Doueihi was wrong — but the Tigers can survive it
Adam Doueihi refusing to play because he did not want the position was selfish. Strip away the noise and that is the offence, because disagreements happen inside every club but players cannot pick when and where they will play.
I still think Doueihi and the Tigers coach handled the aftermath well. Doueihi admitted he lost his head, accepted he could have handled it better and kept the substance of his grievance inside the club, which showed more maturity than turning the whole thing into another public execution.
The coach also conceded he probably has work to do and acknowledged that standards raised by Doueihi had recently been overlooked. That matters. Doueihi was not simply whingeing about a jumper; much of his protest concerned standards he believed the club needed to reach if it wanted to improve.
None of that excuses the refusal. It explains the explosion. I think the Tigers can recover because the players will move on, the training relationships look genuine and modern footballers do not carry every grievance forever. Doueihi has no intention of leaving and, after thinking last week he could be gone, I now think he stays.
The Galvin-Luai double standard stinks
The treatment of Lachlan Galvin compared with Jarome Luai remains ridiculous, and the difference was created by how the Tigers managed each situation.
Galvin was under contract when the club sought an extension. He did not demand more money or request an immediate release; he said he would not extend because he did not believe he was learning enough. The Tigers took offence, fought him and allowed a dossier of alleged failures to dominate the story until everybody turned on him.
Luai arrived promising improvement and semifinals, then took a larger offer elsewhere at the first opportunity. He had a clause allowing him out, but he is still leaving two years into a five-year deal and has largely been forgiven.
That contradiction should embarrass people. Galvin became a traitor for declining a future contract, while Luai became a businessman for exercising an exit clause. Fans react to the emotional cues clubs feed them, and the Tigers poisoned one story while softening the other. The lesson is brutal: manage the message or the message will maul you.
Leave Laurie Daley’s health out of the race
Laurie Daley deserves to make his coaching decision in his own time, without his private health becoming a convenient explanation for everybody else’s scoop.
The reports of his departure flowed from Fatty Vautin revealing that Laurie had told him he was not going around again. I had also been told Laurie would not continue, although people around him stressed that he had not yet made the decision publicly, and I think an official announcement will come later this week.
His health concern is not life-threatening and has not affected either his ability or willingness to coach. The doctors essentially told him to look after himself, and he told me he had lost about 18 kilograms. That is separate from coaching. Linking the two is lazy.
Health is personal. I have lived that reality myself. Laurie should announce his future where and when he chooses, rather than being chased into confirming somebody else’s timetable.
Nikorima gives the Dragons the speed they desperately lack
Kodi Nikorima is a terrific signing because the Dragons’ attack has been slow, stilted and painfully easy to read. He brings vision, creativity and points, while Luke Metcalf has already shown he can steer a team around the park.
Nikorima has signed a two-year deal and I have no doubt he and Metcalf will be the starting halves next season. Daniel Atkinson has had decent moments, but he does not fit the classic half mould, while the wider reshuffle becomes fascinating with Scott Drinkwater filling fullback and Clinton Gutherson needing another role.
The real issue is speed. Modern teams must carry the threat of scoring from their own side of halfway, and outside Tyrell Sloan the Dragons have barely frightened anybody. Valentine Holmes still has pace, although I think he is probably not quite the player he was.
Add Keon Kolomatangi, Drinkwater, Connor Watson and Metcalf to the recruitment haul and the Dragons have done a terrific job on first inspection, provided they paid fair market value. Now they must retain the Couchmans and Loko Pasifiki Tonga, because good pathways produce cheap first-grade value before the inevitable pay rises arrive.
The NRL ambushed its best defensive teams
The Broncos’ finals dream is effectively cooked, but the bigger scandal is how a February interpretation change ambushed teams that had spent an entire summer building defensive habits.
The Broncos must win every remaining game and need a chain of other results, while last season’s top four are all set to miss the finals. Injuries hurt them and retirements damaged Melbourne, but the six-again interpretation also shifted the reward away from defence and towards attack.
Early in the season, referees called six again whenever they saw anything slightly questionable, rather than limiting it to infringements worthy of a penalty. That punished Canberra, Canterbury, Brisbane and Melbourne precisely because they were probably the best-drilled defensive teams.
Coaching is repetition. Repetition creates habits, and habits are what players trust under pressure. Changing the operating environment in February is grossly unfair after clubs have spent months preparing for something else. If the NRL wants to alter how the game is played or officiated, do it in October. Anything later is administrative vandalism.
Payten proved coaches can fight back
Todd Payten has exposed the lazy certainty surrounding coaches supposedly doomed by dressing-room unrest. He assessed himself, changed what needed changing and won the players back instead of surrendering to the noise.
I never believed he had truly lost the dressing room. Poor results trigger self-preservation and players begin protecting themselves, which usually leaves the coach carrying the blame, but Payten rebuilt the environment and delivered results. The players now speak far more warmly about the place than they did earlier in the season.
His re-signing is deserved. Give me a coach prepared to confront his own failures over one who blames injuries, officials or disloyal players. Payten saved himself because he acted. Plenty of coaches talk about accountability. He used it.
