Welcome to my latest column which covers a number of goings
on in the world of rugby league that have caught my eye over the past few
weeks:
TIME TO CALL IT A DAY??
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| Injured again - Terry Campese |
Terry Campese has made 22 appearances for Hull Kingston
Rovers in his 18 injury hit months with the club and I can honestly say that he
is one the best half backs that I have seen in the last 30 years.
The way that he organises a team and the way that the team
respond to him is amazing – Hull KR are a much better team when he is playing
and he give’s the players and supporters a sense of belief that isn’t there
when he is out of the side.
Unfortunately, for the last year he has been largely sat on
the sidelines - either heroically fighting back from a third knee
re-construction which he suffered against Castleford Tigers last June or
recovering from hamstring injuries that have dogged him since he made his
comeback against Huddersfield Giants in March.
He lasted 30 minutes in that match before his hamstring gave
way and was, rather surprisingly, back in the starting line up less than 3
weeks later against Leeds Rhinos. He lasted just 15 minutes of that match and I
recall ranting away at the time that we had rushed him back and his injury must
have been mis-managed.
Seven weeks later he was back in the side for the Magic
Weekend Derby before being controversially rested for the following week’s
fixture away at the Catalans Dragons before returning to some of his best form
to oversee the hammering of Wakefield Trinity Wildcats.
The next match against Wigan at home saw him lead the ide to
an 18-8 lead before the hamstring injury re-occurred – without him the team
lost control of the game and conceded two tries to lose the game 18-20.
It has now been confirmed that Campese will miss the rest of
2016 – a devastating blow for the club, the supporters and especially Campese.
The former Canberra Raiders skipper has played just 5 out of
20 games this season and missed the last 17 of 2015. He has completed just two
of the five matches he has played this year.
He is also taking up a huge chunk of the club’s salary cap
which, according to Chairman Neil Hudgell, is up to the limit.
So, what does the club do now?
Campese is our captain, he is loved by the fans, the players
respect and respond to him, he has an aura and he understands what Hull KR is
about – he is definitely our best player.
Does the club stand by him and hope that he can overcome the
hamstring problem and play a full part in the 2017 campaign?
Do they look back to 2008 when our captain at the time,
James Webster, badly damaged his shoulder early on in the season and was
released immediately to be replaced by Michael Dobson.
That decision was ruthless but totally correct – Webbo
wasn’t quite up to Super League standard and Dobbo gave us 5 years great
service.
Therein lies the current problem. Back in 2008 we had a
player lined up that we knew would probably do a better job than Webster in
Super League.
Fast forward 8 years and it is difficult to see how we will
get a plyer in who will have as big an impact as Campese has had at the club on
and off the field.
Personally, and it really hurts me to say this, I think the
time has come to call time on Campese – unless he decides enough is enough
himself and fretires.
We need a player who we know is going to be available for at
least 90% of our fixtures and who can give us good quality service for at least
the next 2 to 3 years – if not more.
The salary that Campese is on will probably allow us to sign
at least 2 or maybe even 3 good quality players – all of the fans know that the
quality and depth of the squad HAS to be improved and quickly.
Campese has a wealth of experience and is a very good
communicator and it would be great if we could utilise him in the coaching set
up – if not, then I think we need to be ruthless and cut our losses for the
long term good of the team and the club.
ANDERSON SACKED
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| Paul Anderson - undeserved sacking. |
I seem to be one of the few people that was surprised by the
sacking of Paul Anderson as Head Coach of Huddersfield Giants last week.
Clearly, this season has not gone to plan and no one would
have predicted in pre-season that they would be 11th in the league
and 6 points off 8th place with just 4 games to go before the Super
8s split.
Anderson was joint Head Coach with Kieron Purtill in 2008,
the Giants finished 10th that year, after the sacking of Jon Sharp
and was then assistant to Australian Nathan Brown for four fairly successful
years with league finishes of 3rd, 5th, 4th
and 7th as well as appearing in the 2009 Challenge Cup Final.
When Brown decided it was time to move onwards and upwards
to St. Helens, Anderson was the clear favourite to take over the Head Coaching
position although, personally, I wasn’t sure at the time that he was the right
choice.
To be fair, it was probably because I didn’t know much about
him as he kept a pretty low profile under Brown.
How wrong was I though as in his first season in charge he
led the Giants to the top of the league as they took out the League Leader’s
Shield. It was the first time the Giants had topped the league in over 50 years
and was a huge achievement and a great moment for club owner Ken Davey who had
pumped a lot of his own cash into the club and revived it after taking over in
1996.
He obviously has a short memory.
Anderson followed up the successful season of 2013 with a 3rd
place finish in 2014 and a 4th place finish in 2015 meaning that
they qualified for the more streamlined Super League semi-finals.
The Giants have gained a reputation as chokers at the
business end of the season and have never managed to qualify for the Grand
Final despite possessing an extremely powerful and talented squad – maybe the
poor form this season has given Davy the opportunity to clear the decks and
bring someone in who he feel’s will take the team to the next level.
Purtill, Anderson’s assistant, was already leaving to head
to Leigh Centurions next year anyway so Davey will have a completely new team
in charge of his squad.
There have also been rumours for a while now of a rift between
Anderson and the Giants star player Danny Brough. Anderson gave the captaincy
to Ryan Hinchcliffe whilst Brough was out injured earlier in the year and never
gave it back to the Scottish international – a decision he is said to have
taken personally.
Time will tell if the Giants have made the right decision
but I think that Anderson has been harshly treated and that the under-performing
players need to take a long hard look at themselves.
Anderson has proved he has the quality to coach a top level
team and it will be interesting to see where he ends up and it will also be
interesting to see if any other club owner who may have been holding off
sacking their coach takes notice of this decision and swings the axe – watch
out Brian and Kieron!!!!
WORLD CLUB CHALLENGE SCALED BACK??
It will be a great shame and a black mark against our game
if the NRL send only two teams across to the UK to take part in next year’s
World Club Challenge.
I realise that the results have gone against Super League
teams in the last couple of year’s and the contest’s earlier this year were
competitive for about for 40 minutes in total – that 40 minutes being the first
half of the Leeds Rhinos v. North Queensland Cowboys game – and it probably
brought back memories of the disastrous 1997 World Club Challenge when
Australian clubs tore apart their English counterparts in just about every game
played.
It is as clear as day that there is a huge difference
between the NRL competition and Super League.
The intensity of the games and the physicality of the
players is on a different level to our competition and there is no point trying
to deny that.
Players can quite comfortably come from the New South Wales
or Queensland Cup competitions (basically Reserve Grade) in Australia and
become star players over here – look at the impact Josh Mantellato had at Hull
KR last year.
He was one of the top points scorers in the game scoring 21
tries in 27 games, kicking 93 goals for a points total of 270 – not bad for a
28 year old with only 2 NRL appearances under his belt although he was a member
of the NSW Cup Dream Team three years in a
row.
I think the six team concept is sound and we should not
scale back the size of the competition because of a few one sided results.
The exposure that the game got over here earlier this year with
Jonathan Thurston and the year before with Russell Crowe was at a level that we
do not normally get with the National press coverage probably tripled for the
week leading up to the games.
Our top players also need to be exposed on a more regular
basis to the level of competition they get in these World Club Challenge matches.
It is also an extra reward for teams taking out the League
Leaders Shield in Super League and winning the Challenge Cup and I think that
means something.
I am a big fan of international competition and we need to
keep this concept going at it’s current level for a few more years before
thinking about scaling it back or expanding it any further.
The NRL were well behind the concept when they were over
here earlier in the year – what has made them change their minds and why is it
just their decision anyway??
Surely Super League has some say in this decision and isn’t
this just the kind of issue that David Collier at the Rugby League
International Federation should be sorting out?
STATE OF ORIGIN 2
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| Thaiday should have been sent off!! |
Thank God State of Origin II lived up to the hype – it was a
great game that made up for a tense and dour (boring) first game.
Too often we say these games are great because it’s State of
Origin – what else is it going to be but I was completely underwhelmed with
game 1.
However game 2 was a different story and was a brilliant
game of rugby league and saw Queensland seal the series 2-0 with a 26-16
victory. It was the Maroon’s 10th series victory out of 11 and the
first under new coach Kevin Walters.
The best compliment you can give Walters is that you
wouldn’t have known the Maroon’s had a new coach – they just went out and did
what they needed to do to win the games.
There were a few things that caught my eye in this game.
First off was the tackle by Sam Thaiday on New South Wales
skipper Paul Gallen. It was clearly a lift and Gallen was put in a very
dangerous position and planted head first – it was a real moment of concern that
Gallen would be OK – fortunately he was, it resulted in a few handbags thrown,
Thaiday was put on report and he will be banned for 2 or 3 weeks.
Personally, I think he should have been sent off. That kind
of tackle has no part in our game and people who believe that the game should
be tougher and that a player should be able to get away with a few cheap shots,
and worse, that you wouldn’t at other levels ‘’because this is Origin’’ are
talking rubbish.
Just think about the Alex McKinnon tackle – in my mind this
was worse but just did not have the tragic outcome.
I thought Tyson Frizzell was outstanding. Frizzell is a
Welsh international, I’m not sure how long that will be the case though, who
has gone under the radar for a number of years and was due to start on the
bench on Wednesday.
However, he made the starting line up, scored a try, tackled
strongly and was denied a crucial second try by a tiny knock on by Michael
Jennings when the ball was loose over the try line and Frizzell was about to
drop on it. It would have got the Blues back in the game but Jennings’
fingertip touch saw the try turned down – Jennings definitely owes him a beer.
The last two things that caught my eye were from the
brilliant Jonathan Thurston and the both led to tries.
His little kick through, under heavy pressure, for Dane
Gagai to score his hat-trick try was sheer perfection and his behind the man
pass to Darius Boyd to put in Corey Oates at the corner for the clincher was
just breathtaking (I re-ran it many times it was that good!!) – add in his
magnificent touchline conversions and I don’t know what other adjectives can be
used to describe the man – he is simply one of the greatest players of all
time.
People might think that JT is a genius – but just imagine
the number of times that those two plays would have been practised in training
for them to work at the highest and most pressurised level of the game.
Just like everyone else, JT has to work hard to be as good
as he is.
Have a look for yourself at the below link:
POWELL FULLY JUSTIFIED
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| Daryl Powell - only £250.00 ha!ha! |
I’m sure Darryl Powell will be far from upset at his £500.00
fine for criticising referee Ben Thaler in the recent game against Wigan –
especially as £250.00 has been suspended and because he got to say what the
majority of rugby league people, not just coaches, feel about the refereeing
standards.
He probably feels that a weight has been lifted off his
shoulders and his wallet is not too much lighter either.
I feel that Powell was fully justified in his criticism of
Thaler and the way that he refereed that particular match.
I tweeted on the night ‘’ Ben Thaler could learn a lot
about talking to players by watching a RU referee in action. Should be no need
to raise his voice and shout.’’
I had the game on in the background whilst
I was doing some work and my attention was diverted back to the screen quite a
few times by Thaler’s raised voice or by the way that he was speaking to
players.
There is no doubt that there is a little
bit of insolence creeping into the game from players towards referee’s and I
think that the ‘RESPECT’ campaign needs to be ran again but sometimes referee’s
do not help themselves.
I haven’t played for 15 years but am
involved in coaching in the local Youth Leagues in Hull and even now when I see
a referee that I know from years ago or even a young one who has started out in
refereeing I still call them ‘sir’ when they are in their official capacity,
but that kind of respect needs to be reciprocated at all levels of the game.
I don’t think Thaler showed any respect to
any of the players that were under his charge and agree with Powell when he
said that the referee ‘’lost his cool and lost his composure.’’
Thaler has a history of, I believe, showing
a lack of respect to players on the field but I thought he had got over that
and last year, without a doubt, he was the best referee in the British game and
received all of the plaudits by being appointed to all of the big games
including the Challenge Cup and Grand Finals and two of the three Tests in the
England / New Zealand series.
I have made this point previously but the
respect shown by RU players to referee’s is in another league at the moment
compared to how RL players are starting to treat referee’s and I think that
happens because RU referee’s, especially at the top level of the game, are 100%
professional and communicate with the players in a respectful and composed way
– they do not raise their voices or just simply tell players to ‘’GO AWAY’’ or
wave their hands at them.
Respect is a two way street and referee’s
need to understand that as much as the players.
BYE BYE ZAK!!
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| Zak - please let me go!!! |
I have no idea why Leeds Rhinos are so desperate to off load
2015 Man of Steel Zak Hardaker or why he is so desperate to get out of the UK
but there can be no question that something has gone on.
Hardaker has had a few run in’s with authorities both inside
and outside of the game during his 5 years at the Rhinos and was, in my
opinion, lucky to be given another chance last year after he assaulted a
student on a drunken night out.
Whatever has happened this time it appears that both parties
are happier to call it quits than to resolve the situation.
Hardaker signed a new 4 year deal with the Rhinos less than
12 months ago, hence the Rhinos slapping a huge £300,000.00 transfer fee on him
when he came to the recently to express his desire to play in the NRL
immediately.
The announcement earlier this week that the Rhinos and
Penrith Panthers had agreed a swap deal, to take effect immediately, for
Hardaker to head over to the NRL in exchange for hooker James Segeyaro
certainly seems to suit both parties, certainly in the short term anyway as the
agreement is only until the end of 2016, Hardaker remains on the Rhinos
transfer list and both players have the option to return to their clubs at the
end of 2016.
Without a doubt, the Rhinos need a hooker.
Beau Falloon was signed from Gold Coast Titans and I said at
the time that I did not think he was good enough. I believe I have been proved
right but he has not been helped by numerous injuries.
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| Segeyaro will be a big hit. |
Segeyaro is a much stronger, quicker and more dynamic player
who has previously won the Dally M award for hooker of the year and I think he
will lift the Rhinos performances if he can settle in quickly. It appears that he will make his debut in the
Rhinos next Super League match against Widnes Vikings next weekend.
Hardaker meanwhile, who considers himself an out and out
full back, has been playing on the wing for the Rhinos but it is at centre
where he may be playing for the Panthers.
Their full back spot is tied up by current New South Wales
no. 1 Matt Moylan whilst the wings are filled by internationals in Josh Mansour
and Dallin Watene-Zelezniak but they have inexperienced players in the centre position
with New Zealand internationals Peta Hiku and Dean Whare both currently
sidelined with injury.
This is where Hardaker could be utilised as he played centre
earlier in his career.
I think it is a brave move by the Panthers. Hardaker has not
backed up his 2015 form in a Rhinos side that have struggled throughout 2016
and currently sit at the bottom of Super League having taken out the treble
last year.
It has been an unexpected fall from grace for the club and
Hardaker’s form has mirrored that of his club side and I think he will struggle
to make the Four Nation’s squad at the end of the year.
Back’s tend to struggle to gain recognition in the NRL, look
at Joe Burgess at the Roosters, and it is in the forwards that British players
seem to excel so it will be very interesting to see how Hardaker fares in the
rarified atmosphere of the NRL.
See some of the highlight's of Zak's Man of Steel winning year below:
