Welcome to
the latest edition of Six to Go, looking at some of the things that have caught
my eye over the past 7 days.
1. Ban the Cannonball
The one
thing in Rugby League at the moment that makes my blood boil is the cannonball
tackle. It is an incredibly dangerous tackle and can seriously injure a player.
When a player is stood up in a tackle and held up by 2 or 3 opponents they are
very vulnerable to an additional defender coming in and attacking them at the
back of the knee. If this is done with enough force then the weight of the
player AND the weight of the defenders is brought to bear on the knee or ankle
joints of the tackled player. There is not many worse feelings on a rugby field
when you know that your leg is going to buckle underneath you and there is
nothing you can do about it except hope that the pain and resulting injury
aren’t too bad. I coach junior rugby league and I have taught 9 and 10 year
olds to tackle by making the initial contact on the upper body to slow a
players momentum before an additional tackler comes in low and wraps the
tackled players legs together before the player is brought to the ground –
never would I coach a player to attack the back of a players knees. Everyone
knows it is dangerous – so why isn’t it outlawed in Super League – as it is in
the NRL – and why do players still persist in attacking the back of a players
knee’s when they know there opponent is in a vulnerable position – there is no
excuse for it and not only should it result in a penalty it should result in an
instant dismissal and a lengthy ban. Salford Red Devils half back Rangi Chase
received a 7 match ban for a cannonball tackle on Brett Ferres earlier this
season and you would have thought that the message was clear – carry out the
kind of tackle that injured Ferres and you will spend a lengthy spell on the
sideline. However, this is where the RFL do not help themselves – there seems
to be no instruction to referee’s that they should deal with this kind of
tackle severely and the RFL disciplinary committee have shown no consistency in
how they handle this kind of tackle. If I was Rangi Chase, I would feel as
though I had been victimised – especially having seen Wigan Warriors Sam Powell
not even cited for a cannonball tackle on Dane Tilse of Hull KR 2 weeks ago and
Catalans Dragons hooker Ian Henderson being found not guilty of the same
offence against Wigan’s John Bateman last weekend. I found both of these
decision unbelievable – I was out of my armchair in outrage when both of these
offences occurred as both Powell and Henderson knew what they were doing and
intended to attack the knee area. In the NRL, no contact is allowed below the
knee in this kind of tackle situation and I really believe it is time the RFL
took the cannonball tackle seriously and outlawed it immediately.
2. Wane not a happy man!
I think
Wigan coach Shaun Wane really needs to stop referencing opposition coach’s in
his mid-week press conferences as it seems to be working against his team at
the moment – certainly over the last 2 weeks anyway. It’s not often I enjoy
watching Wigan play but the last two weeks have a brought a smile to my face as
Hull Kingston Rovers and Catalans Dragons have knocked the Warriors out of the
Challenge Cup and inflicted their heaviest defeat in a generation respectively.
Is it a coincidence that Wane has mentioned the opposition in the build up to
both games in a potentially inflammatory way that has fired the Warriors
opponents up and given them the adrenaline rush they needed to perform at a
higher level than was probably expected by Wigan. Prior to the Challenge Cup 6th
round defeat to Hull KR, coming just 2 weeks after the Warriors had embarrassed
the Robins 60-0 in Super League, Wane stated that his players had ‘’fire in
their bellies’’ because of comments made by Rovers coach Chris Chester.
Chester’s comments were innocuous and were certainly not a shot across the
Warriors boughs but Hull KR were certainly fired up and threw the Warriors off
their normal game completely to record a famous victory. Likewise in the build
up to the Catalans game in the south of France at the weekend Wane stated that
he would be very disappointed with the way the Dragons performed away from home
if he were their coach. That maybe so but I see no reason why Wane would even
think about mentioning that as surely he would know that the Dragons would just
take his comments and put them on the dressing room wall – no need for a team
talk. And that’s just what happened. The Dragons blew the Warriors away with
half back pairing Todd Carney, in particular, and Scott Dureau running the
Warriors ragged behind a dominant pack spearheaded by the brilliant Zeb Taia
and Elliott Whitehead. Whitehead leaves for the Canberra Raiders at the end of
the year, Dureau is out of contract and there are strong rumours that Todd
Carney maybe looking for a way out of his contract to head back to the NRL now
that he has won his case for wrongful dismissal against Cronulla Sharks – the
Dragons must do all they can to keep this dream half back pairing together. In
this kind of form the Dragons can beat anyone and Wane is right that they are
disappointing away from home but maybe he should start keeping his thoughts to
himself more often.
3. Leigh are unprofessional
I upset a
couple of Leigh fans in my last column and having seen their performance in the
otherwise well received Summer Bash in Blackpool at the weekend I will probably
do it again this week because I really don’t like the way they are playing the
game at the moment. Social Media was awash with negative comments about the
Leigh v. Featherstone game on Sunday afternoon and whilst I in no way condone
the actions of Featherstone Rover’s Paul Wood in, allegedly, gouging Bob
Beswick for which he was sent off I can fully understand why teams are drawn
into a physical battle with the Centurions. Their players are clearly sent out
to wind the opposition up and this in turn brings about reactions from
otherwise well-disciplined teams – let’s face it no rugby league player is
going to take kindly to being heartily laughed at in their face when they drop
a pass or make an error – it is totally unprofessional and childish and would
cause havoc with some of the egos in Super League and would definitely lose
them games. Then we come to Gareth Hock – I have no idea why Leigh signed him –
he is not fit, brings nothing to their team, will not last the pace in Super
League and just adds to their reputation as a bunch of bullyboys. He was lucky
to last as long as he did on Sunday before being sin-binned and should have
been cooling his heels in the bin in the first half for his unnecessary slap on
Jordan Baldwinson. Paul Rowley is a very talented coach but seems to be
revelling in their unpopularity at the moment and disrespecting a Super League
and Challenge Cup winning coach as he did on Boots ‘n’ All last week will not
go down well – he has the players and fans totally on side and they hang on
every word he says but he should be ensuring that they concentrate more on
paying rugby rather than resorting to bully boy tactics. They have some
wonderfully gifted players and there needs to be more emphasis on their rugby
playing ability rather than the negative side of their game. To be fair, it
wasn’t just them on Sunday – Rovers had Wood was sent off, Reni Maitua has been
brought before the disciplinary committee and half back Gareth Moore was all
over the place niggling and chatting but the Centurions take it to another
level.
4. Magic 9s
I first
called for the Magic Weekend to become the Magic 9’s back in February 2014 (http://rugbyleaguelife.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/magic-9s.html) after the inaugural Auckland 9’s
and Salford Red Devils owner Marwan Koukash followed my lead earlier this year and
has re-iterated his desire in the last week in the build up to this week’s Magic
Weekend. The Auckland 9’s is a fantastic spectacle prior to the opening of the
NRL season. The great weather, the beautiful Eden Park Stadium and crowds of
40,000 + on both days with a carnival atmosphere make it a great event. The reduced numbers on the field creates more space
for the likes of Shaun Johnson, James Tedesco and Sam Tomkins among others to wreak
havoc with wonderful sidesteps, great off loads and long distance tries. Now,
the Magic Weekend is a great concept and is growing and is not something the
game in the UK should abandon. But I think the 23rd Super League fixture
is unnecessary and the introduction of a Magic Weekend Super 9’s tournament,
promoted and marketed correctly, would give the game in the UK another very
special event to add to it’s calendar and another major trophy to play for. The
clubs would have to buy into this concept completely. There would be no using
the weekend to rest players because no league points are at stake; a rule could
be introduced that there are no more than 2 players per squad who have not
appeared in Super League games prior to the Magic 9’s weekend, meaning the vast
majority of Super League stars would have to be on show. An organising
committee could be put in place to attract a major sponsor for the event and
make it financially worthwhile for the clubs and they would also have the time
and ability to promote the tournament to the full and put the TV contract out
to tender to SKY, BT Sports, Premier and a highlights package could be thrown
in for BBC and / or ITV as well. The tournament would have to be full of
razzamatazz, making it a fun filled weekend that parent’s could take their kids
too and come home saying ‘WOW – I can’t wait for next year.’ The
clubs would have a special 9’s tournament jersey just like the Auckland
tournament which would bring in extra revenue in merchandise sales and
hopefully the designers would show a little imagination. Also, the rules could
be altered to make the concept even more exciting – teams wouldn’t
be allowed to kick penalty goal’s – there would be bonus zones such as an
extra point for scoring a try between the goal posts (as in Auckland) and
what about an extra point for scoring from your own half between the 10
and 50 yard lines and two points for scoring from behind your own try line and
up to the 10 yard line! I think it
could work – it just needs a bit of imagination and the right people to push it
forward.
5. Smith’s good week / bad week
Warrington
back rower Ben Currie is having a fantastic season and hopefully he is in the
sights of England coach Steve McNamara for the end of season Test Series
against New Zealand. Although he has already represented Ireland, via his
grandparents, at the last World Cup he is very keen to play for England and for
a big man he has a great turn of pace as well as being a powerful runner. He
can also play in the three quarter line and last week against Salford he scored
his 10th try of the season and also provided the final pass for all
three of Gene Ormsby’s tries in the Wolves 34-18 win which kept them in 5th
place in Super League. He is only 20 years of age but is a regular for the
Wolves and is held in high regard by his coach Tony Smith. A player no longer
held in high regard by Smith is former Wolves hooker Mickey Higham who joined
his hometown club Leigh last week. Smith launched a blistering attack this week
and is not happy with the way the move materialised and was unhappy with Higham
putting in an official transfer request after the Wolves had initially rejected
an approach from the Centurions and, reading between the lines, seems to think
that Higham had his head turn by a behind the back approach from Leigh. That is
not the way most clubs like to do business and Smith is now just happy that the
business is over and done with but seems to have lost a lot of respect for
Higham and is also unsure that Leigh will uphold the agreement that Higham will
not face the Wolves in the Challenge Cup quarter final. Leigh have refuted any
back door approach.
6. Sinfield keeps going but Nanyn ends his career
Leeds Rhinos
legend Kevin Sinfield helped himself to 16 points against Hull KR last weekend
and in the process moved up to 3rd place in the all time leading
points scorers list in the history of rugby league – surpassing Gus Risman’s
total of 4,050 points. Sinfield ends his rugby league career at the end of the
year and would have to go on forever to move any further up the scoring charts
as second placed Jim Sullivan amassed a career total 6,022 points over a 25
year career with Wigan and the record, which will never be surpassed, is held
by legend Neil Fox who scored 6,220 points in a 23 year career with Wakefield,
Bradford, Hull Kingston Rovers, York, Bramley and Huddersfield. The top ten
points scorers list is full of legendary names from the British game (we Brits
have obviously played a LOT more rugby league than our Antipodean cousins) such
as those mentioned above along with John Woods, Cyril Kellett, Kel Coslett,
Lewis Jones and Steve Quinn – and then up pops the name of Mick Nanyn who
currently lies in 5th place in the list with 3,718 career points and
sits above such names as Kellet, Coslett, Jones and Quinn. But there is no
fanfare for Nanyn as he enters retirement like there will be when Sinfield
leaves the Rhinos at the end of the year – just a little word of thanks from
his current coach at Swinton Lions, John Duffy. The difference is that Nanyn
has played all of his rugby league outside of the games top division throughout
his 16 year career. He started out with Swinton back in 1999 and has also had
spells at Rochdale, Whitehaven, Widnes, Oldham and Leigh before returning to
Swinton in 2013. Nanyn was a prodigious goal kicker as you would expect and has
kicked 1,303 goals in 367 career appearances which also include 10 games for
Scotland (he was born in Wigan!!!) but he also scored a huge amount of tries
everywhere he played. He has scored 52 tries in 114 appearances in 2 spells
with Swinton, 26 in 32games for Rochdale, 59 in 56 games for Whitehaven, 58 in
55 for Widnes, 21 in 32 for Oldham and 55 tries in 66 games for Leigh as well
as 6 tries in 10 international appearances for Scotland. He is a big man at 6’2’’ and nearly 17 ½
stone and was an imposing figure in the three quarter line. He never played at
the top level of rugby league although he was signed by Harlequins RL back in
2009 but never made an appearance for them. Nanyn ended his career with a total
of 278 tries and 1303 goals for a total points haul of 3,718. Even for a career
spent outside of the top flight that is a sensational points total and I think
Nanyn deserves some kind of recognition for his feats.
A bit of
extra time thinking:
The funeral
of Keighley Cougars Danny Jones, who passed away from a heart attack during a
match against London Skolars at the beginning of May, was held last week with
nearly 2000 people attending both the church service and also outside watching
on big screens. The Just Giving page for Danny’s family organised by the RFL
Benevolent Fund has now raised nearly £165,000. God bless the Rugby League
family. If you want to donate then this is the link: https://www.justgiving.com/dannyjones29
There is the
possibility that an Emerging Kangaroos team will be put together to tour Papua New
Guinea at the end of the year as the Aussies are beginning to realised that
they may be made a mistake in ruling out all international RL in 2015 apart
from the traditional ANZAC Test with New Zealand. The Pacific Islands have
recently proven their ability on the international stage with two cracking
matches between Samoa / Tonga and PNG / Fiji on the Gold Coast and the Emerging
Kangaroos could be a fantastic vehicle to promote the game and improve the quality
of the Pacific Islanders.
The DCE
backflip saga is back on AGAIN apparently. Manly are desperate to keep their
star half back and now have less than 2 weeks (June 10th) to get him
to renege on his provisional 4 year deal that he signed with Gold Coast Titans
earlier this year. The Sea Eagles have already signed one of DCE’s best mates
Nate Myles for next year (from Gold Coast) and are now close to signing another
of his mates, Darcey Lussick, on a 3 year deal from Parramatta. The rumour is
that they are also chasing Greg Bird from the Titans. This needs to be put to
bed quickly and the sooner June 10th comes and goes the better
Frank
Pritchard and Chris Heighington are the latest NRL stars to be rumoured to be
up for a move to Super League in 2016. Canterbury Bulldog’s Pritchard is being
tracked by Hull FC and Heighington, the Cronulla Sharks former England forward,
is now 32 and won’t turn down a final big payday if the right offer comes
along. Newcastle Knights half back Tyrone Roberts has also been linked with a
move t Super League with Leeds Rhinos.
Big Willie
Mason looks likely to sign new deal with the Manly Sea Eagles. Mason joined the
Sea Eagles from the Knights for 2015 and looks like playing on for another year
which will take him to 36 years of age. Big Willie, who had a short and
disastrous spell with my club Hull KR back in 2010, is already the oldest
forward walking around in the NRL.
It has been
a busy few days in the Super League as well:
Lopini Paea
has left Wakefield Trinity Wildcats to head back to the NRL to join his former
club Sydney Roosters.
Salford Red
Devils will lose another forward at the end of the season. Hot on the heels of
Scott Taylor confirming his 4 year deal with Hull FC it has now been announced
that form forward Lama Tasi has signed a 2 year contract with St. Helens. Tony
Puletua, who has a contract dispute with the club and has not featured this
season, has also left to join Hull Kingston Rovers on loan for the rest of the
year.
Brett Ferres
has signed a 2 year contract extension at Huddersfield Giants. Ferres had 2
years left on his current deal but has now extended his contract until the end
of 2019 and resisted interest from NRL clubs to stay loyal to the Giants.
Powerful
forward Tony Clubb has signed a new 4 year deal at Wigan Warriors whilst Julian
Bousquets has signed a 2 year contract extension at Catalans Dragons.
You can
follow me on Twitter @sharpster69
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