Gus spits fire over NRL development system: Six Tackles with Gus - Ep11 | NRL on Nine

Welcome to Six Tackles [Music] this is six tackles with Gus with Matthew Thompson and Gus good welcome to six tackles for another week hope you are having a fantastic week goodness there's some Rugby League news around Jason Demetri is sacked we'll have the Inside Story on a day of drama for South Sydney The Fallout of the decision to act the coach and Gus will run his eye over the candidates there's one looming large in particular The Roosters set to farewell a Grand Final champ at Clive church or medalist Luke Ki to retire at the end of the season if a club develops a player why shouldn't they get a salary cap discount I'll ask Gus that plus your questions and we'll preview a bump around nine there is so much around welcome Gus Matthew Thompson how you doing fabulous you're well I'm well thank you you look well never seen the sun shining so brightly that's exactly what I would have said that's how you look um well I don't think we've had a busier week ever um news right off the top Judiciary last night DC successful in earning a Daly Cherry-Evans faces no suspension downgrade of that dangerous thr charge so he's free to play against CRA his record of no suspensions remains intact he's played 3133 NRL games dating back to 2011 uh it's prompted debate which I think many people support that if you are a long- serving player with a clean record you should get an immediate discount yeah obviously uh depending on the offense of course I mean every case has got to be treated on its merits I thought dily Cherry Evans was extremely um I thought I didn't think he deserved a charge out of this and I'm certainly glad it's been downgraded to the point where he can play uh this weekend um certainly as a long serving player of the game with perfect Judiciary record he's he um he's not a player that ever transgresses the rules or would ever do anything deliberately I felt that that incident was an accident on behalf of both players I know he got into an awkward position eventually um but he did land on his back and then rolled towards uh towards his neck which gave him a little bit of pain after that but um I thought it was rather harsh to be charging both players they are very very sensitive to this they're very very sensitive to these dangerous throws and to any player that even looks like they might have had a chance of landing on their head and I guess I can understand their concern but you know Case by case I didn't think the tackle deserved a charge I thought Alat is unlucky to be missing football and thankfully d d Cherry Evans um gets to play on now saf far as a clean record a clean record does count if you can go seven years without offense or in a similar offense it does not so much give you a discount but you don't get a um you don't get a loading on it or something like that they don't give you a but um yeah I mean if he was to attack someone with an a i you got to act accordingly don't you don't think that's in the hands of the Judiciary but with it's a a suspension is a um what's the word I'm looking for here it it it acts as a deterrent but also punishment so if D Terry Evans has played his whole career 13 years yeah without charge he's not a dirty player and if something like that happens it's an accident yeah well but you got to you always got to have the provisor I mean if you kick someone in the head out of anger if he suddenly has a rush of blood or you know that that those things have got to be dealt with on their merits but this was an unfortunate incident I think he was extremely unlucky to be even charged and I'm glad the Judiciary overturned it or downgraded it to the point where he doesn't have to miss a game and with player there is no fear of repeat offense other than the fact he might have another unlucky tackle at some stage you know um it's a long career without offense he's obviously not a dirty player or he's obviously not a player that sails close to the wind there are plenty of players that do um dily Cherry Evans is not one of them so he gets to play on which is good and I think the other boys unlucky too I think we suspend players too easily I think we're too quick to suspend players but um that's that's the way the world is at the moment mate little freshen up for allatu ahead of An Origin tooo you think so I don't think it'll keep him out of the origin side somehow well oh he's got to be there he's a beast not talking origin move on I'm not talking origin selections what do you mean well because every time you do that someone gets hurt I'm not mocking he's not going to get hurt cuz he's suspended for the next two weeks unless he slips over in the shower you're mocked poor old K and pong yeah it was all me uh very quickly we got so much to talk about um Team of the week who were your team of the week from last Round 8 Recap week the team of the week from last week Co Cy um I'm going to answer you a question yeah Panthers defense that was brilliant I was in a watching them and people go you know they still scored 20 they had they had all the ball yeah they had a million six against but if they they're playing any other team the cboys they win oh yeah they played they played better than a lot of teams that did win on the weekend second half they were they were very very good second half um yeah there was some solid performances on the weekend sharks again very very professional I mean they blooded the Raiders out of it and gave them no chance all bet the Raiders down on troops a little bit um feels like a long time ago last week doesn't it it does yeah I you know I loved the Anzac Day performance um of the rooster um you they've got that in them the roosters you know like they scored 60 points there wasn't 50 points difference between those two sides physically at all but roers have got the ability to do that to score tries that no one else can score and score them at a quick rate and Sam Walker just had one of those 10 out of 10 performances um where everything he touched turned to Gold he was able assisted by a couple of other players um I Conor Mason went really good Watson Conor Watson went really good and um obviously the Santa Manu was really really good as well um yeah that their performance was really solid Titans got on the board they won their last 15 minutes of defense was extraordinary I know it was as good as penis why can't they do it all game well it's two weeks in a row now where they've gone they haven't conceded a point in the last 15 minutes but they've conceded 30 y in the first 65 I don't get it weird they can do it when they want to I mean Warriors had enough ball to win 10 games in that last 15 minutes they only had to score one more try to win and got over the line three or four times and Titans just kept turning them away they'll get a lot out of that they they will get a lot out of that performance who are they playing this week oh they playing Melbourne they're at home to Melbourne yeah the Titans will get a lot out of that the warriors on the hery Gertie as rabs would say well they've got a few injuries there's a few coming back cell's coming back this week um yeah they missed the 5'8 met C absolutely yeah look to be honest they've probably they probably disappointed themselves a little bit in recent times and a couple of those games they got to the front and still gave up leads um yeah I it's I'm a little mystified compared to how they were last year um I thought that they'd be a real Force this year and may well still be but you know we'll have to see yes no no no no no no no no dear dear de are you prepared to declare konala a Are the Sharks premiership contenders? genuine Premiership threat yes oo well they are uh everyone fitting well and everyone playing to their best I would say there are better candidates in the competition I think that Panther and Bronco are still clearly um the teams to beat behind them just storm and rooster and shark is somewhere in that mix around that top five um but I think they're better than they've been they've stumbled at the last hurdle the last couple of years but I think that exper has served them well they've got a lot of depth in their squad and the last couple of weeks where they've just had complete blot outs I mean they've blotted their opposition I think they won 426 and 40 n or something rather the last two games so they've got that little bit of uh ruthlessness in them now that they haven't had before and a little bit more belief they've always had the ability to score points but in big games they've struggled to defend them now when you start winning games like that like in previous years they'd win if they scored 40 they might concede 20 they went 40 to 20 or 36 to 24 or you know 28 to8 those sort of score lines now when you start winning by those big margins and giving nothing up to your opposition that's when you're you're getting to the point where you can start seriously thinking about Premier 6 success and I think they're an improved version on the last couple of years having said that their draw they haven't really played a lot of the top sides I think their tests are to come and we'll probably judge them more in another 6 or eight weeks time yes to see how or what's available so I talked to during the call on on uh Sunday I asked Freddy and Joey about that so they got the local Derby this week yeah then they've got a trip to Melbourne then they've got the roosters in Magic round then they've got the Panthers at points bit so that is a three well it's going to be a really interesting three weeks for them and the best part of it is they're in really good form and they're Fit and Well coming into it they've done you know they couldn't have had a better preparation to lead into those three teams what is it rooster storm storm away yeah Rooster's at Sun Corp yeah Panthers at home all right well that's in that's in ascending order of of of quality right there so yeah by the time they get the panther if they can get over the top of the storm then the rooster and then come into the penth game that'll be the game of the season because they'll be ready to pit their their skills against the best in the comp if they win two if they win two of those three we reinforce reinforce your yes so yep they're the real deal they might win none of them but I'm pretty happy with the way they went I'm not worried about the results I'm worried about how they how they do it I think um you know if they win one they'll be very happy with that they win two it's a bonus all three well we got a new Premiership favorite but um right at the moment uh this is the test that they need right now they're they're going to get a good test this Sunday don't worry the dragons are a big aggressive side I they got beat by 60 last week but local Derby that's always is going to be hard and this is where these are the ones that konola got to win and then they go up against those top sides I think it's perfect preparation for them I think craigford gibon would look at the draw the way it's been yeah cuz they haven't played a lot up till now um he a circle that that month yeah you so well this is this is the month and it's the month leading into to rep football so you need to win those games what do you reckon about how good was Shane Flanigan's deflection is that what it was what do you think it was you seriously think it was a deflect well my had 60 put on him he can't exactly go in and be bullish can he he just give it to the Sharks deflection what do you think it was who saying it's deflection well what else would it have been saying oh yeah they haven't want to come since I was there and we'll get it and give it to him well what's that sound like he's got the shits sounds like you're giving himself a w to me no we don't know about deflection it's pretty hard to go in like go in hoing and pupping after you've had 60 I'm thinking to myself what the hell probably not the time to be bringing that up were you a deflector after were you a deflector every now and then what can you think of a deflection you no no not interested I was pretty honest yeah I love the one up at I remember as a young journalist being up at sun cour when you you knew southw was coach and they asked you one question and you walked off with the [ __ ] what was that one you say it's all about coins it's all about coins and then that was it press drop it's over the importance the importance of the last press conference is to give him a headline and you gave it to him so I'd go and I said these blacks have got grapple tackles these blacks it's all about so I did I I didn't have any I said this is It's All About coins and just WR about them get then you walked away it was away it was so good which is the headline you want leading into the origin um sense of theater before I ask you the question I'm going to play this audio you can lose the ball over the line scoring a try right and you get penalized 20 M and seven tackles it cost the camber try yesterday you lose the ball over the line it costs you 20 M and seven tackles why I don't know because it's stupid but I can just take a line drop if it goes out on the four doesn't go 10 m no no consequence nothing at all what sort of stupid game is this what sort of who sits and makes up these rules obstructors and oh he didn't have his eyes on the ball and he did he bumped into him and he ran behind obstruction happy carus out try what the hell was that it cost what the hell was that it cost brisban the Grand Final last year they been able to execute dropouts cost in the we are so stupid with our rules we are so stupid with our rules give me that give me that give me that give me that tell me what did I score that or not did I score that or not Buble no bubble I love our game is stupid happy cor I was robbed of a try Was Api Koroisau robbed of a try? 100% 100% that's your best ever I'm sitting on the lounge and and I'm thinking what the hell are they taking time here for I mean why why would you think it's your job to find fault with that put down what what goes through their head that they've got to go through this with a fine tooth came and a magnifying glass on every play on on every try that scored and try to find a way to disallow it and what wouldn't what wouldn't even motivate them to think that they've got to find fault with that put down when you watch it at normal speed a million times no one no one was worried about the put down no one well we not we not breef that if you have separation and catch up with the ball it's a try were we're not told that's the new interpretation I don't know I don't doy I don't do well I thought we were told in a briefing before this season or maybe last season that's the we were calling on the radio I was calling it with Daryl and and Paul gallon and I was a gas well I would say that a lot of tries that are scored particularly those Wingers that are putting it down in the corner yeah they're actually letting the ball roll to their hand right they're actually taking their grip letting the ball roll to their hand to get it down sometimes they're planting it down with their wrist what are you going to go disallow all those yeah we've been putting the ball down like that for 100 years there was nothing wrong with that put down nothing he was simply reaching out to get it to the line and got it there and you know downward pressure everything he needed to do and to the naked eye there is nothing wrong with it no separation whatsoever you've got to go back with a magnifying glass to find out where it's yeah yeah I found it Absolut why has our game come to that forget about that the other stuff why is it a seven tackle set from the 20 M tap now why is every 20 M tap a SE seven tackle set why do we penalized 20 M and seven tackles because a bloke failed to ground the ball in the in goal or the ball dribbles over the dead ball line or I miss a field goal where did all that get mixed up in the other stuff it was where did it where did it come from the seven tackle set came from because I think at one time you might have had Darius Boyd and Billy Slater who used to run the ball back really strongly and some coach worked out right well instead of kicking it to them I'll just kick a dead we'll cop the 20 M right and the six tackles rather than kick it to them and and fear of them running it back 50 so and I think it might have been Jamie sa and St George might have been Bennett at the time that did it I don't know who I can't go that long back I don't know how yeah we went back years and years and so what do they wanted to do it become a little bit boring cuz sides just started kicking it dead against the good fullbacks so they were happy to have a breather get some in the lungs and then you it was a slow restart for the 20 M tap and and you you get your six tackles from there which is really negative and it wasn't going to last that long either there are other ways to penalize that but they said we'll turn that into a seven tackle set you get an extra tackle if they do that right I say yeah good idea so what do the referees do every 20 M tap is a seven tackle set now I'm quite sure they didn't mean that but they just didn't think about it at the time and the referees applied it to the an degree of the the letter of the law so every 20 M tap became a seven tackle set how ludicrous how absolutely ludicrous a seven tackle set because I miss a field goal yeah I I Bobble the ball in the in goal abusa got penalized seven tackles and 20 M 20 M and seven T that's that's outrageous it is outrageous but no one does anything about it we all know it's outrageous everyone knows the rules are stupid but no one does anything about it who comes up with all this disruptor stuff and escorts and obstructions and what the way they apply this stuff the bunker the bunker assuming this role that it has to every time a point is scored they've got to go back and apply a new set of rules to what's normally done during the normal set of game don't be St me on well you upset me now well I don't mean to do that podcast over sorry um can I just I'll put one more to you you might combust y this Dropout stuff told you told you at the start it is it is a dog's breakfast not say it at the start what what are we doing we Gus not happy with rule interpretations doing this did I not say it from day one did I not say it from day one what a Miss no one even knows what the rules are did I not say it from day one now why did they do it well I don't know I know why they do it they won't advertise the reason they do it they hide from the reason they really did it right is because they didn't want the black running back and fearing concussion now they're stting to talk about they starting to get people talk about kickoffs and getting rid of kickoffs leave the game alone and you you can't have a rule that just allowed you C blunch if you're going to take a risk with a short drop there should be there is absolutely no pressure on the BL taking the Shortline drop out none whatsoever he can just kick it oh well no good didn't go 10 m oh no good didn't went out on the four who cares but what the thing and as a just an observer of the game and someone who's never played the thing one of the things I loved was a half that could manipulate possession by kicking to the end goal repeatedly there's no repeat set anymore but there is no said so you you you trap someone in the end goal it's a 50/50 where even going to get the ball back you're a chance of giving away a penalty if someone escorts or someone touches the ball and offside in front I me it's ridiculous it's it it it is so ludic and I said it at the time and everyone said oh good idea competition for the ball yeah some person comes up oh that that would be a good idea yeah why don't we do that and it would have come from a coach or it would have come from someone on social media or it would have come from a doctor who's trying to avoid collisions the reasons for making the rules ridiculous and the rules I come up with are ridiculous but I want to keep going back to this seven tackle set rubbish this seven tackle set rubbish for balls dribbling over the dead ball line or losing the ball in the in goal or missing a field goal why are they why is that a penalty there is no greater penalty in the game than a 20 meter loss of territory and seven tackles why is that's a phenomenal penalty a phenomenal penalty for nearly scoring a try and just bobbling it in the end well there's no reason they could just say if that happened if someone drops the ball over the line in the act of scoring a try that is not a seven tackle set they could easily say that it should be a scrum food to the defending side coming out of trouble that's the best that they should be able to get out of it but there's no reason they couldn't change that but they won't they've got no one that can oh don't stop um Don't Stop Me L they know it's wrong they know it's wrong they know it's wrong the Dropout one does my head in but I I can I can I can never get anyone to say who is actually responsible for these rules and most of the rules have changed because some influential coach Rings someone of influence down there or something on social media or some media commentator gets a a bur under his sat on complains about it and then they check social media and a few people agree with it and that's how they change the rules but apart from apart from who's responsible for it if they just changed it it wouldn't matter who's responsible for it um Luke Ki when he retires one of the game's Luke Keary one of the greats? great little tough men yes no yes absolutely you don't give me too many no no NOS anymore everything's say yes well I you answer answer whever you want I I can't preempt your answer I was giving you a chance to rap Luke KY because I know you like him yeah brilliant said it on the Footy Show the other night on the 100% footy um the the one word that comes to me with Luke is courage every time I don't know Luke all that well I've run into him a few times obviously around the footy and every time you run into himby black he's a lovely kid he's always got a big smile on his face it's kind of like when he shakes your hand it's like you've told him a joke he he's just full of joy and life and happiness and but the the things that he's overcome firstly he's a little BL so he's going to get targeted and he's you know it's hard for these little BLS and it's a tough game and the BLS they play against are so big and strong and you know when one of the big BLS wears down they just bring on another one fresh one and they run at him too he's had to overcome all that he's had his concussion issues his injury issues but put together a stellar career absolutely Stellar career and his career was nearly over with those head it's not just the physical mental courage he's got too he's got a game courage his game is you he's got this sense of team and what the team needs right at this point in time and he delivers it but he's also got this innate Instinct this instinct to make things happen out of nothing um without second thought without fear of consequence he's a he's a very brave little man and a brave player and he's had a wonderful career and I've got to be honest I'm so glad that he's going to go out on top he could have played for another couple of years but I'm so glad he's going out now while he's he's still healthy and still in good form and still a chance of winning a Premiership it would be a fitting way for him to end his career be a few players in that boat as well but um you wouldn't begrudging him if the roof has won the comp for him in this last year Wayne Bennett will be South Sydney coach next to Wayne Bennett to coach South Sydney? you no no no no no M saying that so I get a no no no in what do you actually think uh my personal opinion you've been saying no I'm you Chang mind no my personal opinion is I'd find it hard to believe he would accept that role right now I just I don't know um yeah well they want him theyve made no no secret they've made it public that they want him they' made it public that they want him um I just don't know I I don't know whether he would do that whether he come back to live in Sydney for a start well let's have and whether he'd want to pick up the pieces what's going on there at the moment I think he'd love to pick up the pieces you think this is what Blake Sully the chief executive has sou had to say this morning I think the board wanted to give it as much consideration as the um subject deserved Souths release Jason Demetriou really um dismissing a coach is never easy um we've got a great board who consider every issue very diligently and do their job properly and um as I said dismissing a coach is never easy and they want to give themselves enough time give it appropriate consideration before coming to a unanimous decision did results take to themselves that you just couldn't keep going down the same path yes all right that's black Su now Michael Chamis has got the inside scoop about what's evolved with the South Sydney coaching scenario in the Sydney Morning Herald in the nine papers around the country today he's revealed that 48 hours prior to Demitri's arrival at the club yesterday the coach knew he was a dead man walking on Sunday morning as the dust settled on yet another South Sydney loss that left the bunny stranded at the bottom of the NRL ladder Solly called a meeting with the coach uh suly who Michael says is fighting in some ways to save his own job told Jason Demitri he'd lost his support um soly Wanted Demitri to know that after the 5420 anac they sh lacking it would likely be his last game he sent a recommendation to the club's director to terminate the contract there were two meetings yesterday and we found out um yesterday evening that they had made the decision to terminate Jason Demetri's contract Blake Sully has come out in addition to what you've just heard there this morning and said that they want to talk to Wayne Bennett um I felt I felt sorry for and I feel you feel sorry for anyone losing their job but for Jos and Demetri would have to leave training yesterday and then walk walk through the assembled pack of meia and ask if he's going to keep his job was tough um it's a tough game um so firstly G he he's out of a gig Ben hm is going to take over your initial assessment of all of that yeah well it's certainly not going to you know like I I look at South Sydney this year and and obviously there was some concerns with the way they they fell out of the race last last year I think halfway through the competition they were near the lead and then they they lost a number of games at the back end of the year and things sort of fell away at the start of this season just have a look at who they' played right at started this season they played in Las Vegas against the sea eagles who are one of our top teams their second week they played Brisbane at Sun Corp Stadium last year's Grand finalist their third game they played the rooster in Sydney away from home they played the Bulldogs and that was been their only win of the season so far and then they've played the Warriors sharks and storm so Manley Brisbane Eastern suburbs Warriors shark storm they've played six of the top teams in the competition the only team outside of U that's at the bottom tier of the competition the Bullocks they beat those all right so they've paid the six they haven't played anyone else you know in that time too they've also had a number of players unavailable um they started the year with Jack whiteon having to serve as suspension and he was unavailable for those games um Campbell Graham has played again hasn't played at all this year Joy Arrow missed a number of weeks with his shoulder Alex Johnson has been out for a number of weeks and Latrell Mitchell has been out for the last few weeks obviously haven't been able to recall Lan ilas even though they dropped him he's had a broken leg for a few weeks so it's not as though they've ever had their full compliment of players they've played six of the top sides in the competition and um the only one game where they probably would have started favorites they won I I don't know I think this is unless you know usually I say the people internally in the club know best and and they probably know stuff that we don't know and you've got to allow for that but on the season itself I can't see grounds for actually terminating the coach's contract right now at this time I I just can't see it well okay can I play Devil's Advocate I think it's they won five of their last end games going back to last year that's last year you talked about the teams they've played this year if they weren't happy with last year why didn't they act in the offseason sure but you say they've had a difficult draw and undoubtedly that's true but this is a team that came into the year thinking they can win the comp like they they're entitled to be more competitive but they haven't had their full compliment of play Campbell Graham got injured in the offseason right and is not going to play until Midway through this season Jack whiton who was their big signing didn't play the first couple of games because of the suspension Jo Arrow who was their big signing as a forward hasn't played for a period of time because he had a shoulder injury then you get to the point where they finally win a game TR Mitchell gets suspended all right and he's not playing for 3 or four weeks Alex Johnson's done his hamstring I mean I'm just saying they haven't been at full compliment and they've played the top six sides in the competition all right it's pretty harsh marking I think at this stage now internally they may have made this decision in their own mind months ago who knows because there was too much scuttlebutt in the media for a number of weeks early on in the season even before a ball was kicked but even after they had a couple of losses all of a sudden people in the med media take long to flare up no it's starting to spec so someone internally was leaking out the story that this BL was dead man walking clearly it's the section of the board that wants benett could well be I don't know and and and and I find it strange that you come out and say well this is the BL we want even though he's on contract with another club at the moment right and what happens if they miss him what happens if they Miss Bennett or Bennett says no Then what do they say to the next applicant we didn't really want you we wanted him yeah why would you do that but it's not unprecedent for clubs to act knowing that the person they wants off contract is it and it coach these these things can trigger a domino effect I mean I'm thinking what about over power matter like are they thinking about Bennett I don't know no but this is are they thinking are they thinking you're sacking bread well I think it's on the I I think it is I think it's being discussed it's discussed in the media certainly being discussed in the media discuss all sorts of sackings all the time in fact one of the big things that stars of season is who's going to be the first coach sck it's kind of like media fod well sure that's what media wants sure but of course they're talking about he's been there 11 years and the team's not I'm saying the talk about Demetrio started way too early for mine for there not to be someone internally who wanted that to happen so a couple of obser couple of things that were mentioned um a couple of the areas that they weren't happy with this is this is in the reports um a lack of development of younger players now marelle is the young hook was supposed to be part of a two-pronged uh dummy half attack for this year he wasn't picked um he hasn't picked Talis dun tallas Duncan regularly he hasn't picked key who they've dragged over and there's dissatisfaction that there's not enough younger players coming through that team and there's not a greater as great a focus on development mhm you seeing are you seeing a lack of development of young players they're saying that that's that's what the board that's one of the areas that the board haven't been happy with the met so the board wants to pick the team now well the board the board want to see him have greater faith in the younger Brigade of players from what from what he been reported and they think the results would have been different I don't know I don't know well I'm asking whether whether you see your team yeah your team is sort of picked when you allocate your salary cap that's when your team is picked and as I've said a lot of the good ones several of the good ones haven't been available to him you know like development that's that's a whole different subject and how you know the head coach's job is to win football games with the NRL team that's his job that's his job because let's be Ser they haven't got any better South aren't getting better they've come through six years where they finished top four every year it was a a stellar period in the club's history I know they didn't win a Premiership they did go to a grand final teams clubs would kill there are a lot of clubs around who would kill for their record over the last decade they would kill for their record they would love to have their record over the last decade they were saying they people the club thought could win the comp this year well well Whoever thought that I think was living with the Pixies all right um what what I'm saying development of the future of the club is is not just solely the responsibility of the head coach there's got to be people in the organization that doing that I'm sure sou do but um when they're having that period and they're finishing top four every year someone's got to have their eyes on the prize three and 5 years down the track and what it's going to look like when some of these fellas retire and what's going to happen from there you they've sacked their coach and honestly there aren't many options available outside of that they've announced they're going to go and Chase Bennett what if Bennett says no do you reckon they don't you think that's destabilizing to the dolphin right now Reon they care about the dolphin I don't think they care about the dolphin well they only care about themselves yeah marel McGuire's been thrown around Michel McGuire's just taking on the origin inside I interviewed the black the other day I was very impressed with very impressed coach why would you say that if you're not going to tell us who it is and clearly why would you say that if you're not going to tell us who it is Gus's interview with a potential NRL coach and clearly you aren't well I can if I want to of course you can but you're not going to are you assistant coach at the Newcastle nights Brian mcder oh there you are he was brilliant I actually enjoyed you interviewed him for what when I no no I didn't interview him he reached out to me to talk footy oh right yeah so I drove up to Newcastle and had a coffee with him very very impressive the reason I I took the time to do it is because Andrew John said he's made a big difference at Newcastle he's been he's been really helpful for them he came there last year when they they had that big run and got to the finals and interesting man really interesting man um he he he fought in the British army fought in Middle East and he was a soldier he went on had a professional boxing career right he was a player he he did his time apprenticeship uh in the English super leag League coaching and I believe he coached leads he might have been lead's one of lead's best ever coaches terrific record with them anyway he's come out to Australia just because he's always wanted to be around the NRL and he's come out and they they speak very highly of him at the Newcastle kns and he was sort of he was sort of asking me the question do you think an English Super league coach will ever break into coaching in the in the NRL and I think we discussed this a few weeks ago last week yeah and he might have heard it because that's why he rang me you know just to see what I thought or how he thought would go about that or would how would he get noticed for something like that um and the last one to do it was Malcolm Ry we've had a few that have come out as assistant coaches um and done really good jobs I see that um Steve mnar was at he wasn't he well I think Steve mcnamar was was touted as maybe a potential s option if Bennett didn't take the job he has yes he has been um but um yeah I mean not that I'm telling s out of sck well are you are you would you endorse Brian mcder on the conversation I had with him I was very impressed with him very impressed with him it's one meeting and one coffee I mean you'd have to go back and talk a bit a lot more but he's his thoughts on football he's 54 years of age he's been he's done a lot he's achieved a lot um he's been in the military he's been a professional boxer he's been an individual sports achiever he's uh he's had success coaching in the UK Super League I think he was lead's one of most lead's most successful coaches I mean there's a bloke who could be available to any of the clubs that might be looking for a new coach he's I was really impressed with him at at first at first H I think we sat for an hour and a half out of coffee and I really enjoyed his company and enjoyed the conversation even the way he spoke about football what he thought about football and what he thought about coaching in football and um well made his coached 442 games yeah he's coached well he played 250 for Bradford y he coached leads 265 times harlins 115 Toronto and the featherston RO 442 games yeah fought in the Raw British Army sore action in the Middle East yeah had had some great stories about all of that sort of thing I was very impressive we should get him on as a guest he's um yeah he's had quite a professional fighter um Joy told me and this is a long time ago I think there was a bit of drama in the chain room about something early doors at Newcastle and I think he called one of them on so well this drama let's sort it out I don't know about that I think there was something you know but that was his way of sort of you know draw the line I think he'd be scared he might say that okay he was he was I found him very impressive I probably shouldn't have spoken about it but I did well I'm glad you go um all right uh but he he he he looked like a BL that would certainly Drive culture and his his ideas on Rugby League I really enjoyed his ideas on playing the game I really enjoyed um and his demeanor like he's he's he was and obviously one for very strict for discipline and fitness and all that sort of thing as well he's he had a lot of good ideas on the game the English game's different he he was sort of talked to me about the difference in the English code and and what's over here and he's been very interested since he's been here to watch the way we train and the way we play and the emphasis on our game um uh is different but um he he would love an opportunity just an interview I guess to talk about coaching coaching in the NRL Newcastle Knights want to keep him they want to keep him as an assistant coach up there um so um yeah anyway it he wasn't applying for a job he just wanted to talk football that's what he wanted to do which I get a lot of those sort of requests over the years so I drove up there and took a little half day off work and drive up there and sat down there to chat to him and I'm better for the experience I learned a lot it's good to be to drive the Newcastle well it's six phone calls or a little bit of music and a little bit of contemplation that's my holiday list my 2our drive listen to our podcast on repeat um all right what do you expect What to expect from the Rabbitohs from South for the rest of the year now Ben Hornby has the job what would you be looking for but they can't make the final they they well if if there are any players there that have been using the coaching as an excuse that excuse is now gone and if they've played all those top six sides then I'd imagine there's a part of the draw coming into where they'd be they'd be starting favorite in a number of games they have got Latrell Mitchell to come back he's now reportedly apparently he didn't say it but he's reportedly saying he might foro origin selection just to be with South Sydney and and help them um they will get Campbell GR back at some stage I think you know South Sydney got to be looking to win football game that's your job in the NRL is to win football games or to show Improvement you know like um teams at the bottom can be coming off a very low base sometimes it's just keeping the scores respectable is a great Improvement you know and I don't think South Sydney are at that stage yet I think South Sydney have a team that can win games and it'll be interesting to see when they start to play the teams in the bottom half of the drawer where they stand up against those sides so you know your Tigers your dragons your Bulldogs your Titans um your Dolphins those sides that they're all at the bottom trying to get out of the bottom part of the competition s haven't played those fellas yet yeah only played one was the Bulldogs and they beat them yeah it be interesting to see if Hornby makes any initial changes to the team I see K matang has moved up to play prop he was in origin back rower last year and ke's not in the team yeah yeah but that comes down to Recruitment and that comes down to selection and and sometimes when you're losing you you try things for just for the sake of trying them you know they dropped Lan ilas and I I well they've given him permission to leave well they have now cuz reports are they've signed the boy from England leis DOD have you spoken L IAS h no I've never met linas uh by the way I asked David Middleton about this caretaker coach thing a myth what's that that they win straight away win straight away who they playing penth tomorrow night they've given him a two-day leading one day leading when are they sacking last last night yesterday they given him a one day Le to play the that was the part that got me because the natives were beating two weeks ago when they lost and then they had a forn night's Buy and they they got builded Again by the Sharks but everyone said it was an improved performance and that was enough to keep his job and I said you BLS it wasn't improved performance at all I said this is ridiculous so then they take two weeks off to play Melbourne in Melbourne where they've never won they haven't won for yonks right they were n and 78 in Melbourne yeah so they go down there and they get B and all of a sudden that's last Thursday night and don't make a decision until 8:00 p.m. last night after two meetings in one day after two meetings in one day give me a break um to to give to give the team the players and the coach two days lead into playing Panthers your prep's done now isn't it you one more they might have a little Captain's run today to say who's coaching us who's the coach who's coaching us well they can't change the team if he wants to back this week no not back this we um yes 16 out of 43 caretakers have won their first match since this is David Middleton Gold by the way from 88 so 37% 17 which is still a high percentage given that they probably weren't winning at 33% before they went in true a lot of a lot of teams we've seen a lot of upsets a lot of teams that have been belted that's the last draw coach has got to go or the coach quits or the coach can't stand this anymore it's not always the club sacking them sometimes the coach just quits but and then the next week they win it happens yeah do it's happened 16 times actually are you tipping them to do it this week absolutely not uh but if you bear with me 17 so have won second up y That's 16 first up 17 second up 26 third up yep now let me have a look how they play Third up magic round North coin land all right well all right give me their draw give me their draw going forward pen dragon dragon Cowboy bottom tier bottom tier par bottom battle for the spoon yeah Titans Titans then Brisbane right and manly than a buy so it's not a bad little they got two in that time then Dolphins you know what you're right then Tigers then Raiders and then they get back to shark storm then Tigers again then Knights then Panther again roers finish with Panthers and roosters what a bad little run actually well it's a hell of a lot better than the Run they've had they've played the six six of the top sides peny might be he might be a genius the only game they started favorite in their first eight weeks was against the Bulldogs which they won narrowly but they won all right um I I think it's harsh but there has obviously been some internal issue there because the dogs were barking way too early in the process this this was as much media driven as anything or someone was motivating the media to do so all right it's been quite painful to watch that's how what's Gus's take on the Jason Demetria situation there's something that I've been wanting to ask you and I think this week's the week mhm and I've talked to a few people about this and this is not just based around penth after fin fak's gone to the um dolphins for instance there's examples going back years and years and years why should the salary cap not reward Should developing players impact your salary cap? development the Panthers now this is local penth players developed players through the penth system left the club since 2020 kryon Burton lenu kick out who was in North Queensland but you bought him down and he was part of the Juniors wasn't he he hadn't played first grade May stains hop good does niden count yeah niden came to us at 17 years of age Tyrone May Jack heatherington James Fisher Harris jome L and Sonia Tera yeah it's more than that but they well they they're the one they're the headline ones yeah Del ten R Campell Gillard Jo Bryce cart right um yeah there's a lot of them whitean there are yeah there you go oh I said that since 2020 but you're but you're right that goes back forever so if there was a discount across the board in the salary capab for clubs that develop players there'd be a benefit not just to to the club but there'd be a benefit to the game because there'd be more players clubs would focus on development more players would be in the game the comp would be stronger and there'd be more teams and a more competitive overall landscape you could go to 20 teams and it would be stronger why don't why is there not a dispensation mean I even think back to Matthew John's leaving Newcastle that's 30 30 years ago how why is this is this talked about well it's it's obviously talked about particularly by those clubs who do spend time and energy and money developing talent and who don't have the wew all or corporate support to go out and buy Elite Talent that's already at representative class um but it's usually shut down by clubs who prefer to recruit um rather than develop um because out of self-interest now there is a discount in salary cap for long serving players not developed players longer serving players all right but the discount is rather minor and it's capped at a certain amount of money each year which means a team that doesn't spend anything on development can have just as much this count as a team like penth who were completely developed uh anything up to 3 or 4 years ago um the models the the salary cap model punishes success it does not reward development nor does it give an incentive for development and it's been very much a discussion that I've had with the NRL for 20 years not just in the time of the Panthers but even long before that and I found it very and and the issue being for me was that not all clubs took a lot of time care or money in development putting development Pathways in place and looking to build on their own a lot of them recruited Talent or they recruited young Talent from other clubs so it's not just the first grade talent that they buy Panthers have also lost a lot of kids that are in their junior rep program at the moment who managers will say oh their pathway's blocked all right so they'll get them to some other club where they can play first grade quicker there's no you see a lot of that even young Sanders from par has going to cber there's no compensation for that you know so um yeah one of the I remember I remember saying to um who was in charge Todd Greenberg and uh oh even back in David David gallup's time even back before that uh David Smith time you know I'd say why why why would I keep telling the penrith board to keep spending all this money on development if other clubs can just come in and grab them at 19 20 years of age and take them away and we can't defend ourselves against that and that there is no compensation to penrith then they have this ridiculous thing that came in which was the the getting rid of the National Youth competition all right and installing this thing what they call development contracts which is an absolute F and does not help the game in any way shape or form right I can talk for hours about this hours about this subject and and and I said why why under this system would we allow Panthers to keep spending the amount of money on the development they're doing trying to build their club for themselves and I think it one stage we got to a top 30 where 24 or 25 of the top 30 debuted with the club debuted with the club that's how extensive the development was um and he said I we would hope penrith will keep doing that anyway I said why would they and he said the game has to pay for it I said so what are you saying he said well the game should pay penrith Academy to keep going I said how much only I said what 2 million a year 3 million a year for the Panthers Academy to produce talent for all other teams is that what you're saying and that was a discussion they having at the time never did they ever think they were ever going to do that never did I ever think they'd get to the point where they'd actually turn around and do that and they didn't but what's what's the incentive you know and you get a team like the roosters now the roosters are a Development Club too but they've got to go out and buy their elite junior Talent right because they've got no Junior League they have an association with the Central Coast but they get a lot of kids from New Zealand a lot of kids from Queen a lot of kids from New South Wales Country that's the journey on we're on with the Bulldogs it's the same as that we don't have big Junior leagues um you know every every Club should be doing something some some don't do much at all but development doesn't mean you pull someone from the under Sixers does it like you can develop from Junior reps so I'm I'm not interrupting but you made the point there where what 24 of the 30 would at penth for instance and were local should that should that not be the aim of every Club they weren't all locals they Dev but should should the game not should the game not make it a priority that every Club has that I think local Junior League boundaries are are historical I don't think they should have any bearing at all but so should the game not incentivize every Club to develop a top 30 that has 20 players that you have developed yeah in it yeah because that provides greater resources to the game yeah but these development contracts that they come up they come up with this model that you could have a top 30 and then you just buy your best six you just pick your best six and you pay them a ridiculous amount of money it used to be $60,000 now it's $80,000 to play to pay a kid who should be earning 10 and still doing a trade and still going to school or doing what he's doing and I said that model just doesn't fit those kids that you're now paying $60 and $80,000 to used to be on$ and $10,000 contracts learning their trade and and coming through the system and their their response was oh we've got to stop paying for development we've got to stop paying so much money for all these kids just pick the blue chippers and I said who are the blue chippers he said the ones that definitely going to play first grade I said they're not all Greg English mate no that's not the I pointed out to the to the to the training Fields I said there's 150 kids out there you tell me which one's the blue chipper cuz I don't know which one it is 99% of us are average 99% of us have played first grade or average it's just how long you persevere and how well you can get through and and survive it's as simple as that the top 5% is so Elite you know I should say 95 not 99% but the top 5% are so Elite all right the rest of us are all surviving they're all we're all just trying to stay in the game for as long as we can and train hard and be a part of our dream and and and play first grade and play first grade football and there there may be some that come through at 16 17 years of age you'll get a Darren Locker or a brad fitler they're obvious anyone can find them right people saying you found Brad fitler well it's like saying I discovered the Blue Mountain someone would have stumbled upon it eventually right so um but it's the others that are just come through and they go through a process and some dayb at 18 and some de B at 26 and everything give between and all the trials and tribulations they're going to go through in their life and the education the welfare the training the setbacks the injuries the treatments and everything that you do trying to Cobble together a team under a salary cap system that's drives me mad and and a development system now that's just wrong for the game it is wrong for the game and what they thought they were doing was was spreading the talent out by saying oh you can keep your six best well I want to know how you know who your six best are yeah and I want to know how many of those have actually gone on to and shouldn't the system be where you talked about look at the training Fields there's 150 kids out there shouldn't shouldn't the system be not to pick the six best shouldn't it be to cast the net and grab them all all of them absolutely the game survives on that doesn't it they call it what what's the term they use warehousing so they're trying to get R of warehousing that you'd have too many players in your club but you can't Warehouse if you if you if you've got a player there that should be playing NRL and he's not playing NRL then the manager and the player is knocking on your door saying I need to go and play somewhere else and you you let them go if they can get an NL job somewhere else you let them go you're not warehousing but there's not enough reward for the money that the development clubs spend on development what's it cost to develop a player oh that's a great question that's a great question um well that was one of my other questions it's it's not it's not the cost of develop I used to call it a pyramid and I used to draw pyramids and I'd say how many players have I got to start with right at the base to actually isolate and get one NRL player a Bryce cart rid or a Rian Campbell Gill or what how many did I start with to get that player I remember at a time I went up to see the Broncos because they were Broncos had all queens lands of themselves and they were investing heavily in game development and and Junior development but they had a lot of kids on scholarship a lot of kids on contract and I said and what do you see as a successful development they said bloker comes through the system and plays 40 NRL games I went wow that's a high Mark you know to come through the system and and and play 40 first grade games to say it's a successful development that's what we see as a success I said well so how many kids would do that two out of every 10 I said wow two out of every 10 are going to play in your system are going to play 40 first grade games I found that incredible and then he said oh no but we started with 100 to get to that 10 and we started with a th000 to get to that 100 right it was just numbers and eventually they come through and because they had a market and a Monopoly Monopoly on the market and they were able to time in Queensland around that time in Queensland were the only show in town uh they had a huge advantage over everybody else you know so what happens to the kids they don't they let go well some just Shuffle off to other players they play Queensland cup I don't know it's but how many could how many of them could you could have could have yeah well that's any so Gus this is Gus's thing and I this is something I've been thinking about bringing up so it this has not been this has not been set up because I just I see the I see players there's a lot of players moving around the joint and the the unrestricted movement of players between NL clubs is a problem I've said that for ages because that gives all power to the player and the player manager in negotiations and there are some that use that and because of the lack of talent in the competition or the lack of numbers of talent in certainly key positions like your front rowers and your HS and those sorts of things um it gives them massive bargaining ATT Tower which which supply and demand yeah a lot of demand for a short supply it's going to drive P prices through the roof once those prices are established other players take their mark off those prices all right it's it's an inflationary effect on the G a massive inflationary effect on the game so Lanas for and he's just an example he's going to sign a million dollar contract with the club isn't he he's a halfback no no no is not he's not commanding what the surpr demand thing like how many how many clubs are going to win a halfback that's played 40 NRL games yeah I i' imagine there'll be a few yeah yeah but he's not he's not but he's going he's going to get a he's going to get big money he's not in the million dollar status well people will speculate yeah yeah people will speculate like we we've got we got some young halfbacks in the system at the Bulldogs that we're trying to tie up longer term in the hope and the belief that they can develop into NRL players but they'll be 24 and 25 before we really know the answer as to how long they're going to be in the game they show great potential at the moment and we're going to persevere with it and that's what we're going to do um you know that's you know you don't you don't often get lucky to get a clearing a l i sudden it com through your system at the same time you know that's but if you're doing the right thing with your Recruitment and your development and all that these sort of young players emerge and there are some players that are exposed way too early there are kids that have got too much money too early exposed to first grade too early and given up on too early and we've talked about this repeatedly you know certain positions take longer to develop the planer which is kind of what I've thought about this said let just you you'll spend a lot of money on a player and he never really gets to the mark he never gets to where you are but if he's a likely developed player and you get relief in the salary cap yeah you'd be inclined to try and stick with him yeah so what but it comes down it comes down to salary caps and drafts and how our country's not set up for it it come up to the the the getting rid of the NYC competition the naal National Youth competition sides clubs that that weren't compelled to have development Pathways of their own or spent a minimal amount that became recruitment clubs rather than development clubs all of this should have been handled by the NRL long long time ago and long and long before the current commission's time you can't BL blame the commission for it but we haven't done much to to correct it either and I don't think we've done much to understand it I think the people in clubs that are responsible for all this the recruitment the development the dealing with player managers the dealing with parents understanding Junior leagues understanding the backgrounds that these kids come from understanding education and Welfare they're rarely the ones that are brought to the table to discuss what development contracts and salary capping and roster management should be like I think the clubs should be given an amount of money and let them spend it at their own way but the rlpa and and the league has done is they've dictated what they should earn and how they should earn it and that's put a lot of pressure on clubs and it's put pressure on development it's not helping Player Development no so just to conclude this and this might be too simplistic and if it is tell me but I if I said to you under the new salary cap you get a 25% discount on the salary of a of a developed player would that change the landscape dramatically well I think it should go down to years spent in games played with your club with years spent and games played the size of the discount okay but there should be dispensation at the lower level so that you're not losing kids that you contract and develop through your Pathways program that you're not losing them before they become and what will happen is you might have you might have your NRL side you know sort of half established and then you go out and buy a player that's going to help you win games now cuz that's what the fans want that's what the sponsors want that's what the medor expects otherwise your head coach is going to lose his job and the board's going to lose their job so everyone buys to to win in in the current and all of a sudden you get a couple of really good young players come along and everyone else sees it and they're able to come in and offer them three and $400,000 as teenage is when you can't you haven't got the money for that so now what do I do I got to tip some older blocks out at the top which everyone screams about to bring these kids in who aren't ready and overpay them just to keep them in the competition right that's the part that I don't like that's that that's the difficult part of of development so when you're looking at your roster and what you managed me bringing in high pric top players that might make everyone feel better today right could come back to buy us buy us in two years time yeah when this 18y old kid is now 20 and everyone's seen that he's got NRL potential and someone from down the road just comes in and offer him 3 or 400,000 and I'm trying to keep him for you know a development contract or a New South Wales cup contract which is where his development really is at the moment so what do we do we thr to much money at him so what's he do he doesn't stop stop doing his trade he stops doing his education cuz you're going to be a full-time footballer they get in the system too early there's a whole discussion around this that's never really been had that's it's fascinating and all the development is done by the clubs the league have got un the league have got there's no one at the league with any real understanding of this New South Wales rugby league just runs competitions they just run competitions and the NRL run the NRL competition all right it's fascinating it is we we could we could do a couple of podcasts it won't be fix it won't be fixed in my lifetime well I don't know why would but but to get more players in the game this is something they have to look at um can you be very brief with two ask us questions particularly mels AskGus will Manley win a Premiership before DC retires chance they a chance this year will the Panthers go to market for that's Mel Mark asks will the Panthers go to market for a new prop will hold on to the funds for when a fire B becomes available um no I think they've got plenty of kids coming through in both positions it'll be interesting to see you know if they buy just one front rower or two mid-range front rowers or a couple of Journeymen just to fill um they have got some younger players coming through it be interesting to see how they play that but you know remembering the a lot of their salary cap is already taken up they've just extended Mitch Kenny they've got Moses Leota they've got Liam Martin Liam Martin might push up into the front row and they look for a back rower M um they've just done Scott senson they've got asaiah Yao is's on long-term contract Nathan Cleary Dylan Edwards they've just signed the two cers tangor and and and talor may they got Brian to on them they got a lot of high price price players in that club at the moment but the beauty of it is they've got a Pathways in an assembly line that's pushing through Talent you know they won't always be winning comps they can't always win comps that's got to come to an end at some stage look at the Players they've lost over the last few years we just talked about it I know but they'll have a system where hopefully they don't drop back to where some of the struggling clubs are what the idea was that they would never be out of top eight contention it wasn't just about winning premierships it was to to to to cut down the difference between their best and their worst season all right because if you looked at Pen's history up until um 14 2013 2014 they'd won two premierships but the rest of the time in the in the game they'd bounced around the bottom four yeah there was a couple of spikes in ' 91 and 2003 but the rest of the time they bounced around the four and everything from crowds membership marketing merchandise sponsorship all those things that rely upon success at the time were so minimal and I said that will all improve when you are consistently a top eight side let's have a look at round nine rabbit o Panthers I'm not even going to go into the Round 9 Preview teams yeah um it's hardly the best preparation for rabbit is it you'd have to think Panther will get the money there okay um let me go through the rest of the games here as we normally do and give them due respect that's live and free from 7:30 tomorrow night from a course Stadium as well early game Friday Manley with dce on Deck against um the Raiders ell at whad comes back into that team I saw a few we've got a lot of Raiders fans that listen to us I saw a few of them tweet last night I S as DC got off damn yeah they weren't happy about that that was hard watching the Raiders last week actually yeah sharks were good sharks were good go I'm shim Tipp manly uh yes so Friday night baby 8:00 kickoff suncorp sold out Broncos roosters absolute classic Ezra m in San Cobo in uh Daniel Tura comes back Victor Al's on the extended bench yeah I'm going to tip rooster rooster they beat them in Las Vegas I know it was the first game of the season season and maybe Bronco had a little Grand Final hangover I don't know but I don't know there's just something about the rooster that troubles them the my eye okay uh I think the rooster might be able to that would be my upset you and Sammy Walker can play like that again well if they watch him too much Luke Ki can certainly do it to them yeah Brandon Smith can certainly do it to them Tesco can Joey Manu can do it to them Su Le can do it to them they got plenty of talent there Saturday 3:00 Bulldogs morals of the week 5:30 Saturday you're right with that Titans versus Storm um camper and shoer out so I think they're injurying for so Sami and Smith Shields comes in photo aaker is out too oh gee uh there's three big losses and uh Melbourne Steady As She Goes he was in rare form the other day moner wasn't he I mean some of the things he did we all know he's a brilliant player I was talking to um Matt Burton when he first come to the Bulldogs we talking to him and he was sort of just starting to play 5'8 again he had a few years off because he was wasn't playing 5'8 um with the Panthers where he won a Premiership but um we're talking about The Playmakers in the game and I showed him that Cameron monster makes more mistakes than any player in the game does he really yeah he had more errors in his game than any player in the game but that's because he does more and and he tries more and he speculates more and when he has his good day it's brilliant and when he has his bad day it's just bloody good you know like he's he's like that and some of the some of the touches he had the other day and I still don't think he's 100% fit he's admitted he's not yeah he U he's in acception I think you need a player like that you know in the structure of the game these days where a lot of the game is so predictable and a lot lot of the game is just a repetition of things over and over and over and over again and it's just wear and A Tear and an attrition every now and then the Brilliance of one man makes the difference between success and failure particularly at the at the elite level so and that person is usually a little bit of a risk taker he's a little bit a he's a little bit instinctive um so Walsh a monster you know a r Walsh a cherry Evans a trabo those types of players make the difference a Latrell Mitchell they they can make the difference in big games because of their complete confidence and self-belief and absolute absence of fear of of consequence of of fear of making a mistake you know where a lot of players live their whole career in the fear of mistake fear of failure they don't and it's those players that sometimes makes the even great sides better um and monster is certainly King of the pops when that comes to that yeah ree Walsh is still learning his craft ree Walsh makes a lot of mistakes a lot of mistakes a lot of mistakes G was if he came on the market it wouldn't be a club that wouldn't try to fit him into their side somehow um so I'm I'm saying uh storm to beat Titan what about Terry evans's pass where he he threaded it between those two blocks happen ball happened right in front of Andrew Johns and I and Andrew JNS who is the greatest halfback that ever lived uh I just looked straight at him and he went well and it was because he threw the ball through a gap that would had yet to appear he's a freak he's playing so well he he he he had one little half dummy which Drew Mako in he could see that and he could see Mako making a mistake he actually throws it at Mak AO as he's jumping out of the picture it was phenomenal and and and not enough has been made of the fact that Jason sa caught it even though hit him on the chest but to actually think that that ball was going to come through that narrow opening honestly the old pass ball competition she would have been a 10 out of 10 he'd be unbeatable you'd have got the elephant raw for that one he be unbeatable it was it was just be you know beautiful he thread the needle it was absolutely wonderful see the origin I mean it's great every year but clearly after what he did in the grand F against Cherry Evans the Aging W it's what a battle it's those players that that they make the difference you even look at touchwood touchwood [ __ ] what I just said I've already got the origin the battle of the sevens and the origin they might both might get hurt now give me the wood look at Mitchell Moses with parata look what's happened to paramat since Mitchell MZ has been injured now Clint gths is injured you know that's this game can be so fragile at times I I say to people you take the top three players out of every NRL team and tell me what you got left you tell me what you got left you take the top three players out of every team and the rest of them aren't as worth as much as what they were with those three players in that they're the ones that make the other players I'm telling you 95% of us are average we're just in there doing our best trying to survive it's the elite ones that make the game that's not just in 40 G but we need the other 95% that's in life in life it probably is uh just trying to survive just battling away Cowboys Dolphins up in Townsville 7:30 Saturday night H L's back in Jack granville's dropped it seriously you can't leave Jack Granville out he's been brushed hav they got a statue to him and that's JT um yeah cow cowboy wins that right now this is an interesting one 2:00 Sunday up in Newcastle jeez that David Armstrong went good for the nights is he yeah they've been tipping him for a while who tipped me him um Alex McKinnon yeah right tipped me him a couple of years ago I went up I drive up in Newcastle have a coffee with Alex McKinnon he wanted to talk about recruitment he was doing a recruitment job with the Knights at the time I don't think he's there anymore uh he told me about this young man coming through the system um as a player of the future Kirk capable comes back uh for the Warriors bunny AOA comes in they they need a win but it's not going to be easy up there in Newcastle on the back of a victory no it's not it's not um Knights were good last or better last week um yeah hard one I'm going to go home team coming off the win Warrior not playing with confidence wow nice to be Warrior I wait on um is one of one of the scies out had one getting around with the limp there the other day they both been named have they yeah okay all right uh yeah KN to beat Warrior and then the triangle sharks dragons himself you never know you're like in a big city Shane's got the answer down there he knows how to beat the shark um they near only five bucks outside as dragons it's ridiculous price they look forget forget the score last week I've seen teams beled by the roosters and haven't been that bad really like russes can just have a day like that where they score a lot how many they score off kicks yeah most of them well what was 10 tries five or six or something 10 tries and he never missed a conversion five or six of them were off kicks um having said that Shaker in a rare vein of form at the moment at at home at the Bermuda Triangle but that's how big game on Sunday I'm going to be there calling it no I'm just waiting for the triangle to do its stuff hope you turn up next week and the triangle will do it stuff the other one this we again is Paramount versus the B yeah this weet the B's got a few injuries the B hasn't had a game for a while I know about the E the B seems to give away two points every week the eel will be back I worry about that so I'm going Panther Sea Eagle rooster to beat bronco I'm going storm to beat Titan Cowboy to beat dolphin I think Newcastle can get the upset and shark to beat dragon I think Newcastle and rooster are my two upsets of the weekend very good you've been on fire today thank you very much that's six tackles did any of it make sense most of it most of it most of what didn't make sense anything I said um that's six tackles for this week we look forward to your company next week enjoy the footy over the weekend this year NRL on 9 is your One-Stop shop for all footy that's right Freddy not about the highlights Action 7 days a week biling gas podcast get them on your drive on the way my home Immortal Behavior grab a seit on the couch for that and of course my favorite Freddy in the the best footy brains the biggest games don't trust the algorithm subscribe to NRL on9 and get all your entertainment there