The Best and Worst Buys of 2024: Hope is built through player movement and season results can change for good or ill on player purchases.
Here are the best and worst of 2024:
Best
1.Stephen Crichton (Bul): The single biggest reason the Bulldogs have turned it around.
2.Dominic Young (Roo): Superstar finisher who has helped fix the Roosters attack.
3.Bronson Xerri (Bul): Stunning return after four years away from the game.
4.Spencer Leniu (Roo): Tough debut but has emerged as leading impact prop.
5.Josh Curran (Bul): Hardly done by in NZ and has got through a ton of work this year.
6.Connor Tracey (Bul): Journeyman utility who has been outstanding at fullback.
7.Herbie Farnworth (Dol): Class centre who has been super for the Phins.
8.Tommy Talau (Man): Stunning value purchase after a maligned time at the Tigers.
9.Roger Tuivsa-Sheck (NZ): Been misused but generally done his job with aplomb.
10.Samuela Fainu (Tig): Exciting backrower who the Tigers will be building around.
Worst
1.Jayden Sullivan (Tig): Very ordinary in his few NRL appearances.
2.Keenan Palasia (GC): Failed to land a blow despite injuries to Titans forwards.
3.Jack Cogger (New): Grand Final hero who has been in and out of the top team.
4.Jack Wighton (Sou): Huge money signing who has been awful on a bad team.
5.Simi Sasagi (Can): Horrid hands that have cost the Raiders dearly.
6.Jaxson Paulo (Man): Fallen from starter to a long way down the pecking order.
7.Tom Jenkins (New): Lost his starting spot early and now about 10th three-quarter.
8.Morgan Harper (Par): Defensive debacle who is now a long way from first grade.
9.Jaeman Salmon (Bul): The one major miss from the Dogs who struggles.
10.Billy Burns (Cro): Doesn’t get used often and poor when he does get a shot.
Gerard Sutton Ruined Two Games: There was one central figure that linked the controversial decision to confirm the first Storm try on Thursday night and the completely ridiculous, arrogant and spotlight-sucking behaviour that destroyed the final minutes of the Sharks-Knights clash: Gerard Sutton.
Sutton is the fourth most experienced in official in NRL history, who has refereed seven Grand Finals and a record 28 representative matches and that has unfortunately imbued a certain smarter-than-everyone else arrogance that continues to bob up time and time again like a daycare sickness or a bloody interminable U2 song when the car doesn’t default to Spotify.
At face value, Sutton’s use of “common sense” to allow the first Storm try would have been fine if that was the standard that had been applied all year including by Sutton himself.
Alas, it was not.
It was, in fact, the complete opposite.
A Storm player stopped in the line and stopped a defender sliding across, something that has negated nearly every similar try movement this year.
Not this time, Sutton went rogue.
It was a disgraceful call that should end his time in The Bunker permanently.
Then on Sunday he disallowed two match-winning field goals for blockers that simply did not exist, particularly in the Cronulla incident.
Both decisions appeared to be nothing but an attempt to showcase how smart Sutton believes he is.
It takes a lot to get a winning and losing coach to agree but they did, believing both field goals should have counted and were fair.
Blocking was designed to prevent walls being put up, not to penalise onside players who could receive the ball.
Utter stupidity, the arrogance of a certain cohort of referees who change interpretations on the run at a whim is absolutely disgraceful.
The Grand Final Sprint is Happening: After seemingly a generation of pushing and prodding and asking and demanding, the NRL is set to bring back the Grand Final sprint with club’s informed that they will be expected to send their fastest healthy player.
Fans have been clamouring for this since Lee Oudenryn “won” over Martin Offiah in 1992 – though hopefully this race is a little more straighty 180.
The NRL has some elite speed and this showcase will draw in all fans.
Tackle of the Century: When Josh Addo-Carr sprinted clear against the Dolphins on Saturday, he was $1.04 to score.
He had cleared the line, there was nobody in sight, he is one of the fastest men in the game, he was a moral.
Then came Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow.
In one of the great chases you will ever see, The Hammer came rattling across, topping 40 km/h to not only catch The Fox but bundle him into touch.
There has not been a more magical moment in the game this year.
Buzz Was Wrong: Kyle Flanagan, to the surprise of nobody outside the Flanagan family and Phil Rothfield, was found guilty of biting Canterbury skipper Stephen Crichton.
The only shock to come from the case was how lenient the judiciary was in only giving Flanagan four weeks.
2024 Field Goal Update – 26: Dan Atkinson slotted the winning field goal for the Sharks against the Knights in golden point – after Gerard Sutton robbed Kalyn Ponga and Atkinson of field goals in regulation.
Fun Fact #1: South Sydney are 15-12 with Latrell Mitchell the last two seasons and 4-14 without him.
Fun Fact #2: Grant Atkins is now the fifth referee to officiate 250-plus premiership matches and not officiate a Grand Final, joining Gavin Badger, Steven Clark, Sean Hampstead and Jared Maxwell.
Fun Fact #3: The last player sin binned in North Sydney Bears colours at NRL level was Matt Seers.
Willie M Team of the Week: This week’s team of nuffies, numpties and no-gooders:
1.Kaeo Weekes (Can)
2.Daine Laurie (Pen)
3. Brian Kelly (GC)
4. Will Penisini (Par)
5. Xavier Savage (Can)
6. Adam Cook (Can)
7. Phoenix Crossland (New)
8. Leo Thompson (New)
9. Mitch Kenny (Pen)
10. Wiremu Greig (Par)
11. Shaun Lane (Par)
12. Bryce Cartwright (Par)
13. Kenny Bromwich (Dol)
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14. Emre Guler (Can)
15. Tom Burgess (Sou)
16. Jazz Tevaga (NZ)
17. Simi Sasagi (Can)
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Coach: Ricky Stuart (Can)
Betting Market of the Week: Gerard Sutton believes the colour of grass is:
- $21: Green
- $2.80: Yellow because Gerard Sutton decided it was yellow
- $1.50: Purple because the grey sky and the reflection off the white posts actually blocks its true colour
Rumour Mill: Eels prop Reagan Campbell-Gillard is set to leave the Eels with the Dragons and Cowboys linked to his services.
Tesi Niu is set to move to Super League, Tom Weaver and Dean Hawkins have been linked with moves to Parramatta.
Corey Horsburgh will likely be joining the Bulldogs from next season.
The Coaching Crosshairs: Ricky Stuart is a one-trick pony as a coach yet that trick is very good – being lifelong best friends with the CEO.
Stuart should be under severe pressure to keep the gig as the Raiders head coach yet was handed a four-year extension in the middle of the season.
This is his 11th season in charge of the Raiders, making him one of just two coaches to lead a side for 11 or more seasons and not win a premiership.
Brad Arthur, the other man in this elite group, was fired earlier this year, Stuart’s record at Canberra is poor.
He is 136-131-1 as head coach and the team has reached the finals just five times in his tenure though they did reach their only Grand Final since 1994.
The team has not been able to recruit elite-level talent and Stuart has been the singular reason that at least two prominent English players left.
The Raiders are tactically one of the least threatening teams.
Stuart seems to only be able to win games through old school methods of ranting and “having the players backs”.
The Canberra job is not an easy one, they are hampered by reputation, geography, climate and an indifferent city of transients.
Stuart did an admirable job putting the Raiders in the title picture across 2019-20.
His time has come though so giving him a four-year extension and refusing to hold him accountable is only going to lead to more mediocrity for a club steeped in it.
Moronic Coaching Decision of the Week: It is hard to be overly critical of a coach that has won three straight premierships but Ivan Cleary plumping for Mavrik Geyer over Liam Henry was madness.
Geyer is the next Jaeman Salmon, Henry is a beast who looks a Liam Martin clone.
The Panthers lost the minor premiership on Thursday night and they were not helped by this call.
Watch It: Jason Martin was somewhat a cult hero back in 1991 with his North Sydney Bears on the rise, his flowing red locks and his foray into music with his song ‘Take Me To The Top’.
This interview with Tim Webster is something else including one of the great quotes when asked if he would be on the cover of Rolling Stone next he said “stranger things have happened”.
Stranger things have not happened. Watch it here.