Go Get The Pap: There should be one goal and one goal only for the Bulldogs right now: Go Get The Pap.
Ryan Papenhuyzen is an elite fullback and they rarely become available.
As well as the versatile Connor Tracey played, Papenhuyzen is among the top echelon of custodians at his best.
He is exactly the kind of player the Bulldogs need and they should throw whatever he wants at him, selling not only the money but the vision that the Bulldogs are building something special.
Fox Had To Go: While Josh Addo-Carr will leave Canterbury after a strong three-year stint that saw him become the club’s most popular player (particularly among young fans) and a key figure in attracting other star talent, the Bulldogs made the right decision to sack The Fox.
Take away the morality of it – views on cocaine use vary – it was clear that Addo-Carr was not transparent with the Bulldogs and more importantly, he gave them an opportunity to make a strong business decision and that is offload a winger who will turn 30 next year, has had serious injuries the last two and who was on a lot of coin.
Canterbury, with intelligence and no emotion, punted him.
The Rise and Rise of Tongan Rugby League: Tonga’s Rugby League journey began back in 1986 and the Pacific Cup in Avarua on the Cook Islands and reached the world stage when they played in the 1995 World Cup but the real beginning of Tongan Rugby League began in the unlikeliest of places: Perth, Australia.
It was there, in David Kidwell’s first Test in charge of the Kiwis, that he forgot he had Jason Taumalolo on the bench.
Taumalolo was the best forward in the world at the time but was incensed at Kidwell’s arrogance, stupidity and insolence.
He defected to play for Tonga prior to the 2017 World Cup, brought star prop Andrew Fifita with him and set a new course for both international Rugby League and Tonga.
Tonga beat Australia, and now they are into the Pacific Championship Cup final after beating New Zealand 25-24 in an epic victory in Auckland inspired by prop Addin Fonua-Blake and sealed by youngster Isaiya Katoa.
A strong Tonga means a strong league and now the second most popular sport in Tonga is on the verge of becoming the most popular.
PNG Can’t Afford The Wastefulness: Papua New Guinea have been a nation on the up over recent years but an arrogant, lazy, wasteful performance against the Cook Islands will do the Kumuls no favours as they nation readies itself for arguably the most important match in their history.
This week the Kumuls meet New Zealand with the opportunity to elevate themselves into the top tier of the game.
What Papua New Guinea needed was a performance full of energy, intent and cohesion.
They delivered nothing of the sort.
If it wasn’t for a 20-minute surge either side of halftime, the Kumuls would have lost.
Jason Demetriou has done a nice job with the Kumuls and he needs to get them firing like they did against Fiji when they take on the Kiwis on Sunday.
How Good is Rugby Union? Joseph Sua’alii has not played a game of domestic rugby union but is being selected to play for Australia.
A sport that snobbishly tried to undermine league at every turn is now dishing out national jerseys to middle of the road league players with a thirst for cash.
The Miracle in Port Moresby: Papua New Guinea should have beaten Cook Islands by 60 on Sunday.
A slow start and a wasteful second half though had the Kumuls up by just 18 – on a line of -21.5 – with a minute to play.
And then 18th man Morea Morea sliced through and ran into the corner for one of the greatest of get outs.
Fun Fact #1: No player has played more premiership games than Ben Hunt and not won a Grand Final.
Fun Fact #2: Ben Hunt is one of five current 300-game players.
Fun Fact #3: If Ben Hunt plays every game next season, he will move to third on the all-time games list.
Betting Market of the Week: The least popular 100-game player at a club:
$6.00: Brett Kimmorley – Cronulla
$4.00: Ben Hunt – St George Illawarra
$1.25: Sonny Bill Williams – Canterbury
Rumour Mill: As mentioned above, Ryan Papenhuyzen has been linked with a move to Canterbury with the Bulldogs prepared to offer huge money for the sublimely talented No.1.
Will Kennedy looks set to leave the Sharks with Nicho Hynes preparing to move to fullback. Josh Addo-Carr is expected to sign with Parramatta.
Clint Gutherson is on the verge of signing a deal with St George Illawarra.
The Wests Tigers are doing their best to offload Jayden Sullivan.
The Coaching Crosshairs: Stacey Jones is a legend of New Zealand Rugby League but he is on the verge of losing his recently-acquired national coaching job and will almost-certainly be rissoled if the Kiwis go down to Papua New Guinea this week and get relegated to the Bowl of the Pacific Championships.
Jones’ abilities as a head coach are already under scrutiny after a disappointing loss to Tonga at home that saw them miss out on the final against Australia.
The NZRL have not shown a lot of patience this century.
Gary Freeman, Daniel Anderson, Gary Kemble and David Kidwell all lasted 10 games or fewer.
Freeman and Kidwell were legends of the New Zealand game, Jones needs to win convincingly this weekend – and pray.
Moronic Coaching Decision of the Week: Stacey Jones sticking with Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad at five-eighth was silly.
CNK is a good player but not a playmaker, he should have been used in the centres with Kodi Nikorima starting at five-eighth.
Watch It: One thing we have seen with the Pacific Championships is the prevalence of war dances among all nations – bar Australia.
It has not always been that way.
Watch Australia’s passion-less, Carry On-esque camp and completely context-less war dance from 1967 that commentator Eddie Waring called it “malarkey” and that the players “did not know what it was all about”.
It’s hard to believe it hasn’t carried on. Watch it here.