DCE Plays Mestrov and Seibold Like A Tag Team Of Fools: Daly Cherry-Evans is Rugby League’s most astute politician but he could have been Mal Coulston or John Hewson and still got the best of the clowns in charge at Manly.
Players leave for money all the time and club legends do it every now and then but almost never do they leave winning both the support of fans and teammates.
That has been what Cherry-Evans has managed to achieve thanks to the confederacy of dunces running the Sea Eagles.
Make no mistake – and don’t get fooled by the talk of a lack of ill will from both parties: Daly Cherry-Evans is leaving because of Tony Mestrov’s incompetence.
Mestrov, who I rated the worst CEO in the game last July, presided over the completely unnecessary rainbow jersey drama that would have rankled a smooth operator like Cherry-Evans while he hired Anthony Seibold when most good judges were prepared to put him in the “will never coach again” bin after his awful stint at the Broncos.
While it would not be true to suggest Seibold and Cherry-Evans have had any great falling out, Cherry-Evans has not felt included in Seibold’s autocratic style of coaching.
This is all before Mestrov completely bungling the handling of not only a club legend but one of the best halfbacks in the competition.
Mestrov did not put a definitive offer to Cherry-Evans, he did not recognise that Cherry-Evans was driven by money and also not declining, instead wasting millions on Josh Schuster and Luke Brooks.
This was a monumental cluster of the highest order. “In my private apocalypse he will be impaled upon his own nightstick” John Kennedy Toole wrote in A Confederacy of Dunces.
He could have been a rugby league man talking about Mestrov.
Worst CEOs Of All Time: It takes a special CEO to lose your club’s most capped player and a critically important piece during a premiership window without making a formal offer until one is put forward live on a low-rent magazine program.
Tony Mestrov managed just that.
Where does he rank among the worst CEOs of the NRL Era? Here are my worst six:
- Tony Zappia (Cronulla): No CEO has fallen harder. Zappia was accused if siphoning off funds for a Shark Park before a secret recording alleged he punched a female employee and then offered to make amends by letting her spank him. It will take a lot to ever knock him from the top spot.
- Tony Mestrov (Manly): Hiring Anthony Seibold, letting Daly Cherry-Evans leave and then countering on NRL 360 is all-time incompetence.
- Justin Pascoe (Wests Tigers): Tigers CEO for eight years because he was the frontman for the chief sponsor and chairman. The Tigers made zero finals during his reign. Went through five full-time coaches and three interims. Cap management was laughable.
- Paul Osborne (Parramatta): Led the Eels through a diabolical period before quitting after being accused of financial irregularities by the club sponsor, charges he was cleared of. He sacked Daniel Anderson and replaced him with Stephen Kearney before a debacle of a season with Ricky Stuart.
- Raelene Castle (Canterbury): Had such little control at the Bulldogs that the club was sent to its lowest point in 60-odd years by her complete lack of understanding of the salary cap and her disgraceful refusal to keep Des Hasler accountable.
- Tim Cleary (Manly): Sea Eagles boss who lasted less than a year. Reportedly fell asleep during his first CEO meeting.
Early Season Power Rankings: We are a month in. This is how all 17 teams are looking:
- Melbourne – Forget Dragons loss – the Storm are panels in front of nearest rival.
- Canterbury – Last remaining unbeaten team and showed they have gears with Sharks win.
- Cronulla – Have some concerning habits but look Top 4 bound again.
- Brisbane – Hugely overrated by market. Beaten up on three bottom four teams.
- New Zealand – Showing plenty of grit and toughness. Not sure of upside but going very well.
- South Sydney – Covered all four games so market has them wrong but playing very well considering injury roll.
- Manly – Another Turbo injury and the latest scandal has seen Manly tumble down.
- Wests Tigers – Won two and lost two games they should have won – this is a brand new Tigers era.
- Gold Coast – Slipping under the radar but have won their last two and performed well in the second half against the Bulldogs.
- Penrith – This is the lowest point the club has been in this decade with three straight losses but injury and travel lends some forgiveness.
- Canberra – Completely mixing form but hard to argue that Ricky hasn’t extracted the most out of the team.
- Newcastle – Hard to get a guide on them but were extremely poor in two games and look a team with limited upside.
- St George Illawarra – Stunned the Storm for first win of the year but an Ilias/Flanagan halves combo can only go so far.
- Sydney Roosters – Been hit hard by injury and suspension but that Penrith win doesn’t seem as good as it did at the time now.
- Dolphins – Horribly coached and decidedly lacking in fitness, discipline, energy, effort and structure.
- North Queensland – Found their first win over the Raiders but have been lax defensively.
- Parramatta – The Eels are astonishingly bad with a poor coach, no halves and a weak pack. Will not win more than five games this year.
Another Weekend of The Butler Did It: For those who follow officiating closely, it will come as absolutely zero surprise that Chris Butler was the centre of two completely separate incidents.
His decision not to overturn the on-field decision to disallow a try to Moses Leota with clear evidence he grounded the ball was perhaps the worst decision put forward by The Bunker this year, besting his two decisions in the Manly-New Zealand clash.
He then sent a try up in the Bulldogs-Sharks clash – a game he lost complete control in – as a penalty try that was so far off a penalty try it was laughable it was even considered.
The NRL simply does not hold him accountable, he got handed The Bunker game for a massive clash on Thursday and then the on-field duties for the game of the round.
This cannot be allowed to go on.
Backdoors Forever: If you like going in the backdoor to cover your bets, this was the weekend for you.
The Dolphins somehow covered the 13.5-point start when Jake Averillo ran 100m untouched from dummy half before Parramatta backed it up on Sunday with an obscene backdoor cover against Manly when being completely outplayed, Shaun Lane collecting a grubber untouched on the final play of the game to let the Eels cover +16.5.
There was also a sick moment for those who took the early under 48.5 in the Cowboys-Raiders clash with Canberra taking the two when down by 12 on the final play of the match to send the total from 48 to 50.
Willie M Team of the Week: This week’s team who should be fearing for their immediate future:
1.Daine Laurie (Pen)
2.Ronaldo Mulitalo (Cro)
3.Zac Lomax (Par)
4.Jake Averillo (Dol)
5.Xavier Savage (Can)
6.Sandon Smith (Roo)
7.Isaiya Katoa (Dol)
8.Daniel Saifiti (Dol)
9.Mitch Kenny (Pen)
10.Felise Kaufusi (Dol)
11.Kitione Kautoga (Par)
12.Matty Nicholson (Can)
13.Tom Gilbert (Dol)
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14.Hugo Savala (Roo)
15.Sam Tuivati (Par)
16.Daniel Atkinson (Cro)
17.Dan Keir (Par)
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Coach: Kristian Wolff (Dolphins)
2025 Field Goal Update – 2: Sadly no field goals were kicked in Round 4.
Fun Fact #1: The last time Canterbury started a season 4-0 was 1993.
Fun Fact #2: The last time Canterbury sat first on the ladder was Round 4, 2016.
Fun Fact #3: Of the last 16 seasons where Canterbury sat atop the table for at least a week, the Bulldogs made the Grand Final in half of those.
Rumour Mill: The Sydney Roosters remain favourites to sign Daly Cherry-Evans, though insiders at the Dolphins believe he is heading north. Jamal Fogarty is likely to head to the Sea Eagles in 2026.
Moronic Coaching Decision of the Week: There is no doubting Ivan Cleary’s genius but his decision to play Trent Toelau ahead of Brad Schneider and Blaize Talagi was completely perplexing.
Schneider turned the Panthers around when he came on and gave Penrith a chance while Toelau was diabolical in his stint before picking up an injury.
The Coaching Crosshairs: Kristian Woolf is 100% the latest victim of the ‘Bennett Curse’, a coach who has inherited a quality team but is so unprepared to coach in the NRL that the team has completely fallen apart just four games in.
It is incredibly apparent after just four games that Woolf just isn’t up to it.
The Dolphins are not lacking in talent – but it is certainly not being unlocked, but theyare unfit, showing less energy than any team in the competition.
Efforts simply aren’t there often enough and the lack of discipline is astounding – no team has turned the ball over with play-the-ball penalties more.
The attack is robotic and uncreative. Isaiya Katoa has the ability but seems to be going through the motions in order to stick to a poor game plan rather than playing what is in front of him.
Felise Kaufusi touches the ball at Aiden Tolman-like levels.
Talent like The Hammer and Herbie just are not getting unlocked.
The rotations are nonsensical particularly how Plath/Gilbert/Marshall-King are all used.
There is a clear disconnect in defence with Jake Averillo continually rushing up with support neither inside or out.
The Dolphins won’t fire Wolff this early – but they surely realise he is not the future.
Watch It: John ‘Chicka’ Ferguson was arguably the best winger of the 1980s, a superstar who did not make his premiership debut until the age of 26 after playing for Glen Innes and making a mark with Northern Division and Country Seconds.
When he did play though he went on to play for a decade, playing 200 games and scoring 106 tries.
He played in a Grand Final in his first year with Newtown in 1981 before finishing his career with back-to-back premiership wins with the Raiders in 1989 and 1990, scoring tries in each of the deciders.
Watch him in this awesome ‘Workin’ Gear’ ad here. FYI – the business still exists and operates out of Fyshwick.
From The Couch will be taking a break for two weeks. We will return after Round 7.