Cowboys Humiliation An Abject Disgrace: The Sydney Roosters posted the highest score since 1935, recorded the third highest score of all-time and just the third time a team had reached 80 in a premiership match and the fourth biggest win in the 119 seasons of the competition. The Roosters posted the highest first half score in premiership history and went on in the second half without star fullback James Tedesco, who was rested.
Much has been written about the performance of the Roosters. Sam Walker’s 36 points put him in a tie for fourth all-time. He also had three try assists. Tedesco had two tries and three assists – in 40 minutes. Mark Nawaqanitawase joined Walker with a hat-trick. Every back not named Daly Cherry-Evans scored. They ran for 2280 metres and posted 11 tackle breaks, 16 offloads and 41 tackle breaks. It was the first time in 11 weeks the Roosters posted more than 28 points.
The real story out of this game though has little to do with the Roosters and everything to do with the Cowboys, their culture, their coaching and their playing roster. Todd Payten apologised after the game and so well he should have. The only two bigger defeats in premiership history – which currently includes 15,049 games – came against a first-year team that could barely field a side. There is embarrassment. There is humiliation. Then there is this.
Good luck to St George Illawarra with Scott Drinkwater. Players have bad games where things don’t come off. You rarely see a game where a player tries less. His showing was utterly shameful. Few others could hold their heads up high. Murray Taulagi is an international winger who played like a bush footy reserve grader. On and on it went.
Then we get to Todd Payten. The club extended him just a month back until the end of 2028. They did so despite there being absolutely no market for Payten, his 50.32% win rate or his two finals campaigns. He will become the club’s longest-serving coach – longer than Paul Green, longer than Graham Murray, longer than Tim Sheens – next season. That is truly astonishing. Payten has overseen an era of complete mediocrity and it all came home to roost last Thursday. This is not a loss that can be forgotten. This is not a loss that can be atoned for. This is a permanent mark against Payten and what he has built and the club and what they have become.
North Queensland have endured more pain than gain over their 30-odd year history. They have had some low points. This is their lowest.
One Play: If one play surmised the sharp decline in performance and the complete lack of care displayed by Valentine Holmes, it was his utterly moronic pass after taking an intercept. Holmes had clear air but was run down quickly before attempting perhaps the dumbest pass in Rugby League history. Despite it being the zero tackle he tried a 30 metre looper to the winger that went 10m forward and fell well short. It is really hard to grasp how little Holmes cares about the Dragons plight with no player in the competition in 2026 having a larger disparity between pay packet and performance.
Daley Gone – The Next Hire Should Be Short: Laurie Daley has stepped down as NSW coach. He leaves believing he has left a positive legacy, one chief cheerleader Dean Ritchie has been attempting to hammer into us like a proctologist forces in a colonoscope. None of us want it. Daley’s record well and truly speaks for itself and he leaves as one of the least successful, most protected, least qualified coaches in NSW history. One would hope that the one lesson learned from the last 15 years and four coaching changes is that the Blues need to hire an actual professional coach. Now that coach, of course, should be Ivan Cleary but Cleary won’t take the job for 2027 as he winds up his run at Penrith. So the NSWRL need to get to work in signing up Cleary from 2028 and then finding an actual coach – not a former player, not an assistant coach, not a mediocre coach – to lead the Blues. John Strange should be the first person called though he would likely smartly stick with the Sky Blues. Others that should be in the mix: Ricky Stuart, Trent Robinson, John Morris, Brad Arthur, Geoff Toovey, Shane Flanagan. They should be signed to a one-year deal and offered a role to assist Cleary in 2028. The likes of coaching failures like Trent Barrett and assistants like Boyd Cordner and Matt King should not be considered.
NRLW Magic Weekend A Raging Success: The NRL rarely deserves much credit for its decision-making but should rightly receive praise for the raging success of Magic Round in Wagga. Taking the round to a regional hub really saw it appreciated with nearly 15,000 fans attending Geohex Park to watch all 12 NRLW teams play. We saw the heavyweights dominate, some spectacular tries led by another Julia Robinson bomb catch, a stunning upset and the game of the round going down to the wire. The actual highlight though was the willingness of the players to engage with the fans and the fans genuinely engaging with these remarkable female athletes. Everyone wanted a piece of Jaime Chapman. She took every photo, signed every footy card and answered every question. Not once was there any comments in the crowd comparing them to men. The female game has come a long way in less than a decade and the time is surely there to expand the length of the NRLW season.
The Willie M Team of the Week: This week’s team of flops and fools:
- Scott Drinkwater (NQ)
- Josh Addo-Carr (Par)
- Zac Laybutt (NQ)
- Valentine Holmes (Dra)
- Murray Taulagi (NQ)
- Ezra Mam (Bri)
- Mitchell Moses (Par)
- Thomas Mikaele (NQ)
- Soni Luke (NQ)
- Tino Fa’asauamaleaui (GC)
- Zac Hosking (Can)
- Samuela Fainu (Tig)
- Adam Elliott (Sou)
- Klese Haas (GC)
- Josh Patson (GC)
- Jaiyden Hunt (Bri)
- Sam McIntyre (NQ)
Coach: Todd Payten (NQ)
Coach: Todd Payten (NQ)
Referee Gradings: This week’s gradings:
- Ashley Klein (B-)
- Kieren Irons (D)
- Gerard Sutton (D+)
- Jarrod Cole (n/a)
- Adam Gee (D)
- Grant Atkins (B+)
- Todd Smith (n/a)
- Liam Kennedy (n/a)
The 2026 Field Goal Update – 18: Adam Doueihi kicked the only field goal of the week to put the Wests Tigers up 13-12 in a match they would lose 16-13.
Fun Fact #1: This will be just the fourth year of the NRL era that both of the previous year’s Grand Finalists will miss the playoffs after 2005, 2006 and 2010.
Fun Fact #2: This is the first time Brisbane have missed the finals after winning a premiership in their history.
Fun Fact #3: The Broncos have made the finals in just two of the last seven seasons.
Rumour Mill: Billy Slater’s appearance in the Storm sheds at halftime coaching the Melbourne halves has raised speculation that he is lining up to succeed Craig Bellamy. Jacob Preston is set to re-sign with Canterbury after it initially looked like he was set to make a move to the Sydney Roosters. Corey Horsburgh has been linked with a move to the Broncos. Warriors centre Rocco Berry will join the Storm next season as they look to bring in some quality centres.
The Coaching Crosshairs: There is strong speculation doing the rounds that the Brisbane Broncos will axe Michael Maguire this week. Maguire has been under pressure – rightly – all season, everyone in the game increasingly starting to realise that last year’s premiership involved as much luck as anything else and that the foundations of sustained success were never in place. Patrick Carrigan came out and defended Maguire, as one would expect, but it has been more than clear all year that Maguire has not created a happy camp. Payne Haas made the incredibly rare move to leave without giving the club an opportunity to counter. Assistant Ben Te’o quit the club early in the year. Ezra Mam was benched and then left on the field when clearly unable to use his arm. Maguire is so aware of his standing that his representatives reached out to Dave Trodden to discuss a return to the Origin job from next year. The Broncos have problems far bigger than Maguire but there is no question at all that Maguire is not helping now and won’t help in the future.
Moronic Coaching Decision of the Week: Nothing undermined the credibility of Benji Marshall more than backing off playing Adam Doueihi at lock and naming him to play halfback against Parramatta. Whether the call to play Doueihi at lock was the right or wrong one, Marshall seemed to believe it was in the best interests of the team. It created significant drama – and it was all for nothing. Marshall’s credibility is already dangling by a thread given his record and the fact he has surrounded himself solely with former teammates and this has further eroded it.
Watch It: We make an incredibly rare deviation from the Greatest Game of All this week to bring you perhaps the greatest bit of commentary in sporting history, up there with Wayne Mardle and Rod Studd’s “I can’t spake” call in the famous Van Gerwen-Smith Darts World Championship final. “The famine is over, the famine is over, curse be damned” will long live in the annals of not only GAA lore but sporting commentary lore forever and a day. Watch the astonishing bit of commentary as Mayo win their first All-Ireland in 75 years here. https://www.youtube.com/shorts/wbtmOhuxjoQ