Opening round had us thirstin’ for more
In the first of a regular series, Hamish Bidwell dissects the latest round of the NRL.
OPINION: What a privilege it is to watch Johnathan Thurston in action.
The Great Cowboys halfback doesn’t take sabbaticals. He doesn’t start matches on the bench, or ask to be subbed because he’s got some important State of Origin or test matches coming up.
No, Thurston just competes on every play, every week and provides other halves a lesson in what separates him from them.
Saturday night’s Cowboys v Canberra clash was the highlight of round one of the NRL season with Thurston helping decide the outcome in golden point, as he so often does. The man proves the decisive factor in matches so regularly, that you almost take it for granted.
He can’t be in vintage form every week - it’s physically impossible - but he continually does do things to ensure that if it’s not a 10/10 performance, it’s at least 7/10.
The first is effort. No-one tries harder than Thurston. He’s always leading the kick-chase, always busting a gut in cover defence if someone’s breaks the Cowboys’ line.
The second is taking contact at the line. Many halves fear contact and play deep in the hope that a big forward won’t put a shot on them. Not Thurston.
To put a runner through a hole, he has to ball-play right at the defensive line. It means he regularly gets barrelled, but the pain’s worth it when his charge over the tryline. What a player he is.
Cronulla’s confusion
Just as Thurston never changes, nor does Cronulla captain Paul Gallen. For the umpteenth time he’s taken umbrage at Phil Gould.
Gould, the champion New South Wales coach and winner of premierships at the Bulldogs and Panthers, says 2016 was a ‘‘soft’’ year for the competition. The big clubs fell over, for a variety of reasons, with Cronulla emerging as the best of the rest.
The Sharks’ skipper has been quick to bite.
‘‘I read the quotes this morning, I don’t know in what context he meant them but if he somehow meant that the 2016 competition was somehow flawed or soft, I’ve got to say I find that insulting,’’ Gallen said on Sunday.
‘‘And I think the whole club would as well. As a group of 25 or 30 players and staff, we trained our backside off like 16 other clubs from November.
‘‘We beat the Melbourne Storm, we beat the reigning premiers [North Queensland] the week before to make the grand final ... I find those comments pretty disappointing.’’
The soap opera element is as important to the NRL as the footy itself.
All over for Souths
Worst sight of the weekend was watching a lame Greg Inglis limp his way round ANZ Stadium in Sydney.
Souths coach Michael Maguire has a reputation for driving players to the limit and then some. From title-winners in 2014, the Rabbitohs have gone a long way backwards and Maguire’s relentless approach has been cited as a reason.
Inglis is the club’s captain and best player and it was madness to leave him out there against the Tigers. Even worse when it was revealed he suffered a seasonending ACL rupture.
That vision will haunt Maguire.
And the Warriors
This is New Zealand, so we better mention them.
The Knights had lost 16 straight, going into Sunday’s clash at Mt Smart Stadium. Good on the Warriors (I guess) for not being the side to end that streak, but it was a close-run thing.
The people who love the Warriors will be convinced their 26-22 win showed grit and means the playoffs beckon. Those that don’t will have seen the same fluctuations between decent and dreadful and will feel safe to assume it’ll be a 10th-placed finish this season.