This is your weekly dose of NRL truth-telling, as tipster and rugby league raconteur Nick Tedeschi tears through the good, the bad and the indefensible, with absolutely no regard for bruised egos.
Justice Prevails
In a very rare case of justice prevailing in Rugby League, Zac Lomax did not get his way and remains tied to the Eels for the next two seasons if he does wish to play in the NRL. The Eels and Storm could not reach a deal primarily thanks to Ryan Matterson’s clear lack of desire to play Rugby League and settled out of court, costing Melbourne not only plenty of cash but a fair whack to their dignity. The fact such a one-sided deal was reached before open court says plenty about what both the Storm and the NRL wanted kept secret. Lomax will now either play rugby union or wait for an appropriate deal from another NRL club. All this talk about Lomax being any sort of loss to Rugby League is laughable and a complete misuse of terms like “superstar” and “loss”. Lomax had more errors than any other player the last five years. He is flighty, moody, selfish and wholly unreliable. He turned his back on Rugby League and now deserves the fate that has befallen him. If he never plays in an NRL match again not a single shred will be stripped from the game.
There Are No Rules Anymore, Just Whims and Vibes
The NRL has now entered the post-rules phase of its existence, where laws of the game are not black and white or even grey, when penalties and six-agains are simply used to give one team momentum and then flick it around. Referees no longer enforce rules. They manage games, more film director than police officer. There was no more extreme example than Liam Kennedy’s laughable start to the Manly-Canberra game where he awarded five set restarts and gave four penalties to Manly – in the first 8:23 of the game. Not only was such a barrage completely ridiculous, it just defies logic that such stringent enforcement of the rules suddenly stops. Canberra did not give away a single six-again after that first 8:23 – not a single one. Referees are awarding these with absolutely zero accountability, having a huge bearing on the game without time for commentators to discuss the reason for the infringement let alone the veracity. It is complete and utter madness yet referees are empowered to be tinpot dictators. The six-again rule was born out of good intent – to allow attacking teams to maintain their momentum against teams attempting to slow them down – but has turned into a complete farce that has changed not only the very nature of how the game is played but can dictate who wins and who loses. The rule needs to be, at a minimum, wound back significantly.
Square Up Sin Bin
There are few things dumber, more cowardly and a better indicator that the man in the middle has some kind of intelligence deficiency than the square up sin bin. When there is a fight where both throw punches, fine. Outside of that, there is no need to sin bin two players when one was the clear aggressor as Tom Gilbert was when attacking David Fifita. Fifita didn’t even defend himself but was dismissed by Peter Gough. That kind of officiating is just another example of officials manufacturing outcomes in games that are completely uncalled for.
Pezet A Pretender
The Brisbane Broncos have more than enough to deal with as Payne Haas packs his bags, Michael Maguire messes up his team selections, the team’s inept showings against Hull KR and Penrith and rumours swirling that players are off the coach. The abhorrent Eels debut of Jonah Pezet, who is Broncos-bound next year, can be added to the list. The boom on Pezet was never likely to match the reality and history tells us that players rarely get better outside of the system. Even still Pezet looked well out of his depth and was clearly gaining the ire of Mitchell Moses.
Round 1 Stats That Tell A Tale
Here are 12 Round 1 stats that tell a tale
- Braydon Trindall has six combined tries and assists. Nicho Hynes did not have a single assist to go with his two tries.
- Canberra’s wingers combined for 17 tackle breaks.
- Parramatta conceded an incredible 13 line breaks against Melbourne.
- Morgan Knowles made 51 tackles on his NRL debut.
- Josh Hannay used only seven of his eight interchanges in a 40-point defeat that included playing Tino Fa’asauamealaui just 49 minutes.
- Melbourne edges Joe Chan and Ativalu Lisati combined for 341 running metres.
- Just one Penrith starter failed to break a tackle: Mitch Kenny.
- Four of the five Brisbane outside backs had at least two handling errors.
- The Dolphins were not awarded a single penalty in the first 70 minutes against South Sydney.
- Manly’s left edge of Tolutau Koula and Lehi Hopoate ran for 345 metres and broke 13 tackles compared to the right edge of Jason Saab and Reuben Garrick that ran for 244 metres and broke for four tackles.
- Joseph Tapine had just eight runs for 66 metres in 55 minutes.
- Only two Eels forwards ran for more than 70 metres.
Star of the Weekend
Jake Trbojevic’s headgear, which is approximately the size of Tasmania with the beautiful bumps reminiscent of a 1980s BMX tyre.
The Willie M Team of the Week
This week’s team of duds and dopes
1.Reece Walsh (Bri)
2.Bailey Simonsson (Par)
3.Will Penisini (Par)
4.Ali Leiataua (NZ)
5.Sialetili Faeamani (GC)
6.Jonah Pezet (Par)
7.Lachlan Ilias (GC)
8.Corey Jensen (Bri)
9.Ryley Smith (Par)
10.Junior Paulo (Par)
11.Arana Hau (GC)
12.Jordan Riki (Bri)
13.Jake Trbojevic (Man)
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14.Tallyn Da Silva (Par)
15.Kurtis Morrin (GC)
16.Nathan Brown (Man)
17.Xavier Willison (Bri)
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Coach: Jason Ryles (Par)
Referee Gradings
The Round 1 referee gradings
Todd Smith (C-): Fired off a combined 24 penalties/set restarts and was inconsistent with how he dealt with high shots though clear Bunker interference there.
Wyatt Raymond (C+): Roosters fans will disagree after being on the wrong end of an 11-4 penalty count but hard to make a case against too many calls.
Adam Gee (B): The best referee in the game let the Brisbane-Penrith game flow and made no concerted effort to try and manufacture momentum.
Ziggy Przeklasa-Adamski (C): Cronulla’s dominance over Gold Coast didn’t allow him to get too heavily involved.
Liam Kennedy (F): Utterly laughable how he started the game in manufacturing Manly to have the ball for 11 straight minutes.
Peter Gough (D-): It is astonishing how many 50-50 calls he gets wrong and his decision to put David Fifita in the bin was moronic.
2025 Field Goal Update – 2
Ethan “Colonel” Sanders slotted the winning field goal for Canberra in just his fifth game with a magnificent strike from 35m out in golden point at a rabid Brookvale Oval.
Fun Fact #1
Five of the six Round 1 games on Australian soil totalled at least 56 points.
Fun Fact #2
The last three seasons have all featured at least two Round 1 games that totalled 60-plus points.
Fun Fact #3
Since 2020 Penrith have won 83% of games and covered 60% of matches when both Dylan Edwards and Nathan Cleary play.
Moronic Coaching Decision of the Week
Trent Robinson is an outstanding coach but his team selections and rotations were very poor in the opening round loss to the Warriors. The use of Connor Watson was particularly odd given how the game played. Watson is a class act who should be starting at either hooker or lock. He played just 31 minutes and came on when the game was all but over. There is just no way Blake Steep gives the Roosters a better chance of winning than playing 80 minutes of Connor Watson.
The Coaching Crosshairs
Anthony Seibold’s time at Manly is set to come to an end sooner rather than later if Saturday night’s performance was anything to go by. Manly only got beaten in golden point but were gifted every opportunity by some horrendous officiating. Manly are low on talent, particularly in the forwards, and are going to get man-handled plenty. Seibold’s rotations do little to help, giving Nathan Brown and Corey Waddell extended minutes in the middle. There is hardly a Manly fan who wants him in the job and given there is a new CEO in charge, expect change sooner rather than later with Manly very much expected to return to a Manly man at the helm with Matt Ballin the hotpot.
Watch It
The World Sevens have sadly been consigned to history but were during the 1990s a wonderful way to start the season, a festival of footy that brought teams from across the globe to play ARL club sides. Here is a fantastic exhibition between Western Suburbs and the Port Moresby Vipers including one of the great match winning tries.