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.
The Entitlements of Rugby Union Types
Mark Nawaqanitawase’s performance on Friday night against Penrith was utterly outrageous not in its costly incompetence but in its sheer arrogance. Nawaqanitawase gave a giant middle finger to Rugby League, the processes of the Sydney Roosters and his teammates with his complete disregard for doing the team thing to just do whatever the hell he wanted. Defensively the former and soon-to-be union player stood out of position, reached for intercepts and showed little interest in marking up on his opposite Tom Jenkins, who scored four tries including the most embarrassing try of the year when he received a short pass from dummy half and went over untouched because Nawaqanitawase refused to stand in his position. With the ball he can score a magnificent try but ranked behind only Zac Lomax in errors last year and leads the category in 2026. His cross-field pass on a kick return that led to Penrith getting the ball back in prime position was so utterly disrespectful of Rugby League, so callously indifferent to the game’s norms and so arrogantly entitled in promoting the self over the team that he should be dropped immediately and sent back to rugby union. The Roosters are going nowhere when a player who shows such flagrant disregard for his teammates is held unaccountable.
The NRL Need To Clean Out The Officiating Ranks Immediately
A century ago they used to label those with a mental age of under three an idiot and those with a mental age between three and seven an imbecile. Those with a mental capacity of a seven to 12 year old were called feeble minded. Most, rightly or wrongly, copped electric shock therapy, something that is no longer in vogue but may be necessary if the idiots, imbeciles and feeble-minded clowns currently in charge of officiating don’t get their act together and clean house. On a weekend of utterly moronic decisions that a blind baby panda on a meth binge wouldn’t have stooped so low to make we saw the worst penalty try in the history of the game awarded, a ridiculous eight-point try – both awarded by Chris Butler – along with an utter one-way barrage from Liam Kennedy that castrated Newcastle. Butler was so incompetent on the field that instead of getting sacked he was tapped to do the most Bunker officiating, saying all you need to know about how the NRL treats officiating and thinks of its fans. It does not matter what system is in place if the personnel involved are a law unto themselves, completely unaccountable and clearly unable to perform their duties to an adequate standard. The NRL is allegedly a professional organisation yet it continually justifies rolling out a corps of total amateurs to officiate, running a closed shop for alleged talent. The NRL needs to clean out officiating leadership, clean out officiating personnel, separate Bunker and on-field officials and open up roles to get the league anywhere near the standard it needs to be at.
Greg Marzhew Should Be Given A Ticket on The XPT and a Farewell BBQ
Justin Holbrook is trying to instil culture change at Newcastle. He can do that by paying Greg Marzhew his money, getting him a ticket on the XPT and kicking him out of town. He is a complex player: hard-running with a high engine who cannot get off the ground and has hands like flippers. You take the good with the bad. What you cannot take though is the completely unacceptable defensive “effort” he put on James Fisher-Harris where he essentially ran scared to both avoid contact and run a valet service for a Warriors try.
The Worst Beat of All-Time
Any bettor who took the under late on the Knights-Warriors game probably won’t be reading this – they will be heading to a cold, dark place looking for some kind of divination to bring meaning to the fate that befell them. With the total at 44 and the Knights 20 metres out from their own line with the ball and time expiring, Tyson Frizell attempted a chip and chase that was swept upon by Taine Tuaupiki, who passed over the line to debutant Luke Hanson to send the match to 50 points. There have been a lot of bad beats over the years – this is a complete contender for the very worst, right up there with the over being beat in Samoa-Tonga by a ½ point when fans stormed the field and the game was called off with a conversion pending next to the posts with five minutes left.
Premiership Rugby League’s Most Unbreakable Records
With Alex Johnston breaking Ken Irvine’s near six-decade tryscoring record, here are five Australian premiership Rugby League records that are unlikely to ever be broken:
- Career Field Goals: Eric Simms (86) – Bob Fulton sits second on the list 28 behind while Daly Cherry-Evans and Adam Reynolds lead active players with 29 and 26 respectively.
- Record Score: St George 91 def Canterbury 6 – There have been just two margins of 70-plus since 1935 and none north of 80.
- Most Tries in a Game: Frank Burge (8) – Josh Addo-Carr is the only player since 1950 to score more than five tries in a game when he scored six.
- Most Points in a Game: Dave Brown (45) – Mal Meninga is the only other player to score 38 points with Terry Campese and Ryan Papenhuyzen the only two to hit 36 in the NRL era.
- Tries in Consecutive Grand Finals: Johnny King (6): It is almost impossible to imagine a player starting in six straight deciders let alone scoring in them – Stephen Crichton scored in three straight.
Try For The Ages
Brian To’o’s double grubber try against the Roosters will finish the season as try of the year and will be played for a long, long, long time.
The Willie M Team of the Week
This week’s team of fools and flops
- Clint Gutherson (Dra)
- Greg Marzhew (New)
- Junior Pauga (Roo)
- Valentine Holmes (Dra)
- Mark Nawaqanitawase (Roo)
- Tyson Gamble (New)
- Sam Walker (Roo)
- Mo Fotuaika (GC)
- Reece Robson (Roo)
- Trey Mooney (New)
- Angus Crichton (Roo)
- Jermaine McEwen (New)
- Blake Lawrie (Dra)
———————————–
- Josh Kerr (Dra)
- Toby Rudolf (Cro)
- Tyson Frizell (New)
- Alec MacDonald (Mel)
———————————–
Coach: Shane Flanagan (Dra)
2026 Field Goal Update – 2
Another field goal free weekend that should make us all incredibly sad.
Referee Gradings
The Round 3 referee gradings
Adam Gee (C-): Missed a few key calls that primarily went against Canberra.
Grant Atkins (D+): Pulled out seven set restarts in the first 14 minutes as he pulled his usual stunt of trying to “set the tone”.
Todd Smith (B): Kept a low profile in a big-time Grand Final rematch.
Liam Kennedy (F): Newcastle stood absolutely no chance with the persistent set restarts ruled against them in the first half followed by an obscene sin bin.
Gerard Sutton (C-): Had two poor calls that were overturned by The Bunker late.
Wyatt Raymond (B): Ran a very good game though his push for an eight-point try was a poor one.
Ashley Klein (D-): His push for a penalty try was classic Klein while two clear forward passes led to tries.
Peter Gough (D-): Pulled a combined 25 penalties/set restarts while showing absolutely zero feel for the game.
Fun Fact #1
The ACT Government led by AFL fan Andrew Barr has invested $30 million in Manuka Oval over the last decade. They have refused to build a new rectangular stadium to replace the 50-year-old GIO Stadium.
Fun Fact #2
Gorden Tallis, who quote unquote never missed a game, played more than 20 games in a year just four times from his debut in 1992 to his retirement in 2004, playing at least 24 just twice.
Fun Fact #3
Ashley Klein sin binned the most players in 2025 with seven.
The Coaching Crosshairs
Anthony Seibold received some reprieve with Manly having a bye but heads well into the furnace this week with the Sea Eagles facing the Roosters – and more importantly club icon Daly Cherry-Evans – on Thursday night. Seibold was the primary force of driving Cherry-Evans from the club. If Manly lose and Cherry-Evans plays a key role in that, it is hard to see how Seibold’s position is any longer tenable.
Moronic Coaching Decision of the Week
Shane Flanagan escapes scrutiny far too much due to his cozy relationship with the media and in particular Fox but the decision-making he imparts on his team combined with the total lack of accountability has the Dragons arguably the favourites for the wooden spoon this year. The Dragons were well and truly on top early against the Eels when they moronically took the two to go up 2-0, a clear direction from the box. Momentum was gone. The game would not be far behind, not helped by Flanagan’s refusal to hold the completely gone Valentine Holmes accountable.
Watch It
One of the most compelling figures in the long and storied history of Rugby League is the French star of the 1950s Puig Aubert. Known as “Pippette”, the enigmatic Aubert would smoke on the field and drink pastis at halftime and refuse to tackle but was such a supreme talent he led Les Chanticleers to a famous series win in Australia in 1951 and the inaugural World Cup in 1954. Watch this nice little summary of his decorated career here.