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.
Best and Worst Recruits of 2026 – Early Edition
We are 10 weeks into the season and it is time to pass judgment on who has recruited well and who has not.
The Best
- Trey Mooney (New): Scored five tries, topped 115m three times and has 17 tackle breaks, a great return for a player signed from reserve grade.
- Kai Pearce-Paul (Tig): Flying on an edge for the Tigers where he has busted 17 tackles while topping 110m in three games while ranking Top 25 in tackles made.
- Jamal Fogarty (Man): Started a touch slowly and battling injuries but has nine assists in seven games to rank Top 10 in the NRL. Eight of those have been in four games under Foran.
- Reece Robson (Roo): The Roosters have gone 6-1 in his seven games with Robson scoring twice, setting up two more and breaking three-plus tackles in four of his last five.
- David Fitita (Sou): Managed just five games but topped 170m in three of them while averaging just under five tackle breaks a game.
- Matt Dufty (Sou): Been stellar in a backup role on minimum wage with three starts where he topped 320m in two, broke 14 tackles and scored three twice.
The Worst
- Dan Atkinson (Dra): The saviour to the Dragons halves problems had four try assists to go with 34 missed tackles (eighth in the NRL). Has fallen behind Reed and King-Tongia and potentially Flanagan.
- Josh Kerr (Dra): Topped 70m just once this year while he has 11 missed tackles while clogging up minutes from the promising young Dragons forwards.
- Jonah Pezet (Par): Was a weird signing to begin with as a transit lounge before heading to Brisbane and his defence has been utterly horrific with 17 missed tackles in five games to go with 10 more ineffective tackles.
- Leo Thompson (Bul): On a reported $800k a year and while his numbers are fine he is the latest in a long list of poor recruiting decisions by the Bulldogs, putting money into an area when others more desperately need it.
- Lachlan Ilias (GC): Ranks Top 20 in errors per game while he leads all halves in the stat. His 19 missed tackles and five tackle breaks paint a profile of an ineffective half who drops the ball and cannot tackle.
- Morgan Knowles (Dol): Perhaps expectations are unfair but has been more plodder than gamebreaker while he ranks Top 12 in penalties conceded. Yet to run for 100m.
The Most Inept Bunker In History – Probably
There have been some bad bunkers in history but it is hard to think of any more inept than the one the NRL runs. That is the only explanation for Adam Gee and his cronies awarding Robert Toia a try when he clearly lost the ball. The whole purpose of The Bunker is to eliminate utter howlers. Yet they get involved in nit picky calls around players jumping to distract yet in consecutive weeks they have awarded tries on an obvious obstruction and a clear knock on. The need for a complete personnel overhaul from management to those officiating should be priority No.1 for the NRL.
Perhaps A Little Explanation
In what was an absolute shock to everybody watching on Friday night, Parramatta were not only awarded a penalty after landing the winning field goal against North Queensland but were not allowed to decline the shot. Mitchell Moses was apoplectic and while referee Liam Kennedy, in a rare moment, was correct under Section13, Part 10 of the rules of the game, he should clearly have communicated that the game would be over regardless of the outcome of the kick including if the kick landed in the field of play or hit the upright.
The Perfect Dropout
Nathan Cleary’s late dropout that skidded along the ground and took a late bounce over the 10m line and straight into touch was a short dropout of absolute perfection. Botticelli had The Birth Of Venus, MacGown had A Pair Of Brown Eyes and Cleary has That Dropout.
Bad Beat of the Week
Anyone who took the Roosters -17.5 is still reeling after missing out due to Sam Walker’s yips that saw him kick two-from-six to lose by 1.5 points. Beats do not come much more agonising than this.
The Willie M Team of the Week – Round 10
This week’s team of failures and flops:
- Connor Tracey (Bul)
- Jonathan Sua (Bul)
- Clint Gutherson (Dra)
- Bronson Xerri (Bul)
- Setu Tu (Dra)
- Ezra Mam (Bri)
- Nicho Hynes (Cro)
- Emre Guler (Dra)
- Bailey Hayward (Bul)
- Fonua Pole (Tig)
- Briton Nikora (Cro)
- Josh Kerr (Dra)
- Reuben Cotter (Cow)
————————————— - Latu Fainu (Tig)
- Kurtis Morrin (GC)
- Ben Talty (Bri)
- Billy Burns (Cro)
——————————————-
Coach: Dean Young (Dra)
Referee Gradings
This week’s officiating gradings:
- Grant Atkins (C-)
- Peter Gough (D)
- Liam Kennedy (D+)
- Todd Smith (B+)
- Jarrod Cole (B-)
- Gerard Sutton (C-)
- Adam Gee (C+)
- Ashley Klein (B-)
The 2026 Field Goal Update – 10
Mitchell Moses landed the winning field goal in golden point against North Queensland, hitting before the Cowboys had a chance to touch the ball.
Fun Fact #1
If a line drop out goes dead, the restart is not a line drop out as per a kickoff but a 20m tap.
Fun Fact #2
A tap restart does not need to be a tap but can also be a kick in any direction with the only requirement that the ball hit the foot.
Fun Fact #3
If the ball bursts as a player attempts a goal, that player shall get another attempt at goal.
Rumour Mill
Billy Slater is reportedly set to clean house in the Queensland team with a host of young players set to be introduced with the likes of Valentine Holmes and Trent Loiero expected to be dumped. NSW rake Connor Watson is being targeted by St George Illawarra as a response to Damien Cook’s move to Castleford. The Dragons are also reportedly doing their best to convince Clint Gutherson to retire or take up a deal at a different club.
The Coaching Crosshairs
There is a better than even-money chance that Mal Meninga will not be coaching the Perth Bears next season. It was shocking that he was appointed in the first place and is astonishing that he is still in the role. Meninga has not coached in the NRL in over a quarter-century and his record is decidedly average in club football but he was hired under the impression he would help build publicity and draw talent. He has done neither. Meninga has refused to move to Perth and he has done a poor job at drawing talent, particularly at the elite level. He has not led any push for the club to gain salary cap concessions to attract players – though to be fair that should have been the front office. Perhaps most concerning is his continued internal battles and falling outs. He made a bad decision in tampering with Titans recruitment manager Ezra Howe in a bid to bring hom over. He has reportedly fallen out with assistant and heir apparent Ben Gardner. His relationship with CEO Anthony De Ceglie is poor. The Bears need to make a clean break and given Meniga’s poor performance so far, he looks like the one to go.
Moronic Coaching Decision of the Week
Dean Young has managed to work his way out of any chance to be appointed the Dragons permanent head coach after two shameful showings. Not only were the Dragons pumped on Anzac Day, they were totally unprepared off a bye against the Knights at home. Perhaps most concerning was Dean Young’s use of the interchange bench. The Dragons were getting completely smoked and were clearly struggling with fitness yet Young made just two changes in the first 50 minutes. He is not up to any permanent job.
Watch It
The old Phil Gould intros to State of Origin are held up as the gold standard but this lead-in to the 1988 series opener with Darrell Eastlake, Jack Gibson and Mick Cronin is something else. Eastlake calling Queensland “banana benders” in his opening line, Jack Gibson declaring Queensland and The Crow not wearing a tie was just beautiful to watch.