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.
From The Couch: Finals Week 2
The NRL Have Buried Their Head in the Sand For So Long
No matter what the propaganda arm of the NRL will say, the NRL’s refusal to deal with the rampant egos and the widespread incompetence of officials has played a significant role in costing a team a season, hurting the game through the dark images of a referee being pelted by missiles and ensuring almost nobody outside of HQ has a modicum of faith in those charged with officiating matches. This column has been banging on ad nauseum for a long, long, long, long, long time – to the point that finding a home in a psychiatric facility such has been the repetition – about the incompetence of Chris Butler in The Bunker. The NRL though – who removed him from on-field officiating due to significant mishandling of games – continue to put him on the biggest games yet he works against the strict purpose of The Bunker to improve accuracy and speed while maintaining consistency. He does not even follow the very simple process that if there is no clear evidence then it goes with the on-field decision. When you look at a replay 20 times, there is no clear evidence. To find it on look 21 is laughable. Regardless of whether the ball was touched or not, it should not have been overturned. Ruling Te Maire Martin tried to strip a ball when he was clearly just making a tackle shows how little he understands of the game. A discussion around checking a drop kick in play earlier on shows how desperate he is to make decisions that in his head make him look smarter than others. The problem with The Bunker is not the concept but the egotistical, unaccountable, incompetent personnel that both decide appointments and operate the system.
On-field official Ashley Klein should not escape criticism. He was abhorrent in his officiating on Sunday. Abhorrent. A referee that likes to spend all game nitpicking simply ignored an obvious escort because he did not want to give a penalty to decide a game.
The NRL don’t have an officiating crisis. They have an officiating cancer. They have processes that are ignored and decisions that are made by a cadre of egotistical and unaccountable officials who should not be in the game. Replacing on-field officials is no easy task but the NRL have done nothing to widen the talent pool other than throw a few games to a few new refs who are never heard from again. Replacing Bunker officials is not – they do not need to be fit and they do not need to have been referees – yet the NRL just wheels out referees. The leadership is the easiest to replace and until that happens we will just continue to get more of this rubbish.
The Naked and the Dead
The season reviews for the quadrant of mediocrity.
CANTERBURY (12th)
What Went Wrong: Horrible roster-building led by the decision to go into the season with not a single first grade hooker on the roster. A failure to adapt to how the game had changed. Ridiculous coaching hires. Committing to Connor Tracey at fullback. Unrelenting stubbornness, particularly around the use of Jaeman Salmon. The embarrassing treatment of Josh Curran. Bronson Xerri’s hissy-fits. Jacob Kiraz’s body. A complete miscalculation of where the club was actually at.
What Went Right: The development of Lachlan Galvin and his emerging connection with Jacob Preston. Periods of elite defence that allowed them to blow both Penrith and New Zealand out.
Immediate Outlook: Canterbury are at a worrying crossroads. The club has enough top-end talent to be at a minimum a Top 8 team but have so mismanaged their roster that they have the worst spine in the NRL despite having one of the most talented young halves.
What Needs To Happen: It is pretty simple. Find a hooker and a fullback, sack the attacking coach, move on from Phil Gould and lose the fascination with small utilities.
Best Player: Lachlan Galvin – by the length of about 10 footy fields.
Most Disappointing Player: Connor Tracey – being scared of catching and having an inability to tackle as well as lacking any kind of playmaking ability is not a good profile for an NRL fullback.
CANBERRA (11th)
What Went Wrong: Regression hurts and so it was with Canberra, who in reality were far closer to a midseason team than the one that won the minor premiership the year prior. A slow start and a major midseason slump had the Raiders way behind the eight-ball from the start. Injuries to Simi Sasagi, Noah Martin and Matty Nicholson did not help. Trying to switch Ethan Strange to the left did not work. The collapse in Josh Papalii’s final home game was indicative of the club’s season.
What Went Right: Owen Pattie established himself as a very good hooker with a very high ceiling. Sasagi continued on his trajectory as an outstanding tackle busting edge when healthy. Ethan Sanders did a satisfactory job but there will be some major excitement about Coby Black after his debut. Noah Martin looks a complete beast.
Immediate Outlook: The Raiders are a high floor, low ceiling team that is looking at another fringe Top 8 finish in 2027.
What Needs To Happen: Re-signing Hudson Young will be priority one, two and three. Coby Black has played just a single game but was so brilliant that Ricky Stuart needs to make it central to getting him more game time in 2027. Fixing up the worrisome three-quarter line.
Best Player: Simi Sasagi – he was not always healthy but he was an absolute beast when playing. The Raiders went 9-7 when he played and 2-6 without him.
Most Disappointing Player: Savelio Tamale – has plenty of ability but is mentally not able to contribute at the top level.
MELBOURNE (10th)
What Went Wrong: Everything. No team has had worse luck or more obscure negativity hit it than the Storm. They lost a star to a brain injury that left him in a coma – from a derelict medical setup in an international game. They lost another player to a stroke. Their star fullback retired suddenly. They were prevented from signing an international outside back. Their coach was announced to have a degenerative brain condition. Xavier Coates didn’t play a game. The edge defence was uncharacteristically horrific.
What Went Right: Sua Fa’alogo made the step up to starting first grade fullback with class and grace. Plenty of young talent was blooded. The Storm never gave up despite the season being long gone a long way out.
Immediate Outlook: The Storm should rebound next year and return to the Top 8 but there are some fair assumptions underlying that – namely Eli Katoa can play again and Xavier Coates returns to his best.
What Needs To Happen: The Storm very much used 2026 as a transition year where a lot of middling and bit-part players said farewell while young players were blooded. There are a few talented players coming but the Storm really need to rediscover their identity as a relentless team that competes on every play if they are to contend.
Best Player: Sua Fa’alogo – Melbourne’s top attacking weapon and one of the few players that could be relied upon in 2026.
Most Disappointing Player: Cameron Munster – Now 31, the game seems to have passed the talented No.6 by. Munster went missing badly in a season they desperately needed him.
MANLY (9th)
What Went Wrong: Not having the bottle to fire Anthony Seibold after last season like they should have. The health of Tom Trbojevic – again. The halves failed to fire with Jamal Fogarty a bust, Luke Brooks struggling and young Joey Walsh inconsistent. Hooker was arguably a bigger problem. No pack was more easily bullied than Manly’s, whose forwards lacked class.
What Went Right: Making the quick decision to fire Anthony Seibold. Foz-mania swept the Northern Beaches and while he remains unproven, he at least brings some positive energy and some player commitment back to the club. Manly’s defence was generally very good when the coaching change was made. The emergence of Clayton Faulalo.
Immediate Outlook: There is rightly some optimism for Manly’s prospects next season. They showed an ability to defend at an elite level. The concern is that the club is once again swinging on the health of the oft-injured Tom Trbojevic.
What Needs To Happen: Manly need to invest in their pack, particularly their middles, if they are to be any hope. The halves pairing of Brooks and Fogarty is not working and will not work and with some young halves coming through the time has come to move one on.
Best Player: Haumole Olakau’atu wasn’t always at his devastating best but when he was there was no more dangerous forward in the competition.
iJamal Fogarty didn’t live up to his billing or his pay cheque in his first season at Brookvale where he was far too one dimensional as a pass/kick type with no run game.
The Willie M Team of the Week
This week’s team of playoff pretenders and patsies:
- Will Kennedy (Cro)
- Sione Katoa (Cro)
- Ali Leitauta (NZ)
- KL Iro (Cro)
- Dallin Watene-Zeleniak (NZ)
- Chanel Harris-Tavita (NZ)
- Te Maire Martin (NZ)
- Jesse Colquhoun (Cro)
- Blayje Brailey (Cro)
- James Fisher-Harris (NZ)
- Jermaine McEwen (New)
- Jacob Laban (NZ)
- Cameron McInnes (Cro)
——————————————————————– - Niwhai Puru (Cro)
- Billy Burns (Cro)
- Tanner Stowers-Smith (NZ)
- Demetric Vaumaga (NZ)
———————————————————————
Coach: Andrew Webster (NZ)
Referee Gradings
The officiating gradings for Week 2 of the finals:
● Adam Gee (C-)
● Ashley Klein (D)
The 2026 Field Goal Update – 23
There were unfortunately no field goals kicked over the second week of the finals.
Fun Fact #1
The Warriors have won just a single finals game since losing the 2011 Grand Final under Ivan Cleary – Cleary has since won 18 including four premierships.
Fun Fact #2
Trent Robinson has guided the Roosters to 13 finals series in 14 years – the Roosters’ previous 13 finals had seven different coaches at the helm.
Fun Fact #3
Canberra’s 6-0 win over the Wests Tigers was the lowest NRLW score in history – and ensured the Tigers still have not scored a point in a finals game in either then men’s or women’s competition since 2011.
Rumour Mill
Jordan Riki is the latest to fall out with Michael Maguire with the Kiwi international set to depart Brisbane. He is likely to head to Melbourne. Joseph Manu will return to the NRL for a part of a season before joining PNG and it is expected he will sign with either the Titans or the Warriors. Tom Starling will be at either Manly or Canterbury in 2027.
The Coaching Crosshairs
No team should feel more sick about the success of the Knights this season than the Gold Coast Titans, who sacked Justin Holbrook midway through 2023 with the Titans in the Top 8 to hire Des Hasler. Holbrook took the Titans to one of only two finals since the 2010 season. He has the second best record in club history. He was rightly identified as one of the hottest young coaches in the game. Anyone associated with that decision including the ownership should do the decent thing and step away. Holbrook is a superb coach and taking the Knights from the spoon to a prelim is testament to that.
Watch It
Back in 2019, James Hooper got an inside look at The Bunker, in part talking to then referees boss Tony Archer who promised increased accuracy, efficiency, consistency and transparency. It is one of the greatest pieces of propaganda that Edward Bernays could have made it. Seven years later accuracy has not improved, consistency is non-existent, efficiency is laughable based on the Alex Johnston knock on and examination of the Ali Leitauta touch on Sunday and there is no area of the game less transparent than officiating with the NRL refusing to release audio of Bunker officials talking to on-field officials. Watch this piece of NRL-sponsored propaganda here.
