{"id":31029,"date":"2026-07-28T11:46:18","date_gmt":"2026-07-27T23:46:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tab.co.nz\/punters\/?p=31029"},"modified":"2026-07-28T11:46:19","modified_gmt":"2026-07-27T23:46:19","slug":"from-the-couch-nrl-round-21","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tab.co.nz\/punters\/2026\/07\/from-the-couch-nrl-round-21\/","title":{"rendered":"From The Couch: NRL Round 21"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Signs Benji Was Not Right Came Early<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Smart coaches confident in their own ability surround themselves with new ideas and new voices, unthreatened by others and sound that they have what it takes. They do not surround themselves with an entire room of former teammates – and intelligent clubs certainly don\u2019t allow their coach to run such a situation. Benji Marshall\u2019s three assistants are all former teammates – Brett Hodgson, Chris Heighington and John Morris – who played a combined 282 games with Marshall. Robbie Farah is the former assistant, who played 195 games with Marshall. Former teammate Pat Richards runs the football department. Shannon Gallant, a former teammate, heads recruitment. On and on it goes. We all remember how he reacted to an outside voice when Marshall drove Scott Fulton out of the club. Marshall is 22-45. He makes utterly inane decisions and they get through because he won\u2019t take advice. He was recently extended so the club won\u2019t sack him but they really need to take charge of the football department because the club is going nowhere with him in charge surrounded by his yes men.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Club Front Office Avoiding Drama Power Rankings<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The clubs that best avoid drama and the clubs that simply find it at every turn. The power rankings are based on four metrics: coaching instability, structural integrity, player discipline and ability to control the narrative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. Dolphins – Viewed as a great club to rehab players, develops talent, control noise<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Melbourne Storm – The most disciplined club in the NRL never has its coaching questioned and does the best job at recruiting the right kind of characters.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. South Sydney Rabbitohs – Strong leadership with a vocal group of players that don\u2019t have major discipline issues on or off the field since Bennett returned.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  4. New Zealand Warriors – Out of sight, out of mind does not hurt but Andrew Webster has made plenty of strange decisions and the players are on board. Cam George elite leader.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  5. Sydney Roosters – No Sydney team has the stability of the Roosters who have had same powerbroker, coach and captain for well above league average. Control media narrative well. Have improved in character recruitment.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  6. Canberra Raiders – Ricky Stuart and Don Furner work hand in glove and run a very tight ship that produces little drama and certainly no gap for players or the media to exploit between front office and football staff.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  7. Cronulla Sharks – The continuity of the roster has its downsides but it does create a sense of calm even if it limits upside.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  8. Penrith Panthers – Few front offices have the stability of the Panthers and the cohesion throughout the organisation runs down to the junior grades. The club can still attract a ratbag but has done an excellent job at maintaining order the last half-decade.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  9. North Queensland Cowboys – Todd Payten\u2019s leadership remains unconvincing and a weak CEO and below-average board has the Cowboys bang in the middle of these rankings.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  10. Newcastle Knights – The new administration has brought some stability but there has generally been a lack of football nous, a willingness to bring players into line and a loyalty to the club from the playing group.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  11. Gold Coast Titans – Historically poorly run, seen perfectly in the sacking of Justin Holbrook, and are located in a hotbed of trouble but have become so irrelevant that they probably push higher than they should.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  12. Parramatta Eels – Mediocrity has become the norm. The club has major board issues and an inexperienced CEO. On-field leadership is non-existent<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  13. Manly Sea Eagles – The Penns run a complete shitshow that saw the club run by Tony Mestrov and Anthony Seibold and Isaac Moses for way too long. Only sneaking up a few spots by smartly hiring Jason King and lucking out with Kieran Foran.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  14. Canterbury Bulldogs – Courts controversy through the duplicitous commentary of GM Football Phil Gould, whose duel roles in the game rightly attract attention. A gelded CEO who can\u2019t control him does not help.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  15. Brisbane Broncos – A club as big and as powerful as the Broncos should not deal with the constant calamities, mainly centred on poor coaching hires and too much player power, but despite last year\u2019s premiership is constantly in the gun.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  16. St George Illawarra Dragons – No club is organisationally more inept than the Dragons, who fight at board level, hire incompetents to run the front office and make complete messes of major decisions, primarily be over-reverence for their own history.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  17. Wests Tigers – An abject disgrace for a long time, the current administration has allowed the coach to surround himself with sycophants while showing little support for players with passion keen to contribute to success.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Brisbane\u2019s Meek Fade Says As Much About Last Year As It Does About Now<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    Every team needs luck to win a premiership. You can\u2019t win without it. No team has ever been luckier to win a title though than Brisbane in 2025. Joel Caine mentioned on his excellent podcast that the in-play odds of Brisbane coming back in their three finals comebacks at their highest would have been a 10,000-1 accumulator. And that is before factoring in the run they had to go on to make finals. Yet the lack of self-awareness at the club, particularly amongst the playing group, has been astonishing and the team we are seeing this year is really the team the Broncos are and have been for a long time. Brisbane have had their luck square up a little this year but they really just are a middling side with the ability to get hot. Their discipline is poor. Their effort is poor. Their cohesion is poor. Their coaching is poor. The club leadership is disastrous. Playing three hookers on the weekend and still being unable to create points in a must-win game says plenty. With Payne Haas leaving, the Broncos are staring down the barrel of a troubling 2027 with a second straight missed finals and a coach sacking both forecast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Ryles Given The Roger Rogerson Green Light<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    Courier Mail lead Rugby League man Peter Badel was 100 per cent correct that Jason Ryles has been left completely out of any form of serious criticism despite a horrendous opening two seasons to his career in charge of the Eels, getting from the Sydney media what Roger Rogerson would call \u2018The Green Light\u2019. The Eels are 16-26 on his watch. They missed the Top 8 last year. They will miss it this season. The recruitment has been completely nonsensical, particularly in regards the transit lounge halves situation that saw Jonah Pezet signed for a year and now Jarome Luai. The club is no longer a destination club. They have no identity. Their defence is awful. Far more talented coaches have been given a tougher time in the media including Todd Payten, Brad Arthur and Anthony Griffin. Ryles never projected to be a good coach and is starting to prove the few doubters who went at him completely right. The Eels have no choice but to stick with him but they will simply tread water as a club while he is at the helm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Wah Wah Wah<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    There is no better front-running set of fans in the NRL than the Warriors fans but boy oh boy there is a sense of entitlement about a team that has never won a premiership, played in two Grand Finals and have generally underachieved over the course of their three-decade journey. The Warriors have done a tremendous job marginalising rugby union and selling out Mt Smart but enough with the conspiracy theories, the narky instagram comments and the \u201cit\u2019s our year\u201d nonsense. When fans can totally ignore the All Blacks and understand that the NRL isn\u2019t against them and that this year\u2019s team is the beneficiary of a very soft draw, we can all sit back and enjoy them for being a consistent side who deserve plaudits for how they are playing, recognising that this team is building for something better over the next two years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Hack Attack<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    Unfortunately for my desire to vent and fortunate for NRL officials, my Twitter account has been hacked and looks like it is gone forever. So I’ve fired up a new one. Get behind @NickTedeschiNRL and please let the degenerates and the diehards in your life know, if you are so inclined.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The Willie M Team of the Week<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    This week\u2019s team of fools and flops:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \n
    1. Lehi Hopoate (Man)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    2. Dominic Young (New)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    3. Sunia Turuva (Tig)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    4. Mat Feagai (Dra)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    5. Dallin Watene-Zelezniak (NZ)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    6. Jarome Luai (Tig)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    7. Daniel Atkinson (Dra)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    8. Taniela Paseka (Man)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    9. Wayde Egan (NZ)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    10. Preston Riki (Bri)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    11. Jacob Laban (NZ)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    12. Kitione Kautoga (Par)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    13. Jake Trbojevic (Man)
      \u2014————————————<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    14. Kobe Hetherington (Man)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    15. Trent Toelau (Mel)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    16. Ben Talty (Bri)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    17. Bunty Afoa (Tig)
      \u2014———————————–
      Coach: Benji Marshall (Tig)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

      Referee Gradings<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

      This week\u2019s gradings:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

        \n
      • Gerard Sutton (C)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • Wyatt Raymond (C-)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • Ashley Klein (D+)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • Jarrod Cole (D-)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • Adam Gee (C+)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • Tyson Brough (C+)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • Todd Smith (C+)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • Grant Atkins (B-)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

        The 2026 Field Goal Update – 21<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

        The modern godfather of the Rugby League field goal Daly Cherry-Evans kicked the only field goal of the weekend and the 31st of his decorated career. He has kicked a field goal in 11 straight seasons and in 15 of his 16 seasons in first grade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        Fun Fact #1<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

        Kieran Foran is the first and only coach born in the 1990s to coach an NRL team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        Fun Fact #2<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

        Just 12 men born in the 1980s have coached an NRL team with five currently in charge of an NRL club.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        Fun Fact #3<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

        Arthur Hennessy was born before any coach to coach a game of premiership Rugby League, born in September of 1876.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        Rumour Mill<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

        Junior Paulo is expected to be announced as the next Perth Bears signing – and the captain of the club. Isaah Yeo is on the verge of extending his deal at Penrith. Fox Sports are reporting that Sam Walker is set to be given a 10-year deal. Cameron Munster is a very real chance of moving to the PNG Chiefs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        The Coaching Crosshairs<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

        St George Illawarra did exactly what everybody thought they would do and went with the incredibly uninspired, incredibly uninteresting, incredibly conservative decision to hire Dean Young as their full-time coach. They will argue that the Dragons have shown improvement but after the disaster Shane Flanagan created, a garden gnome would have got improvement out of this side. The fact the Dragons final three got down to three former Dragons – Young, Ben Hornby and Trent Barrett – says everything about how uninspired the club is. Five of their last eight coaches are former players. None won a premiership. None took them to a Grand Final. The club just never learns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        Moronic Coaching Decision of the Week<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

        Benji Marshall deciding to drop Adam Doueihi was the singularly most stupid decision made by a coach this year and one that will both haunt him for the rest of his time at the Tigers and be central to his legacy as a coach. Doueihi has been the Tigers best and most important player this year. He is one of the few in the team that seems to care. He is not the half that has signed with two other clubs for the next two seasons after slamming another young half for departing. Doueihi was embarrassed after successfully getting off at the judiciary. He probably handled it poorly but not nearly as poorly as Marshall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        Watch It<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

        This week we go back to 1986 and a clash between Balmain and North Sydney at Leichhardt Oval. We see a great penalty against Norths on the first play of the game for an incorrect play-the-ball, Ross Conlon landing a 57-metre penalty goal, the highly underrated Kiwi Clayton Friend leading the Bears around the park, a Gary Bridge field goal from dummy half and some magnificently striped in-goals. Watch it below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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