Speaker 1: Better than the Lego.
Speaker 2: Support Coops Rooster Sunday. He was nothing short of a disaster.
Speaker 2: I've really seen anything like a semi walker, a C. L.
Speaker 2: Brandon Smith shortly after a cl Victor Radley scapular similar
Speaker 2: the one you did shoulder.
Speaker 1: So he's going to delay surgery.
Speaker 2: But I'm sure if he'd be back Nat Butcher Hia,
Speaker 2: he'll be okay.
Speaker 3: But I went from being genuine contenders to now sort
Speaker 3: of a question mark with some of those. But in
Speaker 3: terms of their performance on the weekend, like I think
Speaker 3: even before Sam work at Walker went off injured, some
Speaker 3: of their play, particularly their attack was very sideways. It
Speaker 3: was past past past week going to score. Yeah, they
Speaker 3: was looking for shortcuts to start with. But I think
Speaker 3: sometimes you've got to find where the glass full approaches
Speaker 3: to that because Kiri, in my mind, he did in
Speaker 3: twenty eighteen. He's done it for a couple of times
Speaker 3: where he's been the seventh, He's got it in his
Speaker 3: kit bag, So you're going to be a test on
Speaker 3: the scene. He players big time.
Speaker 2: Cooper, it's funny, and you said that, let's go back
Speaker 2: to their attack a little bit.
Speaker 1: It was funny. I see the Rooster's occasion.
Speaker 2: They get out in the game and their attack gets
Speaker 2: very floury. As you said sidelined to sideline, that they've
Speaker 2: got an idea in their head how they want to play,
Speaker 2: but it's not really suiting the game, if that makes sense.
Speaker 2: There was a little bit like an example, particularly in
Speaker 2: the second half Torell Mate toyroll Mate. He was standing
Speaker 2: in the middle of the field. Now to in my opinion,
Speaker 2: is a bloke a little bit like Spencer. He just
Speaker 2: wind him up and let him go. But he found
Speaker 2: himself in the middle of the field trying to playmate
Speaker 2: and just pushing the ball sideways.
Speaker 4: And Lindsay Collins out of position.
Speaker 3: They're just a zero thrust of going forward before going sideways.
Speaker 3: And this is a real critical thing. And one of
Speaker 3: the things that I picked up during the game is I
Speaker 3: get this whole notion of ad lib free play, play
Speaker 3: with your eyes, as people say, but sometimes when the
Speaker 3: opposition gives you an advantage, structure needs to take over.
Speaker 3: So what I mean by that is Jordan Rapen went
Speaker 3: off with a broken nose, means that Weeks went to the
Speaker 3: fullback and they moved a middle forward edge back rather
Speaker 3: to three in defensive on the red in Simmessani right,
Speaker 3: So you've got to get one on one space for
Speaker 3: Tedesco to do his thing. So move to the right
Speaker 3: side of the field, create a normal play where Tedesco
Speaker 3: can be the threat, and then when Whitehead goes off
Speaker 3: for twenty minutes, you've got an opportunity that a middle
Speaker 3: forward is going to be standing next to a middle forward,
Speaker 3: and that is the opportunity to go. Okay, the whole
Speaker 3: eyes up approach. It's great, it's cool when it works.
Speaker 3: But you know what, let's move two plays to the
Speaker 3: right hand post and let's get speed and indecision around
Speaker 3: these two guys. So I thought they were frantic to
Speaker 3: start with and never really reset that approach to Okay,
Speaker 3: oppositions given us something here. We need to go away
Speaker 3: from this frantic free play and go you know what,
Speaker 3: We're going to be a little bit structured here for
Speaker 3: the next ten minutes because the team and the oppositions
Speaker 3: given us an advantage.
Speaker 2: It's funny, Coops, Yeah, that makes perfect sense. Forget about
Speaker 2: all this other stuff. That's our target. That's where we
Speaker 2: go set up player there. It's funny with the roosters
Speaker 2: their natural game seems to be the sideways game, and
Speaker 2: it takes them a lot of discipline to sort of
Speaker 2: get back and start to drill the middle.
Speaker 1: Can I make a suggestion that what I do, what I.
Speaker 4: Will to do, you will? But what would you do? Maddie?
Speaker 1: Thank you? And I'm waiting for you to push back
Speaker 1: on this, which I know you will.
Speaker 2: What's this going to be if you've got a situation
Speaker 2: here where look, you're losing Brandon for parts through the middle,
Speaker 2: You've got Sammy Walker who it was he was taking
Speaker 2: over the team, so you need to play a little
Speaker 2: bit different. I think if they try to play too
Speaker 2: structured and a little bit too sideways, nothing's going to happen.
Speaker 2: I would actually I'd put Joey Marno at six. I'd
Speaker 2: put Kiriy at seven. I'd either put sand in Smith
Speaker 2: or doctor clay in at nine. I would keep kind
Speaker 2: of Watson at fourteen and bring him onto the field.
Speaker 2: I think the best avenue for them to beat the
Speaker 2: top teams is Manu and Tedesco just one two punch
Speaker 2: through the middle.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Look, I'm not sure what they'll do, but from my position,
Speaker 3: I think Luke Keery's got it. Luke Keirry has got that.
Speaker 3: We've spoken about. You know, some of the great halfbacks
Speaker 3: have spirit, They've got presents.
Speaker 1: Yep.
Speaker 4: Luke Keary's got that at the Roosters.
Speaker 3: So give him the responsibility of running the side and
Speaker 3: letting the other guys fall into place as opposed to
Speaker 3: trying to be a bit at ying and yang and
Speaker 3: work through it. At the end of the day, you're
Speaker 3: missing some top line players. Get talent in the team
Speaker 3: and work out everything else around it. But the key
Speaker 3: players to the Roosters will always still be the same.
Speaker 3: It's the leadership of Tedesco, Kiri har Graves when he
Speaker 3: comes back. But they can't sidestep any challenges ahead. They've
Speaker 3: already got a poor record against Melbourne and Penrith. What
Speaker 3: was probably going to be at home final against maybe
Speaker 3: Penrith is now potentially going to be an away final
Speaker 3: against Bennerth. So going to stare it in the face
Speaker 3: and take it on right.
Speaker 2: What we're going to do in the week's lead up
Speaker 2: to the Grand Final, We're going to pull the sheets
Speaker 2: back on some keys.
Speaker 1: My podcast. We're doing it.
Speaker 3: I know what you do when you pull the sheets back,
Speaker 3: you listen, listen.
Speaker 1: So we're going to talk about the dogs.
Speaker 2: We're going to talk about where they are, but what
Speaker 2: they have done to get them in this position. You
Speaker 2: know why they've improved out of right now the lost
Speaker 2: versus manly. Top teams suffer surprise losses going in the final.
Speaker 1: It's not a big one.
Speaker 2: I mean a couple of weeks ago, the dragon's knocked
Speaker 2: over the storm.
Speaker 1: It just happens.
Speaker 2: But the style of football coops, tell me, what do
Speaker 2: you think? What what has got them? What has been
Speaker 2: responsible this dramatic improvement?
Speaker 3: Real number one defensive way have gone from being the
Speaker 3: worst to the best. That is a huge jump in
Speaker 3: points allowed to the opposition, which gives you an opportunity
Speaker 3: to win every football game you're in. In terms of
Speaker 3: their attack, I like the fact that they've not got
Speaker 3: how can I say this skill or high end talent
Speaker 3: into trying to fix it. They've just gone with character
Speaker 3: and reliable players. They've got footwork, they've got smaller bodies,
Speaker 3: but then they go to the fringes and their fringes
Speaker 3: are probably bigger bodies. You mean, they've got Crichton and
Speaker 3: Jerry got kick out there as well. So what they
Speaker 3: do is got a lot of footwork, dynamic through the middle,
Speaker 3: and then they've got the big bodies as a threat
Speaker 3: on the outside and they've put a good balance together.
Speaker 3: They're not straight up and down the middle third of
Speaker 3: the field with smaller bodies. They move the ball sideways
Speaker 3: a little bit. They do the old you know, we
Speaker 3: talk about gaining momentum before we shift. They probably do
Speaker 3: a little bit of shift to gain momentum if that
Speaker 3: makes it well.
Speaker 2: It's funny that I said last week side that they
Speaker 2: remind me most about and a little bit so the
Speaker 2: way that chain passed through the middle and high IQ
Speaker 2: middleman is the Tigers in two thousand and five, just that,
Speaker 2: you know, just just a little bit of a different
Speaker 2: way of playing for the forwards. And you know there
Speaker 2: was little things. You know, they were very good young
Speaker 2: blace that were scanned do a little bit of short ballplaying.
Speaker 2: Of course Toddy Payton was a main state. But you know,
Speaker 2: you think about the Tigers and you always think about
Speaker 2: how they played sidelines to sideline, but it was very
Speaker 2: much this that high IQ short passing chain passing that
Speaker 2: brought him a lot of results and.
Speaker 3: What they did with their middle forwards, not the biggest
Speaker 3: middle forwards a.
Speaker 4: Bit like the Dogs. So they're not going to ram
Speaker 4: down the front door.
Speaker 3: But what they did their big bodies got into contact,
Speaker 3: got down, play the ball quick. Any ballplayer can play
Speaker 3: for quick play the ball. That is gold standard, and
Speaker 3: I think the Dogs have been doing that.
Speaker 2: So you see they're like, I'll tell you what, Jiz,
Speaker 2: he's going to be a lot. He's a lost k Kurkman,
Speaker 2: a real loss. Kurt was at Newcastle. He was always
Speaker 2: betwixt and between what he wanted to do. He sort
Speaker 2: of had scattered folks.
Speaker 3: We were talking about footy IQ that play the Kurtman
Speaker 3: knows his target defender and he got there perfect the
Speaker 3: same as then using kickout up as the threat condense
Speaker 3: defenders and the space out of the back. Think that
Speaker 3: was Sam and the ball played then. So their ballplayers
Speaker 3: are pretty switched on in terms of which defenders they
Speaker 3: need to get to. A big body, straight through, hard
Speaker 3: to handle on the fringes coops.
Speaker 2: Right up, he just said something there, Right, Let's talk
Speaker 2: about their defense for one second, and you're right. You know,
Speaker 2: going forward in the game, the middle of the field
Speaker 2: is so fast now and it's so hard for a
Speaker 2: defensive side once the role starts to get any ascendency.
Speaker 2: If you've got really big forwards in the middle of
Speaker 2: the field, or one too many big forwards, oftentimes they're
Speaker 2: the third man that's got to get back.
Speaker 3: Ye.
Speaker 1: I mean that takes a big toll.
Speaker 2: I was told at Souse when Wayne coached Souse and
Speaker 2: they had the real big body, Tom Burgess in the pack.
Speaker 2: Whenever Tom was involved in a three man tackle, regardless
Speaker 2: of where he was, they said, don't send Tom back.
Speaker 3: Because his athleticism doesn't get him back to the line
Speaker 3: to fill the line, make it thicker.
Speaker 4: And you can't get up. Whereas the dogs complete opposite.
Speaker 1: Right, yep, get backwards and forwards really quick.
Speaker 3: You got morn Reid, Kurtman, Samonger's names off the top
Speaker 3: of my head that have the ability and athleticism to
Speaker 3: get back to that third line come up and feel
Speaker 3: so no one's ever not in the line one of
Speaker 3: the things. And I really love what the dogs have
Speaker 3: done their desperation defensively, statistics show up, but the alarming
Speaker 3: thing for me is they missed the most amount of
Speaker 3: tackles in the comp right. What most mistackles lead to
Speaker 3: is quick play the balls. What most mistackles lead to
Speaker 3: is line breaks. And there was a couple of tries
Speaker 3: on the weekend, Turbo's first try where a lot of
Speaker 3: mistackles led to quick ruck which meant to fatigue and
Speaker 3: retreating defense, which made a good team capitalize.
Speaker 4: On the mistackle.
Speaker 2: And you're right, Coop, so what it was, even though
Speaker 2: they've missed a lot of tackles through the season, they're
Speaker 2: not and I think we spoke about this.
Speaker 1: They're not bad, Missus.
Speaker 2: They're they're there, but still miss get up. Whereas on
Speaker 2: the weekend sometimes I caught on their heels and they're
Speaker 2: driving through. Like, I'm not alarmed by what happened the
Speaker 2: other night, because you know, there's strength of weaknesses in
Speaker 2: both sides, and all sides have got strength of weaknesses.
Speaker 2: And what we saw the other night is the big
Speaker 2: pack versus the smaller pack. And probably what happened was
Speaker 2: the Dogs did not dictate the terms of the fight
Speaker 2: and make it their style. Now you know, they got
Speaker 2: beat up, the big pack beat the smaller guys. But
Speaker 2: if they went out and played tomorrow, you don't know,
Speaker 2: the Dogs might play a style of football that brings
Speaker 2: them into the fight and they might knock them over,
Speaker 2: so the loss doesn't really worry.
Speaker 3: I'm with you on that one. I'm not saying that
Speaker 3: they're zero chance now. Off the back of that, I
Speaker 3: still believe that they've got the game style to win
Speaker 3: Week one of the finals potentially do some damage. Off
Speaker 3: the back of that one thing, I was sort of
Speaker 3: disappointed in a little bit of the Bulldogs and it's
Speaker 3: one of the things that I'll have to handle on
Speaker 3: a Week one of the finals is big, home, crowded,
Speaker 3: a core. There was a lot of reasons to play well.
Speaker 3: They'd been up for a long period of time playing
Speaker 3: against Manly.
Speaker 4: A lot of talk.
Speaker 3: We've spoken about this before, the experience of big games
Speaker 3: in their team. If you just dial it back a
Speaker 3: little bit or redline too much, you're probably going to
Speaker 3: miss your sweet spot. So that might be a lesson
Speaker 3: for Cameron Sireldo to talk about.
Speaker 2: Let's have listened to a couple of things now, myself
Speaker 2: and Cooper John's interviewed Cameron.
Speaker 4: Coober Yeah for second favorite son.
Speaker 2: We interviewed Cameron Serrauld at the start of last week,
Speaker 2: and the question I asked him is the style of
Speaker 2: football you're playing? Did you have are you playing that
Speaker 2: style of football because of the guys you found you recruited,
Speaker 2: or did you have in mind how you wanted to
Speaker 2: play and then got those guys just listen to what
Speaker 2: he had to say.
Speaker 5: I think we truly found our style until probably six
Speaker 5: weeks ago. I think there was a lot of try
Speaker 5: and trial and error for the first probably nineteen rounds.
Speaker 1: Some things worked, some didn't.
Speaker 5: Then we were able to have the last buy sort
Speaker 5: of sit down and have a look at what was
Speaker 5: working and what wasn't. And but we still feel like
Speaker 5: there's another couple of levels in us that we'd like
Speaker 5: to find over the next few weeks. But obviously with
Speaker 5: the way we wanted to place, especially around defense, we
Speaker 5: need a guys who are fitting mobile, and our recruitment
Speaker 5: strategy was more around character than anything. It was all
Speaker 5: about getting good people who want to work hard, but
Speaker 5: are also good connectors of people.
Speaker 2: Right up right up now. The other night, let's show
Speaker 2: one more clipman seat. The other night, the big loss.
Speaker 2: Let's not forget the fact that they didn't have Kurt Man,
Speaker 2: that he won't return, so he's gone. But Stephen Crichton,
Speaker 2: who is so important to decide what a loss that is, because,
Speaker 2: as we know, when you're sitting in the dressing room
Speaker 2: and you look over and you've got Stephen Crichton, we're
Speaker 2: a player like him pulling these boots on, you go okay,
Speaker 2: We're going to be okay. Particularly the importance that he
Speaker 2: is to that team.
Speaker 3: Don't care how old Stephen Kricht is. This is a
Speaker 3: guy that's one three in a row. And if I'm
Speaker 3: an inexperienced dogs player, I'm looking at him saying, okay,
Speaker 3: how do I deal with this next period of time?
Speaker 3: That's a bit, That's right, That's exactly what I'd be
Speaker 3: asking him.
Speaker 4: So his present.
Speaker 3: And it didn't deflate the balloon, but it definitely came
Speaker 3: back a little bit and everyone got a little bit
Speaker 3: I don't know, anxious or whatever.
Speaker 2: Well slightly yeah, Well, let's have a listening to Cameron
Speaker 2: s Frald. I had to say about Stephen Crichton.
Speaker 5: The moment he walked in the doors of Belmore, there
Speaker 5: was a different Stephen Crichton, the one I'd left at Penrith.
Speaker 5: His first week, Stephen was into an army camp and
Speaker 5: the way he walked into that army camp and just
Speaker 5: took hold of the team. We're all sitting there going, hold,
Speaker 5: oly shit, this is incredible. But then for the six
Speaker 5: weeks after that back of training, he just led. People
Speaker 5: followed him so and the guys around that, like Reading
Speaker 5: Bird especially, have been so supportive of him. He's just
Speaker 5: a winner, like he understands what winning looks like. He
Speaker 5: turns up wanting to win every day and his preparation
Speaker 5: feeds into that. And the scary thing he's only twenty
Speaker 5: three and he's never going to stop having that hunger
Speaker 5: to win.
Speaker 1: Now, Coops, let's.
Speaker 2: Go from a well a leader who's really at the
Speaker 2: start of his career, only twenty three years of age too.
Speaker 2: Blake who had the fairy tale finished, not the Grand
Speaker 2: Final fairy tale finished, but he last possession in rugby
Speaker 2: league double cut out pass for the try Seawan. I
Speaker 2: never had the opportunity to play against Sean. What was
Speaker 2: he like to play against? Was he a big chirper
Speaker 2: on the field? No, very quiet.
Speaker 3: Didn't really notice him on the field until he did something,
Speaker 3: and sometimes that was a lot of the time that
Speaker 3: he played. I really love Sean came in as a
Speaker 3: genuine touch footy player. His ability to bounce left right,
Speaker 3: evade defenders, skip and jump and avoid contact with ball
Speaker 3: was better than most at his age. But then remember
Speaker 3: what he did last year. He became this game managing leader,
Speaker 3: sort of spiritual director of the game plan really.
Speaker 4: Which he hadn't done for years before.
Speaker 3: So I like that he evolved, and it's very poetic
Speaker 3: that in his last game his first try assist was
Speaker 3: one oh one Sean Johnson where he goes to the
Speaker 3: target defender on a short side four and four, skips,
Speaker 3: jumps of ages, throws the dummy, goes straight through and
Speaker 3: sets up and then his very last touch is all
Speaker 3: on him. He knows exactly what he wants to and
Speaker 3: he gets his look and he just throws his double
Speaker 3: cut out pass that ends up winning the game.
Speaker 2: For honestly, yeah, a tear like a tear, they've really lost.
Speaker 2: It was evidence the other night was Luke Metcalf was
Speaker 2: a huge loss to that team right through the middle
Speaker 2: of the season because he balanced the football team. He
Speaker 2: balanced the creative players, you know, where as he had
Speaker 2: Wade Egan last year and started this year and Sean
Speaker 2: sort of pushing the team around the park and everything.
Speaker 1: Metcalf was just a pure runner.
Speaker 2: He wasn't going to push the ball sideways, he wasn't
Speaker 2: going to step on their toes. And the loss, the
Speaker 2: loss of Metcalf brought brought to Samari Martin under the top.
Speaker 2: He was fantastic, but the combination just didn't work.
Speaker 3: And we spoke about they actually changed their system to
Speaker 3: accommodate Tomatow. Martins then seven, and Sean came back one
Speaker 3: week and played five eight and like it was well done.
Speaker 3: The sh on like tip my cap to him in
Speaker 3: that way that he finished. But if I'm a Warriors fan,
Speaker 3: I'm sitting there going, yeah, where's that being? Where's that
Speaker 3: play being? Because off the back of up the wires
Speaker 3: and everything, they had a lot of reasons to be
Speaker 3: in the top four, and to be honest, probably should
Speaker 3: be playing finals in a couple of weeks time.
Speaker 1: I totally agree with that.
Speaker 2: Right, Sewan Johnson, give us your top five entertainers entertainers of.
Speaker 4: The NRAL era, NRL era.
Speaker 3: Well, I'm going to go I'm going to throw it
Speaker 3: Alf because he's just the greatest of all time in
Speaker 3: terms of entertainment.
Speaker 4: But he came in a little bit after that.
Speaker 3: Before that, Thurston, the guy that played a lot of
Speaker 3: footy with Slater, was obviously one of the greats. But
Speaker 3: I will tell you this one out of the bag.
Speaker 3: Chris Sandow right as a halfback. Chris Sandow was pure entertainment.
Speaker 3: He could win or lose you the game with one play,
Speaker 3: like the times you try to go after the biggest
Speaker 3: guy on the field and shoulder charge, get bumped off
Speaker 3: and lose, but then you chip and chase from forty
Speaker 3: meters out of his own line, regather kick the ball
Speaker 3: down the other end of the field. So entertainment plus
Speaker 3: for him.
Speaker 1: I've gone g I you played a lot of food.
Speaker 3: The only player that I've ever thrown the ball to,
Speaker 3: and just started moving down the middle of the field
Speaker 3: because I knew eventually he beat three players.
Speaker 4: Fen went off, jump over the other one and get.
Speaker 2: Down some of that stuff he did, like he won
Speaker 2: a Clive Churchill Medal at five eight alongside you. But
Speaker 2: they went to South South played center early on the mayment.
Speaker 2: He went back to fallback was house. Everything changed, credible player.
Speaker 2: I've gone Matt Bowen, Maddie Bowen, like was when the
Speaker 2: Cowboys first come into the comp Kube in a few weeks.
Speaker 2: They like they were a struggling team, you know, they're
Speaker 2: always probably in the bottom few, and all of a sudden,
Speaker 2: Maddie Bowen arrives right and you would oftentimes tho were
Speaker 2: the late game on a Saturday night, and you'd sit
Speaker 2: up and watch this game purely for Maddi Bowen.
Speaker 4: He had.
Speaker 3: If there was any young kid looking at how to
Speaker 3: throw a done me and break the line, it's watch
Speaker 3: Matt Bown highlights. He throws a dummy. And most players
Speaker 3: will slow down when they throw that dummy. He actually
Speaker 3: doesn't change place. He throws it elaborately and still accelerates
Speaker 3: through the whole.
Speaker 4: That's why you're so dynamic.
Speaker 2: What a great shame he wasn't in that side that
Speaker 2: won the Grand Final and we were the Cowboys, absolutely
Speaker 2: deserved to be. Benji Marshall, of course, Benji Marshall one
Speaker 2: of the great entertainers. You're let's have with this some
Speaker 2: of this stuff with Benji. I mean that you know
Speaker 2: that paramount of that night's just on the loop, pass
Speaker 2: around the back. It was just the thing that sort
Speaker 2: of reminded me that this is just ridiculous.
Speaker 1: Bush Gar.
Speaker 4: You couldn't do that.
Speaker 3: If you try that one hundred times, you'd probably get
Speaker 3: that ride once.
Speaker 4: And in a big that.
Speaker 3: Was a finals match, wasn't it was? That was a
Speaker 3: huge game. I just remember it being a big game
Speaker 3: and he did not hesitate. And the one thing that
Speaker 3: you've got to give a rap to Benji Marshall and
Speaker 3: particularly Sean Johnson, but Benji Marshall started. I imagine Sewan
Speaker 3: idolized Benji and there is thousands of kids in Australia
Speaker 3: and New Zealand that are playing rugby league because of
Speaker 3: Benji Marshall and Shawn Johnson.
Speaker 2: We won't show the vision of Billy because we've seen
Speaker 2: so much of Billy over the years. He's number two
Speaker 2: and Shawn Johnson and I love the try he's called.
Speaker 2: At Wembley in the World Cup semi England lot they've
Speaker 2: got this game.
Speaker 1: This is on the buzzer foot bang.
Speaker 3: So we're in the this is semi final twenty thirteen
Speaker 3: at Wembley. We're playing Fiji in the next semifinal after it.
Speaker 3: That was sold out Wembley, sixty thousand people there. England
Speaker 3: lost off the back of Sean Johnson doing that on
Speaker 3: the stroke of the full time siren.
Speaker 4: Everyone left.
Speaker 3: We played Fiji in front of like fifteen thousand people.
Speaker 3: That is a moment of international rugby league.
Speaker 2: There just when you I read a book about Wembley
Speaker 2: Stadium once about the greatest mans at Wembley Stadium. Really amazing,
Speaker 2: like the sixty said well sixty six well Cup final
Speaker 2: Jeff hurstco was the goal England win the World Cup,
Speaker 2: the pinnacle. But there's there's so many great rugby league
Speaker 2: moments that happened to the year at Wembley and the
Speaker 2: great Champion Challenge Cup finals.
Speaker 1: There's a vision. I'm going to urge people to dig
Speaker 1: this up.
Speaker 2: Get on YouTube, have a thing, type in Don Fox,
Speaker 2: Don Fox, and I just reminded there when you saw
Speaker 2: sure One have to hit that kick to win the game,
Speaker 2: Don Fox, I think it might have been Featherston versus Leeds.
Speaker 2: I'm getting this completely wrong. Well anyway, what happened was
Speaker 2: they're down by four points, right and they do a
Speaker 2: short kickoff in the rain, Sure kickoff pulls are that
Speaker 2: kick kick kick again and score under the posts. So
Speaker 2: those days three point try. So they're down by one point,
Speaker 2: but it's right in front wet weather day, puddles everywhere,
Speaker 2: leather ball, Don Fox puts the ball down. As he
Speaker 2: puts the ball down, they announce over the loud speaker
Speaker 2: that the Lance Todd Trophy winners Man of the Match
Speaker 2: is Don Fox. And he moves in and misses in front.
Speaker 1: Lee Leeds versus Wakefield. They could be living ten.
Speaker 2: I defined Don Fox's life after it, he throws himself
Speaker 2: on the ground and the great airy wearing goes, Oh
Speaker 2: the poor lad, the poor And it's one of the
Speaker 2: most awful moments to watch in sports history.
Speaker 3: And I think about Sean Johnson just thinking about that,
Speaker 3: Like you said, some clutch moments on top of that,
Speaker 3: like you've done it for the Warriors, He's done it
Speaker 3: for He's now at different stages. When a golden boot, yeah,
Speaker 3: hell of a player, Hell of a player.
Speaker 4: Dolphins, Uh did you see that coming? Did not?
Speaker 1: Not not to that level.
Speaker 2: We're going to show to Sean Thursday night and tip
Speaker 2: the Dolphins and they got tipped.
Speaker 1: It was it was it was Wayne. It was Wayne.
Speaker 2: That's where when when Wayne absolutely has to win a game,
Speaker 2: he generally wins it. Hopefully it doesn't happen this week.
Speaker 3: The one thing I love about the Dolphins and Wayne
Speaker 3: and the win on the weekend is that we interviewed
Speaker 3: the Dolphins players after the game and he made those changes.
Speaker 3: He moved cart out of half, moving to the bench,
Speaker 3: and moved a few other players around the field, and
Speaker 3: he trained in Brisbane the whole week without that system.
Speaker 4: He knew the media we're looking.
Speaker 3: He knew that, Okay, we're just going to play this,
Speaker 3: play here, play that there, but really on game day
Speaker 3: you'll be playing here, You'll be playing here, and this
Speaker 3: is how we're going to do it. And he gets
Speaker 3: there on the game and that is hard to do
Speaker 3: moving x's and o's around that much. But take Jake
Speaker 3: Avarulo from the centers to five eight and don't train
Speaker 3: there that way. But this is how we're going to
Speaker 3: play because the cameras are watching. And to go out
Speaker 3: and execute that way like that is Wayne Bennett master class.
Speaker 2: And the second we're going to show a try that
Speaker 2: hammer sets up for Avrilla. But on Avarrilla, I reckon
Speaker 2: there's a reasons he didn't make a public or announce
Speaker 2: it to the team. He did wanted to leak out,
Speaker 2: of course, and all that sort of stuff. But I
Speaker 2: think for Jake Averillo. I think it was basically because
Speaker 2: if he had to tell him on the Tuesday to
Speaker 2: be playing a sixth, can you imagine the.
Speaker 1: Head noise of Avarillo leading in the game.
Speaker 2: He'd end up burning that much gas thinking make okay,
Speaker 2: I've got to play like a five eight. I do
Speaker 2: this when you spring it on him for the last second,
Speaker 2: I just get out there and play.
Speaker 4: He made a couple of changes, right.
Speaker 3: He pulled Trey Fuller into fullback, moved Avarilla around, and
Speaker 3: moves Hammer from fullback to center. Who are the three
Speaker 3: best players on the field.
Speaker 1: Incredible? Yeah, incredible, honestly Yeah.
Speaker 3: In a battle of Brisbane to keep your season alive,
Speaker 3: Layne Bennett made a change because they knew knew he
Speaker 3: had to. And you've got the response out of three
Speaker 3: players because if they don't do that, we're talking the
Speaker 3: other way around.
Speaker 1: Coops, you know.
Speaker 2: And the great thing about the Hammer the other night
Speaker 2: was his ability to roam. He plays center, but he
Speaker 2: played like a times a second fullback.
Speaker 1: You have a look where he comes from. Here there's
Speaker 1: he and Fullard together.
Speaker 2: Set move Yep, he makes the run.
Speaker 1: Bak just appears blind pass.
Speaker 2: Beautiful blind pass from O'Sullivan, Avarillo goes in.
Speaker 3: Normally, when they bring this play from the other side
Speaker 3: of the field, it's called like a sort of a
Speaker 3: jockey or a hang type play. They're trying to get
Speaker 3: a defender to rush out on top and then get
Speaker 3: him through that gap that the rushing defender would come from.
Speaker 3: This time, Rogers from the Brisbane Broncos doesn't rush out.
Speaker 3: So what happens because he's passive, Hamma just hits the accelerator,
Speaker 3: gets a one on one and off floats to have realized.
Speaker 3: So the play didn't actually unfold the way they thought
Speaker 3: it would, but eventually got the result.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's interesting. We have one more look at it
Speaker 2: here right from where he comes from. You I reckon,
Speaker 2: Coops the first couple of steps.
Speaker 1: I reckon.
Speaker 2: They thought that Hammil was going to almost come on
Speaker 2: on the inside a little bit, almost like a like
Speaker 2: an inside block.
Speaker 3: Should I sALS doing a good job here.
Speaker 2: It's not until the lasts, really the last second, that
Speaker 2: he appears he's going to be on the outside. For
Speaker 2: all intents and purposes, he could be like a little
Speaker 2: inside balls.
Speaker 3: So the ballplan here at Sullivan gets Peter coup of
Speaker 3: the Broncos edge to lean in slightly and that creates
Speaker 3: a space there for having to do his thing. So yeah,
Speaker 3: good play the play.
Speaker 2: Where the Dolphins right our second year. I know at
Speaker 2: the moment your public going, oh, can they get there
Speaker 2: or not? Regardless, it's been an incredible start to their career.
Speaker 2: To be one way, one win away from the finals
Speaker 2: and only your second year, when you're recruiting in age
Speaker 2: where there's the talent is thin, he's done a remarkable
Speaker 2: Let's have a second years of expansion. Sides an NRL
Speaker 2: era Cowboys second year seventeenth, Warriors second year eleventh, the
Speaker 2: Crushes rest in peace like last, the Perth Reds sixteenth
Speaker 2: and Storm.
Speaker 1: This is amazing.
Speaker 2: They win the comp, but to be on the cusper
Speaker 2: make the finals, that's that's a mighty effort.
Speaker 3: And another sort of reason why I think Wayne Bennett
Speaker 3: made the calls he did is this season, basically in
Speaker 3: the two years in the comp, has reflected one another
Speaker 3: great start the year entrenched in the top eight, off
Speaker 3: the back of origin lose more than win, and he
Speaker 3: just didn't want to do it again. So he said,
Speaker 3: all right, we're going to move these jigsaw pieces around
Speaker 3: and the other thing it does doesn't only put these
Speaker 3: three players in different positions. It gives all the other
Speaker 3: players and the team going, you know what, actually we
Speaker 3: need to change here.
Speaker 4: E gives me.
Speaker 3: If I'm player of fifteen on the bench, I'm going, oh,
Speaker 3: I need to pick my act up here and do
Speaker 3: my bit.
Speaker 2: It was almost like he looked at the side and went,
Speaker 2: I've got to mix the salar up here.
Speaker 1: Everyone's just sort of too comfortable.
Speaker 3: And then what do you think about this week? It's
Speaker 3: funny how it works out right. So the last game
Speaker 3: of the last regular season on Sunday afternoon finishes for
Speaker 3: eight spot win. It takes it all Dolphins versus the Knights,
Speaker 3: with the Dolphins being the Broncos and the Dragons falling
Speaker 3: over like they have like that's that's that's a poor
Speaker 3: lost there for the Dragons.
Speaker 4: But the Dolphins got.
Speaker 2: All his cues form forming already up at Newcastle. Get
Speaker 2: into the ground. O great, what your heart's going to say,
Speaker 2: but give me your head. Wayne concerns me. I've watched
Speaker 2: the Dolphins in the last month or so. They haven't
Speaker 2: looked up and I'm looking at Wayne, I'm thinking myself.
Speaker 2: This old bastard is he is he just holding on
Speaker 2: holding and he's elevating them late, you know for that final,
Speaker 2: you know, elevate pitch. A couple of wins get in
Speaker 2: there and and I'll keep them up because if he
Speaker 2: had them up about a month ago, then there's a
Speaker 2: fair chance that they go into the finals and they're
Speaker 2: not going to make an impact. It's almost like he's
Speaker 2: only whip pulled the whip out last week and really
Speaker 2: elevated them and along the way knock out the Broncos
Speaker 2: and then two of his old clubs who didn't finish
Speaker 2: on great.
Speaker 4: He's got the Knights too, Dragons. I think I think
Speaker 4: Wayne is the key for the Dolphins.
Speaker 3: And like I hate saying this because we say it
Speaker 3: every time they the Knights, but Kaylas true. If Kaylen
Speaker 3: is on and is like ready to say Newcastle on
Speaker 3: his back, then I think the Knights can get it done.
Speaker 2: But let's finish with the Panthers just quickly. And look,
Speaker 2: last week we spoke about them how they've started. They
Speaker 2: started slow, and they've just been the ground. They started
Speaker 2: much faster, There's no doubt about it. Yo and Leui
Speaker 2: really got them going just thinking before. Just watch one
Speaker 2: of the tries they scored here, and you know the
Speaker 2: inside balls, inside balls. But there's a thing called the
Speaker 2: play for the play that we're always taught by old
Speaker 2: A b.
Speaker 1: Allen Bell. And what it is.
Speaker 2: If you if you want to do a play for
Speaker 2: the play, if you want to play to the keep going,
Speaker 2: you hit short because the pulls are defender from the outside.
Speaker 2: If you if you want to play back across the grain,
Speaker 2: then if you drop an inside ball, it will pinch
Speaker 2: a defender or two from the other side of the ruck.
Speaker 1: And you see that and all of.
Speaker 2: A sudden, what happens is into the tackle there it
Speaker 2: does and they're just a little bit short, and what happens.
Speaker 1: What happens is they.
Speaker 2: Sort of slide a little bit just to protect the
Speaker 2: three on two on the outside.
Speaker 1: Is that's an example of a nice little play for
Speaker 1: the play.
Speaker 3: The smarts of Isaiah coming to play here, because the
Speaker 3: first two defenders off.
Speaker 4: The ruck aren't line speed.
Speaker 3: They're going sideways on Isaiah and the outside defense actually
Speaker 3: can press outside in. So what it does is because
Speaker 3: he knows he's a passer and the defense does they're
Speaker 3: trying to pressure Luai out the back. So what he
Speaker 3: does is he takes the advantage, throws the dummy, and
Speaker 3: watch the eyes of the South City defenders here completely gone.
Speaker 4: Yeah it's a bit like what Tyren Wishart did the
Speaker 4: other week.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 3: So when you're throwing a dummy, use the outside guys
Speaker 3: as your decoys. Debate, and when you feel like there's
Speaker 3: a bit of space in between you and that defender,
Speaker 3: that's normally because their eyes are looking somewhere else.
Speaker 2: That's clever from Isaiah because when you watch him there,
Speaker 2: he he's looked up like a really good really good
Speaker 2: ballplayers can look at the structure of attends look at
Speaker 2: it there and go okay, I know what they're going
Speaker 2: to do here, because you see him go up and
Speaker 2: it's he looks out the back for Jerim and then
Speaker 2: throws a dummy. I think he knew exactly what he
Speaker 2: was going to do before the ball hit his hands, because.
Speaker 3: If he was passing out the back, I'm pretty sure
Speaker 3: his eyes are engaging on the tonguey more trying to
Speaker 3: get his eye contact, but his eyes go out pretty
Speaker 3: quickly to lure.
Speaker 2: It's going to be an amazing final round the season
Speaker 2: as it's been, it's been a fence. It's been as
Speaker 2: good a season as I've ever seen in the game,
Speaker 2: and it's going to be a great finish.
Speaker 4: You've been great too.
Speaker 1: You don't need to say that.
Speaker 2: I know