Speaker 1: Righto, Coops. Premiership season done and dusted. We've moved to
Speaker 1: the finals.
Speaker 2: Well done, mate.
Speaker 3: We made it.
Speaker 2: You just got there. I did. How are you feeling today?
Speaker 1: I had a Saturday night.
Speaker 2: You good?
Speaker 1: Went to the Happy Mondays. It was awesome.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: It wasn't that popular when I got home. The sun
Speaker 1: was just rising.
Speaker 2: Got home on Father's Day.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I just said, mate, the Uber driver got lost. Mate,
Speaker 1: it's interesting because we acknowledge the Roosters with the injury
Speaker 1: and they've lost a few in a row, but It's
Speaker 1: a really tricky sort of end of the season. You've
Speaker 1: got the Waz, the Panthers and the Dolphins. Which one
Speaker 1: do you think enters the final in the best form?
Speaker 3: I think over the last, call it six weeks, I
Speaker 3: think they've all sort of faced each other.
Speaker 2: They've all won. They've all had little wins.
Speaker 3: Yeah. I like the Waz with the momentum, but they
Speaker 3: haven't played their best football. I think Penrith dropped a
Speaker 3: couple of games, call it a month ago, but their
Speaker 3: game is in very good shape.
Speaker 1: You can see it tightening.
Speaker 2: Yeah, the way they went.
Speaker 3: After the Tigers yesterday, like it was, the Tigers could
Speaker 3: have been anyone and they were just priming themselves for September.
Speaker 2: The way they played, they were just a jersey.
Speaker 1: Precision, right? Just the skill level right across the field.
Speaker 1: I mean, the ball goes to Milky Jenkins, who checks, goes,
Speaker 1: there's nothing on terms around, throws a 30-minute pass back
Speaker 1: into the middle.
Speaker 3: But every set after points, power, power, kick. Nathan was
Speaker 3: torturing with the torpedo. So they're in good nick. So
Speaker 3: if you ask me the question, I think Penrith are
Speaker 3: in the best form.
Speaker 1: But you're right. The reason it's tricky, Coop, is because,
Speaker 1: I mean, if you look at the Warriors as an example,
Speaker 1: you know this a lot more than I do and
Speaker 1: people out there, and the fact that with the Melbourne storm,
Speaker 1: you guys would so often, most years, have the minor
Speaker 1: premiership wrapped up about six weeks out. And so that
Speaker 1: last six weeks, you're almost treading water. And I thought
Speaker 1: the same with the Warriors last week. I actually thought
Speaker 1: the Warriors' win over Manly was an outstanding win when
Speaker 1: you look at the circumstances. They're locked into a top-two spot.
Speaker 1: They go into the game. They've rested probably close to
Speaker 1: their most crucial player, Wade Egan. They're playing against a
Speaker 1: side that suddenly found a fair bit of form in Manly.
Speaker 1: And the primary focus is don't get injured, don't get suspended.
Speaker 2: You do have one eye on next week and all
Speaker 2: those things.
Speaker 3: But I like what Webster said after the game. Someone
Speaker 3: asked him about that, about the lacking of full intensity
Speaker 3: and commitment to the game.
Speaker 2: He goes, I'm not worried about that. These boys will
Speaker 2: get it next week.
Speaker 3: There's going to be a momentum and a buzz around
Speaker 3: New Zealand. And all those sort of half efforts or
Speaker 3: sort of, you know, backed off a little bit, that's
Speaker 3: not going to be there. This is a team that
Speaker 3: care for each other. They have a good game that
Speaker 3: holds up under pressure. And I think they will hit
Speaker 3: the accelerator.
Speaker 1: Mate, we kick off the finals with the Bunnies and
Speaker 1: the Knights. This will be a terrific game of football
Speaker 1: at Allianz, which I love. Yep. Isn't it funny, Coop?
Speaker 1: I said it on the show last night, the old
Speaker 1: bloke Wayne Bennett. One thing I really admire about him
Speaker 1: is while most coaches, you know, they've got their focus
Speaker 1: just on finals football. I've got to play finals, you know.
Speaker 1: And so what they do is they get their sides
Speaker 1: jumped into the blocks quick, accumulate points, stockpile points. And
Speaker 1: a lot of those teams, you see them start to
Speaker 1: play their best football in June or in July. Wayne
Speaker 1: is happy to risk not making finals to get the
Speaker 1: timing to win the whole thing. And bugger me, in
Speaker 1: the last two years, this club has been just decimated
Speaker 1: by injuries. Suddenly they hit the finals. Yeah. almost injury-free.
Speaker 3: Yeah, they're the team that probably scares anyone in the
Speaker 3: top four about what they could do.
Speaker 2: The Roosters rested on the weekend. Wayne Bennett didn't.
Speaker 3: They've had the Jai Arrow celebration the last couple of weeks.
Speaker 3: There is momentum. They're good players, feel like They're playing
Speaker 3: with authority.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 3: You know, Brandon Smith's starting to do things. The key
Speaker 3: for South Sydney is their best players need to play well.
Speaker 3: That's as simple as it is for South Sydney. They
Speaker 3: have been primed, you know... Latrell's had 10 weeks off.
Speaker 3: He's been tippy-toed back in. Now he's ready to go.
Speaker 3: Cam Murray's fit. Cody Walker's played with confidence.
Speaker 1: Fafita's found his place.
Speaker 3: Yeah, he's damaging on the right end. So their best
Speaker 3: players need to play well. I think that's the key
Speaker 3: for South Sydney. Cody Walker, Cam Murray, Latrell Mitchell, David
Speaker 3: Fita on the right edge, they all need to have
Speaker 3: like nine out of ten games.
Speaker 2: For South Sydney to win.
Speaker 3: On the other side, for your old mob, the Knights,
Speaker 3: There's a couple of things I think they need to
Speaker 3: get right. Their game style is they need to keep
Speaker 3: the ball in play for long periods of time. South
Speaker 3: Sydney are a stop-start team. Cody Walker loves to kick
Speaker 3: it out, loves to go, all right, we're going to
Speaker 3: go two plays to the right-hand post and we're getting
Speaker 3: the ball to Latrell. Now, if they get that style
Speaker 3: in the first 20 minutes, I think Newcastle are under pressure.
Speaker 3: But if the ball is in play for long periods,
Speaker 3: South Sydney don't have a great yardage kicking game. Sullivan, Walker, Smith.
Speaker 3: So I think Newcastle can win that there. But the
Speaker 3: one thing they must do, Newcastle, is they need to
Speaker 3: stop the left edge of South Sydney. The key part
Speaker 3: to that is if Cody Walker, Latrell Mitchell, Alex Johnson
Speaker 3: score tries, I think what they need to do is
Speaker 3: double team the left edge. So here Piram, it's for
Speaker 3: the Broncos, sits on the short side. He needs to
Speaker 3: be on the other side. So a fullback on the
Speaker 3: try line needs to be defending in the line on
Speaker 3: the left-hand side and stack up and make it thick
Speaker 3: on that left edge attack for the South Sydney. And
Speaker 3: force Sullivan, Fafida, Whiten to score one-on-one. Like, back your
Speaker 3: short side defence. Here, Caelan Ponga gets this one wrong.
Speaker 3: And on Friday night, he can't. From this position, he
Speaker 3: needs to be a couple of metres to his right-hand side,
Speaker 3: making an extra defender, thicken up that line and force
Speaker 3: that short side to come up with a play. Just
Speaker 3: force those Sullivan and Fafida to do something because that...
Speaker 3: is a space that Alex Johnston, Latrell Mitchell and Cody
Speaker 3: Walker use.
Speaker 1: Gotcha, gotcha.
Speaker 3: So the fullback needs to defend on the right-hand side
Speaker 3: and thicken up that defensive side to stop the left.
Speaker 1: That's interesting, Coops. And you look at, I'll just talk
Speaker 1: about something that sides used to do in the past
Speaker 1: against really great ballplayers like Cody Walker is. But it's
Speaker 1: interesting about that left-side attack. They do it so well, obviously,
Speaker 1: because of the very fact that everyone knows they're coming back.
Speaker 1: Everyone knows they like to get in the left. And
Speaker 1: just about everyone knows and recognises the shapes they're coming with,
Speaker 1: but they still can't stop it. It's amazing. Okay, I
Speaker 1: want to talk about something there. So, you know, and
Speaker 1: you want to get numbers to the threat. You want
Speaker 1: to get numbers in and around Cody. It's interesting you
Speaker 1: see Caelan there. So, you know, like even if Caelan
Speaker 1: pushed into that type, the first defender there and went
Speaker 1: a little bit wider, pushed him because he's got mobility,
Speaker 1: pushed him a little bit wider and sort of just
Speaker 1: offered a little bit more space. you know, through the middle,
Speaker 1: giving them to know where the threat is. Like he pushed,
Speaker 1: like he pushes those tight guys, goes the other way
Speaker 1: and pushes them to the threat. And the other one, Coop,
Speaker 1: was the cliff lines rule. Now, Tim Sheens used to
Speaker 1: do this with Ricky Stewart. What he would do, Ricky,
Speaker 1: Ricky would basically, what Ricky would do when you played
Speaker 1: was pain in the ass because he'd just be chirping
Speaker 1: from there. He'd sit in what we call a safety position.
Speaker 1: So there's the two, there's the two markers. He'd sit
Speaker 1: behind there and he just, you know, like, He'd be
Speaker 1: pushing players. You go to the left, you go to
Speaker 1: the right. But what he would do, Coop, the crucial
Speaker 1: ball player, is that when they would set up manly,
Speaker 1: he would wander over straight opposite cliff lines and just
Speaker 1: come out of the line a million miles an hour
Speaker 1: just to make him play early.
Speaker 3: Yeah, see, I think Cody Walker's got that ability to
Speaker 3: drift on the outside and attack at a passive line,
Speaker 3: but he's also got that catch pass if you come
Speaker 3: outside in. So what I'm saying is, If South Sydney's
Speaker 3: greatest strength is their left edge, Kalen Ponga, stack up
Speaker 3: your right edge and force Sullivan, force Fafita, force Whiten
Speaker 3: to come up with a play. Defend that man-on-man, but
Speaker 3: stack the other one where it's double-team. And if Sullivan
Speaker 3: can come up with plays, good on you. I would
Speaker 3: be taking Cody Walker and Latrella out of this game
Speaker 3: as much as I could.
Speaker 1: On the night side of things, as far as their attack,
Speaker 1: I'd like to see them go back to what they
Speaker 1: were doing at the start of the year, which was,
Speaker 1: I mean, at the start of the year they had
Speaker 1: this system built around Dylan Brown, Fletcher Sharp and Kalen.
Speaker 1: And it was like very much what I really liked
Speaker 1: about it was you saw that Kalen would just, rather
Speaker 1: than go searching for the ball, then all of a
Speaker 1: sudden come back to his sweet spot. He would just
Speaker 1: position himself sometimes at the sweet spot and get them
Speaker 1: to move away and just bring it back to him.
Speaker 3: I think shift the ball, ball in play for long times,
Speaker 3: get fatigue into Latrell Mitchell, Cody Walker, Brandon Smith, and
Speaker 3: then start attacking them late in the halves. I think
Speaker 3: that sharp Ponga combination where they go long passes, I
Speaker 3: think Ponga attacks the centre better than anyone else. I
Speaker 3: think he can get to Latrell Mitchell if he's fatigued.
Speaker 3: If Ponga attacks Latrell fresh, I think he's going to
Speaker 3: smash him. But if he gets him fatigued at the
Speaker 3: back end of sets with long minutes of ball in play,
Speaker 3: I think he might be able to skip to the outside.
Speaker 1: One thing about the Knights that gives the Knights a
Speaker 1: chance is Souths let their opposition play football. I think
Speaker 1: Souths are a really dangerous side. My knock on Souths
Speaker 1: is they've got to tighten their defence.
Speaker 3: Yeah, they're not an elite defensive team. So that's why
Speaker 3: I mean fatigue. Get fatigue into them, they'll make mistakes defensively.
Speaker 1: Tell you what, I bet you it was a nervous
Speaker 1: wait for Wayne when they were waiting to watch the
Speaker 1: Latrell replay.
Speaker 2: Oh, the Rodwell smash?
Speaker 1: When he hit Rodwell outside in. I thought he just clicked.
Speaker 2: So did I.
Speaker 1: At first, first glance. Yep. Man, who wins, Coop? What
Speaker 1: do you think?
Speaker 3: Um.
Speaker 2: I think Souths do.
Speaker 3: I think Souths will fire. I think Wayne's just been
Speaker 3: stroking the ego of the South City players and they'll
Speaker 3: come out bouncing. If the Knights can get that style
Speaker 3: of play that I say, keep the ball in play
Speaker 3: and stop their left, I give them absolutely a chance.
Speaker 3: But I think on face value, I think South Sydney's
Speaker 3: best players will get the job done. You?
Speaker 1: Yeah, I look at the Knights and they've been smashed
Speaker 1: by injuries to key men. The Saifidi suspension is tough
Speaker 1: because they're short on middles. I think injuries have just
Speaker 1: been a bridge too far for them. But they've had
Speaker 1: the week off and they're fresh. As I said before,
Speaker 1: if there's a team that might be tailor-made for them,
Speaker 1: it could be South because, as I said, South will
Speaker 1: let them play football. Mate, won't Auckland be rocking this weekend?
Speaker 3: It'll be the best nightclub in Auckland, seriously. It'll be
Speaker 3: the best nightclub in Auckland. Best ticket in town.
Speaker 1: Incredible. And what a game too. Waz and Dolphins. Yeah,
Speaker 1: real contrasting styles. The dolphin's about speed and ball movement
Speaker 1: and they're speed out wide, you know, The WAS just
Speaker 1: power and directness.
Speaker 3: Well, I think this, you know, you don't win the
Speaker 3: game in the first 20 minutes, but you definitely set
Speaker 3: it up. And I think the first 20 minutes is
Speaker 3: going to determine who wins this game. The reason why
Speaker 3: I say that, if the WAS get off to a
Speaker 3: good start, that crowd support, the emotion, like, yes, they've
Speaker 3: got firepower, the Dolphins, but I just don't see the
Speaker 3: Dolphins beating the WAS if they get up and about.
Speaker 3: What I mean by that is, I don't think try
Speaker 3: scoring is the main thing for the Wilds, but if
Speaker 3: Fisher Harris and Aaron Clark, like they're– call them their
Speaker 3: spiritual alpha males. Like if those two start well and
Speaker 3: just put the Dolphins on the back foot with every carry,
Speaker 3: every tackle, I think it's just going to get the
Speaker 3: stadium up and about. And the system from the Warriors
Speaker 3: will get confidence from it.
Speaker 1: Yeah. The other thing about Dolphins, Coop, is that there's individuals–
Speaker 1: that have played, you know, the younger players have had
Speaker 1: a taste of big game football, Max Plath in particular,
Speaker 1: but there's not a lot of finals experience.
Speaker 3: Well, Fisher Harris will be captain of the year and
Speaker 3: Aaron Clark will be lock of the year. I just
Speaker 3: feel these guys, there's a lot more other guys that
Speaker 3: do a lot more highlight things, but I feel the
Speaker 3: key to this game.
Speaker 2: Is the Warriors.
Speaker 3: It's their start and it comes down to their spiritual leaders.
Speaker 3: Whereas on the other side for the Dolphins, I just
Speaker 3: think they get confidence from their attack, right? So I
Speaker 3: think Katoa, Farnworth... Cobbo, the hammer. They can't let 20
Speaker 3: minutes go without having a run or done something.
Speaker 1: It's interesting.
Speaker 3: They need to break a tackle, get a line break,
Speaker 3: start getting their feel into this game. What do you
Speaker 3: reckon about the Wiles and the Dolphins? Do you think
Speaker 3: the key is that start? But the firepower from the Dolphins,
Speaker 3: they can score points quickly.
Speaker 1: I think what you'll see from Christian Wolfe, I think
Speaker 1: you'll start to see. I reckon the outside backs will
Speaker 1: do a hell of a lot of work through the
Speaker 1: middle of the field to try to get Fish and
Speaker 1: those blokes to miss, just try to burn them out.
Speaker 1: Because as we know, Coop, it's a very simple thing,
Speaker 1: but fast blokes and little blokes making big blokes miss,
Speaker 1: that tires them out.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so what you're saying is the backs will do
Speaker 3: all the heavy lifting and score the points.
Speaker 2: The mids, the forwards, just defend.
Speaker 1: Just defend.
Speaker 2: Line speed, defend.
Speaker 3: Stop Fish Harris, stop Aaron Clark, and just defend.
Speaker 1: And I think... I mean, it goes without saying. You
Speaker 1: can't give Tamari Martin and Chanel time. When Wade Egan
Speaker 1: goes to the line and takes that ball to the line,
Speaker 1: he's looking short and he throws one of those no-lookers. Mate,
Speaker 1: those outside men, I'd give them the instructions to defend
Speaker 1: outside in. I think better to show a little bit
Speaker 1: of space over the top than a space through the middle.
Speaker 3: First time the Dolphins have ever played finals, so there's
Speaker 3: a lack of experience there. their first finals game is
Speaker 3: going to be flying over to New Zealand to play
Speaker 3: in front of that crowd. Do you think that plays
Speaker 3: a part in the Dolphins not delivering or potentially delivering?
Speaker 1: I just think if I was the Dolphins, Christian Wolfe,
Speaker 1: I just think this is a massive opportunity. If you
Speaker 1: go over there, I mean, if you're going to win
Speaker 1: the competition, you've got to beat the best anyway. There's
Speaker 1: an opportunity. Jump on the plane. Get over there. Beat
Speaker 1: them in New Zealand. Make a huge statement.
Speaker 3: And Christian Wolfe has said that. He said that when
Speaker 3: the Dolphins play the Roosters. And they blew them away
Speaker 3: early on.
Speaker 1: The other one, Coop, right? Let's look at State of
Speaker 1: Origin 3 in terms of this game. So for all
Speaker 1: intents and purposes, like New South Wales were on a
Speaker 1: mission no one gave them a chance to do. But
Speaker 1: as the week went on and everyone was sort of
Speaker 1: writing New South Wales off and, mate, this is the
Speaker 1: toughest road trip, suddenly the pressure started on Queensland. And,
Speaker 1: you know, the Warriors have been– one thing about the
Speaker 1: Warriors I really admire is the fact that The ability
Speaker 1: to not worry about pressure, not worry about everything that's
Speaker 1: going on around and just remain single-focused. But there's a
Speaker 1: lot of expectation in Auckland. There's a real feeling and
Speaker 1: there's a sense of destiny around this side. It's going
Speaker 1: to be a full house, fair bit of pressure on
Speaker 1: the Dolphins.
Speaker 2: And a bit like the New South Wales.
Speaker 1: Sorry, the WAs.
Speaker 2: A bit like the New South Wales team.
Speaker 3: When that starts happening, and I heard Laurie Daly talk
Speaker 3: about this, heard some players talk about it, there's only
Speaker 3: 30-odd people that can do anything.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 3: You know what I mean? So the Dolphins will go
Speaker 3: over there. them versus New Zealand. I mean, the whole country.
Speaker 3: There's only 30 of us that can actually have a
Speaker 3: say in what's going to happen.
Speaker 2: They can't. We can't. So you do.
Speaker 3: You sharpen up and you become more sort of intricate.
Speaker 1: Interesting. We're talking about Wade Egan now, crucially. What an
Speaker 1: opportunity this finals presents for Izzy Katoa. It was already
Speaker 1: just so highly thought of, but I mean, he has
Speaker 1: a big September. He gets elevated even more. Who wins Coop?
Speaker 2: I think the Warriors.
Speaker 3: I just feel Fish Harris is the guy. I feel
Speaker 3: like he's the only one that's truly done multiple comms,
Speaker 3: experienced what this is all about, and they will be going, Fish,
Speaker 3: what do we do? And he'll be going, this is
Speaker 3: what we do, follow me. I feel like he is
Speaker 3: the key to it all.
Speaker 1: Both times they played this year, it went down to
Speaker 1: the wire, I think it was a two point split.
Speaker 1: Both times. Good games. It's gonna be, it's gonna be,
Speaker 1: it's gonna be tight. Look, I'll lean to the Warriors,
Speaker 1: but I, mate, jeez, I reckon the Dolphins are gonna
Speaker 1: push them a long way.
Speaker 2: Yep, I give them a big shout, big time.
Speaker 1: Now, Sharks, Cowboys, funny this one, both teams enter the
Speaker 1: finals looking really vulnerable. But the good news is they
Speaker 1: play each other. Each other, yeah, yeah, yeah. You know
Speaker 1: what I mean?
Speaker 2: If they were playing any other team, you'd choose any
Speaker 2: other team.
Speaker 1: Yes. So this, and as you know, Coop, when you
Speaker 1: win finals football, regardless of what's happened beforehand, round one
Speaker 1: to 27. If you hit the finals right there, you
Speaker 1: get a new lease of life and you win that
Speaker 1: first finals game, it just gives you a little bit
Speaker 1: of a boost.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and particularly if you end up playing a team
Speaker 3: that lost in the top four that got beaten up,
Speaker 3: suspension or just something, you can have a rails run.
Speaker 3: These two teams, I don't have a lot of confidence
Speaker 3: in either of them. I feel like it comes down
Speaker 3: to match-ups and whoever wins the match-up. Like, you look
Speaker 3: at Tamalolo versus Adam Fanua Blake. Who wins that?
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 3: If Tal Malolo beats up Faneuil Blake, well, I'm starting
Speaker 3: to lean towards the Cowboys could do this. Now, if
Speaker 3: I go to the halves, you've got, you know, drink,
Speaker 3: let's go fullback, drink water versus Kennedy.
Speaker 2: Who do you think would win that? Maybe drink water.
Speaker 3: He's a bit of the gunslinger there. Then you've got,
Speaker 3: you know, Dearden versus Hines. Who do you think in there?
Speaker 3: Trindle comes back. Does he beat Clifford?
Speaker 1: He's not a big one.
Speaker 2: Right?
Speaker 3: So I think it's not necessarily trying to find, you know,
Speaker 3: the form guide to work out. I think it's individuals.
Speaker 1: Yes.
Speaker 2: Even Todd Payton versus Fitz.
Speaker 3: These guys are trying to manage both their teams to
Speaker 3: get the best performance from a low base.
Speaker 2: This is a flip of a coin for me.
Speaker 1: If there's no Trindle, I'm really curious to how Fitzy
Speaker 1: goes about this. I think if there's no Trindle, I
Speaker 1: think take a bit of a leaf out of the
Speaker 1: Warriors book and you build the attack around Blake Braley.
Speaker 1: a lot around here it would allow it allows nico
Speaker 1: to fall more into his more natural role of watch
Speaker 1: and react and the other thing about it too by
Speaker 1: doing that coops if there's one thing about cronulla sometimes
Speaker 1: they just fall into this um formulated football and it's
Speaker 1: you know it gets lateral it's lateral and sideways where
Speaker 1: if you adjust it you make it you know 90
Speaker 1: of the place is coming off brailey and you know
Speaker 1: you're saying to blake anytime there's someone laying the deck
Speaker 1: don't think about just scoop and go.
Speaker 2: Whether Trindle plays or not, I think that's what they
Speaker 2: need to do.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: In their poor form recently, they.
Speaker 3: Generate a quick play of the ball and, you know,
Speaker 3: Braley will throw a pass to Hines.
Speaker 2: He starts drifting sideways again.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: No.
Speaker 3: Faneuil Blake through the middle, Nicker through the middle, Hazleton
Speaker 3: through the middle. Yeah. And Braley becomes their most important play.
Speaker 3: Like he, he needs to run first and a short pass,
Speaker 3: not a long pass. The long pass will be option four.
Speaker 3: And it absolutely shows up that you should do that. But,
Speaker 3: The Cowboys, they could win by 20 or 30 and.
Speaker 2: They could lose the same thing.
Speaker 1: They're a dangerous team because you've just got no idea
Speaker 1: what they're going to serve up. Interesting, this one, not
Speaker 1: at Shark Park. They've moved that away. I can understand why,
Speaker 1: but it must have been a tough call because for
Speaker 1: Shark Park, when you watch on TV, even though there
Speaker 1: might be 14,000 people there, you can see there's a
Speaker 1: bit of atmosphere there. I don't know, an Allianz Stadium...
Speaker 1: you know, it might be, I dare say, it's a
Speaker 1: very strong possibility it's just half full.
Speaker 3: Yeah. Well, that 14,000 people are going to drive up
Speaker 3: the road.
Speaker 1: Yeah. So, who wins the game?
Speaker 2: Heads, tails, really? Yeah, it is. It's hard to pick.
Speaker 1: I probably think the Sharks.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Just because you said the Sharks, I'll just say the Cowboys.
Speaker 1: Okay.
Speaker 2: Just to be fun.
Speaker 3: But I think, if I'm truly trying to work out,
Speaker 3: I agree. I think Fitz is going to, like, Get
Speaker 3: something done.
Speaker 2: That's my thing. I think he gets something out of it.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Panthers and Roosters finish off. And, well, as we said
Speaker 1: just before, Panthers, we thought it looked fantastic. Yesterday, Isaiah
Speaker 1: Yeo returned. Jesus. Oh, my goodness. Unbelievable how quick.
Speaker 3: Three weeks from a pec injury, which is a very
Speaker 3: fragile injury, and it didn't look like he missed a beat.
Speaker 3: I was waiting for him to come reeling out of
Speaker 3: a tackle. He even was on longer than I thought
Speaker 3: he would play. He's not the type of guy that
Speaker 3: needs reps. Maybe he needed confidence that he could go
Speaker 3: out and do it.
Speaker 1: When they named him on the extended bench, I thought,
Speaker 1: I don't know why. It just shows you. Ivan either went,
Speaker 1: I've got no problem if he's 100% fit, or I'm
Speaker 1: sick of all the, this could be a distraction. Let's
Speaker 1: find out.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1: Coop, as far as the Roosters are concerned, the one
Speaker 1: we're talking about all the time is no Sam Walker. Yeah.
Speaker 1: The natural, and I mean, Sam has had a breakout
Speaker 1: season through Origin, but the natural, everyone is just assuming
Speaker 1: they're not going to be as good a side. I'm
Speaker 1: not sure about that. I just think they'll just be
Speaker 1: a different side. I've got a gut feel about Savala.
Speaker 1: That bloke has been... He's been moved around here and
Speaker 1: hasn't whinged one bit.
Speaker 2: And hasn't played bad.
Speaker 1: Played terrific. I think he will relish moving into the
Speaker 1: sixth role. And I think.
Speaker 1: I think this is an unbelievable opportunity for DCE. Like yourself, Coop. Now,
Speaker 1: here's an opportunity. You've been in an iconic club and
Speaker 1: you've won a grand final. And Daly, in his first year,
Speaker 1: won a grand final. then to move to another club
Speaker 1: in his final season, maybe pinch one. It's an opportunity
Speaker 1: that I would say it will have him right up
Speaker 1: on his toes.
Speaker 2: I agree about the.
Speaker 3: Sam Walker's strengths is when he gets to the red zone,
Speaker 3: he's the most effective and biggest threat with his options.
Speaker 2: But when you lose a player that calibre.
Speaker 3: You've got to think about the strengths that you gain
Speaker 3: through someone else. Hugo Savala's a bigger body, so he's
Speaker 3: a better defender, and he's got a longer kicking game.
Speaker 3: So he's probably going to add some value to that.
Speaker 3: So their long kicking game improves with Cherry Evans and
Speaker 3: Savala on the side. The other part for me with
Speaker 3: Cherry Evans is he's been doing some really good things
Speaker 3: at being the second fiddle, the leadership guy. but now
Speaker 3: he physically has to deliver something. He has to break
Speaker 3: a line like he did against the Panthers last time.
Speaker 3: Run the football, throw that pass over the top, because
Speaker 3: they're going to need a point of difference when scoring points.
Speaker 3: So I don't think the Roosters are going to score
Speaker 3: lots of points in the red zone. I think they
Speaker 3: need to shift the ball around halfway. Move around the Panthers' defence.
Speaker 3: Tedesco comes into play. But I think scoring points is
Speaker 3: not going to be the thing that both these teams
Speaker 3: need to do.
Speaker 2: I think it's defence.
Speaker 1: Jack Cole. Yep. He's looked good in the six. Cog
Speaker 1: is back next week.
Speaker 2: Yep. So Cole will be there. Yeah.
Speaker 3: And I think for Cole, the biggest chink in the Panthers'
Speaker 3: armour is their left-edge defence.
Speaker 2: The Dogs a couple of weeks ago.
Speaker 3: Yeah, had a crack at Cole, scored a couple of
Speaker 3: tries in and around him. Yeah, the ball playing here
Speaker 3: got him turned in through the ball outside. So throughout
Speaker 3: this whole season, they have changed from Blaze to Lange
Speaker 3: to Cogger to Cole. So there is something there on
Speaker 3: the left edge that I think is vulnerable that the
Speaker 3: Roosters need to attack. And that's coming down to Cherry
Speaker 3: Evans on that right side because Lachlan Galvin threw that
Speaker 3: long pass, and a couple of moments later, he goes
Speaker 3: back and does the double pump here for Preston. So
Speaker 3: I think that's the key for Panthers to win. They
Speaker 3: hold up their left side defence.
Speaker 2: They're a chance. But on the flip side, the Roosters
Speaker 2: need to attack it.
Speaker 1: I'll ask you a question here, Coop, and I was
Speaker 1: lucky enough to be coached by arguably the greatest British
Speaker 1: player of all time, Malcolm Reilly, who was renowned as
Speaker 1: an incredible big-game player, unbelievable competitor. And every time we
Speaker 1: got to this time of the year, I got confidence
Speaker 1: because he'd been there. And his demeanour would change as
Speaker 1: soon as we got to finals. There was just like
Speaker 1: a real sort of narrowing of focus. He went away
Speaker 1: from more coaching X's and O's to being more emotionally coaching.
Speaker 1: What about Trent Robinson? How does he approach these big games?
Speaker 3: I think historically when he's won comps, he's working through
Speaker 3: and building the game over the course of the season.
Speaker 3: And then he gives you the confidence that you can
Speaker 3: just about do anything. So he gets the foundation in place,
Speaker 3: like defence, kicking game, completion rates, whatever. But then he
Speaker 3: backs you in to go to another level. He gives
Speaker 3: you a lot of confidence that you can dominate on
Speaker 3: the big stage. So he'll give that to Cherry Evans.
Speaker 3: And we've spoken about attack. I think for the Roosters,
Speaker 3: the thing that they need to get right or the
Speaker 3: thing that the Panthers need to expose is is Cherry
Speaker 3: Evans defensively on the right side. Yeah. Because against the
Speaker 3: Dolphins a few weeks back, they tore them apart. This
Speaker 3: one here, Fainu, one-on-one with Cherry Evans, gets a pass away.
Speaker 3: So he's going to be isolated with Papa Lee. If
Speaker 3: I was Nathan Cleary, that's what I would be doing.
Speaker 3: And the Dolphins with Isaiah Katoa did it multiple times
Speaker 3: down that side of the field too.
Speaker 1: It's funny with Daly because I've seen him. He's got
Speaker 1: this sort of, defensive performance sitting about once a month
Speaker 1: you know we're like you know like this sort of
Speaker 1: stuff where he gets disconnected from the blokes inside and
Speaker 1: outside him.
Speaker 3: Yeah so one of the things on this highlights is
Speaker 3: that he gets right up really high line like that
Speaker 3: but then drops back and doesn't fill the space quick
Speaker 3: enough there on nikarima so um i think ivan nathan
Speaker 3: they they pick apart the weakness of a team better
Speaker 3: than anyone and i think the Panthers will be shifting
Speaker 3: the ball to the left-hand side, a lot trying to
Speaker 3: attack Cherry Evans.
Speaker 1: We haven't spoken about Tedesco.
Speaker 2: Well, he's going to be there, right?
Speaker 1: He'll be there.
Speaker 3: Edwards, Tedesco, it's literally, they're eight and a half out
Speaker 3: of ten. They cancel each other out. Like, I think, yeah,
Speaker 3: he might need, with no Sam Walker, Tedesco might need.
Speaker 2: To hit the scoreboard a few more times.
Speaker 1: You've got Panthers?
Speaker 2: I've got Panthers, yeah.
Speaker 1: Okay. We're going to talk, we might do this next week,
Speaker 1: we're going to talk about the eliminated sides and how
Speaker 1: we sort of rate their season and look ahead to
Speaker 1: next year, some predictions. But we're running out of time.
Speaker 1: The question I've got for you here, every final series,
Speaker 1: particularly week one, there's an upset. Which one do you
Speaker 1: think is most likely?
Speaker 2: I'll say the Dolphins.
Speaker 1: I think so too.
Speaker 2: I'll say the Dolphins.
Speaker 3: Because they have the ability to go over there and
Speaker 3: just be– cocooned and get it done. Like if they
Speaker 3: get off to a really good start, Farnworth takes off
Speaker 3: beats a couple of tackles, Cartel's wheeling and dealing, Hammer
Speaker 3: is moving with five carries early on. I think they
Speaker 3: do have the ability to cause the upset of round one.
Speaker 1: Look forward to it.
Speaker 2: Going back to you.