Brad Fittler rips NRL 'choke' as Andrew Johns calls for immediate change: Good, bad, ugly of Round 26

😃 The good: Shaun Johnson's magical finish to NRL career

😔 The bad: NRL's untimely crackdown just weeks before finals

😡 The ugly: Shane Flanagan and Dragons in devastating 'choke'

Is Shaun Johnson the greatest Kiwi player in NRL history?

Sir Graham Lowe has seen and/or coached every top New Zealand player of the past 60 years. So, his opinion when it comes to assessing the Kiwis' finest ever carries plenty of weight.

With Shaun Johnson calling it quits after producing one final piece of magic against the Sharks on Saturday night, Lowe was asked where the halfback sat among other great New Zealand No.7s. He replied: "Shaun Johnson one, Stacey Jones two, Gary Freeman three. Stacey Jones won the hearts of people but, in a fully professional rugby league (competition), Shaun Johnson is the best."

Lowe's halfback ratings got me thinking. If Johnson is the best of the 7s, can we go a step further and declare him the greatest Kiwi player of all time?

He's up against a hot field of contenders, headed by the likes of Jones, Benji Marshall, Mark Graham, Stephen Kearney, Ruben Wiki, Matthew Ridge and Kieran Foran. All of them have very decent claims to sit top of the pile.

But if you're judging it solely on match-winning ability combined with panache – while inspiring a generation of kids to emulate your signature moves - it’s a photo finish between SJ and Marshall. Over to you to decide.

Andrew Johns calls for NRL to fix farcical penalty problem

Immortal Andrew Johns spoke for every rugby league fan when he called on the NRL to crack down on the crackdown. Joey, like many of us, is angry and frustrated over the explosion of sin-binnings and penalties for high shots, with many players opting to stay down and milk the situation after barely being struck.

He also feels the whistleblowers are nit-picking at the ruck, leading to constant stoppages and a subsequent lack of flow to games. He believes Cronulla was a major victim of the crackdown after going down to the Warriors by two points on Saturday night.

"I've got to say, the officiating in this game…they're talking about having a summit at the end of the year about how they referee and the bunker – it needs to be done tomorrow before the semi-finals," Johns declared.

"We cannot let the referee impose on the game like (Saturday night). The referee decided who won the game, without a doubt. The game had been being officiated great (for most of the season) but it's felt like the last couple of weeks the referee and the bunker have been imposing so much. Stay out of it. It's really frustrating."

Dragons 'choke' as NRL finals hopes go up in smoke

"I don’t want to be rude but I've had enough." With those 10 words, shattered St George Illawarra coach Shane Flanagan called an abrupt halt to his post-match press conference following his side's dismal 44-40 season-ending loss to the Eels.

The problem for Flanno is his team had also had enough after about three minutes into a game they simply had to nail to stay in contention for the top eight. The Dragons have over-achieved in most people's eyes this season but the coach was having none of it, labelling the performance "disgraceful, terrible and unacceptable" while apologising to fans and sponsors.

The defeat exposed a number of players. Some are simply not up to NRL standard.

"The pressure of the opportunity to play finals (got to them)," former Melbourne star Billy Slater told the Sunday Footy Show. "The ball was in their court, their destiny was in their own hands, and they didn’t handle the pressure right from the start of the game."

Brad Fittler added: "They just choked." The arrival of grand final winner Val Holmes and the hard-nosed Damien Cook cannot come quick enough for the Red V.

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