Cronulla Sharks moment that shows NRL trend has 'gone too far': Good, bad, ugly of finals week one
Sharks players were called out for their reaction to Will Kennedy's error against Melbourne.
😃 The good: Manly handed golden opportunity against Roosters
😔 The bad: Cronulla's embarrassing request for Cowboys game
😡 The ugly: Support for teammates' errors has gone too far
Manly's stunning comeback against Bulldogs
As we've mentioned plenty of times before, a week is a long time in the NRL. Seven days ago, the Sea Eagles were licking their wounds after being flogged in the final round of the regular season.
That cost them home ground advantage to the Dogs in week one of the finals and Canterbury, backed by their huge fan base, fed off that to control the qualifying final for 72 minutes. The Sea Eagles' incredible will to hang in the contest and pull away for a win is rightly being heralded as one of the club's finest finals victories.
From being on the cusp of elimination, suddenly the door is very much open for Manly to at least make it to the second last week of the competition. They next meet an injury-hit Roosters side coming off a heavy loss to Penrith.
The Chooks' biggest problem is filling the huge hole left by Sam Walker's injury. Replacement Sandon Smith was completely owned by Nathan Cleary on Friday night and must somehow put that behind him to face up against the ageless Daly Cherry-Evans.
Playing the best halfback in the game followed by DCE is a hell of a shopping list for a young No.7. Cherry-Evans was in his element as he guided Manly home against the Dogs, stepping up when his team needed him to help ice the game. The Roosters will go out in straight sets unless Smith can aim up and deliver in the biggest match of his career to date.
Sharks' laughable request to move Cowboys semi-final
It would have taken all of five seconds for the NRL to dismiss Cronulla's cheeky request to hold Friday night's elimination semi-final against the Cowboys at PointsBet Stadium instead of Allianz Stadium. Cronulla bosses argued the crowd figure would be around the same at Shark Park as it would at Allianz, so there was no point taking on the Swans-Port Adelaide prelim final in what will be a congested Moore Park area.
It was a cute suggestion but clearly one with an ulterior motive that the NRL saw right through. The Egyptian pyramids were built quicker than the Shark Park redevelopment, resulting in around 5000 fans being locked out of every home game.
It's embarrassing enough holding week one finals matches at PointsBet, let alone a semi-final. "You're capping your audience at Cronulla," Brad Fittler pointed out. "You've got to back yourself. You got to give more than 13,000 Sharks fans the opportunity to go and watch their team playing the semi-final.
"The fans have shown this year and last year that they're going to go and watch the footy. They'll reduce the price of the tickets and you'll get a good crowd."
Freddy has more optimism than this columnist. Cronulla fans are sick of watching their team lose finals games and will need to be crow-barred out of the Shire, while they’ll only be a handful of the Cowboys faithful on hand. That will leave the AFL a clear winner on the night when it comes to the crowd flex.
Should teammates be so forgiving of mistakes?
Home truths. Telling it like it is. Honesty sessions. Use whatever phrase you like, but do we see enough tough love in the NRL when it comes to players being held accountable for their form or on-field mistakes?
We've seen the likes of Tom Trbojevic, Mitchell Moses, Reece Walsh and Clint Gutherson get up teammates for making costly errors. Off field, Dragons coach Shane Flanagan is not afraid to publicly dish out the truth serum to players.
Canberra's Ricky Stuart comes close in that regard, although the Stickman prefers to criticise his team as a collective rather than individuals. But, generally speaking, calling out individual players is a big no-no.
Former NRL hard-man James Graham reckons we've gone too far in getting around players who make a blue, citing the start of the Storm-Sharks qualifying final as a prime example. "Will Kennedy drops the ball from the kick-off and all his teammates are around him, patting him on the back," big 'Jamma' told Triple M.
"(It’s saying) 'it's alright' (followed by) pats on the back. Well, you know what? You didn't have his back because you let them score the next set. Everyone reacts different to that confrontation but maybe that pendulum (of being overly supportive) has gone too far."
Gorden Tallis agreed, adding: "If you're in a restaurant and the waiter drops the plates, do they come out and pat them on the back? No. It's like 'go get the mop and bucket and clean it up'." You don’t get a pat on the back for making a mistake."
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