Hagan’s Round 1 Talking Points: Concussion checks, Dolphins dazzling, Ponga at pivot, Penrith’s GF hangover

The NRL should not go back to giving the clubs sole responsibility for concussions but there needs to be clear indicators for a player to be dragged off the field by the independent doctor for a 15-minute check.

Everyone is looking for an advantage so it’s not a surprise to see Wayne Bennett and now Ricky Stuart trying to apply pressure to the NRL to be more lenient with the independent doctor intervention. 

The NRL are going to err on the side of caution around potential head injuries but I would hate to think that in an Origin game of a grand final that we’d have a situation like Kalyn Ponga on Friday night where a player was taken off with the game in the balance for what turns out to be a minor knock.

It’s a bit like the referees will put the whistle in the pocket in the last 5 to 10 minutes when the game is close. 

We need to be a little more measured as a game because Newcastle were unfairly disadvantaged with Ponga going off when they were behind by two points towards the end of the game and that’s not to take anything away from the Warriors’ defence because they were fantastic.

The indicators were crystal clear when Tyson Frizell and Junior Tatola were given Category 1 HIA’s on the weekend and they were correctly ruled out for the game. 

With Adam O’Brien on the Ponga situation and Stuart on Seb Kris at the Raiders, I agree with their complaints around those examples. They both lost their games in very tight circumstances so I’ve got empathy for that but the previous system didn’t work where clubs were the sole judges of whether a player stayed on the field.

Cowboys coach Todd Payten made a very good point after the win over Canberra that part of this crackdown on concussions was around players staying down to get a penalty. 

It’s a tough, physical sport and you’ve got to understand the players accept the risk. And occasionally, you’re gonna get some accidental contact, whatever it is, but you’ve just got to get up and play the ball. 

Like every rule within the NRL around the bunker, the match review process, you’ve got to give the players and coaches in the first few rounds some leniency to get used to whatever new interpretations that have been brought in like both feet behind the referee, 10 metres from the scrum.

The game has to be patient with how they’re introduced.

Dolphins dazzle on debut

Wayne Bennett, his players and the fans take a bow for creating one of the greatest upsets in rugby league history.

The master coach has assembled a “motley crew” of Dolphins who surprised every expert in the game with a wholehearted, team effort of the highest order to beat the Roosters.

Bennett has demonstrated over his lengthy career that he knows how to build a team (on and off the field) and he knows the secret ingredients to winning football games.

He has instilled a great sense of belief much earlier than expected and they have ambushed one of the premiership favourites with hard-hitting defence and a disciplined approach with the football.

Jeremy Marshall-King controlled their ruck attack and defence superbly and he was well supported by Sean O’Sullivan with his kicking game and help in executing their game plan.

Led by Origin forwards Felise Kaufusi and Tommy Gilbert – they provided some moments of inspiration and    Isaiya Katoa, Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow and Brenko Lee provided some flashes of brilliance to keep the scoreboard ticking over.

The Roosters made every “cardinal sin” in the play book and underestimated their opposition big time.

Speed of the game fantastic

I thought the speed and the intent of the games in Round 1 was of a high standard even though most teams were a bit scrappy at stages. 

The goal-line defence was superb from a lot of teams – it’s become a real badge of honour to make it as difficult as possible for the opposition to score in your 20-metre zone. 

We see the fullback playing up in the line and the game evolves with stuff like the little kicks on early plays. There were a couple by the Cowboys with short kicks from Reece Robson and Chad Townsend – they were brilliant. They saw the fullback was in the line so they took the odds to it and the execution of that skill and the anticipation of the player running onto it need to be first class. 

Injuries

Unfortunately we saw a couple of guys go down with injuries even before Round 1 kicked off with Gold Coast’s Beau Fermor tearing his ACL and Bulldogs forward Luke Thompson also looking like he might miss the season after suffering a serious ankle problem. 

As coaches, you’ve got to deal with a whole range of scenarios and that’s one of the most stressful parts of it – you can’t predict or plan for you it, especially those ones at training. 

You sort of feel a bit nauseous for them when they do those major ones. 

Tommy Turbo’s are great example. Manly didn’t look like they were going to win a game in the closing couple of months of last season but if they’d have had him on deck, they might not have fallen off so dramatically. 

Cameron Munster was very courageous with his compound fracture on his finger the other night against Parramatta but those star players are almost impossible to replace and the Storm have already got Ryan Papenhuyzen out. So Craig Bellamy’s got some decisions to make there about whether he switches Nick Meaney to five-eighth but then he’s got to find another fullback.

Ponga at pivot

I thought he handled it pretty well for most of the game. He had two nice nice touches for two try assists, his contact in defence was consistently pretty good.

But he didn’t probably didn’t run the ball enough. So that’s the balances – you can’t just be a pair of hands and a ball-player as a six. You’ve got to be running the football. 

So they’re all things that he has to add into his game as he goes on. His kicking game was OK but there were a couple of times where he wasn’t connected on the edge in defence which will take time to understand and develop.

And that’s for the Knights as a group given they’ve got some new guys in key positions like Ponga and Jackson Hastings. 

I thought Lachlan Miller was pretty good with what he did at the back but I thought I thought it was a positive start for Ponga at five-eighth. 

Broncos booming 

I saw the Broncos live in their pre-season trial against the Cowboys and they looked like a fast athletic group and that was without Adam Reynolds that night.

They do look like they’ve got some real threats with their leg speed and their power. That was on show again against Penrith and they also then had the polish of Reynolds’ kicking game. 

So they’ve got a lot of things going in their favour in terms of back five being as strong as anyone when they get Reece Walsh back. 

I think their halves are going to develop nicely with Ezra Mam learning from Reynolds and they got some real power and mobility up front with Payne Haas, Patrick Carrigan and Kurt Capewell.

Penrith’s GF hangover

I think they are suffering from slight hangover from the grand final, the World Cup and the World Club Challenge and the salary cap pressure is starting to bite.

Because the world had so many involved in the World Cup across so many teams, I think their preparation in terms of pre-season has been impacted. They had to get everyone prepared earlier for the World Club Challenge and that effects your normal approach to Round 1. 

And they’re a bit lighter on in terms of their depth because of the cap – that’s not to say that they still can’t be a genuine contender but they’re going to have to take that on board and manage it carefully. 

They’re also going to have to deal with the fact, like last season, that when you’re the premiers everyone’s looking to knock you off.

Brisbane, given how they finished last year, will be motivated more than pretty much every other team. Them and Manly with the way they fell out of the finals picture. I think they are both going to resurface this year.

Ilias in red-hot form 

Lachlan Ilias played the best game of his career in South Sydney’s win over Cronulla and I think you can see that with a season under his belt playing with that spine, he’s got a great connection with guys like Cody Walker, Latrell Mitchell, Damien Cook and Cam Murray. 

I think he’s got a better skill set than we all realise around some of his touches and his timing of passes. Rather than just being someone that’s going to do a job I think he can actually add a bit to them as far as his kicking and passing game, which will make them a much better footy team. 

Second year in you can already see he brought a bit more physicality, looked happy to run the football a bit more. And that’s the confidence from being a second-year player now. 

Souths must have seen that as he went through their system in the junior reps and now we’re starting to see that evolve at NRL level.

Without overstating it, they’ve got the right ingredients as far as the spine, back five and a pretty athletic forward pack. They’re going to be hard to beat.

The Sharks without Nicho Hynes put up a pretty good fight, to be honest, but when you don’t have a marquee player, it makes a huge difference. 

Titans terrific in toppling Tigers

The new look Titans’ spine were impressive in their first hit-out together.

Sam Verills and Keiran Foran were key off-season signings and combined well with Tanah Boyd and AJ Brimson.

They played behind a dominant forward pack with David Fifita and Tino Fa’asuamaleaui putting the home side on the back foot. The Tigers got off to a terrible start and never recovered.