The NRL‘s new rules around concussion, which involves having an independent doctor in the Bunker, are another step in the right direction for the game.
There was some controversy on the weekend when the Roosters had Billy Smith and Victor Radley ruled out of the game against Newcastle by the doctor in the Bunker, but the whole area of concussion is maybe the trickiest issue in the game.
I’ve always felt there should be an independent doctor to oversee the process, because we’ve complained in years gone by that some clubs are rorting the system to get a free interchange, which Trent Robinson acknowledged on the weekend.
READ MORE: Carey falls just short of maiden Test century
READ MORE: Upset loss raises major headache for Roosters
READ MORE: Tom Brady’s shock retirement backflip
There’s no doubt it’s partly driven by the prospect of litigation in the future, but you absolutely cannot be critical of the NRL for any change that puts player welfare front and centre.
I’d make one big change, and that would be to put the independent doctor on the sideline, instead of in the Bunker.
I realise it would be more costly, but they’d have the best of both worlds. They can get a first-hand idea of the players’ condition, and also use the monitors on the sideline to watch all the action and request replays as they would do from the Bunker.
We’ve seen in other sports where former players are suing the governing bodies, and that’s what the NRL is concerned about, and fair enough too. In this day and age you’ve got to listen to the experts.
Putting all that aside, the Roosters were very disappointing, there were plenty of shocks on the weekend and that was probably one of the biggest. It was a tipping nightmare, but I hope that continues all year. If that’s the way the season plays out it will be fantastic.
Stream the NRL Premiership 2022 live and free on 9Now.
Last year we had five or six teams that were clearly better than everyone else, and that becomes a bit predictable. You knew for much of the year there was only a few teams capable of winning the competition, and that’s the way it panned out.
But a tipping nightmare is a good competition, if I’m honest. It makes every match so important, and we saw that on the weekend.
The expectations were that the Roosters would have beaten the Knights, who I predicted would be down the bottom of the ladder. Credit where it’s due, Newcastle were awesome, and the Roosters were disappointing.
There’s not even one single area I can highlight with the Roosters, it was right across the board.
We saw the first try for Newcastle came through a James Tedesco error, how many times does he make a mistake like that? You won’t see it again this season, that how rare it was.
The Roosters need to improve in all facets of their game, but give Newcastle their dues, they were fantastic.
Hopefully it’s a sign that 2022 will be one of those competitions where we go into every match knowing that either side can win on their day, which we didn’t see in 2021.
Without doubt I had both Manly and the Roosters in my top-four, so it’s interesting that one of those teams will be 0-2 by this time next week, given they play each other in Round Two.
It’s a long season, Manly didn’t win a game in the first four rounds last year, so it’s not panic stations just yet, but you wouldn’t expect either of those teams to be 0-2.
And if you look at Manly, they were probably the most disappointing team of the round. They weren’t in that game at all against Penrith.
On the back of the Panthers’ disappointing trial form, I expected Manly to get the job done. Penrith came out and absolutely destroyed Manly, their line speed and defence was phenomenal. I know it’s so hard to win back-to-back competitions, but if they keep that up they’ll be very hard to beat this year again.
Their energy for 80 minutes was through the roof. And to perform like that without Nathan Cleary is a real bonus, Sean O’Sullivan was outstanding in his place.
What it showed is that trial form means absolutely nothing. It comes down to a mentality of what the game is … it’s a trial. A lot of guys, particularly the experienced players, are probably just there to get through it. Get a run under their belt, get some match fitness, and hopefully come through it unscathed.
Then you see in Round One a massive turnaround for some clubs when it counts. I watched Brian To’o in the trial against Parramatta, and he did nothing at all, no line breaks, no quick play the balls, nothing. Then he comes out against Manly and he was brilliant, so dynamic.
He’s only 23 but that’s experience for you …. they don’t hand out competition points in trial matches, it’s what you do once the competition starts that counts.
But it’s mid-March, not the time to get too caught up in the hype of one good or one bad performance. The clubs and players know not to get caught up in the hype surrounding the first few weeks, whether that be positive or negative.
If you’re 2-0 sometimes your fans are already talking up your chances of winning the competition, or if you’re 0-2 they might be into you.
It’s a long season, it’s a marathon, not a sprint. You see so many teams start well and then fall over, and then you’ve got teams like Manly last year who were 0-4 and finished in the top four.
That’s not to downplay the opening weeks, because two competition points in Round One is worth the same as two points in Round 24. If you have a good start it can help you build a buffer so that if you drop a couple of games during Origin it doesn’t kill your season.
It was so hard to see Melbourne’s Christian Welch suffer an Achilles injury that has pretty much ended his season. Throw in George Jennings doing his knee and Brandon Smith suffering a hand injury, and it was a horrendous start for the Storm.
Welch in particular is a big loss, their captain, an Origin player, their inspiration, he does his job every week and he’s left a gaping hole in that side.
The presence he has on the field and at training is irreplaceable, everyone loves and respects him, although if there’s one club that can overcome something like that it’s Melbourne.
We’ve seen it time and time again when the absolute greats, guys like Cameron Smith and Billy Slater leave the club, they just keep on keeping on.
Melbourne have got Souths and Parramatta in the next two weeks, so how that plays out will be fascinating. If the next two weeks are as good as Round One, we’re in for a ripper season.
For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by clicking here!