Brian Carney: Good week for Toronto, bad week for Saints and the NRL
Tuesday 9 May 2017 08:45, UK
Brian Carney talks about the first home game for Toronto, and the drug allegations currently surrounding the NRL...
Good week for Castleford
Going into the game against Huddersfield, Castleford were missing Luke Gale, Mike McMeeken, and Zak Hardaker on international duty, and Ben Roberts due to injury.
The international trio have been brilliant, but Roberts has been their best player over the last few weeks for sure. So they were short of four real stars, and four that some would say are the heartbeat of the team - but I'm not convinced that's the case.
The Tigers had used only 20 players going into the last round, which is a phenomenally low amount after 12 matches. So to be tested as they were without those star players, and to come through with a victory by the skin of their teeth, was a great indicator of the attitude of the club.
There was a moment of madness from Danny Brough which didn't help the Giants' cause, but nonetheless, Castleford proved that not only do they have a team to win the competition, they have a squad to win the competition.
Good weeks for Salford and Wakefield
After 23 rounds in 2016, these teams had won 10 games each. After 13 rounds in 2017, Salford have nine wins and Wakefield have seven.
There was not a lot of love in betting markets for these two teams pre-season to finish in the top eight, so to be so close to what you'd imagine would be securing Super League status at the first possible opportunity is remarkable. Salford are maybe a win or two away from doing that, and Wakefield are maybe three or four away from ticking the first box of the season.
Salford were in the Million Pound Game last year and a drop goal away from possibly losing their Super League status. Without making major changes to their squad, they've managed to put together a way of playing that's attractive, and a team that sees them in third spot. It's a brilliant turnaround.
Wakefield isn't so much a turnaround, but it's a side with not a lot of 'star players' which appears to be well coached, harmonious in their squad, and as far as salary cap spend is concerned, radically overachieving.
Trinity are sending the message that it's not the money you spend but it's how wisely you spend the money that's important.
If you do have loads of money to throw about you do get the better players, but Wakefield seem to get the players that others don't value as much, so they get them for a song, and get the very best out of them.
These teams are two of the positive stories coming out of Super League this year.
Good week for Toronto
A positive story from outside Super League is Toronto. It wasn't a sell-out despite what we had been told, however, it was a fantastic crowd for their first ever home game. Unsurprisingly they got a win, so as far as first steps go for a home game, it couldn't have gone much better for the Wolfpack.
Now they're a club that have huge pressure on them because they're going to have to keep those crowds improving as they no-doubt win this division and get promoted into the second tier.
To see 6,000 people go watch a club game of rugby league in Toronto is a magnificent day for the game. You've got to let that sentence sink in: 6,000 people went to watch a club rugby league match in Toronto.
Well done to all involved.
Bad week for Widnes
Widnes have got a few players leaving the club. Corey Thompson is one of them, and there is speculation of the Chapelhow brothers and Alex Gerrard joining him.
It's in stark contrast to this time last year when Widnes, after winning six of the opening seven games, announced a range of contract extensions.
The Vikings could have done with a win on Sunday. They had Hull over a barrel; with a minute to go before half-time they had Hull scoreless and had racked up 22 points.
Live Super League Magic Weekend
Then Hull scored in the final play of the first half, Widnes were up 22-4 at half time, and in the second half Hull outscored their opponents 29 points to nil. To see that kind of capitulation must have been heart-breaking for Vikings fans and Denis Betts.
It is demoralising to be so far in front and not be able to close out the game - or another way to look at it, to be so far ahead and still lose by as much as 11 points.
You'd just hope that this won't set them back too much, but it looks like that now will put a cap on it - if it wasn't already confirmed you'd now say it will be bottom four for Widnes after 23 rounds.
We have heard that they have money up their sleeves to spend on players, so it will be interesting to see if they bring anybody in for the Qualifiers, and if so who.
Bad week for St Helens
Firstly I cannot believe that Mark Percival and Alex Walmsley weren't selected for England. I know you can't select everybody, but I have yet to see the reasoning behind picking Hardaker in the centres ahead of Percival.
Stefan Ratchford, who ended up playing full-back, was only brought into the squad as cover for Gareth Widdop in the first place.
Live Super League Magic Weekend
What that means for Percival's position in the team I'm not sure, but he should have played, and so should Walmsley. You know what Tom Burgess is going to do - you've seen it on the international stage. If you're going to bring Walmsley over to Australia then you should test him out.
I would have been disappointing for Saints fans to lose those two just so they could sit on the sidelines, but after going 14-0 up after 25 minutes and looking good, they would have been less concerned
A lad called Josh Morris came out of Alder Hey Children's Hospital that evening for the game. He's a massive Warrington fan and when he popped over to the Sky trucks to say hello, he predicted a 21-20 victory to Warrington.
Well let me tell you, after just over 20 minutes gone and Saints 14-nil up, I felt for young Josh who was down below our television gantry. But then came the fightback.
If Widnes' capitulation was heart-wrenching for their supporters, Saints' capitulation must have been downright staggering.
It was head-scratching, and it leaves Saints with some real issues ahead of the arrival of their new coach. He's going to have a confidence rebuilding and team rebuilding exercise to do when he lands at St Helens.
What's equally puzzling is the Warrington performance. Importantly for the Wolves, they have to know where that performance came from - if they don't then it will be impossible to replicate it. Harvey Livett was at the heart of it, an important performance while some of the older heads were away, and it was his try that gave the Wolves the lead for the first time.
Bad week for the NRL
On what should have been a celebration of international Test rugby you've got headlines involving players and administrator of the game, and illicit substances.
In the space of a weekend, Cronulla Sharks Chairman Damian Keogh, Kevin Proctor, Jesse Bromwich, and Shaun Kenny-Dowall have been involved in drug-related incidents which are currently under investigation.
Rugby league may have the Premier League status in Australia, but with incidents like this, and with so many of them around, you'd be asking plenty of questions.
Questions such as 'When are we no longer big enough to ride out these scandals? When will people start saying they don't want their kids to be involved? Or sponsors no longer want to be associated with it?'
They need to be careful because all this does is it lowers the value of the brand. Rugby league needs a healthy NRL, and Super League needs a healthy NRL. The off-the-field incidents over the last weekend are incredibly damaging, and that needs to be made quite clear to all involved.
Cronulla has done so much right since Lyall Gorman has come in and revamped the Sharks, which culminated in them winning the Premiership. He will have something to say about this.
But this is not just damaging to the Sharks or the Roosters, it damages the brand of rugby league. I await the NRL's actions on this.
