Round 1 of the NRL is historically a bit of hit and see, even though two valuable NRL points are on offer.
And sometimes winning or losing these two points can have a disastrous effect on a club’s whole season, i.e. the making the top 8 or dipping out.
At nearly 78 years old and a lifetime in the game I should know better, but you know what, I still believe in magic and was expecting to see some over the weekend but instead got served up a big dose of reality.
There were many upsets even though it was only round one. Maybe using the word upset so early in the season is being disrespectful to those who won so shall we say at this stage, there were surprises.
However, we were handed on our TV screens a weekend full of some good footy, but a couple of results did raise my eyebrows. The Warriors 12-16 loss at home to the Sharks for me was a big surprise and just as big was Newcastle’s loss, again at home, to the Raiders.
But hey, that’s footy, and when I look back at Round 1 of this 2024 season, I know that again this year, we are in for something special.
Can you get a positive out of a negative, maybe when it comes to an NRL club you can. Even though the Broncos lost up in Vegas to the Roosters, I am tipping them to be in the top four.
They often play a brand of footy that way back in the day was called ‘contract football’.
The late Duncan Thompson was a legendary coach in Toowoomba during the 30’s and mid-fifties and his technique of contract football, as simple as it was, can still be as effective as any in the game today.
When I coached Norths in Brisbane the late Bob Bax was president of the club. One of Australia’s greatest ever coaches himself, Bob schooled me in the art of ‘contract football’ and I immediately became a disciple of Duncan Thompsons’ methods.
