Shock contender in Blues coaching race; Suaalii exposes NRL truth rugby can’t ignore — First Crack with Crawls

Joseph Suaalii has put to bed any dispute about NRL players being far superior footballers to their rugby union rivals.

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Well done to the former Sydney Rooster who produced a memorable man of the match performance on debut in the Wallabies’ thrilling victory over England at Twickenham.

But it only adds to the debate that if there was ever to be a cross-code showdown we now know who’d win by the length of the Randwick straight.

In no way is this intended to be disrespectful of Suaalii’s stunning effort.

But the fact is that while Suaalii was an outstanding young player on the rise at the Roosters, at this point of his career he didn’t rank anywhere near the NRL’s top players.

If you think that’s being unfair just look at some of the names ahead of him.

From Nathan Cleary to Jahrome Hughes, Kalyn Ponga, Jarome Luai, Isaah Yeo, Cameron Munster, Harry Grant, Tom Trbojevic, Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow, Stephen Crichton, Dylan Edwards, Tom Dearden, Mitchell Moses, James Tedesco, Matt Burton, Latrell Mitchell, Joseph Tapine, Payne Haas, Reece Walsh and Haumole Olakau’atu.

That’s 20 for starters, and I could go on and on.

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In fact, “Buzz” Rothfield did go on and on this year when he didn’t even rank Suaalii in his top 50 NRL players list.

Of course, Suaalii was selected in Michael Maguire’s NSW team for the State of Origin series opener.

But that was in the absence of Turbo and Latrell who, let’s face it, would both start in the centres ahead of Suaalii if all three were fit and raring to go.

And don’t forget Stephen Crichton would be first centre picked on this year’s form.

Even on the wing Suaalii wouldn’t get a spot in the Blues ahead of either Brian To’o or Zac Lomax.

Yet Suaalii had the entire rugby world waxing lyrical.

While former Wallabies were blown away by Suaalii’s skills, power and athleticism, even the Poms were gushing with tributes including that the former Rooster “looks like a world star already”, along with suggestions it “rekindled memories of Jonah Lomu’s contribution at the 1995 World Cup”.

Fair dinkum, it just goes to show how starved of star power the poor buggers have been for so long.

Which is also why you’d love to see someone at Australian Rugby come out this week and give credit to the NRL for overseeing a system that continues to produce superstar after superstar, year after year, decade after decade.

FORMER BULLDOG SHOCK BLUES COACHING CONTENDER

The race to take over from Michael Maguire has just taken a sharp left turn after former Bulldogs coach Dean Pay threw his hand up to coach the Blues.

With time ticking on the NSW Rugby League board to make a call following the completion of the Pacific Nations Test series, it’s understood Pay made his intentions known to NSW hierarchy last week.

While Pay’s not the type of bloke who goes out and beats his own drum to hype up his credentials, he is exactly the type of hard-edged competitor who could do a fabulous job building on the culture Madge put in place this year.

There was no tougher or more competitive player than Pay in his day whether it be at club level for Canterbury and Parramatta, or at rep level for NSW and Australia.

He also went unbeaten in his five years as the NSW under 20s coach, while he had an outstanding coaching resume as an assistant.

And the job he did at the Bulldogs amid salary cap turmoil was hugely underrated.

He certainly had a far better strike rate than Trent Barrett who replaced him (33 per cent to 12.5).

And that was under considerably more restraints and basically without anywhere near the same support that Barrett was afforded during his tenure.

Pay now adds to a list of contenders that includes the likes of Laurie Daley, Matt King, Paul McGregor and Michael Ennis among others.

DEARDEN NOW BRONCOS BIGGEST RECRUITMENT BLUNDER

As far as the biggest blunders in the Broncos’ history, where does letting Tom Dearden go now rank?

I reckon it’s now up with sacking Wayne Bennett to bring in Anthony Seibold.

As the Broncos join the race to sign the ageing Ben Hunt while Ezra Mam fights to save his career, Dearden just goes from strength to strength three years after the Broncos showed him the door.

The now 23-year-old who debuted for the Broncos back in 2019 as an 18-year-old yet again proved why he could have been the club’s captain for the next decade with a man of the match performance for the Kangaroos’ 20-14 win over Tonga.

It comes after Dearden was easily the Cowboys’ standout this season.

He was also outstanding during State of Origin.

It’s a far cry from the young man who walked way midway through 2021 with his career seemingly in tatters after the Broncos butchered Dearden’s development.

KATOA, HOPOATE AND MCLEAN FURTHER PROOF NRL WILL SURVIVE WITHOUT SUAALII

Tonga should be congratulated to get as close as they did to the Kangaroos.

Even allowing for all the players Mal Meninga was without including Nathan Cleary and Cameron Munster, match up the respective spines and you would have expected the Kangaroos to win comfortably.

Harry Grant versus Siliva Havili, Mitchell Moses v Isaiya Katoa, Tom Dearden v Tui Lolohea and Dylan Edwards v Lehi Hopoate.

Throughout this season and this series, Katoa in particular has showed what a player he is, while Hopoate again proved himself as a superstar of the future in the final.

It’s unbelievable to think Katoa is still only 20 and Hopoate is 19.

Again, go back to the loss of Suaalii and it further highlights that no matter who leaves there will always be the next generation ready to take their place.

Throw in Panthers teenage sensation Casey McLean who scored four tries on international debut for the Kiwis in the 54-12 thumping on Papua New Guinea and the NRL is in safe hands heading into 2025.