The Weekend Hangover is back with all the drama from Round 23 of the NRL.
This week, the All Blacks are circling Kalyn Ponga, Cooper Cronk hit with super sledge and why Tristan Sailor isn’t a chip of the old block.
Why the All Blacks are looking closely at the struggling Knights
New Zealand Rugby Union officials have been watching developments at Newcastle with interest.
They are closely monitoring Kalyn Ponga’s movements and remain quietly confident they will be able to lure the young superstar away from the NRL and into an All Blacks jersey ahead of the 2023 World Cup.
They feel he is unsettled in league and craves a game with more international flavour and opportunity.
His flippant attitude to Nathan Brown’s exit and his performance against the Tigers a few days later spoke volumes about where his head is at.
Ponga has two years to run on his Newcastle deal so could be in the 15-man game for the start of the 2022 season at age just 24.
That would give him two seasons of Super Rugby before the World Cup.
The Knights fullback has New Zealand-born parents and lived there for five years as a kid.
He has declared his interest in one day playing for the All Blacks and it now seems a matter of when, not if.
Super sledge: Cooper Cronk told to treat the footy ‘like Cam Smith’s head’
Fans used to simply scream ‘lolly legs’ or boo loudly to put a kicker off as he lined up a shot at goal.
But one Dragons fan – or maybe he was a Roosters supporter – took a different route in an attempt to get inside Cooper Cronk’s head as he moved in for a conversion against Saints on Saturday night.
Clearly audible through the Fox Sports mics, the fan urged Cronk to think of the ball as Cameron Smith’s head.
You can see the result below (with thanks to the creative genius at the NRL Roast Facebook page).
Is this the worst dog shot in rugby league history?
With players getting five weeks for innocuous tackles these days, we wonder how many matches (or years) Keith Hepworth would get for this sickening hit if it happened in the NRL today.
The scene was the 1970 Challenge Cup final between Wigan and Castleford and Wigan fullback Colin Tryer was bringing the ball back in the 16th minute and had passed it before Hepworth hit him late with an elbow to the jaw.
Tryer slumped to the ground covered in blood as Hepworth was called out by the referee.
This is the pre-sin bin days so you expect Hepworth to be sent off.
But the world was a different place in 1970.
It was a groggy and clearly distressed Tryer who was dragged from the field with his jaw in 16 pieces, while Hepworth played on.
Tyrer was Wigan’s goalkicker and they failed to score another point after he left the field, going down 7-2.
Watch it and wince.
Cup Final Memories - 1970 v Castleford
— Wigan RL History (@WiganRLHistory) August 21, 2019
The savage attack on Colin Tyrer that ended his final and didn't even see a red card. pic.twitter.com/hYSBGyrnXe
Bookworm Tristan Sailor’s surprise pre-game ritual revealed
This could be a rugby league first.
On the night before making his NRL debut, St George Illawarra rookie Tristan Sailor attended a book club meeting with his mother Tara.
“I’m not sure what the book was but he’s very different to his dad. He’s into his art and that sort of thing,” father Wendell said.
“We are very proud of him.”
A group of 35-40 family members and friends were at Kogarah to watch Tristan score a great solo try in his first game, a rare bright spot for the Red V in their heavy loss to the Roosters.
Storm playmaker could miss the rest of the NRL campaign … and not through injury
Melbourne are not convinced Brodie Croft is the immediate future at halfback and he may have seen his last NRL action of the season.
The 22-year-old was ‘rested’ from Sunday’s win over Gold Coast, with Jahrome Hughes preferred at halfback and at Ryan Papenhuyzen fullback.
Both went well enough to seemingly convince coach Craig Bellamy not to recall Croft for the business end of the year.
“It wasn’t easy leaving Brodie out but I don’t think it’s going to hurt him. He’s still only a young player in the NRL,” Bellamy said.
“It was a different thing for us (using Hughes and Papenhuyzen at halfback and fullback) and a reasonably big change but we thought we’d have a look at it.
“We will have a look at the game and see where we want to go over the next couple of weeks.
Croft, who has a year to run on his deal, is clearly still a work in progress in Bellamy’s eyes.
The No.7 had played every game until this round but the whisper out of Melbourne is Bellamy is not fully convinced the youngster can take the team to a premiership.