2026 Season

Roosters getting kinda screwed to be fair… it is in New Zealand I suppose, they were alway going to get a heavily lopsided penalty count
 
Oliver said:
DCE lowkey a bad defender.
Click to expand...

Cooper Cronk literally never talks about him without alluding to that. That’s one of my favourite things in rugby league media, Cronk’s barely disguised loathing for DCE.

Robbo’s not going to cop his business decisions all season. Will be interesting to monitor.
 
Tipped the Warriors for this one, pretty tough to beat at full fitness at Mt Smart. And they seem pretty pumped up for 2026.
 
The Roosters' discipline has been awful. A lot of unnecessary penalties & restarts, mostly either cynical or dumb. Robbo will blame the ref.
 
Seano said:
Is that back to the Battle of Brookvale or some other issue?
Click to expand...
They would have been in Origin camp together a few times. No single flashpoint issue I'm aware of, just get the sense Daly really rubs him the wrong way. Kind of makes sense when you think about it, since the premiership winning guys all retired the teams built in DCE's image have been ones that can carve up in grand style one week and lose to the wooden spooner the next. I'm sure if you asked Cronk he'd consider that a reflection on DCE, he's always very very tough on guys he thinks aren't getting the most out of themselves.

krustykraz said:
Warriors look great,
They'll be a real force once Barnett and Metcalf are back
Click to expand...
At this stage you can only acknowledge they've pulled one of the best cards out of the Random Assistant Coach deck.
 
That Warriors vs Roosters game was so boring, the Roosters with a lot of errors and the ref going crazy for the Warriors, if I can forget that game forever I would be the happiest person on the planet
 
The roosters put themselves in positions to get penalised so thats on them.
It was good to see the Warriors get the win although they ended up making it harder for themselves.
 
HarVeeGee13 said:
They would have been in Origin camp together a few times. No single flashpoint issue I'm aware of, just get the sense Daly really rubs him the wrong way. Kind of makes sense when you think about it, since the premiership winning guys all retired the teams built in DCE's image have been ones that can carve up in grand style one week and lose to the wooden spooner the next. I'm sure if you asked Cronk he'd consider that a reflection on DCE, he's always very very tough on guys he thinks aren't getting the most out of themselves.


At this stage you can only acknowledge they've pulled one of the best cards out of the Random Assistant Coach deck.
Click to expand...
I thought it was a bit deeper then that Harv. I'd heard DCE was frozen out of the origin side while Cronk, Smith and Slater were there. He had been chosen for a series when Thurston was unavailable, then that Melbourne block basically told the Queensland hierarchy they couldn't work with him. I think it was an arrogance thing, Qld had a strong idea on how to win obviously, DCE thought he knew better and carried that attitude on and off the field. It wasn't until those guys moved on that DCE got chosen again.
 
Further to that, there was a series where a half was hurt and DCE would have been the obvious replacement but wasn't chosen. I'll try to remember who was chosen in front of him.
 
Thanks to the rugby league project, DCE played all three matches in 2014 series that nsw won, breaking an otherwise run of like 78 straight series to qld. He played 1 in 2015, none 16 and 17, one in 18 then all three in 2019 with no Smith, Slater or Cronk. I reckon it was that 16-17 period he was frozen out. Playmakers like Munster, Milford and Morgan were chosen in front of a much more experienced DCE. Moses Mbye even got games in that period.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top