2026 NRL General Discussion Thread

Foordy said:
The Courier Mail reporting that the Titans bosses have been inundated with coaching applications in recent days in the event the club parts ways with Hasler.

The Walker Brothers (Ben and Shane) have thrown their hat into the ring should Hasler get moved on. Shane has contacted Titans CEO, Dennis Watt to formally lodge an expression of interest.

While the Walkers have always had their critics and sceptics that their successful style they used in the QLD Cup could be transferred to the NRL, pretty much all teams are frequently using the short drop out tactic that they pioneered 15 years ago. then there is the family ace up their sleeve with some thinking appointing the Walkers could deliver the Titans Sam Walker.

Ben Walker said:

“I am absolutely certain we would win a premiership at the Titans,” Ben Walker said.

Asked if they will apply for the Titans job if it became available, Walker said: “Yes, absolutely.

“I can’t tell you the number of people I’ve had approach me saying, ‘We hope you guys are considered for the Titans job, please put your hand up for it’.

“It’s a job Shane and I have always wanted because there’s a lot of similarities between the Titans and the Ipswich Jets, who had the lowest budget in the league when we won the Queensland Cup.

“We’d do the Titans job tomorrow and I can guarantee we would have success.

“Wayne Bennett coached my father when I was three years old. The game is in our blood.

“The only concern would be trying to fit everyone into Cbus Super Stadium to watch Titans home games … we would fill every seat in the joint.”


Ivan Cleary quit the Tigers to mentor his son at Penrith and Ben said he would relish the prospect of teaming with his boy to lead a Titans revolution.

“Look, Sam loves the Roosters and I can’t guarantee he leaves there if we got the Titans job,” Walker said.

“But I’ve always been envious watching Nathan and Ivan Cleary winning premierships together at Penrith and I’d love the idea of me and Sammy doing that at the Titans, for example.

“Sam is a winner. He’s already in the top echelon of halfbacks and unless he falls off a cliff form wise, I believe he will be one of the greatest halfbacks we’ve ever seen.

“He will win premierships, whether that’s with the Roosters or the Titans.

“But if I’m at the Titans, Sam Walker is a halfback I’d be trying to get.”

“Our aspirations to coach aren’t any different today to what they were,” Ben said.

“We still pick games apart today and we’re forever theorising about how we would play the game today if we were coaching in the NRL.

“Sam is playing in the NRL so in terms of knowledge, we’re still up with the current trends.”


Ben Has a theory on why the Titans have been a basket case (almost since their inception), one is that they've never has a QLD coach:

“Nothing against New South Wales, but we are bred differently up here,” Ben Walker said.

“The Broncos had success with a Queensland coach in Wayne (Bennett) and the Cowboys won their only premiership with a Queenslander in Paul Green.

“The Gold Coast is a rugby league town that is home to a lot of tradies, so it’s blue collar, but there’s also a touch of glitz and glamour about the place.

“Ipswich had never won a premiership until we got there and I believe we would deliver a premiership for the Titans with an attractive style of footy that matches what the Gold Coast is about.

“The Titans have never had success, but we believe the Gold Coast is a sleeping giant.”
Click to expand...
The Walker Brothers should look for an ESL job and prove their system works in a larger comp... no NRL team is going to take a chance on them.

Are they still coaching a Qld Cup team?
 
BroncsFan said:
The Walker Brothers should look for an ESL job and prove their system works in a larger comp... no NRL team is going to take a chance on them.

Are they still coaching a Qld Cup team?
Click to expand...

They haven't done any coaching since they left the Jets at the end of 2019. Which is the major obstacle.

If an NRL team wouldn't hire them when they're winning at Cup level, they're not going to hire them when they have been away from the trade for six years.

Keep in mind no one has ever gone from Cup to NRL coaching, let alone not coaching at all to NRL coaching.
 
1910 said:
They haven't done any coaching since they left the Jets at the end of 2019. Which is the major obstacle.

If an NRL team wouldn't hire them when they're winning at Cup level, they're not going to hire them when they have been away from the trade for six years.

Keep in mind no one has ever gone from Cup to NRL coaching, let alone not coaching at all to NRL coaching.
Click to expand...
Yeah I didn't think they were coaching Jets anymore.

If they aren't even coaching Qcup then they are absolutely no chance of getting an NRL job ... they should head over to ESL and give that a shot.

If their system works over there then they might get some actual traction
 
Renegade said:
O'Brien gone end of season

www.smh.com.au

Newcastle set to part ways with Adam O’Brien at season’s end

Adam O’Brien is in the final weeks of his coaching career at the Knights, with the club preparing to part ways at the end of the season.
www.smh.com.au www.smh.com.au
Click to expand...

I still can't believe any club would put in a clause giving a coach a 2 year extension for finishing in the top 12.

that's the definition of a club that aims for mediocrity. all he had to do to earn that extension was to not finish in the bottom 5. he didn't even have to make the finals, I mean WTF
 
BroncsFan said:
And of course broncos play them for their last home game, which is their old boys day... they'll probably double it up as a thank you to AOB or some shit
Click to expand...

Well we ruined their Thank You Joey night back in '07, I remember the camera panning to Joey close to full time and he was pissed.

We'll ruin this one, as well.
 
Foordy said:
I still can't believe any club would put in a clause giving a coach a 2 year extension for finishing in the top 12.

that's the definition of a club that aims for mediocrity. all he had to do to earn that extension was to not finish in the bottom 5. he didn't even have to make the finals, I mean WTF
Click to expand...

I 100% thought it was top 8, which I wasn't a fan of but I guess you could kind of understand...but top 12? ****ing strange.
 
Was watching a reel last night where Cameron Smith was commentating one of the tries by Deardon. Standing off to his side was obviously an employee from 9 handing him smallish pieces of paper about every 5 seconds. Smith was being directed on what to say.

I did not realise that the commentating was/is 💯 scripted.
 
Broncosgirl said:
Was watching a reel last night where Cameron Smith was commentating one of the tries by Deardon. Standing off to his side was obviously an employee from 9 handing him smallish pieces of paper about every 5 seconds. Smith was being directed on what to say.

I did not realise that the commentating was/is 💯 scripted.
Click to expand...
I don't know for sure, but I would suspect it's not 100% scripted. They would probably just feed them talking points or certain stats to bring up and then let them carry on with it.

Just my suspicion. Maybe for first timers or relatively new presenters they keep on a short leash, but I wouldn't expect them to be feeding everything for the guys that have been around a couple of years.
 
Renegade said:
I don't know for sure, but I would suspect it's not 100% scripted. They would probably just feed them talking points or certain stats to bring up and then let them carry on with it.

Just my suspicion. Maybe for first timers or relatively new presenters they keep on a short leash, but I wouldn't expect them to be feeding everything for the guys that have been around a couple of years.
Click to expand...
Doeant this happen all the time with any broadcasting job. Watch videos of the triple m comme try teams and they all get handed stuff consistently.
 
JayPee said:
Doeant this happen all the time with any broadcasting job. Watch videos of the triple m comme try teams and they all get handed stuff consistently.
Click to expand...
Maybe someone should be handing Todd Payten bits of paper on how to coach 🤔......
 
It's not scripted.

Each week all of the commentators do a shit ton of prep work. The teams and players, stats etc, they have notes that they refer to during the call and they have people assisting with that in the background.

Basically they're just talking points and stats.
 
Super Freak said:
It's not scripted.

Each week all of the commentators do a shit ton of prep work. The teams and players, stats etc, they have notes that they refer to during the call and they have people assisting with that in the background.

Basically they're just talking points and stats.
Click to expand...
That really doesn’t accurately describe what I saw tho. Cameron’s eyes were following along with his speech. By the time he had added in five seconds without reading, he already had the next piece of paper in his hand. It was a constant stream of him speaking along with whatever was written down 🤷‍♀️
 
The Dolphins and Josh Kerr are reportedly preparing to challenge the NRL's breach notice for his comments about Klein after Origin 3.

Kristian Woolf said:

“We’re supporting Kerry and have asked some questions around it, without going into details,” he said.

“That’s what everyone loves about Kerry. You put a microphone in front of his mouth and he tends to talk if you ask him a question.

“That’s his personality and why everyone loves being around him. He’s happy and talkative and always got something going on in his mind.

“He’s a great, fun guy to be around. It was certainly said in a fun context. I don’t think there was anything sinister about the comments at all. He was looking for a laugh.

“It’s a situation he shouldn’t have been put in, to be fair. It could have been handled a little bit better.

“I’m not going to point fingers at anyone or go into any more detail. It’s a situation he shouldn’t have been in and is probably a little bit harsh, particularly with the context.”
 
New Posts

Unread

Back
Top