0:00

Better than Liga. Better than

0:02

Liga!

0:10

Penrith bastards. They're

0:14

a great side. You alright watching that game? Oh yeah, what

0:17

did we do? They're a great side and look,

0:19

to go there, you know, sometimes you're a part of a

0:21

game where everything is pointing

0:24

toward you getting beat and upset. You're not

0:26

on your game, you know, blokes are making fundamental

0:29

errors but they just found a way.

0:32

Nathan, like Nathan at the back end of the game,

0:35

I'll ask you this,

0:37

okay, so Nathan, I think the

0:39

next step in his career is to own an Origin series,

0:42

to totally dominate it, to be

0:44

about him.

0:45

For you

0:47

personally, to go from being a great club

0:49

player and then making that transition

0:51

to Origin football and dominating

0:53

there, what was the difference for you? I think

0:57

you can

0:57

practice all you want

1:00

but you've also got to like have a I've

1:03

made it moment. I think you can look at

1:05

all the good players at some stage in

1:07

the Origin arena, they've done something

1:10

that gives them the belief that actually, you

1:12

know what, gotcha, I belong here. You

1:14

know, you see some of the, I remember Slater's

1:17

chip and chase for that try from then he just

1:19

sort of like started dominating games

1:22

but for me in my career, it wasn't,

1:24

it was probably the 2012 grand final, you

1:27

know, being, you know, Clive Churchill Meadows but

1:29

really just

1:30

putting it all together on a big moment. From

1:33

that moment on you go, okay, this is the next trajectory,

1:36

this is the new thing that I can improve on and Nathan

1:39

is ticking

1:40

every box at the moment. I remember a couple

1:42

years back, it was a game one,

1:45

they got questioned around his performance for

1:47

New South Wales, went over to

1:48

Perth I think it was or somewhere. Game

1:51

two, he came out, was the best player on the field. So he's

1:53

got it in his kit bag but you're right, if he

1:56

transitions to being what he's

1:58

doing at Penrith to doing what

2:00

he does for New South Wales,

2:02

boy, what's

2:04

next, seriously? Well, we said a couple of

2:06

years ago, it's his decade. But I suppose

2:09

we're seeing that now with

2:11

club football, the next step is to the

2:13

big step. And I suppose Cooper, to

2:16

be fair to him, dominating origin

2:19

is the domain of an experienced playmaker.

2:21

Sort of comes a little further with age.

2:24

But, and the

2:26

other thing too, Coops, you said about that is

2:28

that sense of belonging.

2:31

It's huge. New South Wales, we're not as good

2:34

as you guys are. And what I mean by that, and

2:36

we've seen situations with J. Trevoy

2:39

Vish, Josh Addercar, Jack Wighton last year.

2:43

And Wighton's come out and confirmed. He said, you know,

2:45

no, maths, I'm done. Is

2:47

that when you chop and change sides

2:50

all the time, it's very hard to feel like,

2:52

OK, I belong. There's

2:54

only a few players in the room. Doesn't matter if you're

2:56

a halfback, you know,

2:58

fullback coming up with the highlight

3:00

reel players in origin. It's also for your

3:02

back rolls in middle forwards. When

3:04

you have a game that you

3:07

don't think you're capable of all of a sudden,

3:09

you have it on the biggest arena, you feel

3:11

like you belong. And the next minute you go out the following

3:13

week and think you can do it 10 times over.

3:16

The thing that has been

3:18

super impressive with Nathan, this is going to sound

3:20

a little strange, but in his clutch moments,

3:23

like that two point field goal against Parramatta,

3:26

the one on the weekend,

3:27

he doesn't run around the field and take his

3:29

shirt off like he's just won the grand final. He sits

3:31

there and goes, I

3:33

got it. Like as if he was

3:35

expecting to do it. And that's

3:37

a little scary because he practices

3:40

it all the time that it comes into that moment. But

3:43

with that field goal on the weekend, there was

3:46

three things watching it live that I thought was

3:49

super impressive other than the execution

3:51

of the play. There was the one

3:54

that coin toss and he chose to go with the win. Okay.

3:57

Like he's thinking, if I get a chance, he was going

3:59

for it.

6:00

Stuck out from the eye and I've noticed it a little

6:02

bit before but not so much as

6:05

the other night was Delhi Cherry

6:08

Evans, I've really seen a halfback

6:10

who seemingly on The

6:14

last tackle has given a little thought to what he's going

6:16

to do Has little space has

6:18

little time and at times you

6:20

can see when he's taken the ball the line the wheels

6:22

attorney going Okay, where am I

6:24

going to do? Where's his opportunity gonna be but always finds

6:27

really always finds like

6:30

Quality kick like going up tiny

6:32

short sides and you go where's he going here? And

6:34

I reckon in his mind He's got you

6:36

know, okay Where's his opportunity

6:39

to be and then think

6:40

knock her back on the inside. It's got a great ability

6:43

to do that Yeah, very good. I

6:45

think there's two parts to it is When

6:48

you're trying to get a repeat set and kick

6:50

it through the line a

6:51

lot of halves will actually see

6:54

a space between defenders from three four

6:56

metres away and Kick it and aim it right?

6:58

Yep But what cherry Evans does

7:00

and what you should do is should you should

7:02

move your feet to the hole and then

7:05

kick it? Yeah, because if you aim from three or four

7:07

metres away the old trap and scrap

7:09

comes into play But if you move your feet

7:12

They're worried about your running and then you can

7:14

slide it through and it's a lesser gap to go through

7:16

and the other thing too, that's now a trend

7:19

in the game is Used to

7:21

be able to kick the ball along the ground because

7:23

no one really put their foot out They left it for

7:25

the fullback, but now teams are actually backing themselves

7:27

to your trap and you know jump on it Now

7:30

you've actually got to kick it at knee height

7:32

or thigh height now that's potentially

7:35

going to run the ball seven tackle set but you've

7:37

got to have a Real delicate touch because one

7:39

you're going to kick it in the air to stop the feet But

7:41

needs to stop and roll without a heavy heavy

7:44

turn over I've heard some criticism in the

7:47

last few months from people just about seven

7:49

tackles. It's too much I love

7:50

it. I don't do because at the end of the day, it's

7:52

what separates the halfbacks Is

7:55

that finding that right kick? I mean at the

7:57

end of the day, you're a professional rugby league player

7:59

you get all or

8:01

you've basically got so much time to practice here,

8:03

repeat sets or your kicks to the corner. If

8:06

you get them wrong, you know, it deserves

8:08

to be seven tackles. Yep. And the other part

8:10

too in, you know, big moments

8:12

or back-end of games when it's tight, you go for

8:15

it, you miss, it gives the opposition a chance to

8:17

get down there with seven. I really like it. It does. The

8:19

finer things need

8:21

to be highlighted and that is a very good

8:24

one. I think, I couldn't tell you the stats, but

8:26

I guarantee you the good teams don't have many seven tackle

8:28

sets and the bad ones probably turn the ball

8:30

over.

8:31

The other part to that game and talking about,

8:33

you know, Cherry Evans, when

8:36

Justin Ollam was sinbin, right,

8:38

for that late shot on Cherry Evans. So

8:41

Storm go down to 12 men and,

8:43

you know,

8:44

mainly are in control, but they could really

8:46

put this game, blow it away from Melbourne Storm. You

8:49

talk about like the management of situations. So

8:51

when teams are, you know, an extra man and

8:53

they go down, the opposition goes to 12, where

8:55

do you attack, where do you go? So

8:58

Ollam goes off, who's a left centre. Yep. And

9:00

defensively, the Melbourne Storm on their left edge have

9:03

Harry Grant stand next to Jonah Pezzet, who's defending

9:05

the centres. Now, that is Olokolatu's

9:07

side. For me, I'm

9:10

going straight there. Non-stop.

9:12

Non-stop. And manly for that

9:14

whole set, go left, go away,

9:16

go away. But what they need

9:19

to do is, if they get a penalty

9:21

or whatever it is that sets up, go one in, have

9:23

a shot with Olokolatu, open the

9:25

play back up and then go with

9:27

Olokolatu, maybe with a different option, but put

9:30

Travoyevich around there, put someone. But

9:32

that whole set directly after Ollam went off, they

9:35

didn't go anywhere near him. Coop, can I ask you,

9:37

that's interesting to say that. So let's

9:39

imagine

9:40

that there is a defensive

9:43

liability on

9:45

a defensive liability here. You

9:47

said before about, you know, going up a short side

9:49

and taking meterage. Two ways to look at it, you can

9:52

take the meterage straight away. 40, you

9:54

know, near post, take the meters.

9:58

Or do you prefer to lie?

9:59

alongside to expose

10:02

them or to open up the space a little bit. Yeah,

10:04

I think coming out of, like,

10:06

yardage end off your own try line, if

10:08

you've found a weakness, power,

10:11

power, power, power, just take that weakness

10:13

out of the game and get your advantage. But

10:15

if there's a weakness attacking the

10:17

goal line, I always used

10:19

to

10:20

like to go at it first,

10:23

go back, and then give a different

10:25

look. So you might have played, for

10:27

example, Manly. The first play you

10:29

might have played short to Olicolatu, right?

10:32

Hit him in there, go back. Then you

10:34

might have played short to Olicolatu on the second one, but

10:36

Olicolatu could play out the back to Vojvic,

10:39

who then could take advantage of something. So just

10:41

the same look, but a different variation.

10:44

He'll take a quick break, be back with Coops in a

10:46

minute.

10:53

G'day, it's John the Round, the host of Brownies podcast.

10:56

Along with my

10:57

boys Dino and Campbell Brown, we

10:59

give you the World's Loosest podcast. Was

11:01

Jesus well hung? Tell you what, boys, never

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Oh! Ask your smart

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search for Brownies Podcast wherever you listen

11:17

to your podcast.

11:21

A tooth plate, South Sydney, really, really

11:23

impressive. Cam Murray. And

11:25

we speak about him quite a bit, but Cam Murray is

11:28

becoming as important to South Sydney as

11:31

Isaiah Yeo is to Penrith. Yeah. Watching

11:34

him, he's just growing in stature as

11:37

a... Not just a playmaker,

11:40

a decision-maker. Like Isaiah Yeo,

11:42

who's very much in charge at

11:44

times of Penrith where the ball goes. Do

11:46

we go through the middle? Do I take a bruise? Do

11:48

I push it towards the sideline? That's what Cam

11:51

Murray's

11:51

doing at the moment. Great. Tremendous

11:53

plays, both of them. And

11:56

basically is now the example of

11:58

what all 13s must be, really.

11:59

really,

12:01

tough defensively, play

12:03

long minutes, highly

12:05

skilled, good leadership, good decision

12:07

making, they've just got it all.

12:10

Putting you on the spot, right? Because it comes to representative

12:13

football, these two are elite, right? And

12:16

often, Yo gets 13,

12:18

because Murray's probably more flexible on an edge,

12:20

Yo with Cleary's combination. Let's

12:23

take out combinations. Let's just

12:25

go, you need a 13 to play on

12:27

your team. Are you going Ozziea or are you

12:29

going Cam Murray? At the moment, I go

12:31

Ozziea. Yep. I just,

12:34

because I think

12:35

if you're looking for that style of 13, he's

12:37

been doing it longer. Like

12:41

it's a really difficult one. I sat there this morning

12:43

and I was thinking about the origin

12:46

side for New South Wales. And I just thought, God,

12:48

I hate having to put Murray on an edge. Yep.

12:51

I hate it because it takes away a lot of his strengths. I

12:53

mean, he has an impact, but not

12:56

nearly the impact of it through the middle. It's

12:58

interesting where the game's gone in the speed of the game.

13:01

It makes you wonder sometimes, Coops,

13:03

if there's an opportunity, if the game really loosens

13:05

up and is fast flowing, whether

13:07

you have both in the middle and allow Murray

13:10

just to be a running player. Yeah, playing as a, yeah,

13:12

absolutely. I think that could be a... You know, that's

13:14

not a bad idea because I think

13:16

I would go Murray. Right, okay. The

13:19

reason being is this is like, you

13:21

know, splitting hairs here. The only

13:23

difference is I feel like Cam Murray's

13:25

got a little bit more leg speed

13:27

and therefore like, pushes through the line,

13:29

can score a try close the line. But

13:33

I shouldn't say this because I'm a Queenslander, but that's

13:36

a really good play. Put Isaiah and Cam

13:38

Murray through the middle and let

13:40

them go tandem. It's interesting New South Wales,

13:42

oftentimes because there's so much noise around

13:44

New South Wales, I reckon sometimes in selection,

13:48

things get lost. Yep. If I'm

13:50

the coach, I work out,

13:52

right, who's my most important player,

13:55

which is Nathan. And I very

13:57

much consult him on selections. Right,

13:59

and... And oftentimes,

14:02

and you can take at the end of the day, you've got to make

14:05

the decision. But I think it's really important

14:07

for the bloke who's going to be your most centerpiece

14:10

player to play alongside guys.

14:13

Firstly, how are we going to play? How

14:16

are we going to go about our attack? And

14:18

then going from there saying, right, who do you think can do

14:20

this job? The best example I can

14:22

give you at the moment, a lot of conjecture is that

14:24

Nick O. Heinz or is it Jerome? Now

14:27

if it's me picking tomorrow,

14:30

I go, it's Nick O. And

14:32

I think because I think Nick O. has, I

14:34

think Nick O. has

14:36

got the skill set and

14:38

he's got the athleticism to adapt

14:40

to any attack. And

14:43

I think he's the sort of personality that he can

14:45

pull back a little bit if he needs to. However,

14:48

you know, it's a conversation. You can't, your

14:51

most important player in the football side, you

14:53

can't impose a person upon them,

14:55

particularly in the halfscoops. I

14:58

think I would go luai because of history,

15:00

combination, whatever. But

15:03

Jesus, Nick O. Heinz has got to be really

15:05

close to it. And not that

15:08

I like helping New South Wales

15:10

at all, but when you said that,

15:12

like, I actually think that, yeah,

15:14

I'd put Cam Murray in the back

15:17

row on the edge and start with

15:19

Isaiah Yo. But your first interchange

15:21

should be a back row interchange. So

15:23

back row on through Cam Murray, middle

15:26

forward comes off. You put Cam Murray

15:28

in the middle with Isaiah. As me, Nathan

15:31

Cleary, I actually don't have to wait for a

15:33

ball player as a middle. Like

15:35

I've got Cam Murray or Isaiah Yo. Just

15:37

work through and then you've got two to

15:40

swap in and out whoever you want to shift the ball. So

15:43

you actually become a little bit more dangerous. And as

15:44

you said, if during that period,

15:46

New South Wales are having a bit of ascendancy,

15:49

having line-chair possession, man, they can do some damage.

15:52

Yeah, it's funny.

15:53

You know, the other thing

15:55

I love about Murray watching the game, it was about, because

15:57

playing against the Dolphins, we've said numerous times.

15:59

they really centralised their attack. You

16:02

know, I watched the game about 20 minutes

16:04

in, watching Cam Murray, and he's

16:06

getting himself off the ground. Oh, I saw that. But he

16:08

looked cooked. He did. But it's that,

16:11

again, that

16:12

bloke who can still produce great quality

16:16

under fatigue, which is pretty rare. Yeah, because they were doing that.

16:19

They were playing that style that we've spoken

16:21

about a lot, and

16:22

they were up at half-time, so the first 25

16:25

minutes, South felt

16:27

like they were on the back foot through the middle, half-time

16:30

came, and they just turned it on, didn't

16:32

they? Yeah, they did. Their ability just to

16:35

hit the accelerator and blow teams away, it's pretty

16:37

phenomenal. Coops, last week we spoke about

16:39

playmakers, and that

16:42

a playmaker's

16:44

ability to get himself square, to

16:47

the point of being 90 degrees on past

16:49

decision, and we showed examples

16:51

of Nathan and the difference that makes. Another

16:54

great example this week was Sean

16:56

Johnson. He was in the crucial try

16:59

against the Cowboys, and if you watch

17:01

it, they march down the field,

17:03

and he takes the ball on a sweep, but

17:06

he does a slight straighten and

17:08

then does the double straighten, and he straightens.

17:11

And at past decision, it's a perfect

17:13

example. There's a beautiful head-on shot if

17:15

you see him at actually 90 degrees,

17:18

and just that subtle straighten at the end,

17:21

how it just increased the hole for current to just

17:23

march through. It was a beautiful

17:25

pass. Yep, so like when you're

17:28

ball playing, and you've got a target defender

17:30

get to Josh Curran inside, let's say

17:32

the half defender for the opposition, my

17:34

job as a ball player is to get to that fore-in

17:36

defender, the one after. And

17:39

if I keep sliding across to Curran's

17:41

line, it

17:42

brings that fore-in defender into the tackle.

17:45

What Sean's done, he's got to his target

17:47

defender and absorbed some

17:49

pressure back inside. The defender's

17:52

going, oh, I need to go with him, and

17:54

all of a sudden a hole that was half-metre

17:56

becomes three-quarters, and Curran

17:59

blows through the hole.

17:59

So the subtle play

18:02

of Sean,

18:04

like we would pick it up, but that was crucial

18:07

to it. The other part too is, and

18:09

I can use my own example here, is when you're

18:11

a young half, all you do is worry

18:13

about passing the ball. You're like, oh, I just need to

18:15

get it to someone. I don't want to stuff it up. And

18:17

then after you've done the thousands and

18:20

thousands of reps, you start thinking, oh, if

18:22

I square my outside shoulder here, that

18:24

guy doesn't think I can pass out the back and then you

18:26

throw. Or what Schuster's doing, the stutter

18:29

step, right? So

18:31

while you're a young half, you

18:33

just do the basics to get through it. And

18:36

when you're older, you start to win with oppositions,

18:38

particularly when you're feeling in really

18:40

good rhythm. As long as you know, and

18:43

your ball runner knows who the target defender

18:45

is, you can do whatever you

18:47

want in between. You can put it in one hand,

18:49

you can dummy, you can look, you can stutter step,

18:51

you can do whatever you want, as long as you get there. At

18:54

the decision-making point, I am exactly

18:56

the right place and my back row is exactly

18:58

the right place. You can do anything you want in

19:01

between that. And we've spoken about it before a thousand times.

19:03

Thoughts on the Roosters at the moment. What

19:05

is the problem? Is it attack, is it defence, or

19:08

is there attack that's stuttering that's putting

19:10

too much pressure on their defence? Is it a bit of both? Well,

19:13

I thought, you know, in the weekend's game,

19:16

Sharks led 8-0, I think it was

19:18

Butcher in the bin. Then

19:20

the fight back to get to the

19:22

lead was pretty impressive. But

19:25

that game, like it's two really good

19:27

teams. That game at 12-all in the second

19:29

half with what, 20 odd minutes to go, it

19:32

was there for the taking.

19:33

And the difference was Nico Heinz. They

19:36

could have, you know, Tadesco, Walker,

19:39

Keery, whoever, the game was there to be taken.

19:42

And the one person that took the game

19:44

was Nico Heinz. That play down

19:46

the short side was so good. It's

19:50

mesmerising when you've got the ball in two

19:52

hands, you look in, you look out. It's

19:55

amazing how the C's just part

19:58

and you go straight through it. Do it at pace.

19:59

Obviously for that Braley trial I thought

20:02

it was impressive. What a luxury for a playmaker

20:04

to have that athleticism, to get

20:06

across and be able to create a threat and doubt.

20:08

He's just... I thought it

20:11

was one of his... All things considered, Coops,

20:13

I thought it was one of his greatest performances.

20:18

Not on that from go to woe, he

20:20

was just brilliant. Because the reason

20:22

I say it is because,

20:23

for Roark, in about 65 minutes of the

20:25

game, he was struggling for rhythm.

20:28

There were certain things that didn't quite

20:30

go right, but then, with 12

20:33

minutes to go, after

20:35

all of that, to elevate yourself. And

20:37

as we've said before, we've spoken it before, mate, we

20:40

tend to go with the game on the line, the playmaker is in the

20:42

high-rollers room, under pressure, and he delivers.

20:45

It's funny, the things we worked on many,

20:47

many moons ago is Nico Hines, you know

20:49

when you look inside and you can turn

20:51

your hips and your shoulders too far left, therefore you

20:53

can't get back out? Yep. What Nico does

20:56

is so square. All he does is look in a

20:58

show, someone falls for it. Look in a show,

21:00

someone falls for it. If he turns his hips too far,

21:03

he actually can't accelerate through the hole. So

21:05

the deception of, I'm actually playing

21:07

inside is just upper body, it's shoulders and

21:10

head, hips straight, shoulders

21:12

and head, hips straight, and he keeps moving. That's

21:14

the momentum. It's the biomechanics, isn't it? A lot of

21:16

people say, yeah, dummy in the play. It's

21:18

not, if you're dummy, you lose your hips.

21:21

Now it's that catch and look, and

21:23

Cliffy Lines was a genius at it, just have a look. And

21:25

it creates the illusion that you're throwing dumps. You don't

21:27

have to do the big first and show

21:29

and go, it's just subtle. Yeah, we'll take

21:32

a real quick break with Coops

21:33

and be back to talk more Rugby

21:35

League. I

21:57

shouldn't have trusted you.

21:59

mind up to Defence Palace. I know, he's

22:02

just begging to be said. Fair call, fair

22:04

call. We have amazing guests every week.

22:06

Search for iCatchKillerz wherever you

22:08

get your podcasts.

22:11

The Broncos, like, I

22:14

tell it a like about Rees Walsh, and we've spoken

22:16

about him quite a bit. I like, what

22:19

I like about him is I love the exuberance. The

22:21

other night he was buzzing around, you know, punching

22:23

there, giving players a kiss on the cheek and all

22:25

the rest of it. You need someone in the team

22:28

like that, a bit of a scallywag, someone

22:30

who can,

22:31

who represents fun amongst

22:33

all the pressure. Yeah, absolutely. You need

22:36

to mix and match your personalities.

22:38

When Herbie Farnworth scored that try for

22:40

a half time, I'm watching him, like,

22:43

it was, for me, it was a really good indication

22:45

of his, what natural speed he's got. Because

22:47

Herbie, everyone else's balls out, going a million miles

22:49

now. And literally, Rees has run alongside

22:52

him, like, at half pace.

22:54

Just keep it track. She's a good athlete. Well, Rees was the one

22:56

that actually, so Jaden went

22:59

down, saw Rees in the line with 20 seconds ago.

23:01

Rees was the one that charged it down. So he's

23:03

come up with a huge play and then he put

23:06

on a 15 minute

23:08

spell, like, in that second half to blow the Titan.

23:10

It was like a Latrell spell where he just ran, whooshka

23:12

away,

23:13

guys. And the funny thing is, so working on

23:15

Saturday night interviewing a couple of the players.

23:17

Now this is going to sound really

23:19

stupid to say about the team that's on top of the ladder.

23:22

Good. Because you love stupid

23:24

Es, so I'm coming with you. I'm a king. But, so

23:26

top of the ladder, Broncos are flying. But

23:29

I'm a little bit worried about them when it comes

23:31

to what happens if the game doesn't go

23:33

in your favour? How do you reset?

23:36

Because after the game, we interviewed a lot

23:38

of the Broncos players, and I know this isn't Adam

23:40

Reynolds, it's a couple of younger guys, so

23:42

sort of picking on them a little bit. But you ask them,

23:46

what was that like? How did you hit the accelerator?

23:48

And they always said, oh, the Broncos way. And then

23:50

you double dance and say, okay, what is the Broncos way? And they

23:52

go, run hard, support, right? Which

23:55

is a couple of very traditional things you

23:57

say. But I think, what happens if run

23:59

hard and support?

23:59

gets stopped. Right let's talk

24:02

about the grand final last year. Parramatta

24:05

very overtly say we're the power

24:07

game we're gonna go through the front door. Look for the collision.

24:09

Look for the collision. Penrith go

24:11

good luck we shut the front door. Yep. How

24:13

do you win? Just a plan B. Yeah how do you win

24:15

on that? So while the Broncos are flying

24:17

this sounds really silly. I'm just worried

24:20

if things start going against

24:22

the Broncos like the Raiders they

24:25

made that a scrappier fair and took away a couple

24:28

of their strengths. Broncos probably complacent

24:30

five wins straight but just a little bit worried

24:32

about if a good opposition stops

24:35

them

24:36

and how what's their plan B plan C.

24:38

Right what's their firepower look like if

24:40

their greatest strength of you know

24:42

Hus. Hus and Carrigan are taken away.

24:44

Yeah it's true like

24:46

both as a collective team and individually

24:50

one of the secrets of consistent performance

24:53

is knowing why things work. Yep.

24:55

Isn't it? Yeah we spoke about last year a ball player

24:57

and you do something miraculous and someone

25:00

asked you how'd you do it you go I just did it. I'm just a

25:02

genius. Yeah but then you go five

25:04

years down the track you go I saw that

25:06

was a middle forward so I showed on the inside

25:09

a little bit he took the bait so I hit the accelerator

25:11

yeah. Well talking about David Fafita is

25:13

a perfect example. David Fafita

25:16

we stated

25:17

in previous seasons that he

25:19

looked lost because he didn't know.

25:23

He didn't know like for instance he scored a 60-metre

25:25

try and you say oh yeah what were you doing

25:28

there Dave I don't know I just picked the ball up and it

25:30

was literally everything was just

25:33

off the back of this amazing

25:36

athletic ability these natural gifts

25:38

that God's given him. Well you're watching him

25:40

now and the switch to the left is

25:43

making his career. Yep. Kieran

25:45

Foran to understand the science

25:47

of the game and on the weekend you know Kieran

25:49

was just mixing here feed him early sometimes

25:52

give him time other times take it into the line

25:54

hitting him short other times come on Dave

25:56

run the space out the back and letting Dave

25:58

create space and you can see

25:59

He's reveling in it. You can see he's

26:02

actually, he's understanding now

26:04

how to use his size. And the thing I love

26:06

about Coop about his performance is

26:08

he bought in. Like,

26:11

and I know like,

26:12

I think sometimes, I think

26:14

in previous season, the big money and the big contract,

26:17

I think it weighed on him. He looks

26:19

liberated to me and he just,

26:21

everything he did took the challenge up to Carrigan and

26:23

Haas and he was just in the contest. I'll back

26:26

you up there because there's two parts. Foreign,

26:29

no doubt, is educating him and bringing him into

26:31

the game. But I haven't, I've only seen

26:33

this a couple of times in David's career.

26:36

You talk about

26:37

going after and going to the game. There

26:39

was a hit up in the first half, I think

26:41

it was off the tap or something, and

26:43

he saw Carrigan and he

26:46

just basically manned up and said, I'm

26:48

coming for you. Hit him with everything he had. It was

26:50

good contact. But the fact that

26:52

he went after the big guy in the opposition

26:54

and got a penalty, I just

26:56

thought that was a small glimpse of

26:59

a guy that isn't hesitating at

27:01

the moment. And that's a hell of a sign. When

27:03

the guy with the physical capabilities

27:05

to destroy the opposition doesn't

27:07

go after the little bloke, he actually goes,

27:09

you know what? I'm going after the biggest one and I'm

27:11

going to see if I can do it. It's

27:14

a great sign. Mo for the waker as well.

27:16

Mo, I'll ask you this about your

27:19

Queenslanders because every time I reach the sister

27:21

around the corner, you just elevate. And

27:23

over the course of the weekend, I watched all these

27:25

Queensland players, particularly the forwards, were

27:27

outstanding. And Mo

27:30

was absolutely brilliant. He sort of out

27:32

on the periphery that Billy would

27:34

have watched and said, wow, look at this guy go, we see Hawesborough,

27:37

what he's

27:37

been doing. Is it a conscious

27:39

thing, Cooper? Like leading

27:41

in the state of origin, consciously

27:44

is there, do you get calls from Mal? Is

27:46

it just something you blokes do because

27:49

it can't be a coincidence? No, I

27:51

think sometimes the coach will call different

27:54

players and things like that, but what is it? A

27:56

few weeks out, four, six weeks out for origin, you

27:58

want the call.

27:59

You want your name to be read out on that sheet,

28:02

so you don't want to be missing out.

28:04

And whether Mo's thinking like

28:06

that or not has had a call, but there's a

28:08

moment in that game, like he had, the

28:10

numbers were off the charts for the first 40 minutes, like

28:13

tremendous. You know, Tino goes off the field first

28:15

most days out there. But I

28:17

think it was like a couple of minutes ago in the first

28:19

half, and this is what Slater

28:21

would be looking for, not the stats.

28:24

There was a kick out of their own end.

28:26

Mo leads the chase.

28:28

I think it was Selwyn Cobo, who was a hard

28:30

man to handle. Mo hits

28:32

him, runs 50 metres with the kick chase, hits him

28:34

with everything he's got, dislodges the ball and

28:37

the intensity on his face to his teammates.

28:39

So they're the little things that I think

28:42

you pick origin players on, not the 130 metres

28:44

in, you know, 40 minutes of footy.

28:46

It's the, what did you do in between when no

28:48

one was sort of watching? And that's the stuff that origin's

28:51

built on. Blake, I didn't mention there, Lindsay Collins.

28:53

Yep. Like, all these blokes

28:55

come down here, the competition for spots in that pack.

28:58

Just on Blake's handling pressure,

29:01

Mitchell Moses has been so impressive over the

29:03

last couple of weeks. And really impressive.

29:06

Mitchell's got a real natural confidence.

29:10

I'd say a real, he's got a swagger.

29:13

There's a healthy arrogance, I like.

29:15

Sometimes people go, oh, it's arrogant, but I

29:18

think great players have got to have that. And

29:20

it just shows, you know, he's

29:23

handling the pressure of the big contract, but it just

29:25

shows, Coop, whether it was unconscious

29:27

or what, certainly

29:28

when those on-again, off-again negotiations

29:31

about the extension, it did have

29:33

an impact on him. You can't handle

29:36

any external pressure unless you've done the work. The

29:38

work

29:40

and the log book

29:42

of stuff is the thing that holds you together

29:44

in moments like that. When

29:47

Mitchell came into this

29:48

competition, he had this ability

29:50

to break the line open with a sort

29:53

of

29:54

cool, sexy, X Factor type play.

29:57

But he's built his career as

29:59

a halfback. that's so impressively, particularly

30:01

the last three years. He had, when

30:03

he kicked, when he was younger, it was just, I'm

30:05

just kicking because I have to. But

30:07

now, there's so much thought, and his kicking

30:10

game is so elite now. The ability

30:12

to

30:12

pinpoint for a long range, the ability

30:14

to stand up in moments. So, yeah,

30:17

I think, you know, he's definitely

30:19

done it last sort of two years, but he's starting to put

30:22

all the aspects of an elite halfback

30:24

together. I think he's over the course. He's

30:27

had one bit here, one bit there. I

30:29

mean, when he first went to Parramati, he was a runner,

30:31

and then they wanted him to be a game manager, and he

30:34

lost his running game. But he's starting

30:36

to put it all together now. It's going to be a great game up

30:38

in Darwin. Eels versus the Broncos.

30:41

It'd be a good test for Eels Broncos. Well, Eels is starting

30:43

to get traction now. I think,

30:45

to the Eels,

30:47

smashed them last time, I think they're up there

30:49

too. Yeah, you've

30:51

got Galthison versus Walsh. I'd

30:54

be really interested to see, you

30:56

know, the game plan of both coaches. You've

31:00

got Parramatta that liked to play front door,

31:02

and then you've got Payne House and Carrigan,

31:05

which Fordpack gets the ascendancy. We're

31:07

talking about earlier, how do the Broncos play with plan

31:09

B? What happens if Penrith can't get there?

31:11

Plan A on how do they play off

31:13

the back of that? Moses, Reynolds,

31:16

Integral. Tricky conditions up there as

31:18

well for tugging. Yeah,

31:21

you'll get a call, by the way, I imagine tomorrow

31:23

off Kevvie saying, no, you don't road this, mate. I'm

31:25

going to make a couple of calls, mate. It's going to give this

31:27

podcast a little bit of cover. You've

31:29

got to be able to get it pulled off, because you're about the only bloke around here who can

31:32

get things taken away. Good eye, Kevvie. Good

31:34

on you, mate.