Opinion
It’s incredible how fast it has happened.
Expanding the use of set-restarts, which can now be awarded from the attacking 20-metre line instead of the 40-metre, has made teams which build their games on defence uncompetitive.
At the top of the list is the mighty Melbourne Storm, the kings of the wrestle, whose sustained excellence has been brought down by that 20-metre change.
Defence isn’t king any more. Speed is. And in the NRL in 2026, speed kills.
To be fair, other factors have contributed to the Storm’s poor start to the season. The loss of Eli Katoa for the year, and possibly for good, was out of their hands after he suffered a brain bleed from head knocks in the warm-up and match for Tonga against New Zealand in November. Then Tui Kamikamica suffered a stroke, an awful thing for such a young man.
But before those twin blows, something was awry at the Storm late last year – despite their charge to the grand final.
Fullback Ryan Papenhuyzen walked away from the game aged 27 and Nelson Afosa-Solomona’s relationship with the club deteriorated to the point of no return and he was gone, too.
The desperation in the text messages from Storm chief executive Justin Rodski to NRL headquarters, released by the NSW Supreme Court, was there for all to see.
The Storm knew then what we know now, after six straight losses. They were in trouble roster-wise and, apart from Katoa, it was their own doing.
Rather than fix it themselves, they expected the NRL hierarchy to assist. When you’re used to success, you’ll try to keep it any way, anyhow.
The Storm’s 48-6 Anzac Day humiliation at the hands of the Rabbitohs will go down as one of the lowest points of their fabled 29-year history.
In the point-scoring frenzy of this season, where 50-plus per match is the norm, they have wrestled themselves into oblivion.
On the other hand, Wayne Bennett at 76, has shown again – just as he has since he began first-grade coaching at Souths in Brisbane in 1977 – that he can cope with any change the game throws up.
The Rabbitohs are averaging 32 points per match and look top-four material. But that’s predicated on two major factors – Cody Walker avoiding injury and Latrell Mitchell staying in the mood he’s in.
Also battling with the rule change are Cameron Ciraldo’s Bulldogs.
Ciraldo is a defensive genius, having built Penrith’s all-conquering system under Ivan Cleary and bringing it with him to Canterbury.
All recruitment and retention decisions at the club are based on players’ ability to cope with Ciraldo’s system.
Over the past two years, it has driven the Dogs to successive finals appearances – but this season, the faster pace of the game has them looking slow and predictable.
In successive weeks, they were out-run by lowly Parramatta then an under-manned Brisbane, leaving them with three wins and four losses. Not diabolical, but not where they thought they’d be in Ciraldo’s fourth season.
Importantly, they can’t score, averaging just 19 points per match. Only the Dragons, with 14 per match, are worse, and the less said about them the better.
One of the difficulties in discussing the Bulldogs is the protection racket which surrounds Lachie Galvin.
After his camp attempted to engineer his departure from Wests Tigers last year by denigrating their club legend coach, media was basically warned off from discussing Galvin too heavily because he was “just a kid”.
He’s on the cusp of turning 21 and is in his third season of first grade. So, it’s time to discuss him, even if he won’t discuss himself as the club has him on a media ban which somehow the NRL tolerates as it craves media attention before the crucial broadcast rights negotiations.
There are haves and have-nots in the competition. Always have been.
Now and then, there is a flash of something from Galvin that shows his ability. But it’s always just a flash. He has engaged the line 50 times this season – third in the whole competition, behind only Tom Dearden and Scott Drinkwater.
But after that, his stats cupboard is bare. He’s not in the top 50 for try assists, where he lags behind the likes of teammate Bronson Xerri, Jack Wighton and Hugo Savala.
He has eight line-break assists (10th in the competition) and is 33rd for line break involvements with two.
When you publicly declare you need out of a club because Benji Marshall lacks the coaching skills to unleash your Hall of Fame potential, you better deliver at your new joint.
Let’s compare Galvin to the guy at the Tigers who stuck his hand up and told Marshall that if Galvin didn’t want to be there, he’d do the job at seven.
With the Tigers sitting where the Bulldogs thought they’d be in equal second after eight rounds, Adam Douehi is having the season of his life and sits in the top 10 for try assists and line-break assists. He’s also scored four of his own.
The challenge for Craig Bellamy and Ciraldo now is to adapt, or die.
Neil Breen is the national sports editor and a Walkley Award-winning journalist.Connect via X.
