😃 The good: The incredible longevity of Jared Warrea Hargreaves
😔 bad person: Wayne Bennett’s questionable South claims
😡 Ugly: Cronulla’s fall in the NRL standings is a concern
Jared Warea-Hargreaves praised for stellar Roosters career
Manly fans are quick to point out that few players who leave Brookvale thrive elsewhere, citing the likes of Glenn Stewart and Anthony Whatmough as recent examples of players who lose their spark and aura once they leave the Northern Beaches.
Those same fans believe the Sea Eagles rarely lose players they really want to keep – and to be fair, they’re both pretty spot on – but there is the odd exception to the rule.
Jared Warea-Hargreaves made his debut for Manly in 2009, making six appearances that season. He was scouted out of rugby by Sea Eagles legend Noel Cleary, who told his former club they could build a team around the New Zealand newcomer.
JWH was raw and still developing physically but Crusher felt he had what it took to withstand the heat of the NRL front row: he was tough, uncompromising and a born leader.
Cleary was devastated when the young prop was allowed to leave to join the Roosters in 2010 and his disappointment was vindicated by JWH’s subsequent achievements, who became the Roosters’ longest-serving player with 307 appearances in Sunday’s big win over St George Illawarra.
It’s an incredible statistic and a remarkable achievement considering the Roosters are the founding club and Warea-Hargreaves plays in the toughest position in the game. “He was wild at the start, he was something different and played with a lot of emotion and power and aggression,” Roosters coach Trent Robinson said of JWH.
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“He’s been able to maintain that while improving his professionalism and his life off the field. He’s a great source of pride for himself and his family.”
I don’t agree with Wayne Bennett’s decision on Damien Cook
Is Wayne Bennett fooling us? Does he really want us to believe he had no say in Damien Cook leaving South Sydney? Did a coach with his fingerprints on the roster he oversees not at least have a conversation with Rabbitohs officials about Cook’s future?
We’re not just talking about minor freshman. Cook is South’s most impactful player, along with Latrell Mitchell, Cameron Murray and Cody Walker.
He’s a former Origin star who is just two games away from reaching 200 appearances for the club in the cardinal red and myrtle green jersey. It would be incredible if Bennett, who will return to the Bunnies next year, really had no hand in the departure of Cook, who was released and moved to the Dragons.
But the legendary coach insists it’s true. “No, it wasn’t me, it was South Sydney’s decision,” Bennett told News Corp. “It (Cook’s dismissal) is not my fault, the salary cap means South are just trying to free up funds to buy players in certain positions, it’s as simple as that.” Sorry Wayne, we don’t believe it.
Critical moment looms for Cronulla amid NRL slump
The old saying goes that when the going gets tough, the toughest teams rise to the occasion. We are about to see just how tough the Cronulla Sharks are. After a fantastic start to the season, winning nine of their 10 games, Craig Fitzgibbon’s side looked certain to finish in the top four and be a threat to win the premiership.
The Sharks, previously accused of not being able to beat the better teams, beat the Warriors in Auckland and then away to Melbourne and the Roosters, but Cronulla’s season is rapidly deteriorating.
The Sharks have just one win in their last six games and, ironically, their struggles have come against teams further down the table. They have lost to the league’s bottom three teams – Wests Tigers, Parramatta and, on Friday night, the Gold Coast Titans.
Winning teams don’t let those games go to waste and Fitzgibbon is faced with some tough decisions to get his team back on track, his spine not fully functional and his forwards lacking the creativity and punch they had in the first two-and-a-half months.
Two big names have already withdrawn from the NSW Cup – Braden Hamlin-Uhle and Toby Rudolph – and other big names could join them if the Sharks fail to beat the bottom-placed Tigers on Friday night.
