The FR T ROW ROUND 4 2020 VOLUME 1 · ISSUE 2 A-HOY THERE!Where to next for Knights rookie? INSIDE: THE ROAD TO RESUMPTION · HOW THE NEW RULES FARED · R3 RESULTS & REPORTS · LADDER · NRL NEWS · R4 TEAMLISTS & PREVIEWS · SEASON DRAW LEAGUEUNLIMITED.COM | THE FRONT ROW | ROUND 4, 2020 | 1 LU FORUMS AD THE FRONT ROW FORUMS AUSTRALIA’S BIGGEST RUGBY LEAGUE DISCUSSION FORUMS forums.leagueunlimited.com THERE IS NO OFF-SEASON 2 | LEAGUEUNLIMITED.COM | THE FRONT ROW | ROUND 4, 2020 From the editor What’s inside Tim Costello THE FRONT ROW - ISSUE 2 What a weekend of footy that was! While there's plenty of From the editor 3 debate about the impact of one referee and the advent of the THE WRAP · Round 3 six-again restart rule, there's no doubt NRL matches were Match reports 4-7 played at a much faster pace than we remember. In this week's The scoresheet 8 issue, Joshua Wells looks at that - check out page 16. LU Player of the Year standings 9 The long-term impacts of the COVID-19 break-enforced rule NRL Match Review & Judiciary 9 changes are yet to be seen, but all footy fans will agree it's just a Premiership Ladder 10 joy to have the game back. Discussion continues to rage about the piped crowd noise on the broadcast of the game, not to Stats Leaders 10 mention the cardboard cutouts in the crowd. On the flip side - News: TV deal, theme rounds 11 it's good we're not talking about glaring refereeing errors. Feature: Tex Hoy 12-13 Feature: The long road back 14-15 We also got to see player debuts, both in the NRL and those at new clubs. One such player was Tex Hoy - our own Paul Jobber Opinion: From the Wells 16 spoke to the young Knights rookie after Sunday's draw with Player birthdays 16 Penrith - check it out on page 12. GAME DAY · Round 4 17 Broncos v Roosters 18-19 Meanwhile, state governments appear to be ramping up the lifting of restrictions, and the game's top brass remain hopeful Panthers v Warriors 20-21 we could see actual crowds at games in some form soon. In the Storm v Rabbitohs 22-23 meantime, we hear pubs are starting to slowly open! Eels v Sea Eagles 24-25 Cowboys v Sharks 26-27 As for this little publication, we've been overwhelmed with your support this past week after launching the first edition of The Raiders v Knights 28-29 Front Row. Initiatives like this are only a success because of the Titans v Wests Tigers 30-31 wonderful contributors and great constructive feedback from Bulldogs v Dragons 32-33 the rugby league community - so keep it coming! 2020 Draw 34-35 MANAGERS Steven Williams The FRONT ROW Coby Delaney ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS EDITOR Tim Costello CONTRIBUTORS Robert Crosby We’d like to thank RugbyLeagueProject.org for their support Justin Davies and use of various statistics throughout this publication. Josh Robertson Adam Huxtable Interested in advertising with The Front Row or Sam Bourke LeagueUnlimited.com, or just want to provide feedback? Hamish Parker Contact us by email - [email protected] Andrew Jackson Andrew Ferguson Jeff Dickinson-Fox Magazine content originally appears on Rick Edgerton LeagueUnlimited.com © 2020 Paul Jobber Cover image: Tex Hoy, courtesy Newcastle Knights Joshua Wells LEAGUEUNLIMITED.COM | THE FRONT ROW | ROUND 4, 2020 | 3 THE WRAP · ROUND 3 Parramatta put their foot on the throat of the home side in the second half. The blue-and-golds piled on a further four tries to Clint Gutherson, the evergreen Eels brush past Michael Jennings, backrower Shaun Lane and centre Waqa Blake, stamping Broncos in their authority on the return of rugby league to the big stage. Besides the points, the Eels suffocated the Broncos with possession. Much of the second half looked like the screen was tilted to the right, as the Eels piled Rugby League's on the pressure and tired out the Broncos through attack, showing that maybe 2020 might be the year to break the decades-long hoodoo. return For the Broncos, there were short moments of brightness. Both Darius Boyd Justin Davies and Anthony Milford bombed tries that would have reduced the margin, but besides that the Broncos weren't able to get out of their own way and into the Eels half in order to muster any sort of comeback. 6-34 Their sole points came from a slicing run from Brodie Croft, the former Storm The Parramatta Eels maintained their perfect start to the National Rugby half making it 6-6 midway through the first half - but the horns fell silent at the League season with a convincing 34-6 result against Brisbane Broncos Drive-in, an event which housed a large group of the Broncos fans as they saw tonight at Suncorp Stadium, as the NRL rebooted following the COVID-19- their side's unbeaten start come to a crushing halt. enforced lockdown. One final note - it was just good to see Rugby League again! There were plenty It had been 67 days since the completion of Round 2, but the football was back. of hurdles put between the league and tonight's restart, but to the ARLC's The first half was a breathless display between the sides, Parramatta led 12-6 credit, they cleared all of them and despite some grumbling, the spectacle through tries to Matara Niukore, and Maika Sivo. delivered and is a hopeful sign of what is to come. The Eels picked up right where they left off in their first two contests, with a LeagueUnlimited.com Player of the Year points: vibrant display would have electrified those watching back home in Sydney's 3 points - Dylan Brown west. Brisbane contributed to their own downfall equally, with a stream of 2 points - Clinton Gutherson errors and lapses which had them on the back foot. 1 points - Shaun Lane The only points for the Titans came in the 14th minute as they shifted left on the last at close range to Brian Kelly's wing and, seemingly trapped by three Cowboy doubles help Cowboys players with no momentum, Kelly put on a spin toward the sideline to deliver first win at beat Feldt all ends up. It was a tough start the Titans had to try recovering from as it took 12 minutes for the visitors to complete their first set. Eight errors in the first half and poor new home last-tackle options from Ash Taylor and the latest Gold Coast halfback Jamal Jeff Dickinson-Fox Fogarty limited their ability to build field position pressure. Fogarty had his best moment of the night in the final five minutes where it looked he had scored a Titans try, but The Bunker ruled Shannon Boyd obstructed the play. 36-6 The Titans are now the only team in NRL history to concede 24 points or more While the North Queensland Cowboys and their supporters will have to in 14 straight games and if they don't get a win by round five they will have keep waiting for the first win they can celebrate together at Queensland gone a full year without an NRL win. Country Bank Stadium, they'll all be able enjoy tonight's dominant 36-6 performance over the Gold Coast Titans. Scott Drinkwater continued his impressive run of play and thrived as the chief playmaker with the absence of Michael Morgan. North Queensland winger Ben It was the second fast-paced and free-flowing game in as many nights Hampton is now the equal leading try scorer in the NRL with Brisbane's Kotoni following the NRL's rule change around defensive ruck infringements, which Staggs, as a double tonight took his season tally of tries to four. played right into the hands of North Queensland's mobile forward pack and speed men. Two Cowboys forwards found themselves in the sin bin for professional fouls, Mitchell Dunn in the 27th minute and Coen Hess in the 77th minute. After Once Jason Taumalolo began his second-half stint in the 52nd minute, it only both occasions North Queensland was able to increase their lead with 12 men. took a few minutes for the Cowboys to notch up their first of four second-half Valentine Holmes converted six of his seven kicks on the night and contributed tries that set the home side on a 22-0 second-half shut-out of the Titans. The three try assists. 55th minute try was set up by a Taumalolo line break in the middle of the park and, despite being tackled by Phillip Sami at fullback, he earned a six again Moeaki Fotuaika was the best of the Titans players as he finished with 154 run penalty. A couple of tackles later bench hooker Recce Robson could not be metres, 43 tackles, a linebreak, four tackle breaks and two offloads. stopped on a dart from dummy-half at close range for his first NRL try. LeagueUnlimited.com Player of the Year points: Robson was in again three minutes later as another dash from dummy-half, 3 points - Jason Taumalolo this time about seven metres out, caught the defence flat-footed and he scored 2 points - Scott Drinkwater close to the posts and almost untouched for a 26-6 lead. 1 points - Valentine Holmes 4 | LEAGUEUNLIMITED.COM | THE FRONT ROW | ROUND 4, 2020 The Roosters then skipped ahead again, when new signing Josh Morris put his lanky winger Tupou away down the left-hand side.