INSIDE ❘ TEAM LISTS ❘ STAT ATTACK ❘ SCORES AROUND THE COUNTRY ROUND STORM MILESTONE ❘ CLEARY’S ORIGIN DECLARATION ❘ WARRIORS’ BACKUP PLAN + MORE NINE Est. 1920 Volume 99. No.9. May 3-9 2018 Twitter &Facebook: @bigleaguemag PAYNE HAAS Teenage rookie breaks the mould Too young for star status BEN HUNT EXCLUSIVE but too impressive to ignore ‘Munster makes rivals look silly’ KICKING PAMELA Cleary to fight OFF WHALEY AVEwelearnednothing?Idon’t Hknowaboutyou,butthereisnoway for Origin spot onearthI’mputtingalinethroughthe Cowboys this season. Once Johnathan ENRITH halfback Nathan Cleary has declared Thurstonbrokedownwithinjurylast Phimself available for State of Origin selection year, I made that mistake. I, like many, despitebeingsidelinedwithakneeinjuryfor didn’tgivetherestoftheteamenough thepasttwomonths.Healsobelieveshe’llonly credit.Thewaytheywereabletobattle needagameortwoatclubleveltobereadyfor throughanincredibleinjurytolland OriginIonJune6. keep raising the bar again and again Cleary,whoisrecoveringfromagradethree remainsoneofthebestthingsIhave medial ligament tear, told Big League he expects seenonafootballfield.Theirrunto to return to the NRL by Round 11, giving him two thegrandfinalfromeighthplaceon gamestoimpressnewcoachBradFittlerbefore By MICHAEL theladderwillgodownasoneofthe theNewSouthWalesteamisnamed. BLOK most courageous team performances “EvenifIplayjustoneortwogames,ifIplay @michaelblok26 inNRLhistory.Andbecauseofthat, wellandtheywantme,I’dbemorethanhappy I’mnotwillingtodoubttheirresilience to do it.” Cleary told Big League. now. Sure, the situation is different and “IthinkonceI’mback,I’m100percentfitandwillbeready.In there is no do-or-die mentality (yet), but sayingthat,I’veonlyplayedthreegamesthisyearandIknowI’ll itwon’tbelonguntilthebeastawakens. havetoplaywelltogetintothatOriginside.Itwouldbeagreat Sometimes when you’re trying so hard, honour,andifIgottheopportunityIwouldn’tturnitdown.” thingsdon’tgotoplan.We’veallbeen With Panthers team-mate James Maloney all but in that situation before. assuredofhisplaceintheBluesside,Fittlercould Butaswesawatthetailendof betemptedtopickClearytokeeptheclubconnection. 2017, when the Cowboys are grateful The 20-year-old halfback ran unsupported for the to be playing footy and happy to be firsttimelastFriday,givinghimtheconfidenceto on the paddock, they can do anything. returnintwoweeksagainsthisdad’sclubWestsTigers. They’veonlyhadthreeawaygames “TherunjudgedwhereIwasat.Itwasprettypositive thisseason,butforthenexttwoweeks and the physio was really happy, which makes me happy they’re on the road in Bathurst against becauseIcanprogressfromthere,”hesaid. the Panthers and Sydney against the “Therunfeltgood.ItfeltprettyweirdbecauseIwas Wests Tigers. It’s a timely opportunity offthelegsforawhilebutitwasgreattofinallygetthe forsometeambonding–forthe braceoff.Ihavetokeepworkingandhopefully I can be playing group and the coaching staff back as soon as possible. to form a siege mentality and get back “I should be back for Round 11 – that’s to what they do best, winning. theplan–butI’vegottoplayitbyearand Melbourne’sfirstcoachChris see what happens.” Anderson talks through a similar ThePanthershavebeenhithardbyinjuries situation on pages 20-21, when he took in2018.AswellaslosingCleary,they’ve the Storm to play Illawarra in their first beenwithoutJoshMansour(cheek),Waqa NRL match 20 years ago and how those Blake (ankle), Peter Wallace (neck), Dylan away trips formed their culture. Edwards(shoulder),TyroneMay(ACL), TimBrowne(bowel),SamMcKendry (ACL) and Tyrone Phillips (pec). Despitehavingalargecasualty ward,they’vestillrecordedsix wins from their opening eight FEATURES games – something that has 10 BEN HUNT impressed Cleary. 16-17 KALYN PONGA “They’resuchagritty 18 PAYNE HAAS teamandthat’swhyIlove 20-21 20YEARSOFSTORM beingapartofit,”hesaid. “It’sbeenhardlosingkey 22-23 FRANK-PAUL NUUAUSALA players,butthatjustshowsthe 24 PANTHERS IN BATHURST resilienceintheteamandhow impressivetheyaretokeepbouncing UPFRONT 3-15 back and getting wins.” In Cleary’s absence, Maloney and Tyrone CLUB NEWS 26-29 PeacheyhaveimpressedasthePanthers’halves. LITTLE LEAGUE 30-31 “They’regoingreallywell,”Clearysaid. NRL TEAMS 36-51 “Peachey’s progressed really well. He’s been OTHER COMPS 52-55 workingreallyhardanddoingalotofvideo.” Afterninegameslastseason,thePanthershadjust RESULTS 56-57 twowins,butthisseasonthey’llbeattemptingtheir DRAW 62 seventhwinatthesamepointoftheyear. Gregg Porteous/NRLPhotos.com COVER PHOTO: “It’samuchbetterfeeling than last year, hopefully SHANE MYERS/NRLPHOTOS.COM we can keep winning.” PHOTO: Round Nine BIG LEAGUE 2018 3 Plenty of options for wounded Warriors By WILL EVANS Johnson (leg), Tohu Harris (concussion), Solomone Kata HE Warriors’ crushing 50-10 (ankle) and James Gavet TlosstoMelbourneonAnzac (hamstring) have been named Day was compounded by to return this weekend, while akneeinjurysufferedbyhooker recruitGerardBeale(brokenleg) Issac Luke, though it may not be isonthecuspofaclubdebutat asbadasfirstthoughtafterhe ISPleveltofurthercomplicate was surprisingly named to take future team selections. onWestsTigersthisSaturday. “There’salotoftalent After two underwhelming available and it’s made for a really seasons, Luke has been the competitivesquad.Everyone’son NRL’sstandoutNo.9sofarin theirtoes,”Iroenthused. 2018–culminatinginoneof “It makes selection difficult thefinestperformancesofhis but it’s a good position to be in careerintheRound7winover for the coaching staff.” St George Illawarra. As relentless and switched TheWarriorsareconfidentthey likely option to move into the on as the Warriors have been, possessthedepthtocoverforthe starting pack if needed. Sam their two losses to the Broncos 30-year-old’s potential absence. Cook–whoearnedhisNRLspurs and Storm were convincing “‘Bully’[Luke]hasbeenin offthebenchinRound1–and andunderpinnedbyalackof greatform,sohe’llbemissed Mason Lino are competing to join intensity during key periods. ifhe’sout,butwe’vegotenough the interchange if Luke drops out. The same can’t be said for talentaroundtherestofthe “Karlonlyjoinedthegroup their Round 9 opponents, whose park to compensate,” assistant late,buthehadastronggamein threelosseswereallbytwo-point coachTonyIrotoldBig League. awfulconditionsonSaturdayfor margins.Iroknowshisteamhave They’recertainlynotshort ourreservegradeside,sohe’ll toputinan80-minuteeffortto of dummy-half options, despite put his hand up,” Iro said. getbackinthewinner’scircle. ashoulderinjuryclaiming The Warriors’ heavy injury “TheTigerscompeteonevery in-form utility Jazz Tevaga tollhasbeenlargelyoverlooked play–that’sbeenthehallmark (pictured),whoslottedinafter during a 6-2 start to the year. The of their start to the season. They Luke left the field at AAMI Park. teamhasproventheirabilityto fight for everything and they Versatile former Titan Karl win without key players, rolling makeyoufightforeverything. Lawtonhasbeennamedtomake the heavyweight Roosters and “Weknowwhat’scoming,I’ve hisWarriorsdebutinTevaga’s DragonswithhalfbackShaun coachedwithIvan[Cleary]before No.14 jersey and shapes as the Johnson sitting on the sidelines. and he’ll have his boys fired up.” Tigers their own worst enemies By MICHAEL BLOK than that, we know we’re better “Teams are definitely taking than that.” usseriouslynow.We’vegot OLLOWING two-straight losses, Although all three losses have a great team that works hard for FfullbackCoreyThompsonsaid been by just two points, Thompson each other. Talking to other teams the Wests Tigers need to be careful saidtheteamneedstobebetter after the games, their players orelsethey’llslipdowntheladder. at the back-end of games. knowwedon’tgiveup,”hesaid. Having started the season with “Itisnicethatwe’relosing “Teams aren’t playing through five wins from their opening six [narrowly],butwe’veletgoof us or pulling off fancy plays. We’re games, the Tigers have suffered fourcompetitionpointsinthepast just letting ourselves down with defeatstoNewcastleand twoweeks.Thosepointsarevital defensive errors and by giving Parramatta in the past two weeks, inaclosecompetition,”hesaid. away silly penalties.” andhavefallenoutofthetopfour. “[The Parramatta game] just They’llbetryingtoavoidthree- “We’vegottobecarefulnot gotawayfromus.Itwaslikethe consecutivelosseswhentheyface to slip away now,” Thompson told Knights game, we got the lead theWarriorsonSaturday. Big League. neartheend,butmadesillyerrors “We’ve got a massive challenge “Ivan[coachCleary]waspretty and penalties and we didn’t win.” [on Saturday] in New Zealand, so NRLPhotos.com: Paul Barkley (Souths), Nathan Hopkins (Cordner), Nathan Hopkins (Cordner), Paul Barkley (Souths), NRLPhotos.com: pissedoffwithusafterthegame However, Thompson said they’re it’s not going to get any easier for because we’re letting games taking confidence out of opposing us. It’ll be good for us to be thrown PHOTOS: Robb Cox (Tevaga) slip away. We’ve got to be better teams respecting them this season. into the fire.” Broncos centre James Roberts has scored six tries in his past six games against the Bulldogs. UU The Cowboys have lost 4 BIG LEAGUE 2018 Round Nine ISSN: 0311-175X Editor: Pamela Whaley Subeditor: David Piepers Staff Writers: Michael Blok, Martin Gabor, Darcie McDonald England. I’ve never Contributors: Fiona Bollen, he areas and I’m Will Evans, Ben Everill, Ben Hunt, ledin.We’vegot Adam Long, Andrew Marmont, er from training. DavidMiddleton,AndrewVoss, perfect for me. Phil Wilkinson eason... Art Director: Craig Loughlin-Smith exciting for us. Designer: Tina Colwell life.Itwasgreat