Elliot Whitehead had a very good game yesterday for Canberra, scoring a try, looking good in attack generally, and tackling like a demon. His British team mate Joshua Hodgson had some spectacular touches, including a perfectly weighted kick into the in goal that enabled a try for Joshua Papalli.

Coming straight on the heels of the sublime performance by Gareth Widdop for St George-Illawarra against the Serbian influenced Manly team, little wonder that Australian TV commentators were noting the contribution of "English players" to the NRL.

At the minute Widdop and Gale in the halves sounds quite appealing.

A cheap penalty given away followed by a shocking failure to tackle by the player identified as ex-Wigan centre Daniel Sarginson early in the Gold Coast's game against Brisbane. Lucky that the rest of his team was doing better than him, and they managed to score two tries against Brisbane by 20 minutes.

Just watched the Canberra game, Whitehead and Hodgson both looking very good at the minute, Hodgson scoring the match winning try.

www.illawarramercury.com.au/stor ... t/?cs=3713

www.illawarramercury.com.au/stor ... t/?cs=3713

Not heard much about Dan Sarginson, even though I believe Titans had a bit of an injury crisis. Is he miles away from the first team? Is he likely to be heading back? I know he'll be 'another NRL failure' for whoever signs him (unless it's your club), but he's not going to be struggling for offers

I had my doubts about him holding a spot down, but you can't blame anybody from taking the opportunity if it presents itself

He came off the bench yesterday.

No he didn't. He came out of the dressing sheds and was on the field for kickoff.

I watched about 40 mins of Friday's game v the Broncos and he seemed to be having a bit of a poor game.

My bad. I only saw a bit of the match and he seemed to be wearing number 20(?).

agreed. No disrespect to Sarginson, he is a very good honest pro and SL standard back/player, but considering the quality and depth they have in the NRL in the three quarters he falls short in comparison. Same goes for Turner who went to Canberra, he isn't a patch on the backs they have there and never will be. that isn't a sleight, just reality. Can't knock either for trying it mind and they will easily find a club back over here any time so no risk really.

Another good piece on Widdop and his red hot form. www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/ ... 7a4fe8969d

Another good piece on Widdop and his red hot form. www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/ ... 7a4fe8969d

Quote ="WIZEB"Another good piece on Widdop and his red hot form. www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/ ... 7a4fe8969d'" As a regular knocker of Widdop, I've been pleasantly surprised by his form so far this year - he finally seems to be playing what's in front of him. I still don't really see him controlling the game though, Josh McCrone is playing that role - Widdop is getting the headlines for the silky plays, but McCrone is stearing the team around the park - Widdop is almost then taking over once in good attacking positions. It will be interesting to see how he fares when they come across stiff opposition - at the moment, they're comfortably beating the cellar dwellers, but have only just beaten the Sharks and a Cowboys team missing Scott and Thurston - and both the Sharks and Cowboys played terribly against them... I'd like to see how the Saints as a team and Widdop as an individual go when they meet a good team in good form.

Quote ="WIZEB"Another good piece on Widdop and his red hot form. www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/ ... 7a4fe8969d'" As a regular knocker of Widdop, I've been pleasantly surprised by his form so far this year - he finally seems to be playing what's in front of him. I still don't really see him controlling the game though, Josh McCrone is playing that role - Widdop is getting the headlines for the silky plays, but McCrone is stearing the team around the park - Widdop is almost then taking over once in good attacking positions. It will be interesting to see how he fares when they come across stiff opposition - at the moment, they're comfortably beating the cellar dwellers, but have only just beaten the Sharks and a Cowboys team missing Scott and Thurston - and both the Sharks and Cowboys played terribly against them... I'd like to see how the Saints as a team and Widdop as an individual go when they meet a good team in good form.

He can only prove his worth by letting his football do the talking and he's been excellent so far.
Looks like SGI are trying their hardest to retain him now to play alongside Hunt after looking like he would be surplus to requirements.

They'll be kicking themselves they didn't tie him down early season when he wanted to sign - his asking price will have sky rocketed based on his form.... I still wouldn't hang my hat on him if I were running a club.

Don't forget St George have a much improved pack this year. Vaughan is arguably the stand-out prop of the competition so far and getting on a roll obviously helps the halves out, but Widdop has been having a great year so far.

Sarginson on the other hand had an absolute shocker last weekend and given the strength the Titans have in the centres when fit, he could have a job getting back into the first team...

Sarginson's first game after a foot injury though, he'll get more time.

I was at the Broncos-Titans game and Sargison was terrible in the first half, and got taken off immediately after dropping a pass that led to a try (classically looking at the tacklers not the ball). That wasn't long after a really poor effort tackling Boyd where he just seemed to let him go. He came back on later and was clearly told to dig in, as he had a fair few runs from acting half. The good news for Sargison is that the Titans don't have a lot of strength in depth, so he'll get more chances. The bad news is that with the signing of Copley, he won't be in the team at all if everyone is fit.

Like I said about Burgess, Eden and Hardaker, the sheer physicality of backs in the NRL is miles ahead of SL. It took Burgess most of the year to adjust, Eden looked like a wet lettuce throughout, as did Hardaker, and now Sargison. I'm pretty sure a 2015 (or 2017) Hardaker would have done better, but in his first appearance for the Panthers one of the commentators reckoned he was 10 kg too light, and that's the way he played. Being pushed off by one of the smallest players around, Ben Barba, just about summed up his defensive efforts.

That's why England need to pick backs who are either big or at least really enjoy the tough stuff. Ideally both.

You can probably add Tomkins to that list as well. His footwork and ball skills helped him to at least make a go of it in the NRL, but it terms of winning collisions he never stood a chance. Some Wigan fans might object, but ultimately his time over there was a failure.

If Joe Wardle wants to have any sort of career over there, he'll move into the second row as soon as he can.

Tomkins played like an extra halfback for the Warriors. The glaring weakness in his game wasn't defence, where he worked hard and ended up being pretty reasonable, but in kick returns. The best fullbacks in the NRL make big yards and/or regularly get quick PTBs following contact. Tomkins would get absolutely smashed, so the Warrior ended up having him pass to a winger every time. I'm pretty sure that if he'd stayed in the NRL he would have ended up at 6 or 7.

Hodgsons sledging of Dylan Walker came back to bite him in the bum.


What a game.

George Burgess slapped with a 4 week ban for a completely pointless and cowardly late shoulder charge on Milford. So, in his last 3 games he's been banned for 2 games for elbowing a Knights player in the face after he'd played the ball, escaped sanction (god knows how) after twice elbowing a Bulldogs player that was holding down to slow the PTB, and now this cheap shot on Milford - the bloke is in self destruct mode.
Not sure what's got into him, and why he feels he needs to try and be a big tough man - he's just looking real dumb and grubby. I'd suggest he needs to use the focus he's got on trying to look tough on actually holding onto the ball and doing some work.
I remember when the twins first started playing for Souths, Sam went through a similar patch where he was more focused on the niggle, rather than being the ultimate workhorse that he is, maybe George is just going a similar phase in his life....

Widdop was having a good game until forced off injured.
Dragons struggled without him second half especially on last play options.
Looks like he'll be sidelined for a bit.

What was really noticeable about Widdopp before he went off is how much straighter he's playing this year. The forwards are doing much better and the team is set up much better, but he really is a different player in terms of confidence.

Just as his contract was up for renewal, how curious