After a weekend of heavily lopsided results in the NRL, Channel 9โs Phil Gould has blasted the sides at the bottom end of the competition for a series of weak efforts lacking in intensity and commitment.
โItโs terrible from the Tigers, itโs terrible from half the competition,โ Gould said in Channel 9's post game coverage following the Sydney Roosters 76-6 annihilation of the Wests Tigers at the SCG on Saturday afternoon.
โIt just shows you where our competition is at the moment and where some of the bottom teams are. They just canโt compete when these top teams get it right.
โYou get score lines like this late in the season where one team has something to play for. I canโt see why a professional footballer or football team doesnโt always have something to play for.
โThe Wests Tigers are back there at the tail of the field, you want something for your fans, to come out and show a little pride and resilience, the same goes for other teams.
โYou canโt give up at this end of the season and allow teams to run roughshod over you like that.โ
Gouldโs calls come after a number of blowout scores in games between teams who are struggling and teams who are already preparing for finals football.
While the South Sydney v Penrith contest had a close finish between two top teams, the other results for Round 23 have seen the Cowboys thump the Warriors 48-4, the Storm dominate the Broncos 60-12, Parramatta beat the Bulldogs 42-6 and the Cronulla Sharks pile the misery on Manly with a 40-6 away win.
When added to the Roosters-Tigers result, the five blowout scores contribute an average margin of 46.4 points per game.
While Gould said there were clear causes for the current situation, the road out back to an even competition may be a long one that requires a focus on development.
โWeโve had two years of Covid, two years with a lack of development. (Some of) those kids arenโt ready for NRL football," he said.
โThis is where our competition is at the moment. Until every club invests in development, until the game invests in development and until we look at whatโs available to us in the Pacific Islands and New Zealand and try to increase our player pool and take ownership of that, then itโs going to be a long road out of this.
โThe excuse is Covid. (Young players) havenโt played for a couple of years because of Covid โ but Covid has exposed this (problem), it didnโt create it.
โThis game is a house of cards at the moment, and the NRL needs to really get active with how it invests in development and the strength of our clubs.โ
