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Sydney Morning Herald
4 days ago
- Sport
- Sydney Morning Herald
‘Could change the way the game is played': Where does Galvin fit at Belmore?
Still, Fittler posits a scrum base set-up that builds on the foot speed, small forwards and short passing that Canterbury's attack has developed effectively this season, with Galvin in the seven. 'If you sat with Burton, and then Galvin, one's a left-footer, one's a right-footer, you play Galvin on the right,' Fittler said on The Sunday Footy Show. 'These days, locks are pretty much like halves, people like [Bulldogs utility] Bailey Hayward. 'You could play someone in the middle as a link to both of [halves]. And then all of a sudden, the game really changes. 'The one thing you could also do is stop sitting your halfback in the line so you get 120-kilo blokes running at them, but sit him behind the line, so he can pop in wherever he needs to. This could be a game-changer.' Like the high-energy, desperate defence Ciraldo crafted for Ivan Cleary at Penrith, Fittler's suggestion sounds a lot like the Panthers' championing of Isaah Yeo as the best ball-playing lock in the game. Off-air, the former NSW coach explains further. That Canterbury's lightweight forwards like Hayward, Kurt Mann, Jaemon Salmon and Josh Curran produce such a constant, rolling threat and such a constant ability to ball-play, that the Bulldogs could camp themselves up on the advantage line with numerous fast-moving parts, and largely jettison the long-shift plays that are everywhere you look in the modern game. Galvin could end up defending like 'Allan Langer, Ricky Stuart and Greg Alexander used to' Fittler says - somewhat out of the way, saved for attacking duties and until his 190-centimetre frame fills out. First though, Ciraldo is working out where the Tiger-turned-Bulldog fits into his 17 against Parramatta next Monday. No call will be made until the coach has seen Galvin train alongside his new teammates this week, but jettisoning the more-than serviceable Toby Sexton as game-managing No.7 would be a hell of a call. Sexton will eventually make way and land a deal somewhere in the NRL next season. Introducing Galvin off the bench alongside Hayward against the Eels is the safest play, seemingly without the same undersized issues that playing two utilities would do at other clubs. What's one more utility to a Canterbury side that thrives on them? As for Galvin's halfback hopes, Andrew and Matty Johns are among those that don't see it. Cooper Cronk - a utility turned champion No.7 himself through hard work and smarts - has his doubts as well. What the teen tyro does have is a pure halfback's sheer want to be involved in the game. Throughout his 18 months of first-grade, Galvin has averaged around 52 touches per game, a level of involvement that leads all five-eighths in that period and trails only a few on-ball halfbacks like Nathan Cleary, Isaiya Katoa and Nicho Hynes. Loading Of playmakers genuinely taking on the defence in a statistic the NRL terms 'line-engaged runs', only Katoa has done so more often than Galvin this year. His base-level play-making temperament appeals to coaches just as much as his rare skill and ability. It doesn't change the concern that the Bulldogs risk running without direction. Guiding Canterbury around the paddock was a role Burton struggled with when he played halfback, while this is Sexton's greatest asset. Hayward might offer another answer as well given his prowess when stepping into the halves this season, most notably in stirring wins over Cronulla at Shark Park and the Raiders in Canberra.
The Age
4 days ago
- Sport
- The Age
‘Could change the way the game is played': Where does Galvin fit at Belmore?
Still, Fittler posits a scrum base set-up that builds on the foot speed, small forwards and short passing that Canterbury's attack has developed effectively this season, with Galvin in the seven. 'If you sat with Burton, and then Galvin, one's a left-footer, one's a right-footer, you play Galvin on the right,' Fittler said on The Sunday Footy Show. 'These days, locks are pretty much like halves, people like [Bulldogs utility] Bailey Hayward. 'You could play someone in the middle as a link to both of [halves]. And then all of a sudden, the game really changes. 'The one thing you could also do is stop sitting your halfback in the line so you get 120-kilo blokes running at them, but sit him behind the line, so he can pop in wherever he needs to. This could be a game-changer.' Like the high-energy, desperate defence Ciraldo crafted for Ivan Cleary at Penrith, Fittler's suggestion sounds a lot like the Panthers' championing of Isaah Yeo as the best ball-playing lock in the game. Off-air, the former NSW coach explains further. That Canterbury's lightweight forwards like Hayward, Kurt Mann, Jaemon Salmon and Josh Curran produce such a constant, rolling threat and such a constant ability to ball-play, that the Bulldogs could camp themselves up on the advantage line with numerous fast-moving parts, and largely jettison the long-shift plays that are everywhere you look in the modern game. Galvin could end up defending like 'Allan Langer, Ricky Stuart and Greg Alexander used to' Fittler says - somewhat out of the way, saved for attacking duties and until his 190-centimetre frame fills out. First though, Ciraldo is working out where the Tiger-turned-Bulldog fits into his 17 against Parramatta next Monday. No call will be made until the coach has seen Galvin train alongside his new teammates this week, but jettisoning the more-than serviceable Toby Sexton as game-managing No.7 would be a hell of a call. Sexton will eventually make way and land a deal somewhere in the NRL next season. Introducing Galvin off the bench alongside Hayward against the Eels is the safest play, seemingly without the same undersized issues that playing two utilities would do at other clubs. What's one more utility to a Canterbury side that thrives on them? As for Galvin's halfback hopes, Andrew and Matty Johns are among those that don't see it. Cooper Cronk - a utility turned champion No.7 himself through hard work and smarts - has his doubts as well. What the teen tyro does have is a pure halfback's sheer want to be involved in the game. Throughout his 18 months of first-grade, Galvin has averaged around 52 touches per game, a level of involvement that leads all five-eighths in that period and trails only a few on-ball halfbacks like Nathan Cleary, Isaiya Katoa and Nicho Hynes. Loading Of playmakers genuinely taking on the defence in a statistic the NRL terms 'line-engaged runs', only Katoa has done so more often than Galvin this year. His base-level play-making temperament appeals to coaches just as much as his rare skill and ability. It doesn't change the concern that the Bulldogs risk running without direction. Guiding Canterbury around the paddock was a role Burton struggled with when he played halfback, while this is Sexton's greatest asset. Hayward might offer another answer as well given his prowess when stepping into the halves this season, most notably in stirring wins over Cronulla at Shark Park and the Raiders in Canberra.
Sydney Morning Herald
11-05-2025
- Sport
- Sydney Morning Herald
Vote 1 Latrell: How Mitchell turned the PM into a fanboy
Bennett has rightly scoffed when questions of Mitchell's NSW Origin place have been put to him of late, though he did note on Friday that 'you [reporters] ask a lot of funny questions'. Mitchell's relish for the big stage and ability to deliver on it should make him one of the first Blues Laurie Daley picks, even with Bradman Best being an outstanding incumbent at left centre in his own right. The bigger question is where Mitchell sits among the game's long and storied history of clutch performers. Because the Rabbitohs No.1 has developed a fair habit of winning matches when a single, defining play is needed most. 'No-one [else] would have the cojones to try that,' Immortal Andrew Johns - himself a master of the match-winner - said on The Sunday Footy Show of Mitchell's two-point field goal from the halfway line. 'We saw that pass to [Isaiah] Tass against the Chooks when he won [the game]. Once again, no-one would throw that ball. 'Any big moment - the pressure, the bigger moment, the bigger the stage - he stands up. He's just a superstar.' Mitchell's two-point field goal was followed by a stone-cold stroll back to his mark and preceded with two stunning try-saving tackles on Payne Haas and Deine Mariner in either half. There was a one-on-one strip where back-rower Brendan Piakura was ragdolled out of possession and a cheeky full-time try where he played dead before plunging over the line. High upon Mitchell's big stage/big play CV; his 40-metre extra-time field goal against Melbourne in 2019. The flick pass that set up James Tedesco's grand-final winning try six months later against the Raiders. The 2021 Origin opener in Townsville where he was Viv Richards with a Steeden, strutting, preening and manhandling hapless Queensland opponents all night. His return to the interstate arena last year for more of the same at the MCG. Then of course, there are Mitchell's two match-winners this season; sealing two of South Sydney's most famous wins when his teammates were either hobbling or already watching on injured from the stands. Only Penrith maestro Nathan Cleary compares to Mitchell among his contemporaries. Johns, Darren Lockyer, Wally Lewis, Brad Fittler, Johnathan Thurston, Laurie Daley and Cooper Cronk are the other immediate clutch masters who spring to mind. And as far as Mitchell's strike that had everyone bar Bennett in an immediate lather, it is again an immediate hall-of-famer. Benji Marshall and Chris Sandow have both kicked longer field goals - by all of one metre - in the past decade, but Andrew Willis's 48-metre winner to sink Norths in 1996 has been the immediate reference point for most. A relative unknown for the finals-bound Magpies, Willis's wonderful nudge was his first and last top-flight field goal and he only played a 13 more first-grade games afterwards. Loading The Daily Telegraph took the Wests playmaker back to Campbelltown the next day to see if he could reprise the same shot with just a smidgen of the pressure on him. Willis never got close, a marker of just how remarkable his first shot was. No such problems for Mitchell though - no matter how big the audience, or who's in it.
The Age
11-05-2025
- Sport
- The Age
Vote 1 Latrell: How Mitchell turned the PM into a fanboy
Bennett has rightly scoffed when questions of Mitchell's NSW Origin place have been put to him of late, though he did note on Friday that 'you [reporters] ask a lot of funny questions'. Mitchell's relish for the big stage and ability to deliver on it should make him one of the first Blues Laurie Daley picks, even with Bradman Best being an outstanding incumbent at left centre in his own right. The bigger question is where Mitchell sits among the game's long and storied history of clutch performers. Because the Rabbitohs No.1 has developed a fair habit of winning matches when a single, defining play is needed most. 'No-one [else] would have the cojones to try that,' Immortal Andrew Johns - himself a master of the match-winner - said on The Sunday Footy Show of Mitchell's two-point field goal from the halfway line. 'We saw that pass to [Isaiah] Tass against the Chooks when he won [the game]. Once again, no-one would throw that ball. 'Any big moment - the pressure, the bigger moment, the bigger the stage - he stands up. He's just a superstar.' Mitchell's two-point field goal was followed by a stone-cold stroll back to his mark and preceded with two stunning try-saving tackles on Payne Haas and Deine Mariner in either half. There was a one-on-one strip where back-rower Brendan Piakura was ragdolled out of possession and a cheeky full-time try where he played dead before plunging over the line. High upon Mitchell's big stage/big play CV; his 40-metre extra-time field goal against Melbourne in 2019. The flick pass that set up James Tedesco's grand-final winning try six months later against the Raiders. The 2021 Origin opener in Townsville where he was Viv Richards with a Steeden, strutting, preening and manhandling hapless Queensland opponents all night. His return to the interstate arena last year for more of the same at the MCG. Then of course, there are Mitchell's two match-winners this season; sealing two of South Sydney's most famous wins when his teammates were either hobbling or already watching on injured from the stands. Only Penrith maestro Nathan Cleary compares to Mitchell among his contemporaries. Johns, Darren Lockyer, Wally Lewis, Brad Fittler, Johnathan Thurston, Laurie Daley and Cooper Cronk are the other immediate clutch masters who spring to mind. And as far as Mitchell's strike that had everyone bar Bennett in an immediate lather, it is again an immediate hall-of-famer. Benji Marshall and Chris Sandow have both kicked longer field goals - by all of one metre - in the past decade, but Andrew Willis's 48-metre winner to sink Norths in 1996 has been the immediate reference point for most. A relative unknown for the finals-bound Magpies, Willis's wonderful nudge was his first and last top-flight field goal and he only played a 13 more first-grade games afterwards. Loading The Daily Telegraph took the Wests playmaker back to Campbelltown the next day to see if he could reprise the same shot with just a smidgen of the pressure on him. Willis never got close, a marker of just how remarkable his first shot was. No such problems for Mitchell though - no matter how big the audience, or who's in it.
The Guardian
24-04-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Crashing into the election's final fortnight like a truck hitting an early voting centre
After an Easter-induced pause in campaigning, we're within the last couple weeks of Australia's elections. Long-suffering election watcher James Colley is still here, looking on as Anthony Albanese gets asked intense geopolitical questions on The Sunday Footy Show, and Peter Dutton manages to tie everything back to cheaper petrol – including Easter chocolate
