Jared Waerea-Hargreaves will serve the first of his four-match ban when the Roosters play the Storm in Melbourne this Saturday, after the veteran enforcer unsuccessfully argued to have his grade-two offence downgraded for a high shot on St George Illawarra’s Max Feagai.
‘It’s an accident, but not OK’: NRL defend Kennedy ban for colliding with referee
Former State of Origin and Test players labelled the charge as “absolutely insane”, but Graham Annesley has launched a passionate defence of Will Kennedy’s ban for running into a referee, insisting: “accidents are not OK”.
The Sharks wasted no time on Monday lodging an early guilty plea for Kennedy, meaning he will miss Cronulla’s crucial showdown with the Cowboys after the bye.
The NRL match review committee issued the Sharks fullback with a grade two contrary conduct charge, the fifth time a player has been sanctioned for making contact with a match official this year.
Kennedy was sprinting to support teammate Kayal Iro after he had made a break in Cronulla’s record win over the Tigers on Friday night but accidentally clattered into referee Adam Gee from behind.
Kennedy’s former teammate Paul Gallen described the match review committee charge as “absolutely insane” on Nine Radio over the weekend (Nine is the owner of this masthead), and Cronulla premiership winner Wade Graham called the sanction “outrageous” on Triple M.
Kennedy would have missed two matches if he unsuccessfully fought the charge at the judiciary, but will now return for the round 22 match against the Rabbitohs.
Sharks fullback William Kennedy.Credit: NRL Photos
On Monday, NRL head of football Graham Annesley took umbrage with suggestions Kennedy’s sanction was heavy handed and stressed the game had a responsibility to set the right example for community sport and protect whistleblowers.
“We can’t just say it’s an accident, so it’s OK,” Annesley said. “It’s an accident, but it’s not OK.
“Because the implications of saying it is OK aren’t worth thinking about, not in the NRL, or in this game, but across the entire game where we have match officials on the field who have to be there, who are just as important on the field as any of the players. They have to be there.
“We can’t have a situation where we say there is nothing we can do about it, these collisions are going to happen.
“The only person who can see this collision is about to take place is Will Kennedy. I am not saying he meant it, but he is the one who is looking forward, as opposed to the referee who is not looking at it at all. The referee is in his way, there is no question of that.
“But we can never get to a stage where we make it permissible to move a referee out of the way.”
Melbourne’s Jahrome Hughes was the highest profile victim of the more stringent policing of referee contact, copping a one-match ban earlier in the season for colliding with Chris Butler.
He was slugged with the same grading as Kennedy, while the Roosters’ Luke Keary and Canterbury’s Sam Hughes have been fined for referee contact in 2024.
The match review committee has examined 11 incidents of referee contact this year.
Asked why Kennedy’s was the same grading as Hughes, Annesley said: “If you compare the circumstances of that one to the type of contact that we had with Jahrome Hughes, it was fairly forceful, and again it comes from behind. I think they are comparable.”
Will ‘legend of the club’ Hasler cop a frosty reception?
Anthony Seibold has urged Manly supporters to resist booing Des Hasler when the champion coach returns to Brookvale for the first time since the dramatic sacking that he is still suing the Sea Eagles over.
Hasler’s legal action against Manly is an intriguing subplot to Sunday’s Sea Eagles-Titans clash, with the Gold Coast riding a three-game winning streak into unlikely finals’ contention.
The 63-year-old was typically brusque on Saturday given his Manly return loomed large, abruptly ending his post-match press conference after the Titans win over Parramatta as soon as “next week” was mentioned.
Hasler is pursuing a seven-figure payout from the Sea Eagles after his sacking in October 2022, having rejected a $565,000 settlement.
Mediation talks have also failed to resolve the dispute and Manly has since subpoenaed the Titans in a probe of their negotiations with Hasler, who took up a three-year deal with the Gold Coast last June.
Sea Eagles coach Des Hasler is frustrated with the officials.Credit: NRL Photos
The case will next be heard in the NSW Supreme court in November with a two-day hearing scheduled.
Despite the messy ending to his second stint as Sea Eagles coach, Seibold pointed to Hasler’s playing and coaching record that yielded titles in 1987, 1996, 2008 and 2011, as cause for celebration and respect from the Manly faithful on Sunday.
“Des is a legend of the club,” Seibold said.
Daly Cherry-Evans and Des Hasler celebrate Manly’s 2011 title.Credit: NRL Photos
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“How many people win multiple premierships as a player and multiple premierships as a coach? He’s a legend of our club and certainly in my eyes he’s one of the really elite coaches in our game. You could argue that he’s in the top five or six coaches that rugby league’s ever had.
“I’ve got the utmost respect for him, and I’m sure that the supporters will recognise what he’s done for our club. And he’s done a great job with a lot of the guys in that [dressing] room that I’m coaching now as well.”
Hasler’s 255 games across two stints between 1984 and 1993, and then 1995 and 1997, rank him as Manly’s sixth-most capped player of all time.
Only Immortal Bob Fulton,has coached the club in more games (305 times compared to Hasler’s 303).
Both of Hasler’s exits from Manly ended in acrimony, with his move to Canterbury after the 2011 grand final win accompanied by allegations of contract breaches and staff poaching. Sea Eagles fans booed their former coach in 2012 when he first returned to Brookvale in charge of Canterbury.
Hasler’s influence on the Sea Eagles roster is plain to see, with the likes of the Trbojevic brothers and skipper Daly Cherry-Evans unabashed supporters of Hasler during his most recent departure.
Veteran Titans five-eighth Kieran Foran will be another familiar face in the away sheds, having wound back the clock with impressive form of late to secure a one-year extension into his 17th season of NRL next year.
“Des will be Des,” Manly fullback Tom Trbojevic said of his old coach’s return.
“He obviously wants to win every game, but that’s nothing we’re going to be talking about. We know what we need to do as a footy side to put ourselves in the best position to win a game.”
Storm set to hand Ryles early release to concentrate on Eels
The Melbourne Storm are open to the possibility of releasing Jason Ryles from his contract effective immediately in a move that would allow the new Parramatta coach to start planning for life at the Eels in 2025.
Jason Ryles will coach the Parramatta Eels from 2025.
Ryles and his management are expected to meet with Storm officials after State of Origin III to discuss the potential of an early release from his deal that would allow him to put his entire focus on rebuilding the struggling Parramatta.
Ryles’ job title at the Storm is coaching coordinator and his likely departure won’t have a major impact on Craig Bellamy’s premiership assault given he has three assistant coaches (son Aaron Bellamy, Marc Brentnall and Ryan Hinchcliffe).
A Melbourne official confirmed the club would hold conversations with Ryles this week with one eye on him finishing up at the Storm by Friday.
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Parramatta are aware of the situation and have no intention of asking Ryles to get involved with interim coach Trent Barrett’s team in 2024.
Ryles is keen to get his feet under the desk and begin planning his staff and roster for 2025. The first big ticket item will be trying to convince boom rookie Blaize Talagi to stay at the club beyond the end of this season after he declined an option in his contract to remain at Parramatta next year.
Ryles will attempt to meet with Talagi over the next 48 hours to sell his vision for the club and entice him to remain at the Eels.
The Dragons are also circling and are planning to meet with Talagi and his family this week with both clubs having the week off with the bye.
St George Illawarra officials have shown a keen interest in also signing Talagi’s younger brother as part of a package deal to lure them to the Red V to be part of coach Shane Flanagan’s impressive rebuild.
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