Why NRL must block Broncos’ Reynolds move; easy fix to end crackdown farce — First Crack with Crawls

We should have spent the weekend talking about Adam Reynolds’ unbelievable performance in the Broncos’ shock win over the Bulldogs. FOX LEAGUE, available on Kayo Sports, is the only place to watch every game of every round in the 2025 NRL Telstra Premiership, LIVE in 4K with no ad-breaks during play. New to Kayo? Get your first month for just $1.

Limited-time offer. Or Sandon Smith’s memorable Anzac Day effort for the Roosters. Turbo’s return in Manly’s win over the Panthers.



The inspirational leadership of little Tom Dearden for the Cowboys. Ricky’s Raiders’ incredible comeback against the Dolphins. Or the Tigers’ tremendous golden point victory over the Sharks in Lachlan Galvin’s return to the top grade.

But how do we focus on the football when all anyone is talking about is their understandable outrage at this farcical high tackle crackdown. Surely the NRL don’t want this to ruin Magic Round? And there is an easy fix that could stop all the confusion and controversy in an instant. All the NRL needs to do is listen to Wayne Bennett.

But no, the NRL wants to pretend they know more than the game’s most experienced coach, so they continue down this crazy path with their heads buried in the sand. Yet we have players being sin binned for accidents. Others escaping sin bins for intentional foul acts.

Players milking penalties for incidental high contact, or in some cases where there is not even head contact. Worse still, some are penalised, others aren’t. Opposition players are even laughing among themselves at some of the ridiculous decisions.

It’s a dead-set joke. And it is not the refs’ fault because this has been a directive passed down the food chain. But it is just not fair that it is now the refs copping bullets when no one else at the NRL seems to want to come out and publicly tackle this problem.

In previous years NRL head of football Graham Annesley would at least do his Monday review and try to explain individual decisions. Now they’ve pulled down the shutters in hope that no comment will put a stop to the controversy, while gagging coaches in the process. It’s simply not working because I can’t remember a time in the last 30 years where there has been so much frustration directly relating to the officiating of the game.

We all get that the NRL is trying to make the game safer for the players. But what we can’t ignore is that this is not making the game any safer because accidents will always happen in a contact sport like rugby league. It is such a shame all this controversy is stealing the spotlight away from some tremendous football being played.

And the tragedy of it all is that it’s such a simple fix if only they could bring themselves to listen to Bennett who has said previously he could fix this in an instant. All they need to do is tell the Bunker to stay the hell out of the game except when reviewing try scoring plays or professional fouls. Other than that, leave the punishment for so-called foul play to the match review committee (unless there is an obvious send-off).

But just hold off on the rest until each tackle is properly reviewed the day after the game. Is it really that hard? The way it is now is just madness, and it is making everyone who loves the game angry and confused. WHY BRONCOS SHOULD PAY REYNO MARKET VALUE Now back to Reynolds’ masterclass in the Broncos’ win.

That first half was as good as anything we ever saw from any of the great halfbacks. From Peter Sterling to Ricky Stuart and Alfie, Joey, Cronk Thurston, Cleary ..

. throw them all in. It just goes to show why Reynolds should not be considering retirement at this point.

Which brings us to the next issue. If the 34-year-old is playing on in 2026 , how can the NRL possibly justify talk the Broncos could keep Reynolds for as low as $300,000 on their salary cap. Reynolds is currently on $550,000, which is already way below his true market value.

Surely you can’t drop that by a further $250,000 and expect the other clubs to just swallow it. Not when we read the reports about what other elite playmakers are being paid, or even those who aren’t elite but are being paid on promise or potential. The salary cap is supposed to even out the comp, not make it easier for the rich and powerful clubs to get an even greater advantage.

It’s not like Reynolds is a local Brisbane junior. GALVIN DESERVES HUGE CREDIT Lachlan Galvin deserves huge credit for the performance he turned on in the golden point win over the Sharks. You need to keep telling yourself Galvin is still only 19.

And while he wasn’t perfect in his return to the top grade, he came up with some really big moments that proved exactly why there is such huge excitement about his future. Although I don’t exactly believe all the talk that everything is all hunky dory between Galvin and some of his teammates at this point given some of the body language on show on Sunday. There was one moment early when Galvin produced a risky play on an early tackle and you could see Jarome Luai in the corner of the TV screen staring daggers at him.

It was hilarious. But most importantly, they are putting the ‘team first’ by just getting on with the job. As for Galvin, he showed tremendous maturity just turning up and playing as well as he did.

BLOWTORCH BACK ON SHARKS HALVES There was a lot to like about the toughness and spirit the Sharks showed as well. But there is no way of ignoring the bleeding obvious, that their halves butchered several chance to seal this game in regular time. While Nicho Hynes very nearly nailed a 47m attempt at one point, why he didn’t take an earlier shot in regular time was baffling.

And Braydon Trindall wasn’t much better with some of his decisions when the match was on the line. It really puts the blowtorch back on Hynes and Trindall heading up to Magic Round where they take on the Eels who will still be on a high following Mitchell Moses’ phenomenal return in the Easter Monday win over the Tigers. The Sharks are a very brave team with a tough pack and strike across the park.

But you couldn’t class them genuine premiership contenders until their halves go to the next level. FLANNO’S HUGE DECISION AT DRAGONS Shane Flanagan has a huge decision to make as calls grow louder for the Dragons to start blooding some young talent in their halves. Even though the Dragons had won three of their last four before the 46-18 loss to the Roosters, Lachlan Ilias and Kyle Flanagan just look too pedestrian as a halves combination for this to remain the long-term solution.

And given Kyle Flanagan is the least likely to get dropped, it will make for a nervous wait for Ilias ahead of team list Tuesday with talk either NSW Cup halves Lyhkan King-Togia or Jonah Glover could get the call up to take on the Tigers at Magic Round. Another option would be moving Clint Gutherson into the halves and playing Tyrell Sloan at fullback. COBBO MAKES A $1 MILLION STATEMENT Selwyn Cobbo certainly made a statement at fullback in Reece Walsh’s absence.

It’s hard to believe Cobbo is still without a contract for next season and is currently on a reported $650,000 at the Broncos. You’d imagine Cobbo would be on the radar of a few clubs. A mate who barracks for the Dragons texted me during the Broncos’ game with this idea: “Dragons should give Cobbo $1 million and put Gutho at 6.

Easy.” SANDON SHOWS WHY ROOSTERS DON’T NEED DCE What will the Roosters do with Sandon Smith if the reports are correct that they have Daly Cherry-Evans locked up for next season? Smith was the standout in the Anzac win over the Dragons, finishing with two tries and seven goals to claim man of the match honours. Take into account Smith is 22 and DCE is 36.

Surely Smith deserves first crack at being Sam Walker’s long term halves partner. We’ve also discovered young halfback Hugo Savala goes better than okay, while they have some other good youngsters coming through the system below. DOUBLE STANDARDS OVER LATRELL BAN INFURIATES RABBITOHS No wonder the Rabbitohs are privately questioning why Isaah Yeo was not charged or sin binned for cracking Tom Trbojevic across the beak and drawing blood.

Yet Latrell Mitchell is facing a one to two game ban after he was sin binned for his tackle on Storm flyer Sua Fa’alogo. I understand there was a lot of focus on Latrell’s tackle because it looked so spectacular. But watch that in real speed and it’s the definition of a rugby league accident.

And the wet conditions contributed to this given Fa’alogo clearly slipped in the tackle and was less than a metre off the ground at the moment of impact. Yet Yeo gets off with penalty sufficient. Talk about double standards.

FOGARTY PROVIDES MORE EVIDENCE WHY NRL NEEDS TRADE WINDOW Disguised in Canberra’s thrilling comeback win over the Dolphins was the fact Jamal Fogarty looked completely off his game in the first half. With the tug of war between the Raiders and Sea Eagles for his services on going, Fogarty’s kicking game was nowhere near where it’s been all season, while he came up with some strange plays that suggested he had more on his mind than footy. Luckily for Fogarty the Raiders charged home with some wonderful individual moments before Fogarty turned on some special plays late.

But for mine it’s just further evidence why the game needs to introduce a trade window at the end of the season. With all the drama this year surrounding Dylan Brown, Daly Cherry-Evans and Lachlan Galvin, you’d think it’s a no brainer. But for some reason the NRL allows the Rugby League Players Association to maintain the upper hand by continually saying players need more time to settle their families.

Yet clubs and players still move at the drop of a hat if the deal suits. It’s just so unfair on the fans to have this contract circus continually disrupting the season. WHEN DID ILLEGALLY ATTACKING PLAYMAKERS BECOME OKAY? Perhaps the NRL should send out a memo to all backrowers this week that despite the high tackle crackdown, it is okay to target smaller halves with an illegal forearm to the head when you are in possession of the ball.

I was flabbergasted that Angus Crichton was not penalised let alone sin binned for his blatant forearm to the head of Lachlan Ilias. In fact, it was Ilias who was punished for holding on too long as he gave up a set restart. Remember, Crichton had a similar run in with Adam Reynolds a few weeks back where he also escaped the bin after thumping his bumpers into Reynolds’ throat which left the little halfback in clear distress.

Emotional Ricky delivers ANZAC speech | 06:33 {"transport":{"xhrpost":false,"beacon":true},"requests":{"base":"https://${trackingServer}/b/ss/${accounts}/1/AMP-0.1/s${random}","prefix":"u0026vid=${visitorId}u0026g=${canonicalUrl}u0026canonicalUrl=${canonicalUrl}u0026r=${documentReferrer}u0026viewer=${viewer}u0026events=${eventId}","customVars":"u0026v1=${company}u0026v2=${brand}u0026v3=${site}u0026v9=${contentType}u0026v10=D=pageNameu0026v11=${visitorId}","articleCommonVars":"u0026v16=${articleId}u0026v17=${articleTitle}u0026v18=${articleByline}u0026v19=${articleSource}u0026v20=${articlePublishedDate}","commonVars":"u0026v22=${timestamp}u0026v25=${timezone}u0026v34=D=gu0026v35=${ampdocUrl}u0026v56=D=ru0026v60=${pageLoadTime}","videoCommonVars":"u0026v40=${videoTitle}u0026v41=${videoId}u0026v42=${videoSource}","mediaStart":"u0026mediastart=TRUE","customProps":"u0026p1=D=v1u0026p2=D=v2u0026p3=D=v3u0026p9=D=v9u0026p10=D=pageNameu0026p11=${visitorId}u0026p12=D=v12u0026p16=D=v16u0026p17=${title}u0026p18=D=v18u0026p19=D=v19u0026p20=D=v20u0026p22=${timestamp}u0026p25=${timezone}u0026p34=D=gu0026p35=${ampdocUrl}u0026p56=D=ru0026p60=${pageLoadTime}","suffix":"u0026s=${availableScreenWidth}x${availableScreenHeight}u0026c=${screenColorDepth}u0026bw=${screenWidth}u0026bh=${screenHeight}u0026AQE=1","video":"${base}?AQB=1${prefix}u0026pageURL=${canonicalUrl}${customVars}${articleCommonVars}${videoCommonVars}${commonVars}${customProps}${suffix}","videoPlay":"${base}?AQB=1${prefix}u0026pageURL=${canonicalUrl}${customVars}${articleCommonVars}${videoCommonVars}${commonVars}${customProps}${suffix}${mediaStart}"},"vars":{"accounts":"newscorpau-googleamp","articleByline":"Paul Crawley","articleId":"61bbae7c667f017165832e143f430cca","articlePublishedDate":"2025-04-27T22:36:35.000Z","articleSource":"FOX SPORTS","articleTitle":"Why NRL must block Reynolds move; easy fix to end crackdown farce — Crawls","brand":"fox sports","company":"news corp au","contentType":"amp article","site":"foxsports amp","trackingServer":"newscorpau.

sc.omtrdc.net","videoId":"903897","videoSource":"fox sports","videoTitle":"Emotional Ricky delivers ANZAC speech","visitorId":"CLIENT_ID(amp_id)"},"triggers":{"play":{"on":"video-ad-end","request":"videoPlay","selector":"#body-102-0-0","vars":{"eventId":"event36"}},"pause":{"on":"video-pause","request":"video","selector":"#body-102-0-0","vars":{"eventId":"event49"}},"ended":{"on":"video-ended","request":"video","selector":"#body-102-0-0","vars":{"eventId":"event40"}}}} {"@type":"VideoObject","name":"Emotional Ricky delivers ANZAC speech","description":"NRL: Canberra Raiders coach Ricky Stuart gave a heartfelt answer after his teams huge comeback win over the Dolphins in ANZAC round.

","thumbnailUrl":"https://www.foxsports.com.

au/pmd/images/2025/04/27/903898_640x360_large_20250427170108.jpg","uploadDate":"2025-04-27T17:01:55+10:00"} FLASHBACKS OF A GREEN MACHINE GREAT Whether he was saving tries or setting them up, Tom Dearden was an absolute inspiration in the Cowboys’ comeback win over the Titans. While some of the dummy half charges from Reece Robson in recent times brings flashbacks of champion Canberra hooker Steve Walters in his day.

That’s now four straight wins for the Cowboys to move into sixth spot on the ladder, equal with the Broncos on 10 competition points. It’s hard to believe it was only a month back Todd Payten locked like he could be the first coach sacked this season. PANTHERS’ FORM A HUGE CONCERN FOR NEW BLUES COACH Hasn’t Laurie Daley walked into a hornet’s nest taking over from Michael Maguire as NSW coach.

As if Daley doesn’t already have huge call to make on incumbent captain Jake Trbojevic’s future in the team, now he has the struggling form of the Panthers to contend with. Who in their right mind could have predicted the at the start of the season the reigning four-time premiers would be sitting stone motherless last on the ladder after eight rounds. You can only imagine how nervous this makes Daley given Nathan Cleary, Isaah Yeo, Liam Martin, Dylan Edwards and Brian To’o would all be considered automatic selections for the Blues if fit.

WOODEN SPOON FAVOURITES TO TOP FOUR CONTENDERS What a turnaround for the team many were tipping to win the wooden spoon who are in the top four after eight rounds. The Warriors’ win over the Knights makes it five of their last sixth to sit fourth on the ladder, and they boast the competition’s equal third best defence. In years gone by it was always the Warriors’ attack that was their strength.

Surprisingly, this year they have scored the equal fourth least points of any team..