Mele Hufanga on switching codes and countries
Tinirau chats through a rare favourites round in the NRL, Sam salutes Fiji with their win over Scotland and Shellie Long drops by to wrap up the contenders emerging in the NRLW.
NB: Mele Hufanga interview at 29 mins.
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News.com.au
a day ago
- News.com.au
‘The game owed me nothing, but it gave me everything': Premiership hero Chad Townsend announces his NRL retirement
Veteran halfback Chad Townsend has announced he will retire from professional rugby league at the end of the season, with his lasting legacy to be the man who helped the Sharks end their premiership drought in 2016. Townsend made his debut with Cronulla in 2011 and returned there in 2016 after a couple of years with the Warriors. He played three seasons with the Cowboys via another stint with the Warriors before he joined the Roosters this year. Townsend has played 268 games and represented City Origin twice, with the 34-year-old to call it quits at the end of the season having played six games for his new club. 'It's hard to put into words what this game means to me,' Townsend said, with Daly Cherry-Evans expected to take his spot on the roster next year. 'I'd like to thank the Yarrawarrah Tigers for giving me an opportunity to fall in love with this game. The memories and friendships I created at my junior club still live with me today and I am very grateful for that. 'To the teams I played for, the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks, New Zealand Warriors, North Queensland Cowboys and Sydney Roosters, I am forever grateful for the opportunity you gave me to fulfil my dreams of playing in the NRL. 'I'd like to thank all the fans who have showed love and support to me throughout my journey. I have always enjoyed connecting with people through our shared love of rugby league. 'To all my teammates over the years, thank you for being there for me throughout the highs and lows that is the rollercoaster of the NRL. We shared some incredible memories together and this will be the thing I miss the most. 'To my coaches, football staff and club staff, thank you for all your support throughout my career. I have been lucky to work with some incredible people and build some great relationships. 'To my beautiful wife Marissa and our kids Myra, Cairo, Miami and Malibu, thank you for your unwavering support throughout my career. You have been there through it all, on and off the field. Every win, every loss, we did it together. 'When I think about the young kid from Yarrawarrah who was footy obsessed, who just wanted to play footy with his mates, who stood on the family hill waving his flag, who had dreams of making it to the NRL and who had to earn everything he got, my heart and soul are filled with love and gratitude. 'The game owed me nothing, but it gave me everything.' Roosters coach Trent Robinson praised the 'footy nerd' when he recalled him a couple of weeks ago to play against the Sharks and thanked the retiring halfback for the leadership and guidance he's provided the club's emerging stars like Hugo Savala, who has excelled in the halves. 'Chad's NRL journey speaks volumes about his character, professionalism and passion for rugby league,' Robinson said. 'His premiership-winning career is matched by the respect he has earned from his teammates and coaches for his work ethic, leadership and integrity, both on and off the field. 'Although we have only had one season together, Chad's love for the game and approach to the sport have really stood out. 'As a member of our playing leadership group, he has also been generous with his time, helping to guide and support the younger players in our squad. 'On behalf of everyone at the Sydney Roosters, we congratulate Chad, and we wish him, his wife Marissa and their children Myra, Cairo, Miami and Malibu all the best for the next chapter that will begin later this year.'
ABC News
a day ago
- ABC News
How St Kilda's use of a tagger against Melbourne sparked the AFL's greatest comeback
The tagger is one of the most talked-about roles in footy. Each week, speculation abounds about whether teams will deploy a tagger on the stars of the competition. On Sunday, the tagger was out in force. For the first three quarters, Saint Marcus Windhager toiled after Melbourne's Kysaiah Pickett. In the fourth, the most remarkable comeback in AFL history was completed. For that last quarter, the Saints largely abandoned the tag and focused on attack. A 46-point deficit was wiped off the scoreboard in an instant. That doesn't mean that tagging doesn't work — but it does speak to the situational value of the role. Defining a tagger is tough and working out whether they are effective is even harder. ABC Sport has talked to a range of AFL coaches over the course of the season to try to work out what a tagger is in 2025, and whether they are effective in the modern game. The traditional image of the tag is pretty simple. It is a player standing directly next to a star on-baller, pushing, poking and niggling them prior to a ball-up. The traditional tagger doesn't just stop there — the tagger follows their prey around the ground with indifference to winning the ball themselves. No eyes for the ball, just their target. These days, balance is required between stopping a player and contributing positively as well. These run-with players are deployed situationally by most teams and are expected to contribute on both sides of the ball. Sydney coach Dean Cox has praised the way Swans tagger James Jordon can combine accountability with his own impact on the ball. "The great thing about James is the balance that he does have between 'OK, I need to restrict' but also 'I need to impact when I get the chance as well,'" Cox said. "He's done that numerous times when he's played on an opponent, to be able to try to have shots at goal, or to impact not only by quelling someone's influence." There's a fine line — if there's too much attacking intent, it can open up the defence. GWS regularly deploys Toby Bedford in a variety of roles, including as a tagger. Part of his strength is his ability to counterattack. "It's a hard balance to have — because the more he [Bedford] attacks, chances are his opponent has got a big gap on him and then it's hard to defend," GWS coach Adam Kingsley said earlier this year. The orthodoxy of who to tag has also shifted over the years. While Ron Barassi was once called too creative to tag, these days it's the creative players who draw the most focus. Often, the belief is that if the ball is in the contest, there's little that can be done to prevent first access by the best in the game. Instead, it's the more open ball and work down-field that merits restriction. A player like Pickett — with the ability to break lines when winning the ball on the inside and to do damage with ball in hand — is a prime target of opposition stoppers. In last week's match, this played out to form. For the first three quarters, Pickett was able to win the ball at the contest but had his ability to rack up easy football limited. Despite this, when the tag was broken in the last quarter and St Kilda focused more on winning the ball, Pickett's supply of harder ball dried up. Pickett compiled just one knock-on and three handball receives for the quarter, while the freed Windhager managed five ground-ball gets and four score involvements. There were other major reasons for the comeback, including moving Max Hall into the middle and being more proactive with their ball movement. The total result was a massive turnaround in all facets of the game. It's often hard to work out when a player is being tagged from the outside. Match-up data is patchy at league level and doesn't distinguish between a common match-up, a soft tag or a hard tag. As a result, it's hard to know exactly when players are being tagged without intensive research or unless coaches or players across the league disclose the use of the tactic. Take Brad Scott's explanation after Essendon's loss to GWS in round 19. To most watching the game, a tag was not easily discernible. It also didn't appear to have any impact on Tom Green's monster game, with the Canberran racking up 30 disposals, including 17 contested possessions and 16 clearances. It's tough to assign causation to one player, but when their teams have lost this season, some of the top midfielders in the competition have struggled. Players like Nick Daicos, Caleb Serong, Hugh McCluggage and Jason Horne-Francis have seen their inside 50s drop by a third and their metres gained by about a quarter in losses against wins. Geelong coach Chris Scott explained the idea on Fox Footy earlier this year. "There is a cost to tagging. Very few teams play one-on-one where they think they are going to take out a certain player," Chris Scott said. "Every team prioritises their structures and their set-ups first, but what I will say — no team plays Collingwood and puts no time or effort into stopping Nick Daicos. It all happens on a spectrum." This is exactly why teams tag. Limiting an opposition's best player can have massive impacts on game results. But usually it's hard to work out whether it was the tag or whether the player in question was having an off day. No tactic in football comes without a cost. To get something, clubs have to give something. A tag can also hand over initiative to the opponent, with Craig McRae saying two weeks ago that "you can manipulate the tag a lot". This manipulation of the tag can take several forms. Clubs copping a midfield tag have free rein to decide where the opposing player will be positioned and what parts of the ground they'll be taken to. Often, they'll be moved forward for patches, hoping for a hand-off or a mismatch in the forward line. Against the Saints, Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge shifted Bontempelli to the back line to influence the game there. "Marcus played a really selfless game tonight. It meant teammates capitalised on that." Beveridge explained after that Saints game. "He went to half back briefly, he played forward, so that means they have to move their chess pieces around a bit and it can be a bit destabilising" Of course, forcing a star player into a secondary role can often be the victory the tagging club is after. Moving Nick Daicos away from the ball could be the difference in a game. There are also some more direct tactics that can be employed. Teams can also use space at contests to create more space for the other midfielders in a side. This can turn a 3v3 contest at centre bounce into a 2v2 and will allow an easier exit if executed correctly. If a side still wants to focus on getting the tagged player the ball, they can execute blocks to physically force the tagger to switch opponents. This often only works for a matter of seconds, but that can be enough to get the separation required to get the ball headed goalwards. The practical elements of the game aren't the only reasons to tag. In a tough sport where group mentality is one of the great intangibles, some clubs also believe tagging can bring the risk of instilling a negative mindset or distracting players. "Sometimes when you have too many of those things going on, it sends the wrong message to your team," noted Brisbane coach Chris Fagan after they declined to tag in their win over Geelong. "We just came out to play, and that was more because I wanted our players to have a positive mindset." The Lions chose to take a different path around the ball, working positionally to make Cats opponents like Bailey Smith accountable for their own stars. Flipping this accountability on its head is also one of the ways some of the best taggers mitigate many of the drawbacks associated with the tactic. There's also the need to be flexible in-game when applying a tagging role. For GWS, Kingsley often switches up tags mid-game. Other sides move away from tags when they don't look like working. Fremantle's coach explained the idea after the Dockers' landmark comeback victory over the Pies in round 19. "Well, we tried [to tag Daicos]. He [started] at half-back. We actually played better when we dropped the tag. That can happen sometimes. You get caught up in that and it creates a bit of confusion." St Kilda coach Ross Lyon didn't place much focus on the dropping of the tag in the wake of their win. "I think it's a part of giving you a different mix. There's no doubt about that. When you're coming from behind, as an old coach taught me, you've got to do everything right and you've got to take your opportunities. Clearly, we did that, didn't we?" Like all things in football, the tagger isn't a golden bullet. But it also isn't likely to disappear fully any time soon.
News.com.au
a day ago
- News.com.au
WATCH AFL Round 20 Wrap - Daicos Brownlow & Nas History
The AFL Today Show is here for all your Round 20 needs, wrapping up every single game with stats, banter and insights as St Kilda pull off a miraculous final quarter comeback through superstar Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera, Nick Daicos all but locks in a maiden Brownlow Medal win and finals contenders stamp their foot down, plus all the big questions answered! Can the Crows take out the minor premiership? Are Brisbane going to miss the top four? Can Jeremy Cameron reach 100 goals this season? Where does Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera rank across the leagues best players? Can anyone catch Nick Daicos in the Brownlow Medal race? Will Hawthorn or the Western Bulldogs miss the top eight? Can GWS or Fremantle make the Grand Final? The panel chat about the biggest AFL news, amazing moments, huge match-ups, plus highlighting the biggest & best moments, led by Jeremy Cameron kicking a career high, Wanganeen-Milera heroics & breaking down who will miss the 2025 finals out of Hawthorn, Western Bulldogs and Fremantle! Get around the AFL Today Show with panellists Liam McAllion, Marcus Bazzano & Leo Mullaly as they talk out all things footy for the 2025 AFL season! FOLLOW AFL TODAY SHOW CONTENT The AFL Today Show is your ultimate footy companion, covering every single team equally and in depth! We break down each game and round of the 2025 season with three shows a week, expert tips, social posts galore, in-depth analysis, debates, interviews with players and top journalists, as well as plenty of banter—chatting about all the things that make AFL great! Two shows every week, including a round preview show and a round wrap on every game!
