‘Bad Friday’ fallout continues

The traditional Good Friday showdown between South Sydney and Canterbury bore witness to some of the ugliest scenes witnessed at an NRL match in recent memory.

Bulldogs forwards David Klemmer and James Graham should have been sent off for their protracted verbal attack on referee Gerard Sutton after he awarded the match-deciding penalty – and it was undoubtedly a penalty offence.

In a disgraceful aftermath, Bulldogs fans pelted officials with bottles; they are facing life bans when identified, while there were other reports of unruly crowd behaviour.

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Klemmer and Graham are set to be slapped with contrary conduct suspensions, and young hooker Michael Lichaa has also been charged for spraying Sutton. Skipper Graham could also spend another couple of weeks on the sidelines for his accidental – but dangerous – tackle on Rabbitohs halfback Adam Reynolds.

Klemmer and Graham exchange views with the referee. Photo: Getty

The Bulldogs are in damage control, scrambling to extinguish a multi-faceted PR disaster for the club. Souths’ title defence has hit a potential roadblock as they anxiously await scans on linchpin Reynolds’ knee; the in-form No.7 could be out for up to five months (another illustration of why Graham’s tackle unequivocally deserved a penalty).

But for all the negative fallout of an explosive encounter, the one-point Rabbiotohs win was exactly the jump-start the 2015 premiership needed.

The intensity and drama was strangely absent during a drab opening month of the competition. With the exception of the brilliant Rabbitohs-Roosters derby, teams appeared to be stuck in trial mode.

Not anymore. Brisbane and Gold Coast turned on a high-quality thriller on Friday night, before Canberra and St George Illawarra pulled off stirring upsets on Saturday. Cronulla, the only winless club at the end of Round 4, continued the trend with a stunning boilover against Sydney Roosters, while the trio of Easter Monday games were high on the entertainment scale (see below).

The rollercoaster ride we’ve become accustomed looks set to rise from the rubble of that already-infamous holiday afternoon at Homebush.

Richards crafts a beauty for Tedesco

About as freakish an effort as you will see – but forget any notion of it being a fluke.

Pat Richards’ spectacular array of kicking skills have rendered him one of the NRL’s most valuable wing-men. His mind-blowing assist for James Tedesco to score lit up a day where grey skies and the similarly coloured jumpers of the Tigers’ questionable new away strip matched the dour quality of football for the opening 70 minutes.

To top it off, Richards scored a match-sealing try minutes later and laid on a remarkably similar effort to his initial headline-grabber, kicking for Luke Brooks to dot down.

The veteran carried off man of the match honours thanks to his spectacular 10-minute burst.

Bird is the word

Cronulla’s great hope: Jack Bird. Photo: Getty

Few players have made the resounding impact in their maiden NRL start that Cronulla recruit Jack Bird did in Sunday’s shock victory over the Roosters. Better known as a second-rower or centre during his days as a NYC gun for St George Illawarra, the 20-year-old – who made his debut off the bench a week earlier – produced a blistering man-of-the-match effort in the Sharks’ troublesome five-eighth spot.

The Berkeley Eagles junior scored a brilliant 30-metre try in the first half, set up a crucial four-pointer for Valentine Holmes with an inch-perfect grubber in the second and came up with a solo match-sealer in the latter stages of the Sharks’ 20-12 triumph. Bird’s blend of pace, strength, playmaking class and all-round football nous has future representative star written all over it. If he scales the game’s heights, his Round 5 display will be held in the same reverence as Andrew Johns’ famous first start in the 1994 season opener.

Sharks coach Shane Flanagan has a season-defining decision to make for his club. Bird now commands a spot in the 17, but the squad is stacked with backrow and outside-back talent. In 80 minutes, he provided more spark in the No.6 than we’ve seen from Ben Barba in half a season at five-eighth – so where does that leave the former Dally M medallist, who returns from suspension next week? Teenager Holmes was magnificent at fullback – Barba’s other specialist spot – against the Roosters. Interesting times ahead in the selection room at Cronulla.

Chastened Cherry-Evans treads a dangerous path

Daly Cherry-Evans responded to some abuse on Instagram. Photo: Getty

While the fallout is not entirely his fault, Daly Cherry-Evans’ drawn-out contract negotiations – and his eventual decision to leave Manly at the end of the season – has played a significant role in the Sea Eagles’ decay. The halfback’s patchy form hasn’t helped, either.

But the influential Gold Coast-bound No.7 has set himself up as a target by launching an extraordinary broadside against the Sea Eagles’ fans who criticised their insipid display in a 29-16 loss to unfancied Canberra on social media, declaring the “so-called supporters” should be “ashamed”.

Cherry-Evans and Manly are probably unaccustomed to such vitriol during a sustained era of excellence, but attacks on social media from frustrated fans are an unfortunate fact of life in professional sport. Get over it, DCE, because there’s plenty more coming your way – particularly after this sulky outburst.

Meanwhile, the out-of-sorts Cherry-Evans might want to worry about his performances on the field rather than hostile posts from anonymous Sea Eagles tragics – he must be coming under intense pressure for his Test and Origin bench utility spots with Robbie Farah, Ben Hunt and James Segeyaro gunning for the plum interchange roles.