Sydney Roosters winger Brett Morris hobbles from the field after falling awkwardly in a tackle against Manly at Brookvale.

Brett Morris hobbles from the field after falling awkwardly in a tackle against Manly

The second round of the NRL season is done and dusted with another huge round of action.

The Wests Tigers and the Parramatta Eels have surprised pundits, sitting undefeated at the top of the ladder alongside the South Sydney Rabbitohs and Melbourne Storm.

But after a huge week of discussion around expansion and relocation, there has been plenty to talk about. Here are the talking points from round two.

MANLY URGED TO MOVE FROM BROOKVALE

With the debate around expansion and relocation heating up, clubs have come out of the woodwork to have their say and reject the need to move their club.

However, the spotlight has fallen on the Manly Sea Eagles with commentators unleashing a series of criticisms on club management.

While membership numbers are one of the big reasons behind the scrutiny — the Sea Eagles are ranked 15th in the NRL ahead of only the Gold Coast Titans — their home ground Lottoland has also come under fire.

Following the Sydney Roosters’ 26-18 win over Manly, when a torrential downpour hit the ground in Brookvale on Sydney’s northern beaches, the playing surface was blamed when Brett Morris went down with a suspected medial cruciate injury.

And now the NRL is on the case.

Roosters coach Trent Robinson even called for the NRL to adopt AFL-style guidelines to fix the issue when his new charge was tackled just before halftime and kicked up a divot in the turf.

“As a coach you don’t want to come here and complain about Brookvale Oval,” Robinson said. “But we need to make sure that the standard of the surface is consistent across all NRL teams.

“It’s not that hard, we’re a professional sport now. We just need to have professional standards across the surface.

“The knee went into the turf and then a clump comes up. It digs right in and twists on that. It shouldn’t go in that far, to be honest.

“It’s probably not right to bring up another code, but they do it well.

“The AFL has certain restrictions on the ground. It has to be tested to get to AFL standard about the hardness and the softness. There’s a rating, and if you’re not in that rating, you can’t hold your AFL games. We’re not at that level.

“We’ve got an amazing ground and an amazing stadium, but the surface varies. We need to look at that as a game to standardise our fields right across (the board) and make sure there’s a high-quality surface for the athletes we’ve got playing.”

Manly CEO Lyall Gorman denied there was an issue with the ground but the NRL will reportedly investigate after it has become somewhat of an injury graveyard.

Morris was the sixth player to cop a serious knee injury at the ground in less than three years.

“We will talk to the club and to the local council and schedule an inspection of the surface as soon as possible,” NRL head of football Graham Annesley said.

“Clearly there could be numerous contributing factors including the weather conditions but player welfare will be a major consideration for any course of action.”

In 2015, Morris jarred his knee at the same ground after he claimed his foot sunk into a 10cm pothole. Last year Manly’s Curtis Sironen, Kelepi Tanginoa and Lachlan Croker suffered ACL tears at the ground and in 2017 Sea Eagles winger Jorge Taufua and Canberra’s Dunamis Lui suffered ACL injuries in the same round 13 match.

Last month, Manly’s pre-season trial had to be moved to Shark Park because of concerns about the state of the ground.

On the Sunday Footy Show, NSW Origin coach Brad Fittler also took aim at the field, urging the club to seek potential alternatives to its traditional home.

“Brookvale Oval itself is not in an appropriate place, it’s on a very busy road and there’s very little parking, it’s a public venue, people can walk dogs there during the week,” Fittler said.

“I know there’s a history and sentimental value with Brookvale Oval but there has to be a better location than Brookvale Oval. I know they’ve looked at Rat Park (in Warringah) which is much more suitable.

“There’s been an approach to Manly, I don’t know for whatever reason it gets put into the back pocket but if Manly wants to be part of the future of rugby league — and we’re talking about expansion and all these sorts of things — you’ve got to look past Brookvale.

“There’s got to be a better answer. I just think they can do better.”

— with AAP

NRL GETS THE DEBATE IT WANTED

NRL CEO Todd Greenberg has not been subtle in setting the new agenda over questions on expansion and relocation.

After speaking regarding expansion at the NRL launch and then having a one-on-one with Phil Gould on Channel 9’s 100% Footy on Monday, the league has got what it was after with the discussion taking shape.

With clubs such as Manly, Cronulla and the Wests Tigers all floated as possible relocation candidates, all three have hit back at the need to move.

Ipswich-based Western Corridor NRL bid chairman Steve Johnson told AAP earlier in the week the state’s rugby league fans would likely not follow an interstate relocation.

The Tigers’ Benji Marshall said “we have too much of a following within Sydney and outside of Sydney to have to move”, with the seventh-highest membership in the league, a fraction behind the Knights and Dragons.

For Sharks skipper Paul Gallen, he said “neither option works”.

“There is simply not enough playing talent to have another two teams in the competition,” Gallen told Channel 9’s Sports Sunday.

“Think about the teams in trouble at the moment. Manly and Cronulla are probably the top two, Wests Tigers.

“How could you possibly relocate one of those two or three teams to Brisbane and expect the Brisbane people to buy in and follow them? Unless it’s from the ground up in Brisbane, it will not work.”

Gallen also floated the idea of taking more games to the country or interstate.

Manly chairman Scott Penn hit back at reports the NRL may seek to force financially struggling clubs to relocate.

“That’s always been our heartland. The fact is if we ever walked away from that there would be no one to replace us,” Penn told AAP of Manly’s positioning as the only Sydney team north of the Harbour Bridge.

“We’ve got over a million people in our catchment area and we’re the only team across any code in that district. I can’t see any justification for doing anything but supporting and encouraging us to grow our footprint.”

On Weekend Warm Up on Macquarie Sports Radio, Cam Reddin said the Sea Eagles were being their own worst enemy.

“If I was Manly, I would not be trumpeting that there are a million people in their catchment area because the problem is those million people are not showing up,” he said.

“For those million people, Manly could only muster up 11,000 members — that is the second lowest in the competition ahead of the Gold Coast. Last year, Manly averaged barely 8000 people per home game.

“I do not believe in relocation, I believe that clubs should be allowed to fold or continue. I understand the argument of getting teams out of Sydney, but there are better ways of doing it that picking a club and dragging them against their will elsewhere.

“But if this is the path they’re going to go down, now is not the time to be sitting at the bottom of the ladder with your finances in a mess.”

YEO CLEARS UP HIA CONFUSION

Penrith Panthers co-captain Isaah Yeo looked in plenty of trouble early against the Newcastle Knights after copping a stray elbow from a teammate.

After his first round concussion against Parramatta, it looked to be an early end to his night.

But the second rower raised eyebrows when he returned to play late in the first half and crashed over for the matchwinning try in the second stanza.

The man himself defended the decision after he passed all his tests.

“I was getting stitched up at the time, I had a nick on the top of my head,” Yeo told the Panthers website. “I think that’s what took so long, I passed all my tests no dramas.”

It is understood there was a communication breakdown between the NRL ground official and television producers, which led to the confusion about his condition.

The Panthers were forced to burn two interchanges because of his late return outside the 15-minute window reserved for HIA testing.

Penrith coach Ivan Cleary denied suggestions he would have sat Yeo out for the rest of the game even if the 24-year-old managed to pass his tests.

“I’m not a doctor,” Cleary said. “Honestly, when it first happened, yeah, I thought he was going to be gone.

“But once I saw the incident and heard that he was getting stitched, I felt a lot better about it because when you get a stitch or a bad head cut, it can look worse than what it is in terms of concussion.”

— with AAP

STERLO FURIOUS OVER ‘FISHING’ COMMENTS

Eels 18-year-old half Dylan Brown has burst onto the scene, helping Parramatta to their strong start to the NRL season.

But the talk of breaking the Eels 30-year premiership curse has already started — and Peter Sterling is worried it’s going to his head.

In an interview during the week, despite only playing one game so far in his career, Brown said he would be interested in “fishing” on the open market at the end of the season.

“There’s been talk all around it but it’s week to week really,” Brown said.

“When 2019 comes around you’d rather go fishing if other clubs are interested in me but you never know. At the moment I’m comfortable here.”

The Warriors already tried to take the youngster as a replacement for Shaun Johnson in the off-season before the Eels reported he was on contract until 2020.

Sterling, who was the last Eels halfback and the gold standard by which every other Eels halfback is measured, was furious Brown was already thinking about the money.

“The last thing we should be talking about now is money,” Sterling told Triple M yesterday.

“He had a really good debut last week and the club have looked after him.

“I would like to think that those sorts of conversations would come a little further down the track.

“Blake Austin was an established first grader when he decided to take this stance.

“I understand the nature of the beast and how it’s a business but I was still disappointed.

“Having said that if you are asked a question you answer it and that is obviously what Dylan did. I didn’t like the fishing component that was mentioned in there.

“But I would like to think when the time comes to be making decisions that he will consider where he got a start and who has been looking after him the last couple of years, but I do have a vested interest obviously.”

COACHES UNDER THE PUMP

The season is only two games old but already Canterbury coach Dean Pay is already under pressure.

The Bulldogs blew a 10-0 lead against Parramatta on Sunday at ANZ Stadium to collapse to a 36-16 defeat.

It’s their second heavy loss in as many matches after a 40-6 hiding by the Warriors in round one and leaves them bottom of the competition ladder.

Pay, who is off-contract at season’s end, noted his team’s youth and urged patience with his group.

“Where it is at the moment is where it is,” he said.

“We just need to make sure that we’re doing everything we can to build this team into a team that can compete with the best teams in the competition.”

The pressure will be on Pay to make changes for next week’s clash with Wests Tigers and he acknowledged reserves players were putting their hands up.

The 2019 NRL season will be live and on demand on Kayo Sports for just $25 per month for two devices at once on Apple, Android and Telstra TV, for Apple and Google Android smartphones, on web browsers and via Google Chromecast Ultra devices. Click here for your free trial.

Pay isn’t the only coach under the pump early in the season with Gold Coast also slumping to a second loss.

Rated by many as the likely big improvers of 2019, the Titans were beaten 20-6 by Cronulla at Shark Park despite a 299m game from back-rower Jai Arrow.

The defeat comes after a 21-0 loss to Canberra in round one and leaves Titans coach Garth Brennan with plenty to ponder ahead of next Sunday’s road trip to take on unbeaten South Sydney.

Des Hasler’s return to Manly is also not going to plan, with the Sea Eagles beaten by premiers Sydney Roosters in a rain-lashed game on Saturday night with the Dragons the other side yet to have claimed a point to start the season.

— AAP