Fuse lit for ‘grand final’ grudge match as ‘zero tolerance’ call resurfaces — Crawls

Get ready for the next chapter in the Book of Feuds.

We could even call it ‘Zero Tolerance’, after the Roosters were unwittingly dragged into the drug allegations against Brandon Smith this week.

Make no mistake, Nick Politis’ line in the sand declaration from earlier this year — about how he would keep drugs out of his club with a ‘zero tolerance’ policy — have been seized upon at South Sydney.

And you can only imagine how much petrol it will add to the simmering bonfire next week if the Bunnies get the chance to knock the Roosters out of finals contention in the last round of the regular season.

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Roosters release statement on Smith saga | 02:05

That could happen if the Roosters fail to put to bed their recent hoodoo against Melbourne when they take on the understrength Storm on Friday night.

Even though Souths are already out of the finals race, there is absolutely no doubt they will be treating their last match as their ‘grand final’.

And coming off this round’s bye, they’re expecting to have pretty much all hands back on deck for the traditional grudge match — including skipper Cam Murray, who hasn’t played all season.

Also take it as fact that events surrounding Smith’s police investigation — and allegations he reached out to a drug dealer to supply Victor Radley with an illicit substance — have added to the tensions between the clubs.

There is no suggestion Radley has done anything wrong despite being named in the police report, while Radley is reportedly not of interest to Queensland police.

Yet that hasn’t stopped some around the game this week (and not just at Souths) zoning in on those comments from Politis’ earlier this year.

“My view is if somebody’s caught doing cocaine or leaning over snorting something, we’re going to get rid of them,” Politis told The Sunday Telegraph in January.

“Our stance is zero tolerance. We are very strong on it. Trent [Robinson] is very strong on it.”

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There is no question some viewed Politis’ hard-lined stance as a slap in the face at how other clubs had handled previous drug related incidents.

Souths of course had their own highly publicised drama late last season when Latrell Mitchell was snapped standing over a white substance at a hotel while doing a coaching clinic in Dubbo.

While the NRL hit Mitchell with a one-game ban and a $20,000, the Rabbitohs came in over the top with a further $100,000 fine, although the punishment was still viewed by many as being too lenient given the fact $80,000 of the fine was ‘suspended’.

I attempted to call Politis during the week to get his thoughts, but he didn’t respond.

But we just can’t ignore there is now tremendous interest to see how the Roosters tackle this very sensitive matter, although I reiterate Radley has reportedly done nothing wrong.

And nor have the six teammates who were with Radley up on the Sunshine Coast for a golfing trip back in June.

But you’d still imagine there needs to be some very honest conversations behind closed doors to make certain the Roosters’ reputation is not brought into question.

FIRST UP, THE STORM

The more immediate concern for Trent Robinson no doubt would be what Roosters team will turn up to play the Storm this Friday night.

Will it be the one that belted the Bulldogs 32-12 two rounds back, or the team embarrassed 30-10 by the lowly placed Eels last week?

There’s no denying inconsistency has been the rollercoaster the Roosters have been riding all season.

World beaters one week, feather dusters the next.

In fact, if you go back to their early losses to the Titans (30-12 in round 4) and the Rabbitohs (20-14 in round 5), only a narrow win over the Knights (12-8 in round 15) prevented the Roosters from losing to all the bottom four teams on the ladder this year.

Schofield discusses famous 1990 Ashes | 03:35

The irony is if they had won those games they would be challenging for a top four spot right now, not fighting to stay in the eight up against the competition favourites.

Yet even without Sam Walker, there can be no excuses this week given the Storm will be without a stack of stars including Harry Grant, Jahrome Hughes, Xavier Coates and Eliesa Katoa.

Although we must factor in the Storm have an unbelievable record over the Roosters in recent years, having won all seven games since round 24, 2022, which was also the Roosters’ only win in their past 13 clashes.

CLEARY SHOULD BE APPLAUDED, NOT BAGGED FOR RESTING PLAYERS

Ivan Cleary has just produced one of the shrewdest coaching calls our game has ever seen - and still some people want to bag him for it.

Seriously, given the Panthers’ predicament, Cleary should be praised for trying to do all he can to keep the four-time reigning champs on course in the race for this year’s title.

And even though resting 16 players from Thursday night’s clash with the Bulldogs has taken the “blockbuster” element out of this contest, surely we all need to think the long game here.

Because this has the potential to reignite the Panthers who just about looked spent at fulltime after last week’s crushing golden point loss to the Raiders.

Remember, that came on the back of the heartbreaking loss to the Storm where Harry Grant stole the game at the death.

While Ivan was within his rights not to give details about why he made the decision he did at this week’s media conference, you can only imagine it had everything to do with his players’ health and wellbeing.

Cleary clarifies mass player resting | 10:25

The fact is even if they do end up winning their final two games against the Dogs and the Dragons, they would still need the Warriors, Broncos and Sharks to basically fall over and lose both their remaining games to finish above them in the race for the top four.

The Panthers instead have backed themselves to create history by coming from outside the four.

With a full tank of gas going into the finals, they are still going to give this one hell of a shake.

Given the Panthers will now finish seventh or eighth regardless, you’d hate to be either the Warriors, Broncos or Sharks taking on the Panthers in week one of the finals — regardless of who’s turf it is played on.

IS IT TIME TO BRING BACK SOME NEWCASTLE DNA?

The Newcastle Knights owe it to their long-suffering fans to make sure they don’t take any short cuts in the search for their next head coach.

And let’s hope they are not influenced/hoodwinked by any high-profile manager but instead pick the coach for what he can do for the club, not what his manager may promise.

There has been mail for weeks that Blake Green was the hot favourite to take over, but in recent days Justin Holbrook seems to have taken pole position.

What concerns me is how anyone is considered a standout at this early stage, given the club only came to an agreement with Adam O’Brien in the last couple of days.

Knights part ways with O'Brien | 03:19

Of course, Green is managed by the same agent, Isaac Moses, who walked into that meeting with the Knights’ football chiefs this week to work out the juicy exit payout for O’Brien.

Other names in the mix are said to include Willie Peters, Brad Arthur and Dean Young, while there is also a big rap on the Knights’ current defence coach and former England hard man Brian McDermott.

I’m led to believe Arthur had decided against coaching the Knights well before he inked his new deal with Leeds for two reasons. O’Brien is one of his great mates, and his two sons play at the club.

Alex McKinnon also previously threw up Boyd Cordner as a left-field option in a column here on Fox Sports.

Alex made some solid points why the former champion Rooster and NSW and Australian captain could be the perfect fit given not only what Cordner achieved in the game but also his growing coaching resume, backed by the fact he grew up north of Newcastle.

And Alex’s column also raised another valid point.

That is the list of candidates needs to extend beyond the same names that seem to get trotted out by the media every time a vacant NRL head coaching position comes up for grabs.

What about the Johns brothers?

They have maintained previously that they don’t want to coach, but isn’t it at least worth a phone call to see if they’ve will change their mind to bring some Newcastle DNA back to their once great club?

My point is you never know who might want the job if they are not at least approached to gauge their interest.

It is not as if there is a Craig Bellamy or Ivan Cleary jumping out of the pack.

Let’s hope the Knights don’t shortchange their fans here by not doing an extensive and thorough search for the right man.

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