Today we take a look at whether Josh Addo-Carr should be playing this weekend, consider the end of the Panthers' premiership run, and throw cold water on plans to play the NRL grand final at the MCG.
Read on as we tackle some of the big talking points in this week's Real or Not.
Josh Addo-Carr should have played Manly
NOT REAL: Josh Addo-Carr won't be lacing up his boots to take on Manly this Sunday afternoon in Sydney after a well-publicised run-in with a Police road-side drug test. Addo-Carr stood himself down from the first finals game the Canterbury Bankstown Bulldogs have played since 2016. He is the club's most lethal finisher, a key ingredient in their 2024 success, and his absence will make a big difference to their point scoring ability, which has already been placed on life support in recent outings.
Addo-Carr maintains his innocence, strongly denying that he has taken any illicit drugs. It would seem that his greatest provable crime at this point has been to mislead Bulldogs supremo Phil Gould over what happened on the night of the test. Even then, there are doubts over whether Addo-Carr was fully aware that he had failed the first test, confused as he was by the Police allowing him to drive off. The ultimate truth will be revealed when the results of the more formal testing are returned. Anyone who has ever watched an episode of RBT will know that the road-side tongue swab tests are notorious for returning false positives. The problem now is that the formal results are not expected anytime soon, such is the back-log at the lab.
In the meantime, Addo-Carr should be afforded the benefit of being innocent until proven guilty. Even DUI cases are not final until a secondary result is returned. He stood himself down for the opening week because he rightly wanted to remove the distraction from the team's preparations. He should be allowed to play in Week 2 of the finals should the Bulldogs survive their encounter with the Sea Eagles.
If the secondary results return a positive, the NRL Integrity Unit will no doubt ban Addo-Carr for a yet to be determined period, but he faces far more severe ramifications from the Bulldogs. Like him or not, Phil Gould backs the club and his players, if Addo-Carr has lied to him and allowed him to make a fool of himself in front of the rugby league world, I believe the flashy winger's future at the Bulldogs would be untenable.
Penrith's run is coming to an end
REAL: It would be madness to write off the reigning three-time premiers, as they prepare for yet another finals campaign. Star halfback Nathan Cleary is back from his shoulder injury and ready to pick up where he left off, leading his team to victory in the biggest of games. They face the Roosters first up, a team that hasn't beaten them in living memory and a team that has lost some key player to injury of late. At home, in front of a packed house, the stage is set for the Panthers to take the next step towards a fourth-straight title.
But this is not the same Penrith of the last three years. Opposition teams have picked off some of the best talent and left a team that is a little raw and somewhat vulnerable. They have limped into the finals without Cleary and his return is key, but the rest of the team will have to lift their performances. Coach Ivan Cleary questioned whether the hunger was still there, in an obvious attempt to spark his team as the finals approached, and following a scrappy last round victory over the Titans, Cleary again expressed his concerns.
"It didn't look like what we wanted it to look like tonight but the main thing was to win the game and we did that," Cleary said.
"We made way too many errors but we defended well enough for long periods tonight and hopefully that will keep us in good stead.
"Next week is such a great opportunity for us, when the season starts, it's exactly where you want to be. We fought our way through a long, hard season with many situations and I feel really grateful we can play at home in front of our fans one last time and on such a big occasion.
"I feel like our defence has gotten better recently, which is really important. Finishing with the top [defensive record] this year is really pleasing and something we're really proud of because it's necessary in big games.
"We have a system... and there's a few players tonight who need to do their job better and if we get everyone doing their job, we're a chance.
"[The Roosters] have been really good all the way through the year, obviously they have a blue ribbon roster and they've got a couple of players missing but there are plenty of good players in that squad.
"Our defence has really improved in the past month or so but our attack tonight didn't complement it so if we can get both together we're going to be hard to beat."
It's an old adage, but each victory brings the Panthers closer to their next defeat. They can't go on forever, and this year they have shown that they are beatable. It might not be this week, or two weeks later, but it feels like it could be this season.
NRL grand final should be played at the MCG
NOT REAL: A report surfaced during the week that the Melbourne Storm were formulating a plan to have the NRL grand final played at the MCG in the not-so-distant future. With the NRL signing a one-year deal with the NSW Government for this year only, Peter V'Landys has already hinted at opening the event up to the highest bidder. The MCG not only carries the potential of the Victorian Government paying more, but the financial benefits of around 20,000 more seats.
Storm CEO Justin Rodski told News Limited papers: "It'd be the biggest NRL grand final crowd ever and if the Storm were playing in it would obviously be very special. I wouldn't rule it out in the future."
Rodski seems to have an issue with mathematics and history, seeing how his own club played before the biggest ever NRL grand final crowd of 107,999 in 1999, a number beyond even the MCG's vast capacity. He might also like to ask anyone who has watched a game of rugby league at both the MCG and Accor Stadium which ground affords the best viewing experience. The majority of an MCG crowd is too far away from the action taking place on a rectangle playing field.
The NRL might use talk of shifting the grand final interstate to bump up the asking price, but ultimately they know that what is best for the game and the fans is to keep it where it belongs, in front of 80,000 fans in Sydney.