Paul, Paul, Paul of the bungle, watch out for that tree

What a tough bugger Kenty is, turning up at a police station to be formally charged while carrying 5 broken ribs… they don’t make lawbreakers like they used to.

Yes, while Paul Kent forces himself upon innocent trees, we witnessed the first coaching casualty of 2024 this week, as Jason Demetriou was dispatched by the South Sydney board on Tuesday after the Rabbitohs’ horrendous start to the season saw them flung to 17th on the ladder following Round 8, after sitting in top spot following Round 11 last year.

I wasn’t there to witness the board meeting, but I’m led to believe this was the last thing Demetriou saw:

The Gladiator himself proceeded to give a thumbs up to Wayne Bennett.

So as we go through the upcoming Round 8:

– With Demetriou gone, longtime Souths assistant (and St George-Illawarra premiership captain) Ben Hornby gets the hotseat as the Bunnies host the Panthers on Thursday night, and the Panthers are so assured of themselves they decided to sit Nathan Cleary, leaving Jack Wighton free to roam around all night and regret his decision to join Souths.

– DCE had a win at the judiciary as his dangerous throw charge was downgraded, leaving him free to captain Manly against the struggling Raiders on Friday night, who actually do regain captain Elliott Whitehead and Nick Cotric, so that should result in them scoring a point this week.

– The Broncos host the Roosters at Suncorp in the Friday Channel 9 slot in a rematch of the Las Vegas showdown to begin the year, and all the events of this week have overshadowed the fact that Roosters 5/8th Luke Keary announced his retirement after the 2024 season, as the game loses one of the few decent pure Number 6s it still had.

– The Bulldogs host the Wests Tigers at the Olympic/Accor Stadium, and it was a bit hard to believe but the Bulldogs really are in 8th place after Round 9 (Thanks to the 2 points for a bye), once again proving that nothing in life is making sense anymore.

– Fresh off finally getting a win under Des Hasler, the Gold Coast Titans host the 2nd-placed Melbourne Storm on the Glitter Strip, and the challenge for the Titans is now that you’ve won a game… can you win a game in Australia?

– The Cowboys get another home game, this time hosting the Redcliffe Dolphins in Townsville in another of these 400,000 combinations you can have to produce a Queensland Derby these days.

– Newcastle host the Warriors in the Hunter Valley, fresh off an outstanding win in Brisbane against Redcliffe, while the Warriors’ season keeps getting worse and worse…. so much so they’re still favoured to win on Sunday.

– And the Channel 9 Sunday game is another edition of the Southern Derby as ladder-leaders Cronulla host St George-Illawarra, who were officially eliminated from premiership contention on ANZAC Day after conceding more than 50 points in a game… not that they were going to make the finals anyway.

And now for the Succinct Tips for Round 9, here we go…

Round 8 score = 6/8

Running score after Round 8 = 38/64 (59.3%)

Lock of the Week

Obviously my pick of the Dolphins failed last week because Wayne Bennett had one eye on the Souths job.

Alright, this week’s Lock – I think I’ll be singing The Beatles on Saturday…

Because there’ll be so many people saying HEY BULLDOG on Saturday afternoon!