TACKLE 1: NSW Need Look No Further

Jamie Soward is the best five-eighth in New South Wales. He has been for the three years Wayne Bennett has been in charge of St George-Illawarra. Yet he continues to play on as an underrated five-eighth, maligned by false impressions over his size and defensive abilities, and continually on the outer when it comes to representative selection. Soward is the complete player, though: one of the best kicks in the game - with both a heavy boot and a soft touch - an outstanding pass, a thoughtful playmaker, a sharp and fast ballrunner, a willing defender and a fine leader. Todd Carney may have won the Dally M Medal in 2010 but Soward beat Carney when they played and when it counted while Soward was unlucky not to win the honour in 2009. The St George-Illawarra No.6 has the perfect game for Origin and if New South Wales are to be any chance against the might of Queensland, Jamie Soward must be selected at five-eighth ahead of the makeshift pivots and tried failures Blues selectors seem intent on picking year after year.

TACKLE 2: Like A Rolling Stone

In all the hullaballoo about Wayne Bennett moving to Newcastle, little heed has been paid to the very good coach currently in charge of the Knights, Rick Stone. Stone has done an outstanding job to take a limited roster beset with a very large injury toll to a 4-3 record including close losses to competition leaders St George-Illawarra and Brisbane. Stone has done a very good job since taking over from Brian Smith at the Knights and teams such as Penrith, who almost certainly will be looking for a new coach, and Canberra, who almost certainly should be looking for a new coach, should be throwing all the money they can at Stone. He doesn't have the big name, the sound reputation or the rolled-gold lineage but he could win a premiership with a good roster and will almost certainly get the most out of a bad list. Never mind Nathan Brown, Steve Folkes, Mal Meninga, Ricky Stuart or any other coach on the market: Rick Stone is the best coach in rugby league without a job in 2012.

TACKLE 3: Parramatta's Recruitment Woes

Parramatta's recruitment must surely be again brought into question with the Eels reportedly ready to throw big money at South Sydney halfback, Chris Sandow. It was only last season when many claimed Souths would be title contenders with a competent halfback. Sandow has had a good start to 2011 but has again been inconsistent and he has shown very little to suggest he is a long-term franchise No.7. The Eels last off-season purchased a rapidly-declining Carl Webb, suspended drug cheat Reni Maitua and returning Super League players Chris Hicks, Chris Walker, Paul Whatuira and Casey Maguire. Maguire has been the only buy who has secured a first-grade position. This followed on from the failed big money signings of Justin Poore and Timana Tahu and the missed signatures of Cooper Cronk, Quade Cooper, Matt Orford and Matt Duffie, among others. The Eels have been terrible buyers in recent times and the chasing of Sandow suggests nothing has changed.

TACKLE 4: Griffin's Great Wall

The Brisbane Broncos are the real deal and the reason is simple: defensive attitudes have changed and defensive patterns have been overhauled. Over the last two seasons, the Broncos have ranked 14th and 11th in points conceded while they have not ranked higher than 13th in missed tackles since 2005. This year they have conceded the fewest points in the NRL and rank 5th in missed tackles. Since 2006, only one team sitting further down than 4th in points conceded has made the Grand Final and no team with a defensive record outside 2nd has won it all. Darren Lockyer is playing as well as he ever has, Ben Hannant is back, Ivan Henjak is gone and kids like Andrew McCullough and Jack Reed are up and about but it is Griffin's Great Wall, that impenetrable defensive line, that shows the Broncos are the real deal and surprise legitimate title contenders.

TACKLE 5: Barking Up The Wrong Tree

The NRL is barking up the wrong tree with its pursuit of exotic betting, jumping at shadows while a jolly great elephant hides in the corner. The NRL is reportedly looking at banning exotic betting options such as last try-scorer and certain field goal options. There is possibly no more difficult bet to fix than last tryscorer as it would require a vast number of conspirators and would be obvious to all and sundry. And field goals are such a rarity and such small betting options that they offer little attractiveness to fraudsters. The NRL needs to wise up and start spending on a fully-funded, fully-powered integrity commission filled with those who understand sports betting and they need to make sure all players are well aware of the heavy hand that will come down on any player who conspires in any betting activity that eats at the legitimacy of the sport.

TACKLE 6: How Far Rugby League Could Have Come ...

Nearly 23,000 fans filled AAMI Park on Monday to watch a tremendous game of rugby league where New Zealand shocked the Storm. It was an almighty turnout for a sport in a city that gets almost no free-to-air television exposure thanks to Channel Nine's refusal to show games before midnight, if at all, and the NRL's refusal to enforce Nine's contractual obligation to show matches into non-traditional regions. Rugby league will never challenge AFL in Melbourne. There is a market for rugby league in Melbourne, though, and one can only imagine how much bigger that niche and sustainable that base would be if the game was properly promoted in Melbourne. The NRL should not allow such a blackout to occur in non-traditional areas ever again.