Tackle 1: Thanking the AFL

The NRL should be hugely grateful for the news last week that the AFL reaped $1.256 billion for its next five-year broadcast rights deal. That has raised the financial bar for the NRL and laid out the blueprint for what league officials must achieve in its next broadcast deal. With the NRL regularly out-rating the AFL, the base figure for the next television deal should be somewhere around the $900-$950 million over five years - based on the growth of the AFL deal and the expected relative bump for rugby league. The deal may well be worth $1 billion-plus. Most importantly for rugby league, however, is the blueprint for coverage. The NRL must now insist on live nationwide coverage for every match after the AFL achieved such a deal. There must be a push for a dedicated rugby league channel. There must be an embracing of new media. The NRL will get its payday now, no risk. They must make it count with expanded coverage, though, the real value of the AFL deal.

Tackle 2: Sheens stays

To the surprise of few, Tim Sheens last week rejected a big money play from former club Penrith to stay with the Wests Tigers. Penrith's play for the man who took them to their first finals series in 1985 was over before it began, scuttled quickly by Sheens' desire for another premiership and some job security. The Tigers have a roster to challenge for a premiership in the next three years. The Panthers would need to put a broom through their roster, cleaning out all but Luke Lewis, Michael Gordon, Lachlan Coote, Michael Jennings, Tim Grant and Petero Civoniceva. The Panthers have the most feeble roster in the NRL and very few current players will be around when Penrith next challenge. Sheens' rejection also had plenty to do with the lack of resources given to the football department, an increasingly important factor in deciding premierships. Penrith would be best served going to an up-and-coming coach and committing resources to their football department. Otherwise, the cycle of mediocrity at the foot of the mountain will continue.

Tackle 3: Souths lose Roy

South Sydney may sit 10th on the ladder with a 3-5 record but the loss of Roy Asotasi for four months may mean that position is the high point for the Bunnies from here on in. Asotasi is the fourth South Sydney prop after Scott Geddes, Luke Stuart and Sam Burgess to suffer a long-term injury, leaving only Ben Ross, who spent the last two seasons sidelined with a neck injury, as the sole South Sydney prop. Last week the likes of Dave Taylor, Eddy Pettybourne and Shannan McPherson spent time filling in but only Taylor has the size to do so and he is more accustomed to playing wider. While they may have gotten away with it against the hapless Cronulla, Souths are going to get well-beaten up front against the Wests Tigers (Rd10), New Zealand (Rd11), Penrith (Rd12) and Melbourne (Rd13). Unless the Bunnies make a move for some seasoned prop forwards, they are not going to have a platform to achieve anything in 2011.

Tackle 4: Time to re-examine the Video Ref

Disgraceful and costly decisions in both the Brisbane-Canterbury and North Queensland-Manly matches, both of which put the home team in the box seat for victory, have again thrust the video refereeing system into the spotlight. It is quite apparent that the current system is not working and it is time to examine other options. The smart move would be to implement an NFL-like challenge system that forces referees to make a decision and then check for conclusive evidence to overturn that call, giving on-field referees, who have proven to be more in touch with the game than those who frequent the video referees' box and seem intent on making themselves relevant again with nit-picking decisions. The real problem in rugby league officiating is the video referees, so it is high time the NRL rid themselves of this blight on the game.

Tackle 5: David Furner, protected species

If Canberra Raiders coach David Furner was with any other club, he would be on the hot seat right now, considering his 24-34 all-time record and the Raiders' horror 1-7 start to 2011 after they were touted as legitimate premiership contenders for the first time in 15 seasons. The Raiders have been dreadful this season, their attack lifeless and their defence dispirited. Fitness has been an issue, as has mental toughness and attacking structure. All these relate back to coaching. But cynics would suggest that, like Indian politics or an Aaron Spelling TV series, nepotism is reigning supreme and, with his brother in the chief executive's chair, Furner is seemingly the most secure coach in the NRL. Far be it for us to make such a suggestion, though. The Raiders' board had best make a move soon before all the good work done in the fields of recruitment and development over the last few seasons are wasted and the Raiders' premiership window closes.

Tackle 6: Delays embarrassing the game

The constant delay in the establishment of an independent commission is damaging the image of the game and shows that self-interest is still driving the code. It's been more than a year since the independent commission was touted, but the game is still trying to sort itself out as News Limited and the ARL continue to bicker over details. It is important that the game gets it right but it is also important that some of these so-called "independence days" come to be because cynicism is setting in and the longer this saga drags on, the more hardened the scepticism gets. The independent commission is critical to helping rugby league move forward but it will only move forward if fans of the sport believe it is truly independent and is formed out of a true belief that the game's best interests are being protected - not a way to entrench the power of the current bosses.