Tackle 1: Todd Carney must be sacked

The Sydney Roosters' 20-12 win over reigning premiers St George-Illawarra should be the catalyst for the club to tear up the contract of recidivist Todd Carney as well as his Gold Coast-bound teammate Nate Myles. Both broke team rules last week by drinking heavily only seven days after the players agreed on a booze ban. It was the latest in a long list of charges against both players. The flagrant disregard for their teammates and their club, particularly from Carney who has so often played the remorseful apologist, shows just how selfish these two are. The extraordinary win against St George-Illawarra after such a tumultuous week sans Carney and Myles shows that the club can win without the troubled two and more importantly, that the team is more united without them. Talk that Carney needs rugby league is absolute hogwash. He has had more chances than he has deserved and he has blown every one of them with his self-involved drama and his reckless disregard for anyone not named Todd Carney. His talent can be replaced. The divide he has caused in the playing ranks cannot be bridged while he remains. Carney needs to go and any club that signs him will deserve all the misfortune that comes their way because they know exactly the kind of problem they will be signing on for. 

Darren Lockyer became the all-time games record holder on Friday night when he led Brisbane to an all-important win against North Queensland in Townsville. He became the first player to reach the milestone and when he plays his last game sometime in the next seven weeks he will retire with his record secure for at least three seasons. Sometime in the future, it is likely his record will be rundown though. A record that may never be bettered, however, is Lockyer's win record of 232. The incomparable Brisbane captain is one of only four players to win 200 club games and is 19 wins clear of second-placed Terry Lamb. Not a single active player has 180. In this age of parity, it would seem highly unlikely that anybody will ever win more club games than Darren Lockyer. 

Tackle 3: Beware South Sydney

It is a shame that South Sydney have finally put it together over the last two-and-a-half games, scoring 131 points to a measly 28, as if they had of found gear only a few rounds earlier they could have caused some real headaches come September. Nathan Merritt has scored an astonishing eight tries in six days, Greg Inglis is finally fit, John Sutton is running the ball, Issac Luke is wreaking havoc around the middle of the field and Chris Sandow is kicking as well as he ever has. As it stands, however, the Bunnies are long odds to make the finals, leaving their run too late. If only the playing group had been bothered earlier in the season, South Sydney would have a very real possibility of winning their first finals match in 25 years. Now, it will take a minor miracle for the Bunnies to play in September. 

Tackle 4: The Storm finally have something to worry about

Cooper Cronk may not be as valuable to the Storm as Johnathan Thurston is to North Queensland, Benji Marshall is to the Tigers, Paul Gallen is to Cronulla and Kurt Gidley is to Newcastle but his injury has the very real possibility to rip the heart out of the Storm's premiership charge. Melbourne have been magnificent this year, bouncing back from a devastating 2010 to have the minor premiership all but secured. But the Storm have done so on the back of a clear injury run. That came to an end on Saturday night after Cronk hobbled from the field with an ankle injury after slicing the Titans to shreds in a sublime three-try performance. Cronk has been cleared of major damage but is set to miss at least two weeks, including this Friday's monster clash with St George-Illawarra. The Storm have Cameron Smith and Billy Slater to cover for Cronk but replacing the underrated halfback's kicking game and directional play will not be easy and has the Storm vulnerable heading into September. 

Tackle 5: Parramatta's recruitment team suffers another embarrassment

The recruitment team at Parramatta suffered another humiliation last week when Carl Webb announced his immediate retirement. He was the third Parramatta recruit this season to retire mid-year after both Paul Whatuira and Chris Walker both called time on their careers after indifferent form, a record that will surely never be surpassed. Webb managed six first grade games this year, surpassing Walker's five and Whatuira's one. Other recruits Chris Hicks and Jordan Atkins have been in and out of first grade while Reni Maitua, admittedly in good form, could not play until mid-May thanks to a drug suspension. It has been a tremendous embarrassment to a club who only two seasons back played in a Grand Final. 

Tackle 6: Doodlegate nothing but a cheap smear campaign

Last week, The Daily Telegraph perpetuated the biggest beat-up in the history of rugby league with its so-called "Doodlegate" scandal, quite an achievement in a sport renowned for hyperbole with a media not unaccustomed to cheap tabloid smear. For the entire week, the Phil Rothfield-led campaign attacked Phil Gould (Rothfield's arch-nemesis in the true comic book sense) for leaving a meeting of NRL chief executives early after scribbling some doodles on a pad. Rothfield was outraged that Gould did not use the forum to raise his concerns over the AFL's entry into western Sydney, subsequently publishing email correspondence between Gould and David Gallop and even bringing in a "doodle expert", the equivalent of Today Tonight brining in a psychic to solve a crime. Rothfield also sat on the doodles until Gould published a piece expressing concern for rugby league in Western Sydney. It is a complete non-issue and nothing but a personal smear campaign against someone acting in the greater interests of the game by a small-minded gossip merchant. The only people who should be embarrassed by this story are Phil Rothfield and the editors who allowed this rubbish to be published.