Sharks coach Shane Flanagan said he wishes he had "a couple of Cameron Smiths", joking the influential Storm skipper doubled as a "referee" during Melbourne's nailbiting win over the premiers in the grand final replay.
Billy Slater Queensland's No.1? If he is, Kevin Walters should eat his hat. That's Cameron Smith. But there's no doubt Slater will get his chance now after coming up with the match-winning play to topple premiers Cronulla.
Wayne Bennett won't entertain a mid-season release for Dragons-bound Ben Hunt after dumping the former Kangaroo to reserve grade, a decision his soon-to-be-coach Paul McGregor labelled as "strange".
Joel Thompson was doing the exact thing he had told so many others not to. He just didn't know if he wanted to talk. Let alone who to. And the words he wanted to say. But he knew he needed to say something when suicide struck so close to home.
The NRL has given an undertaking to the Rugby League Players' Association it will open up its books to show why it can't accede to the union's demands as the parties remain at loggerheads on paying the game's stars a fixed share of revenue.
Laurie Daley's bouncing Blues will next week walk into camp at The Star past wall-to-wall poker machines and be told they've already hit the jackpot. The message? Don't think Queensland will play that bad again.
Kieran Foran was booed with every touch, the last best-since-Sterling to wear and leave the Parramatta No.7 behind with a whimper. And his night ended on a bad note as a battered Eels held off the Warriors.
The NRL will move swiftly to close a loophole in its new judiciary code which will allow Will Chambers to escape a one-game ban as the man he left dazed and confused, Blues No.7 Mitchell Pearce, admitted he felt "sea sick" and is unlikely to back up for the Roosters.
Exhausted NSW players were on the verge of being physically ill and sat in almost silence at half-time.
In one split second he showed why Daley just had to pick Hayne for Origin.
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