The NRL Flipped Its Own Rule in Seven Days

<p>Finals Week 2 is done and the NRL is down to four. Chris Danks and Blake Austin break down a weekend that ended with Ashley Klein withdrawn from preliminary final consideration — and ask why the game reversed its own rule interpretation inside seven days.</p><p>Blake goes deep on Cronulla: why this isn&#39;t a rebuild, why the Sharks are obsessed with the long side of the field, what a fresh set of eyes would unlock in Nicho Hynes and Will Kennedy, and the question nobody at the club seems willing to answer — why not just swap the numbers on Hynes and Braydon Trindall?</p><p>Plus: why the Warriors&#39; defence didn&#39;t actually collapse, why a home crowd can be a hindrance, the case for a second New Zealand team, Phoenix Crossland and the halfback-to-hooker path, our full NRL Team of the Year, and why Blake still has Andrew Webster as Coach of the Year ahead of Justin Holbrook.</p><p>Blake&#39;s Big Call Alert: Penrith is the best possible draw Newcastle could have got.</p>