BY CURTIS WOODWARD

@woodward_curtis

When you make a short-list of the nicest, well-spoken players in the National Rugby League, two of those names are Daly Cherry-Evans James Tedesco. Poster boys. The good guys.

Yet in less than 160 minutes of footy – two rugby league games – those two found themselves doing things on-field they’d never done before.

On Thursday night in Newcastle, Sydney Roosters captain James Tedesco started a scrap trying to defend his 18-year-old halfback Sam Walker. Fair enough. Get stuck in. Look after the young bloke.

But there was nothing to defend.

Melbourne Storm prop Cameron Welch, one of the cleanest book-ends in the NRL, took Walker fairly in a ball-and-all tackle just as Walker kicked the ball.

Nothing in it.

Less than nothing in it.

But Tedesco still started a scrap.

Yep, a tiny bit may have to do with defending his rookie playmaker but your writer will bet it was more out of frustration. More about how the mighty Australian custodian couldn’t understand why and how his Roosters, sitting 5th on the table, couldn’t get anywhere near the Storm.

All night.

From start to finish.

There’s no doubt the Roosters had a bad evening but surely there’s a bit of frustration from the very top echelon of our stars who don’t know where to turn or who to complain to when the rules of the game are just so weird and different to what they’re used to.

Then there was Sunday night at Suncorp Stadium.

Game II – Queensland against the Blues.

There is absolutely no doubt that Maroons skipper Daly Cherry-Evans and his side was outsmarted, outplayed and embarrassed again in front of another QLD crowd.

It isn’t DCE’s go to push opposition players in the face or try to start a spot fire.

But he did.

He was a lost puppy with the best intentions.

The players can feel it out on the field more than we do at home.

From our lounge chairs, we can obviously see that the bosses at the NRL have skewered the sport to a point where it just doesn’t make sense.

It’s not working.

The story goes, disgusting human beings once shot a gorilla in the chest, to see what would happened.

Said gorilla, who’d never felt pain before, started ripping at its own body.

Eventually tearing itself to shreds.

It didn’t know what it was.

All the gorilla knew was, that it was bad.

Tried to get the pain out.

Now we have nice guys like Cherry-Evans and Tedesco… frustrated… hurting themselves.

On Thursday night, a Melbourne team without a list of stars embarrassed the 5th placed Roosters.

Forget who was in and who was out.

This is just not rugby league.

The full-time score is enough.

@woodward_curtis