Graham Lowe: Remember action-man Malcolm

Back in the Wild West days of rugby league, there was an unwritten rule among the hard men of the game - always get your retaliation in first.

In this era there was none tougher, in my experience, than former Castleford, Great Britain and later Manly loose forward, the legendary Malcolm Reilly, who went on to coach Great Britain.

He was a rock-hard Englishman who inflicted terror on opposing sides with his skill and physicality.

Former Manly teammate and now media personality Peter (Zorba) Peters tells the story of Reilly's first game for the Sea Eagles, shortly after his arrival in Sydney in 1971.

He'd arrived on the Thursday before a Saturday game at the Sydney Cricket Ground against the great South Sydney side of the 70s.

As the teams lined up before kick-off, Reilly surveyed the opposing lineup and quietly asked Peters in his broad North Yorkshire accent: "Who's best player?"

"Eh?" responded Peters.

"Who's best player in Souths side?" repeated Reilly.

Peters duly named Bob McCarthy (rated at the time Australia's best second-rower). Reilly, not sure which was McCarthy asked: "Well, what's his number?"

"Number 10," said Peters helpfully.

Minutes later, Peters saw McCarthy being stretchered off the field, the victim of a bone-crunching Reilly tackle.

As the stretcher reached the sideline, Reilly turned to Peters and calmly asked: "Who's next-best player?"

The point is, you can't wait for things to happen in league. If you do, someone else will make them happen.

It's a lesson that new Warriors coach Ivan Cleary may be well advised to take out of Sunday's loss to the Melbourne Storm.

Don't get me wrong, I thought it was a fair effort from the Warriors and probably rated a six out of 10. But Cleary already faces something of a dilemma - he can accept what he saw from his team and bank on gradual improvement or he can retaliate (with action) now, before he discovers he has entrenched problems.

Cleary has to grab the initiative even at this early stage. I'm on the record as saying the Warriors have the individual talent to rival any other NRL side. But I'm not convinced it's being put to its best use.

For example, I'm not sure after Sunday's game that I understand what the club is trying to achieve by turning Sione Faumuina into a stand-off half. Sure he's big, strong, skilful and courageous. But I fear that in declining a Kiwi jersey last year to go to England and learn the stand-off craft he's wasted his time and a great opportunity.

Faumuina is a big talent. But for mine, he's the logical successor to Ali Lauititi as an intimidating, wide-ranging, ball-playing second rower. He is certainly no Andrew Johns, Trent Barrett or Braith Anasta, and I don't see Newcastle, St George or the Roosters wishing they had a different type of stand-off in the Faumuina mode.

He'd also solve a worrying problem I detect with the Warriors forwards.

Am I the only one that thinks the club is trying too hard to turn out clones of Iafeta Paleaaesina? Both Evarn Tuimavave and Epalahame Lauaki showed their eagerness to smash whole-heartedly into the Storm pack on Sunday but neither succeeded even once in coming out the other side in true Paleaaesina style.

History shows us that even journeymen Aussie forwards love big men charging straight at them. They're not quite so good at coping with clever forwards with game-breaking off-loads.

And here's a point. For some time now, I have been convinced that although Clinton Toopi is a very good centre, his rightful position could be at the back of the scrum. He's got fast feet, good upper body strength and is tough. He plays well in heavy traffic.

Toopi reminds me a lot of a player I coached at Wigan, the legendary Ellery Hanley.

When I went to Wigan, Hanley was a stand-off or centre both for the club and also Great Britain.

I saw in him the ability to lead Wigan to greatness from the number 13 position. There was real opposition to the move from club officials at the outset, but history now shows that Ellery went on to greatness, scoring 63 (yes, that's right 63) tries in that first year, and totalling 428 tries in a staggering career of 498 games.

I'm not suggesting Toopi is another Hanley yet, but he does know how to get over the try line, and playing a roaming role would allow him to get his hands on the ball far more often than he can at present playing left centre.

And don't forget, Brian McClennan showed some brilliant lateral thinking in the Tri-series final last year in moving Shontayne Hape from the centres into the back row of the scrum.

This move added crucial speed to the Kiwi back row in both defence and in their attack.

I was alarmed by what appeared to be a lack of speed and organisation on the Warriors right flank. Memo Ivan: You can't hide a goalkicker out on the wing - you need a specialist winger. And can we find someone who can count numbers on the right side defence?

There was disorganisation there against the Storm and it cannot be allowed again against the Eels.

It appeared some players were trying an up-and-in defence out on the right, while others were uncertain what they should do. In fact the Storm were unlucky not to score a couple more tries down that vulnerable right side.

But in the gloom of defeat there were a number of bright spots. New utility Grant Rovelli showed glimpses which suggest Cleary's admiration for his former club-mate may not be misplaced.

Captain Steve Price produced an enormous workload and looks to have brought his trademark honest-effort style to yet another NRL season.

New second-row signing Michael Luck reminds me of the classy Glen Morrison.

And I can't help thinking that Lance Hohaia deserves more game time - he looked to be the only guy with the determination to create his own try scoring opportunities.

So to Hamilton, and the Warriors will face a desperate Eels side, who will have done their homework. I'd like to see the home team turn Parramatta's preparation on its head - with Cleary's early retaliation creating a whole new set of problems for last year's minor premiers.