Asiata was described by others on social media as "fat Thurston" after an accomplished performance for North Queensland in the narrow defeat to St George Illawarra at WIN Stadium, in which he came up with two try assists. The 23-year-old (one appearance) made it a big day for Samoan internationals with centres Tim Lafai and Joey Leilua each scoring try doubles. Tampering without balls Any opinions on the current chaos of the player market were, until now, a matter of taste. Some enjoyed the horse-trading that starts even before the season does – it "keeps other sports off the back page" – and continued all year. Others thought it completely barmy. But when clubs drop any pretence of propriety and openly approach players contracted to other sides for years into the future, we are entering very murky waters indeed regarding corporation law. On Friday, Nathan Brown said: "Just because a player's under contract today, it doesn't mean a great deal. They might want to sign someone else or we might want them." On Sunday, there were unsourced reports Canterbury's James Graham had been approached by a club. Inducement to breach contract is a crime and in the NRL you can't approach players more than 12 months in advance. We might need a trade window for legal, rather than aesthetic, reasons before long. Name your bid: The club future of James Graham appears to be up for grabs. Credit:Getty Images

Retirement for Cronk? Billy Slater does not think Melbourne teammate Cooper Cronk will retire at the end of the season. Fullback Slater, who faces his own decision in that area, reckons Cronk will join a Sydney club. "I personally think he will," Slater said on Channel Nine. "I just think he's still got so much to offer. He'll be a great addition to any side. He provides so much structure, he's a really good defensive half. It will be sad if the game loses him at the peak of his powers. He's 34 this year and he's still playing as good as ever." But Slater added that if Cronk did quit, it would not be a massive surprise to him, either. On the hunt for crowds The NRL looks down its nose at Super League playing two entire rounds over Easter, and from a health and safety point of view, it does indeed look ridiculous. But have a look at the holiday crowds here over the weekend! Two Easter rounds in the NRL, from the point of view of a turnstile, would have been very busy indeed. Still on that issue, six of the top seven home average drawing teams heading into the Good Friday games were from one-town teams. Still think the Sydney market can sustain eight-and-a-half sides? If we continue to take individual games to places where there is a demand for them, and steadily amp up the practice, relocation may occur by osmosis ... so slowly we barely notice. Loading