Captains Call: Round 20
Welcome to week 20 of Captains Call.
What a week that was! Controversy, blow outs, four games decided by six points or less. The weekend had everything.
Now I touched on it last week, the controversy. Being a Raiders supporter, it made it a very hard to understand what happened in that game, I won’t get into the details because we’ve all heard enough of it,
I will say though Nathan Brown must have read last weeks Captain Call as he’s expressed interest in the Captains Challenge for this weeks game.
The Captains Challenge is a great concept and it was used in a few seasons of the under 20’s competition with great success. It allows the game to flow with the referees making their own decisions and getting a feel for the game. If a Captain thinks the referee has made a mistake he can challenge the call, if they get it right they get to keep the challenge, if they get it wrong they lose it for the rest of the half.
The interesting thing is they don’t show replays of the incident at the ground or on TV, whether it be a try or knock on/strip etc, until the allocated time to challenge has elapsed, by that time the game has moved on.
Surely its got to be a better option than the current bunker we have who, with all the technology, still seem to get it so wrong.
Let’s review the six hookers form last week
- Cook – 6 ✅
- McInnes – 8 ✅
- Farah – 0 ❌
- Smith – 4 ✅
- Hodgson – 7 ✅
- McCullough – 0 ❌
Cook made an easy workhorse and was only one involvement off a double. Interestingly Cook has more double workhorses this season than singles.
McInnes worked tirelessly and for his effort got his fifth double of the season.
Farah was on his way to an easy workhorse when he met Tom Burgess who laid Farah flat. He missed the last 10 minutes and missed a workhorse by one involvement.
Smith had a quiet game but did manage a workhorse.
Hodgson had another good game and finished with a workhorse, try assist and line break assist. He was also two meters off a double and got held up over the line, it was almost a massive game for him.
McCullough finished with 36 involvements, very rare for him but when you consider there were 68 points scored in the game and Broncos has most of the ball, its easy to see why he didn’t have to make so many tackles.
This week we will be looking at the back row. Don’t forget to vote or leave a comment below.
Jake Trbojevic
The most consistent back rower in the competition. Regardless of how good or bad the Sea Eagles are going, Jake puts in every week and it shows. 20 workhorses in 17 games with a few tries and try assists to go with it.
Ryan James
James is right up there with Jake with the bonus a being a front rower as well. He has 19 workhorses in 17 games with five tries during that time. Just like Jake, it doesn’t matter how the Titans are going, he puts in a huge effort every week.
Elliot Whitehead
The Raiders edge back rower is also the Mr Fix-It. Being so versatile its had a negative affect on his workhorse output, 10 in 18 games, as he has been pushed out wider at times due to injury. On the flip side he has also scored 10 tries in that time.
Matt Eisenhuth
This guy just loves to work. Regardless if he starts or comes off the bench, its very rare he misses a workhorse with 17 in 18 games. If he could increase his attacking stats he could be in the same mould as Ryan James and Jake Trbojevic.
Aidan Guerra
To veteran has been super consistent this season that if you look at his stats you will see he’s only had three games where he hasn’t scored four points, those three scores were a zero, eight and nine. Like Eisenhuth, Guerra also has 17 workhorses in 18 games and if he could increase those attacking stats he could be right up there as well.
Josh Jackson
Jackson is the heart and sole of the Dogs and his work on and off the field can never be disputed. He has 15 workhorses in 18 games which is great for an edge back rower but to be elite he needs to add more to his attacking side of his game. With only two scores of zero this season, it’s by far his most consistent to date.
.
Adam Hewat
Latest posts by Adam Hewat (see all)
- Captains Call: Round 24 - August 27, 2019
- Captains Call: Round 21 - August 6, 2019
- Captains Call: Round 19 - July 23, 2019
