Workhorse Watch Week 24
He’s John McClane to my Hans Gruber.
A fly in the ointment.
The monkey in the wrench.
The pain in the ass.
No matter what happens, he just won’t die, or more accurately his NRLCEO team, the Bass Straight Mean Machine, won’t die. For the last three straight years one man has reigned supreme in my competition.
Three straight years!
Last year I came closer than anyone else had. I felt this year could be my year. Even though I finished second to the Mean Machine at the end of the regular season I felt he was still beatable in the finals.
Not only had I scored more points during the regular season but he’d lost Fensom, Taylor, Cartwright and until recently Hurrell. But Mr. Cowboy came back with a vengeance with Ben Barba and Anthony Milford combining for a swag of points. Barba’s done nothing all year and scores three tries now! It means the Mean Machine are into their fourth consecutive Grand Final and I find myself in a sudden death play-off to get another crack at him.
Yippee-ki-yay, motherfucker.
ASADA Drama
The ASADA drama that unfolded last week certainly created some controversy that will have a knock on effect for NRLCEOs. Losing a player like Paul Gallen at this point of the season is far from ideal but what sort of free kick does it give to opposition NRL teams? With the Sharks playing North Queensland this week anyone with Jonathon Thurston must be licking their lips. If Milford can score two tries and set two up, imagine what JT will do to them?
The absence of the suspended players has created a huge opportunity for their teammates however. At Cronulla Tim Robinson had the game of his career scoring both the first try and workhorse try of his career. At the Knights, with no Jeremy Smith, Adam Cuthbertson had his biggest game since he took out Workhorse of the Week honours back in round 9. Meanwhile at the Titans, Matthew White scored just his second workhorse try of the season with no Luke Douglas in the ranks. Even the backs were capitalising with the Cowboys’ Kyle Feldt bagging a double in the absence of Matthew Wright.
Mortimer Watch: Daniel Mortimer has chimed in with 41 involvements for the third straight week. Do the boys at Champion Data have this guy in their team?
Nothing suss!
It came a little late this year but Greg Eastwood has picked up his solitary workhorse try for the season. Eastwood only scored one workhorse last season and obliged with one on the weekend to back up from the try he scored the week before. It takes his 2014 tally to 3 tries, 1 workhorse and 2 line breaks. Scintillating!
WORKHORSE OF THE WEEK:
Aaron Woods. It’s been a rough month out in Tiger-land and the weekly floggings have not been conducive to scoring workhorse tries. Since returning from Origin, Woods’ workhorse strike rate has been a bit hit and miss but on the weekend he topped the round for involvements and scored a double. Isaac Luke beats out a number of hookers who had higher involvements as he was the only hooker with enough metres to get a double workhorse.
WORKHORSE TEAM OF THE WEEK:
8. Aaron Woods: 45 tackles + 15 hitups = 60
9. Isaac Luke: 43 tackles + 11 hitups = 54
10. Adam Cuthbertson: 46 tackles + 8 hitups = 54
11. Anthony Watmough: 38 tackles + 14 hitups = 52
12. Matt Gillett: 37 tackles + 15 hitups = 52
13. Sam Burgess: 42 tackles + 14 hitups = 56
14. Kevin Kingston: 57 tackles + 2 hit ups = 59
15. Robbie Farah: 56 tackles + 2 hit ups = 58
CLOSE BUT NO CIGAR
There are five entrants this week with Glenn Buttriss the only player to have finished on 39 previously this season.
Adam Blair: 32 tackles + 7 hitups = 39
Dane Tilse: 24 tackles + 15 hitups = 39
Glenn Buttriss: 36 tackles + 3 hitups = 39
Mark Minichiello: 30 tackles + 9 hitups = 39
Robbie Rochow: 28 tackles + 11 hitups = 39
WORKHORSE LITE
It’s not stats-per-minute but with just two weeks left of the NRLCEO season there’s not a lot more to be said when it comes to unearthing players based on their work rate. Instead let me address a question that was posed by Mark from the Tantasy Podcast this week. Mark asked which players are the opposite of the No Cigar Club. That is, instead of looking at the players who just miss out on the workhorse front, which players most frequently just sneak in for a workhorse try? ‘Workhorse Lite’ if you will.
So far this season, 180 workhorse tries have been scored by 101 different players who have notched up either 40 or 41 involvements in a match. The data here has been restricted to 40 and 41 involvements given the Workhorse Watch tends to focus on players who are short by one involvement than required; why not look at players who have made one more than is required for the purposes of this.
So who has registered 40 or 41 most often?
With 5 workhorse tries for the season are Ben Creagh, Brenton Lawrence, Jesse Bromwich and Luke Douglas. Given that Creagh has only scored 8 in total for the season, he could very easily be having a much quieter year. These are guys who have all had solid seasons, I’ve been super impressed by Bromwich in particular but the reality is they’re all an involvement or two per game away from being in kings of the No Cigar Club.
But the stand out when it comes to doing the least in order get a workhorse goes to Sam Thaiday. The Broncos backrower has scored 6 of his 15 workhorse tries this season by only having 40 or 41 involvements. But jeez we’re being nit-picky now. 15 workhorse tries in a pack like the Broncos is a great effort. Nonetheless, Thaiday is Mr Workhorse Lite.
| PLAYER | TEAM | 40-41 INVOLVEMENTS | TOTAL WH TRIES |
| Sam Thaiday | BRS | 6 | 15 |
| Ben Creagh | STG | 5 | 8 |
| Luke Douglas | GCS | 5 | 9 |
| Brenton Lawrence | MAN | 5 | 13 |
| Jesse Bromwich | MLB | 5 | 16 |
| Tyson Frizell | STG | 4 | 4 |
| Tinirau Arona | CRO | 4 | 11 |
| Tariq Sims | NQL | 4 | 13 |
| Daniel Mortimer | GCS | 3 | 3 |
| David Shillington | CNB | 3 | 6 |
| James Tamou | NQL | 3 | 8 |
| Kevin Proctor | MLB | 3 | 8 |
| Robbie Rochow | NEW | 3 | 8 |
| Ryan Hoffman | MLB | 3 | 8 |
| Isaac De Gois | PAR | 3 | 9 |
| George Burgess | STH | 3 | 13 |
JUST QUICKLY
- Anthony Watmough has been given permission to test the market but his manager insists they are not shopping him around.
- Huh?
- Watmough is reportedly not happy about Manly’s failure to offer a contract to Glenn Stewart.
- How can Watmough get mad when he knows he’s taking up $950k of the salary cap next year?
Geoff Adams
Latest posts by Geoff Adams (see all)
- 2018 Workhorse Watch Awards - September 3, 2018
- Workhorse Watch – Round 24 - August 29, 2018
- Workhorse Watch – Round 23 - August 22, 2018
