The 2015 Workhorse Awards
“For the second time ever, the Workhorse Watcher Geoff Adams presents to you the Workhorses – the Annual Workhorse Awards.
Of course the workhorse is something unique to NRLCEO. It’s something that sets us apart from the rest, so whilst you can read your late mail elsewhere and you can easily identify the top try scorers, Workhorse Watch brings a new approach.
The most popular blog again this year, so I present to you, the Awards!”
The Commish
There was an extraordinary crop of young workhorses that emerged this season as displayed in the Movie Review segment midway through the year.
The nominees are:
Michael Lichaa who had never scored a workhorse try this season but finished with 22 in 21 games.
Ethan Lowe who scored 20 workhorse tries, the most on any Cowboy. No mean feat considering the team boasts 3 current or former Australian front rowers.
Jack De Belin had a huge season scoring 18 workhorse tries including 9 straight to start the season.
Jake Trbojevic who this season emerged as a shining light in a forward pack that’s had a serious aging problem for the last few season. 11 workhorse tries as a rookie prop is extraordinary.
WINNER: Michael Lichaa
Ladies and gentlemen, last year one man stood above all as king of the Close but No Cigar Club. This season we have a 5 way tie for most times in the club. Ben Matulino, Kevin Proctor, Tim Glasby, Michael Ennis and Wade Graham all finished between 35 and 39 on 8 occasions.
However it is Glasby who takes over the mantle from Tim Mannah with the other 4 finishing in double digits (or close to) for workhorses. Glasby had none!
WINNER: Tim Glasby
Speaking of Mannah, guess who finished in the Close But No Cigar Club seven times this season? And get this; Mannah finished on 38 involvements in Round 26. One more involvement on Sunday would have put him level with the five players I just mentioned. That means he was Close but No Cigar in retaining his title as King of the Close but No Cigar Club!
The Workhorse Lite Award goes to the forward who achieved the most by doing the least to get a workhorse. And whilst this award may appear to be critical of those in the running for it; it should actually be a badge of honour. Why do extra work for no reward?
This year the award goes to James Tamou. Eight of Tamou’s 13 workhorse tries came from 40, 41 or 42 involvement games. An honourable mention goes to Mike Cooper who finished outright second thanks to a last ditch 41 involvements in the final round of the season.
MOST DOUBLE WORKHORSE TRIES
Storming home with the most double workhorses for the season is Sharks trojan Paul Gallen. The NSW skipper had 6 double workhorse tries for the year including three in a row between rounds 21 and 23.
Shaun Fensom finished second with 5 with Aiden Tolman and Nathan Peats each scoring 4.
TRY / WORKHORSE TRY AWARD
There a plenty of ways to score points in NRLCEO but the most exciting from a forward point of view is the try/workhorse try combo. Bodene Thompson was a major surprise packet this season scoring 18 workhorse tries including 6 try/workhorse try doubles.
Andrew Fifita (5) might well have ran him down if not for his suspension whilst Gavin Cooper scored a try/workhorse try in the last round to also finish with 5 for the season.
At the beginning of the season I gave my thoughts and predictions in a season preview. Looking back I was pretty conservative with my recommendations but I’m pleased to say most were on the money.
The nominees are:
Nathan Peats who I said had to be on your hit list. The Eels hooker had 21 workhorse tries before injury again cut his season short.
Jake Granville. You didn’t need to be Einstein to figure this one out and although he only scored 9 workhorse tries he also scored 10 actual tries which was the highest of any forward in the league.
Jamie Buhrer. Someone had to step up once so many Manly veterans were shown the door and Buhrer did not disappoint. Unfortunately injury killed his season but I still get goose bumps thinking about his first half workhorse try in Round 7.
Michael Lichaa. Once again you didn’t need to be an NRLCEO genius to figure this one out. You just needed to know someone who was. That’s all I did; as soon as I found out my greatest rival was holding onto him in our keeper league, I knew he’d be in for a big season.
WINNER: Michael Lichaa
I’m pretty happy with my predictions this year. Some might argue they were a little tame but I think they were OK. Even the bad ones weren’t that bad.
The nominees are:
Martin Kennedy who I said would be back in a big bad way back at the Roosters. At least I got the bad part right.
Adam Blair who I said could be in for a big year at the Broncos. Could indeed. Blair finished with 8 workhorse tries but 2015 will be remembered as the year the Courier Mail called him a teddy bear after making just one run in Round 2 (The Bench had him down for 3).
Kyle Turner had the potential to really have a breakout season. Instead he was unseen for most of the year and when he was in first grade suffered a number of concussions.
The Titans forwards pack, who I rubbished at the start of the season. I said outside of Myles and Douglas to not waste your time. Ryan James disproved me there finishing with 10 workhorse tries.
WINNER: All the other ‘experts’ on this website that told you to steer clear of Semi Radradra. None of my wrong predictions were anywhere near as bad as that one!
I’m not even going to list the nominees here and just give it to Daniel Mortimer. Admittedly he did play a bit of hooker this year but there aren’t too many 5’7” players scoring double workhorse tries which is exactly what he did in Round 16.
Whether it results in a double workhorse try or not, you can’t help but marvel at some of the involvement rates by certain players at times. Some of the highest involvements in a single match saw Nate Myles opening the season with 71, Simon Mannering, Luke Douglas, Aiden Tolman and Jamie Buhrer all racking up 70 and Elijah Taylor having 73 involvements in Round 5. Some stats providers had him down for the most number of tackles in an 80 minute game.
However the most impressive must surely be Shaun Fensom. The Raiders backrower finished with 70 or more involvements on 4 occasions including the highest for the season in Round 5 with 75.
- Aiden Tolman: (22)
- Andrew McCullough (23)
- Kade Snowden (20)
- Simon Mannering (26)
- Paul Gallen (24)
- Shaun Fensom (28)
- Michael Lichaa (22)
- Nathan Peats (21)
*Honourable mention to Matt Gillett who had 21 workhorse tries but missed out on bench spot due to Peats playing less games.
Now to the big one. Unlike the Dally Ms, the contenders for Workhorse of the Year have not been kept a secret watching the best of the best duke it out each week has been fascinating and well worth talking about.
Players who received multiple Workhorse of the Week crowns included Paul Gallen (4), Michael Lichaa (3), Aiden Tolman (2), Simon Mannering (2) and Nathan Peats (2).
The player with the most Workhorse of the Week crowns (5) and the most workhorse tries in 2015 was Shaun Fensom. A player already held in the highest regard in NRLCEO circles has put together his best season yet. He remained injury free which allowed him to rack up a career best 28 workhorse tries. He ran more than ever which resulted in more double workhorse tries and he was the first player to appear on an NRLCEO podcast. How could he not be Workhorse of the Year.
WINNER: Shaun Fensom
WORKHORSE WATCHER’S SEASON HIGHLIGHTS
- 12 workhorse tries in a single game in consecutive weeks: Knights vs Dragons in Round 5 & Brisbane vs Roosters in Round 6.
- Tim Mannah making the Workhorse Team of the Week in Round 14.
- Dan Mortimer scoring a double workhorse and almost taking out Workhorse of the Week.
- Jamie Buhrer scoring a workhorse try in under 40 minutes and then going on to score a double workhorse try within 60 minutes in Round 7.
Geoff Adams
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