Workhorse Watch: Week 1
A cracking week to kickoff the NRL and NRLCEO, how good is it to have the footy back?
Although there will be some concerned CEO’s this week with some big guns out for a number of weeks. Paul Gallen is set for the longest stint on the sideline as he faces 6 weeks recovery meanwhile Sonny Bill Williams (31 tackles, 11 hit ups), Andrew Fifita (37 tackles, 21 hit ups) and Nathan Peats (46 tackles, 11 hit ups) are all out for being naughty boys. Whilst Peats is out for an off-field incident (from October no less) Williams and Fifita are facing suspension for shoulder charges.
Whether you agree with the banning of the shoulder charge or not (and personally I think it has to stay out for the sake of player welfare) I can’t understand how one year on players still haven’t stamped it out of their game.
With Fifita and Gallen gone who steps up?
Tinirau Arona has gone from fringe player to bona fide workhorse within the space of a day after he was a late inclusion in the starting side on Monday night. Arona scored a try/workhorse try double after making 32 tackles and 9 hit ups and has been named as Gallen’s replacement for this week in a side already struggling for depth in the back row with injuries to Chris Heighington, Luke Lewis and Anthony Tupou not to mention the departure of several back rowers over the off season.
Concerns over Corey Parker’s move to prop and how it would affect his minutes and work rate were put to rest with the Broncos captain easily qualifying for a workhorse try against the Bulldogs. Parker was tireless during the 71 minutes he did play but he was on the bench when the Broncos kicked a penalty in latter stages of the first half. The player who was affected was Ben Hannant. The former Bulldog was bumped to the bench and although he managed 24 tackles and 12 runs it was below the scores he got last year that saw him average a workhorse try per game. With that said he didn’t score in the opening match last year either and still went on to have a pretty good season.
The rolling lock out is certainly a welcome addition to this year’s competition; as a rival in my league commented, it’s ridiculous to have to lock in a player on Thursday who might not be playing till Monday. Not that the rolling lock out is not without its limitations; as I discovered on the weekend. I named Robbie Farah as my starting hooker on Thursday, not giving a second thought to his case of boils. I mean really, who misses a game with boils? But my concern grew when I read on Saturday that the Tigers captain had spent time in hospital during the week.
My attention then turned to whether he would need to be replaced in my NRLCEO team. That’s when I hit a snag. The only two forwards I had to come in were Bronson Harrison and Leeson Ah Mau, neither of whom are hookers; which meant I had no one to replace him with. What made the situation worse was that my bench had two excellent hookers in Jake Friend and Andrew McCullough but because they had played on Thursday and Friday respectively, they were locked in and couldn’t be changed, not even pushed into the starting line up to make room for one of my reserves. Fortunately Farah played and had a blinder but a word of warning, if you have a player that is in doubt be sure to name them on the bench if you can because unless your 18th man plays the same position they won’t be able to be interchanged under the rolling lock out.
WORKHORSE OF THE WEEK:
Anthony Watmough; a double workhorse with 39 tackles and 23 hits ups, a huge way to start the year.
FORWARD PACK OF THE WEEK (Round 1)
8. James Graham: 41 tackles + 16 hitups = 57
9. Nathan Peats: 46 tackles + 11 hitups = 57
10. Andrew Fifita: 37 tackles + 21 hitups = 58
11. Anthony Watmough: 39 tackles + 23 hitups = 62
12. Boyd Cordner: 42 tackles + 12 hitups = 54
13. Elijah Taylor: 47 tackles + 11 hitups = 58
14. Andrew McCullough: 57 tackles + 8 hitups = 65
15. Matt Ballin: 57 tackles + 5 hitups = 62
CLOSE BUT NO CIGAR:
The only thing worse than a player falling short of a workhorse try is not naming a player when he does score one. But seeing as though I have no idea who you all named and did not name, here are the players who were close but no cigar.
Jared Warea-Hargreaves : 32 tackles + 7 hitups = 39
Leeson Ah Mau: 26 tackles + 13 hitups = 39
John Sutton 25 tackles + 14 hitups = 39
Brent Kite: 22 tackles + 17 hitups = 39
JUST QUICKLY:
- How do you get around laws that stop sports betting ads being part of pre-game coverage? Have sports betting ads REPLACE pre-game coverage.
- People always joke about hitting Spider cam, there must be at least one techie in the production truck screaming “Don’t hit it, do you know how much it costs!”
- Does anyone feel bad for the Sharks for losing Fifita? After the raid they put on the Tigers a few years back, what goes around definitely comes around.
- $850,000 is nice coin if you can get it but the Bulldogs better not whinge about a player being squeezed out because of the salary cap in a year’s time
- Meanwhile outside Cameron Smith’s house:
Geoff Adams
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- 2018 Workhorse Watch Awards - September 3, 2018
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