Workhorse Watch Season Preview Part 3: The Hole Fillers
Players going to new clubs presents workhorse opportunities at their old clubs – holes that need to be filled. Here’s a forward pack where each player has an excellent opportunity to fill the void left by their former teammate.
8. Scott Bolton, North Queensland
The Cowboys have lost both James Tamou and Ben Hannant which takes a huge chunk out of their front row capabilities. Bolton is well worth taking a look at. He has a wealth of experience but is not in the Origin frame so you won’t lose him midway through the year.
Bolton has a very healthy SPM of 0.89 and in the opportunities he had in the absence of players like Tamou and Matt Scott last year, he stepped up. Bolton started on four occasions, scoring a workhorse try in two of those games and registering involvements of 33 and 37 in the other two.
9. Matt Ballin, Wests
2016 was awful for the likable Ballin with the former Manly rake struggling with injury. Ballin started the season injured and managed just two NRL games before suffering a season ending injury. With Robbie Farah no longer at the club the hooking role at the Tigers is his, and his alone.
Prior to joining the Tigers, Ballin was a workhorse gun, registering 100 workhorse tries since 2011. Provided he’s healthy, he’s one of the best fantasy hookers in the game and once again not in the representative frame. Well worth your attention.
10. Zane Musgrove, South Sydney
When it comes to big names at Redfern, they don’t get much bigger than Burgess. With Tom and George both on deck again this season, it’s easy to think that everything is as per usual in the Rabbitohs front row. But the departure of Nathan Brown means Souths lose their second best workhorse prop; Brown scored 6 workhorse tries last year which is more than Tom (5) and George (2).
Enter Musgrove. Sure Sam Burgess does it all, and Jason Clark did have 10 workhorses last year, but there still may be an opportunity for Musgrove to make an impact. Musgrove only scored the one workhorse last season, but he did it in 39 minutes. He has an SPM of 0.90 and having just re-signed through until 2020, clearly the Bunnies see him as part of their future.
11. Kenny Bromwich, Melbourne
With Kevin Proctor moving to the Gold Coast, Bromwich is the prime candidate to step up and become a workhorse regular. Bromwich started in four games last season, scored a workhorse try in two of them and had 39 involvements in another. He also scored a workhorse try in Round 19 coming off the bench.
Bromwich has an SPM of 0.73 meaning he’ll need to play 55 minutes a game to be a workhorse regular. That’s only 12 minutes more than he averaged in 2016. Proctor averaged 70 minutes a game and only 0.64 SPM.
12. Lewis Brown, Manly
Following the departure of back rowers Jamie Buhrer, Tom Symonds and Feliti Mateo, as well a host of other players, 2017 might finally be the year Brown can settle into a position. Last season Brown played 24 games. 10 of them at centre, eight off the interchange bench, five in the second row and even one where the records say he started at hooker.
Because he played so many games at centre, looking at his SPM is not relevant. In the five games he started in the second row, he played the full 80 minutes on three occasions including Round 1 when he scored his only workhorse try for the season.
13. Jai Arrow, Brisbane
It was no secret that Arrow had been touted as the replacement once Corey Parker departed. With the workhorse legend finally hanging up the boots, Arrow now gets his chance. Then again, I wouldn’t be surprised if Wayne Bennett decides to throw everyone off and throw someone else entirely into the mix. He’s tricky like that.
Arrow certainly has the goods. His stats per minute rate of 0.94 is outstanding. He mainly came off the bench last season but in his first match in the run on side (Round 19) he didn’t disappoint, racking up 49 involvements in 54 minutes on the way to his first ever workhorse try. His only other starting appearance was in Round 21, when he started at prop and had 37 involvements in 46 minutes.
Want more stats? Download the 2017 NRLCEO Season Guide which includes a list of the Top 100 players overall and all the 2014-2016 stats from each squad’s Top 25.
Geoff Adams
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