Workhorse Watch Round 8
Congratulations to Aaron Woods (48 tackles, 15 hit ups) who not only made the Workhorse Team of the Week but also ruined my weekend by scoring a workhorse double which was enough for my opponent Hamish Neal to deliver my first defeat of the season.
For those of you playing at home, Hamish was hammered during our draft for some of his lousy picks. I’ve continually berated him for the last eight weeks both privately and on social media about the struggles of his team, the Mavericks. So of course karma would come back to bitch slap me by inflicting a shameful loss. Hamish no doubt had a copy of last week’s Workhorse Watch in the dressing sheds to fire up the Tigers’ prop which highlighted the fact that Adam Blair out worked him last week. Speaking of Blair, he scored another solid workhorse on the weekend with 38 tackles and 6 hit ups.
I read with interest this week that Kevin Proctor is being shopped around to a number of clubs. Two things that struck me; first that his manager stated, “Kev’s at an age where he’s about to start a family and needs to look after himself.” Is this as an inane a statement as you can make? Regardless of what stage in life they’re at, I think it’s fair to say players are always looking for the best deal. Second was the fact that the Roosters seem to be the front runners as they look to replace Sonny Bill Williams. Fair enough but I wonder what Mitch Aubusson and Aiden Guerra who between them only averaged 34 minutes on the weekend think of that?
While on Kevin Proctor, it was great to see a jump in the number of try/workhorse try doubles last round with Proctor one of seven players to do so. Round 4 saw nine doubles but in the last couple of weeks we’ve only seen four per round. Other players to get a try/workhorse try double this week were Andrew McCullough (who in fact scored two actual tries and was only 28 metres off get a workhorse double which would have given him the elusive double/double), Aiden Tolman, Matt Scott, George Burgess, Jake Friend, and Brenton Lawrence.
“Kennedy has been named to start this week and is virtually guaranteed another workhorse meat pie.” Famous last words; Martin Kennedy had a great work rate again last week but was only on the field for 27 minutes which resulted in 22 tackles and 6 hit ups. Ben Hannant meanwhile came off the bench to score a workhorse try with 34 tackles and 18 hit ups. The forward rotation policy at a number of clubs must be doing NRLCEO’s heads in.
WORKHORSE OF THE WEEK:
Cameron Smith:
Smith takes the honours again with 66 involvements against the Warriors. The Workhorse of the Week is totally objective. We look at who had the most involvements with precedence taken for those who qualified for a double workhorse. But I’m a little bit loath to give it to Smith. One, because I hate him, (Queenslander, salary cap cheater, that sort of thing) secondly, because you then have a guy like Aaron Woods who played 18 minutes less and only had three less involvements. And you know every one of his 15 runs would have been hard going. Then again Woods cost me a win on the weekend so screw him. It’s not Smith’s fault where he was born or how many boats fall in his lap.
What do you think? Should Workhorse of the Week be subjective or are stats where it’s at?
Special mention to Aiden Tolman who narrowly misses out on Workhorse Pack of the Week honours. Tolman had the exact same numbers as Trent Merrin but was squeezed out based on there being no more room for props after Woods and McGuire and Merrin could slot into the only position left in the back row.
WORKHORSE PACK OF THE WEEK (Round 8)
8. Aaron Woods: 48 tackles + 15 hitups = 63
9. Cameron Smith: 49 tackles + 17 hitups = 66
10. Josh McGuire: 47 tackles + 12 hitups = 59
11. Nate Myles: 46 tackles + 12 hitups = 58
12. Trent Merrin: 39 tackles + 17 hitups = 56
13. Shaun Fensom: 50 tackles + 12 hitups =62
14. Nathan Friend: 51 tackles + 12 hit ups = 63
15. Andrew McCullough: 54 tackles + 8 hitups = 62
CLOSE BUT NO CIGAR
There were three players who just missed out on workhorse tries this week and hurrah, Timmy Mannah wasn’t one of them. That’s because he only had 36 involvements.
Paul Vaughan: 26 tackles + 13 hitups = 39
Kenny Bromwich: 25 tackles + 14 hitups = 39
Chris Houston: 27 tackles + 12 hitups = 39
STATS PER MINUTE
Paul Vaughan might have missed out on a workhorse try but his 39 involvements came in just 30 minutes of game time giving him the highest stats per minute for the week of 1.3.
Luke Burgess was also super impressive and whilst he didn’t get a workhorse try, he did have 37 involvements in just 29 minutes (1.28SPM).
The most impressive of those who scored a workhorse try was Josh McGuire who had 59 involvements in just 54 minutes of game time (1.09SPM)
Meanwhile Adam Cuthbertson was back in this week and scored a workhorse try with 51 involvements in as many minutes for the Newcastle Knights.
At the other end of the spectrum, Boyd Cordner played 80 minutes but had just 32 involvements (0.40SPM).
Also disappointing was Joel Reithmuller, a player who I earmarked for big things this year following the retirement of Dallas Johnson. Reithmuller has scored just the one workhorse try this season and whilst it was going to be tough to rack up big numbers in such a high scoring affair, 21 involvements in 42 minutes is pretty low for a player capable of such a high work rate.
JUST QUICKLY
- If you were the CEO of the Cronulla-Sutherland Hawks or the Manly-Warringah Seagulls, would you rather sign, Benji Barba or what’s his name, the captain of the Australian team?
- Seriously Wayne Bennett, what are you doing with your forward pack? Players are in and out, minutes are up and down, it’s sounding like a Katie Perry song. Pick a side and stick with it, a lot of good points are going begging you know.
- There are no NRL games this week, but there’ll still be an edition of the Workhorse Watch next week so be sure to keep an eye out.
Geoff Adams
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