Best NRLCEO Player of All Time? It Has to be a Workhorse Right?
Recently this website began a social media campaign to find out who is the greatest NRLCEO player of all time. 32 players over 10 years? You can barely scratch the surface with so few which means you leave a lot of very good players out in the cold. Even more when you consider half the brackets are taken up by backs. So many good workhorses over the years, here are some that didn’t making that final list.
BACK ROWERS
There have been so many great back rowers over the years you could probably come up with a whole team made entirely of them. If you’re going to talk about Alan Tongue as one of the greats, then Dallas Johnson and Michael Luck also have to enter into that conversation. Both made my Workhorse Pack of All Time last year and were the second and third players I immediately thought of behind Nathan Hindmarsh when compiling my list of 32.
But it doesn’t stop there, Liam Fulton was a tackling machine who eventually tackled himself out the game. David Stagg is another who just never stopped working. Some may malign him now but back in his Canterbury days he got through as much work as anybody.
Then there are guys who could run the ball a bit too. Guys like Anthony Laffranchi, Steve Simpson, Luke O’Donnell and Trent Waterhouse. Waterhouse is still running around in the Illawarra league having returned from the UK. I’m not sure if anyone has been keeping a track of his involvements though. Speaking of keeping on, then there’s Chris Houston who may look like he’s 48 but the only thing in the 40s is his involvement rate.
FRONT ROWERS
It’s interesting that there is only four props are in the final 32 and that only one is retired. We’ve seen some massive changes in the role of the front row forward in recent years that has made them far more valuable in NRLCEO.
Before the likes of James Graham and Aaron Woods ran around there were players like Steve Price and Luke Bailey. Steve Price also made my Workhorse Pack of All Time so naturally I’d include him here. ‘Bull’ Bailey was also very good. Injuries and age slowed him down in his later years but as recently as 2011 he was one of the top two props in the game when he scored 20 workhorse tries.
But there is little doubt that as far as NRLCEO goes, the best props are the crop we have at the moment and in years to come, there’ll be more props than ever making greatest fantasy player lists. Aiden Tolman (who incidentally was the other top prop in 2011 and has been up at the pointy end for a number of years) is on track to become one of the greatest ever. Then there’s guys like Josh McGuire and Jesse Bromwich. Exciting times.
HOOKERS
I’ve got no problems with Robbie Farah, Cameron Smith and Andrew McCullough representing the hookers. They’re three of the best, fantasy or otherwise. But there are plenty that are often forgotten the moment they leave.
Aaron Payne will not go down as one of rugby league’s greatest hookers but that’s what makes him a great fantasy player. Not only that, but he played for a Cowboys team that often struggled, particularly during the mid 2000s. That means a lot of tackles, gold when it comes to NRLCEO! And what about Kevin Kingston? His 2012 season was epic! He finished equal first for workhorse tries with 22. And let’s not forget that after leaving the Eels at the end 2009, Parramatta started to become the rabble that it is today. Very underrated.
Then there are the current players that didn’t make it. Like I said, I’m happy with Farah, McCullough and Smith but Matt Ballin and Nathan Friend have been great workhorses as well. Where will Jake Friend and Issac Luke sit in years to come? And if Michael Lichaa and Jake Granville are performing like this at the moment, how will we regard them by the end of their careers?
Which workhorse have still not been mentioned? Hit me up on Twitter @geoffadams81, hashtag #ForgottenWorkhorses
Geoff Adams
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