The Greatest Workhorse Pack of All Time*
What does a workhorse watcher do when there was only a couple of games of footy this week? He reminisces about the great workhorses of the past. Here is my Greatest Workhorse Pack of All Time.
Now I say ‘All Time’ but I should point out a few selection criteria I’ve applied in coming up with this team.
Firstly, they have to be retired. There are some outstanding forwards running around in the NRL at the moment and several sure-fire contenders in such a team and as much as I love guys like Shaun Fensom and Corey Parker, there is enough opportunity to talk them up every other week, let’s get a bit nostalgic and stick to players who are gone but not forgotten.
The second criteria I’m imposing is they have to have played in the last decade or so, which is the same time that I and a lot of people have been playing some type of fantasy football. Whilst I’m sure there are plenty of players to be considered workhorses from previous eras, for the purposes of this we’ll keep them out of the side too and stick to what I will refer to as ‘The Fantasy Football Era’.
Thirdly, this is purely about workhorses. Nothing else. There are plenty of great forwards who have played the game but were never really considered workhorses. Tries don’t come into play; neither do line breaks and line break assists.
Here we go…
8. Steve Price
I will admit that my workhorse pack is very biased towards tacklers. Just about all the other forwards are renowned tackling machines but when it comes to props, it was always going to be about hit ups. Not that Price was a slouch in defence but when it comes to hit ups and metres gained there is no prop that has been better. In 2007, Price set a record for most metres in a season with 4,515. He broke his own record for most metres in a game on multiple occasions that year and what’s extraordinary is the fact he did it at age 33. In the fantasy competition I’ve always been in with my mates, we’ve been able to retain a certain number of players from the previous season and for the poor old Little Red Machines, who were consistently wooden spoon contenders, Price was the one shining light.
9. Alan Tongue
Whilst more of a back rower than a dummy-half, Tongue spent plenty of time at hooker in his career as the Raiders lacked anyone that could fill the massive shoes left by the likes of (cough) Simon Woolford. Besides, there is absolutely no way I could leave him out of my starting side. Tongue lapped up the work week in, week out (yes I just went there) and was the epitome of a player who should have garnered more representative honours than the one Country and one Prime Minister’s XIII jersey that he did. He broke the record for most tackles in a season in 2006 with 1,087.
10. Danny Nutley
Nutley was the quiet achiever’s quiet achiever. He eventually did gain some recognition when he was selected for Queensland for one game in 2005. Nutley was also named in the English Super League Dream Team in 2006 after topping the league’s tackle count. It is becoming more and more common these days for players to score workhorse tries coming off the bench with many coaches deliberately leaving some of their best forwards to come in and make an impact later in the game; but Nutley was one of the first. Phenomenal work rate and consistency.
11. Nathan Hindmarsh
Has there been any better? By his own admission a fair number of his record 12,000 plus tackles may have been flops as the third man in but there would have been equally as many that were made one on one, sometimes after running down an outside back or after he’d already made the previous, sometimes previous two tackles. One of my greatest fantasy football regrets was opting for his brother Ian instead of Nathan in our first ever season. Our first year of fantasy football was in 2003 and teams were compiled through a bidding process rather than a draft. At the time Ian was the greater workhorse and I threw my money at him and left Nathan for one of my other competitors who would hold onto him year in, year out in what was the most productive workhorse career ever.
12. Michael Luck
The other week I tuned in to watch Parramatta take on the Cowboys and whilst as an Eels fan the second half was a nightmare, the first half was a delight, most notably for the fact that the former Cowboy and Warrior was commentating. Luck who now works in the Cowboys’ front office jumped behind the mic after regular commentators Gary Belcher and Scott Prince’s plane was late. Luck’s comment on a massive hit put on by Ashton Sims was a joy to hear from a Workhorse Watch point of view. Whilst always a noted tackler, Luck’s crowning moment came in 2009 when he broke the record for most tackles in a game with 74 when the Warriors took on the Storm on Anzac Day in what was one of the greatest workhorse slogs of all time thanks to the match going to extra time and still finishing in a draw.
13. Dallas Johnson
In that same game Dallas Johnson made 64 tackles and whilst he might have been bested in the tackle count that day, there weren’t too many games where that happened in his 10 year career. His most memorable game has to be the record 62 tackles he made for Queensland in Game 2 of the 2007 series. Unfortunately his extremely effective low tackling style came at great expense with the Herberton junior suffering numerous head knocks and concussions throughout his career including Game 3 of the same series where he was knocked out but came back later in the match to make a further 25 tackles. Such an effort is deeply frowned upon today considering what we are learning about concussions; my only hope is that there are no major repercussions for a guy like Johnson who was such a great workhorse.
No doubt, some of you will think I’ve got it wrong. Who did I leave out? Who shouldn’t be there? Let me know your thoughts on who would make your ultimate workhorse pack. Who would be two players that could come onto the bench?
Geoff Adams
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