Workhorse Watch Rd 19
Paul Gallen was chaired off after his final Origin match last Wednesday night but anyone who wonders why all of NSW are not universal in their praise of the outgoing skipper must have short memories indeed. A quick look over Gallen’s career provides plenty of reasons why we don’t necessarily find him all that endearing. There was the time he ripped at Anthony Laffranchi’s stitches and the time he allegedly grabbed Josh Graham’s testicles. There was the time he slapped Josh Cordoba while he lay unconscious and the time he racially abused Mickey Paea. Then there was that time he received a criminal infringement for public urination, near his friend’s head. What a bloke!
Then there was ASADA and the peptides scandal. After protesting his innocence for 18 months, Gallen, along with his teammates, eventually admitted to taking banned substances and got off on one of the most lenient sentences a drug cheat could ever stumble across. And yet ‘Gal’ had the gall to attack the NRL, the one institution looking out for his welfare when his club didn’t. The stupidity of his tweet was only matched by his excuse to cover it up which involved blaming his Dad.
Gallen certainly has some admirable qualities. The fact that he’s stayed a one club players is very refreshing. He has a softer side that we don’t often see where he is very generous to his young fans. And he’s certainly been a superstar of fantasy football for a long, long time. But none of that holds sway with me. He hasn’t been a one club player for my club, I’m not a young fan and I’ve never had him in my NRLCEO team, so forgive me for not declaring him a state treasure. As for fellow workhorse and representative retiree Corey Parker, now there’s a guy I want to build a bronze statue of!
No one has ever said Gallen wasn’t tough (although the peptides thing brought his performance in Game 2 of the 2011 Origin series into question) but nor could you accuse him of being very smart. Take for instance in 2013 when in Game 1 he decided to start throwing punches at Nate Myles. Tough, but not very smart. Although Gallen avoided being sent to the sideline, potentially leaving his team a man down is not really what you want in a captain. And don’t get me started on the number of times he’s got the ball in his hand when it should be going to the side’s playmakers.
And therein lies the problem. A smart captain would know better. Us mere fans can never understand how the ‘red mist’ effects a player once they enter the cauldron that is State of Origin football but what we do know is that if you can’t maintain composure, the game is lost. I don’t believe that Queensland have had more desire than us over the last decade. Or raw talent for that matter. But I do believe they’ve had more composure. And that has made all the difference to why NSW have lost 10 of the last 11 series and why we New South Welshman are not prepared to hail him a true champion.
Workhorse of the Week:
Ben Matulino: A fresh face in the Workhorse of the Week category with Matulino getting his first Workhorse of the Week and from memory, his first berth in the Pack of the Week. Matulino edged out teammates Issac Luke who also scored a double workhorse and Simon Mannering who again blitzed the rest of the league for involvements but didn’t have the runs or metres to register a double.
WORKHORSE PACK OF THE WEEK
- Ben Matulino: 42 tackles + 18 hitups = 60
- Issac Luke: 45 tackles + 8 hitups = 53
- Jesse Bromwich: 41 tackles + 13 hitups = 54
- Zeb Taia: 38 tackles + 18 hitups = 56
- Trent Merrin: 48 tackles + 11 hitups = 59
- Simon Mannering: 61 tackles + 9 hitups = 70
- Andrew McCullough: 54 tackles + 5 hitups = 59
- Cameron McInnes: 52 tackles + 6 hitups = 58
CLOSE BUT NO CIGAR
Sam Lisone: 29 tackles + 10 hitups = 39
Tom Burgess: 29 tackles + 10 hitups = 39
Jeremy Smith: 30 tackles + 9 hitups = 39
Tepai Moeroa: 25 tackles + 14 hitups = 39
STATS PER MINUTE
With the Finals just weeks away it’s time to stock up on players that are in form and hopefully still available in your comp. Cue shameless attempt to link an unrelated brand with something really popular right at this very moment. It’s like I always say “Gotta catch them all….or some of them…or none if you’re completely OK with the side you have.”
Jacob Host scored his first ever workhorse try, racking up an impressive 41 tackles along with 9 hit ups in 65 minutes (0.77 SPM). Host, along with a number of his Dragons teammates, were forced to get through a lot of work in the opening half against the Titans with the Red V only having 2 of the first 11 sets of six. The Renown United junior lead all players with 33 involvements at halftime but may struggle to hold down a spot in the starting side with Mike Cooper returning from injury and Tyson Frizell back from Origin duties.
NRLCEOs got their first proper look at Jai Arrow on Saturday night with many tipping him as the heir apparent to veteran workhorse Corey Parker. Arrow was put straight into the starting side after Parker took a one game suspension following Origin 3 and had 49 involvements in 47 minutes (1.04 SPM). Prior to that, Arrow had averaged just 23.5 minutes coming off the bench in his previous two NRL games but did boast an SPM of 0.94.
What has come over Darcy Lussick all of a sudden? The Manly prop spent the first 16 weeks of the season with a solitary line break to his name but has now posted back to back workhorse tries. Lussick had 48 involvements (0.81 SPM) against the Warriors to back up the 44 he had against the Dragons in Round 17. Lussick’s game time has steadily increased over the course of the season from the beginning of the year where he wasn’t even getting a run to playing roughly 20 minutes, then 30, then 40 to now playing over 50 minutes a game.
Mitchell Barnett continues to make every post a winner since transferring to Newcastle. The Knights second rower scored his fourth consecutive workhorse with 49 involvements against Melbourne (0.61 SPM). Barnett played the full 80 minutes but what’s most reassuring for NRLCEOs is that his missed tackles have gone right down. In his first game for Newcastle the former Raider missed seven tackles against the Warriors. Fortunately he wasn’t alone with the Knights missing 41 tackles as a team so he was spared the axe and since then has only missed two tackles per game on average.
Geoff Adams
Latest posts by Geoff Adams (see all)
- 2018 Workhorse Watch Awards - September 3, 2018
- Workhorse Watch – Round 24 - August 29, 2018
- Workhorse Watch – Round 23 - August 22, 2018
