Workhorse Watch: Rd 21
In the midst of my Saturday morning coffee I happened upon an article written by a prominent author on the game they call Supercoach. It listed the five best options to replace injured halfback Shaun Johnson.
Anthony Milford, Adam Reynolds, James Maloney, Ben Hunt and Blake Austin should all be considered says the article, should Jonathan Thurston not be an option.
Wonderful, what a world to live in! And talk about putting fantasy back into fantasy football. Imagine if Andrew McFadden could just replace Johnson with one of those guys. It can’t happen which is why I love the NRLCEO format. Sure it means those people who have Johnson may consider their season over but at least they have an excuse come the end of the year. Supercoaches have none. Your best player got injured? Just trade in the next best guy. Your team is in crisis because Andrew Fifita has been stood down? That’s no excuse either. And isn’t justifying that it’s not your fault that you didn’t win, what being a rugby league coach is really all about?
I’m sure we all consider ourselves avid NRLCEO players but some are more avid than others. Take Cheyne Webster for example. Cheyne has been in my keeper league since the start. Since we began in 2003, he’s kept a record of every player that’s ever donned the jersey of his mighty Goulburn Warriors. He’s spent stints working overseas and still he remains dedicated to his NRLCEO team. That’s hard to do because despite the internet, keeping up to date on the ins and outs of NRL teams isn’t easy when you’re based in downtown Taipei. He also spent a year working in the Maldives which was problematic, especially on draft day. With no internet connection to join our draft which we always do over Skype, Cheyne had to call me from a payphone, tell me his pick which I would relay and then he’d hang up. He would then call 5 minutes later, I’d update him on who had been picked, he’d make a hurried selection, hang up and the process would start again. The trouble was the change didn’t last long and so he had to repeatedly run into the convenience store to ask for change only to have the clerk give him dirty looks as if he thought Cheyne was some sort of pervert calling up a phone sex line from the public pay phone.
Needless to say, he’s dedicated. But that went to a whole new level last week. You see Cheyne rides a scooter and anyone who knows southern Canberra will know that commuting from one town centre to the next on a scooter is probably not the safest place to use said mode of transport. Cheyne collided with a car at 80 km/hour and has just spent a week in hospital. But do you think that’s stopped him from tending to his NRLCEO team? Not a chance. There he was on Tuesday, making his submissions to the Waiver Wire. Not to mention this past weekend where he could only bemoan the cricket score posted against him by the Crystal Ball Boy who fielded Valentine Holmes, Daniel Tupou, Michael Jennings, Paul Gallen, Corey Thompson and Gareth Widdop. Cheyne’s now been discharged but faces a long period of rehab. Good luck with the recovery mate. Just steer clear of the brushes with death and stick to being an NRLCEO die hard.
As we reach the penultimate round of the NRLCEO regular season many people’s seasons will come to an end. Not any of you of course. You’re all gearing up for the finals right? You’ve read this column all year, taken my sage advice and are now ready to take your competition’s respective cup, trophy or premiership flag. If you’re not in finals contention you’re probably wondering where it all went wrong. And even if you are, there’s probably some regrets you have. I have two. One is not picking better wingers. Clearly I’ve been too busy watching workhorses because my wingers have lacked depth all season. Thank goodness for Semi Radradra. My other regret is Beau Scott. What on earth possessed me to pick him I have no idea. What a let down. The trouble is he’s been ordinary as a NRLCEO player for years. Why did I not see that?
WORKHORSE OF THE WEEK
Paul Gallen. Wow! That’s three weeks in a row for the Cronulla captain. What Gallen has proven is that after agreeing to a one year deal with the Sharks for next season he will still be highly sought after. Gallen was the only player to score a double workhorse try this week.
WORKHORSE PACK OF THE WEEK
- George Burgess: 37 tackles + 16 hitups = 53
- Cameron Smith: 43 tackles + 7 hitups = 50
- Matt Scott: 31 tackles + 19 hitups = 50
- Elijah Taylor: 51 tackles + 7 hitups = 58
- Shaun Fensom 47 tackles + 10 hitups = 57
- Paul Gallen 42 tackles + 25 hitups = 67
14. Josh Jackson: 42 tackles + 12 hitups = 54
15. Simon Mannering: 39 tackles + 12 hitups = 51
CLOSE BUT NO CIGAR
Tim Glasby: 33 tackles + 6 hitups = 39
Greg Eastwood: 27 tackles + 12 hitups = 39
Mitch Aubusson: 30 tackles + 9 hitups = 39
Korbin Sims: 27 tackles + 12 hitups = 39
STATS PER MINUTE
Try as he might, Tim Glasby just can’t seem to get a workhorse try. He came awfully close to scoring his first of the season when the Storm took on the Tigers. Glasby played 53 minutes, up from his usual 37, unfortunately his stats per minute dropped from his 0.82 season average down to 0.73. The Townsville born prop has played the most number of games (19) without a workhorse this season. He’s come close on a number of occasions having finished on 39 involvements three times this year and between 35 and 39 involvements six times in total.
Other players facing a “workhorse nudie run” having played 10 games or more without a workhorse include usual suspects Tony Williams (0.42 SPM), Dave Taylor (0.62 SPM) and Willie Mason (0.65 SPM), back up hookers Rory Kostjasyn (0.58 SPM) and Heath L’Estrange (0.76 SPM) and a host of “impact players” who are destined never to be workhorses.
Two players that I’m a little surprised to find on the list are Broncos pair Mitchell Dodds and Jarrod Wallace. Dodds (0.94 SPM) suffered what was first feared to be a season ending knee injury in Round 8 so the mere fact he’s back at all this season is a bonus but it did mean he missed out on being able to step up in the absence of Brisbane’s Origin stars. Wallace on the other hand has been around all season and with a solid SPM (0.84), I expected him to jag a workhorse at some point. The closest he came was in Round 11 with 38 involvements.
TOP 10: MOST GAMES WITHOUT A WORKHORSE TRY – 2015
| PLAYER | CLUB | GAMES… | SPM | AVG MIN… | WH |
| Tim Glasby | Storm | 19 | 0.82 | 36.9 | 0 |
| Willie Mason | Sea Eagles………. | 18 | 0.65….. | 45.7 | 0 |
| Frank Pritchard | Bulldogs | 18 | 0.54 | 50.7 | 0 |
| Frank-Paul Nuuausala………. | Raiders | 17 | 0.69 | 37.4 | 0 |
| Jarrod Wallace | Broncos | 17 | 0.84 | 34.0 | 0 |
| Isaah Yeo | Panthers | 17 | 0.44 | 66.2 | 0 |
| Sam Kasiano | Bulldogs | 17 | 0.72 | 34.5 | 0 |
| Lewis Brown | Panthers | 16 | 0.58 | 54.8 | 0 |
| Rory Kostjasyn | Cowboys | 15 | 0.58 | 46.6 | 0 |
| Heath L’Estrange | Dragons | 15 | 0.76 | 28.9 | 0 |
* Corey Oates and Moses Mbye have not been included on this list despite being able to play in the forwards and having played 18 and 15 games respectively this season.
JUST QUICKLY
Special mention to Sia Soliola who suffered a broken cheekbone in Townsville on the weekend. His injury meant he couldn’t fly home with the rest of the team. Instead he had to drive 2,200 km all the way to Canberra. I say it’s the destination rather than the journey that’s the worst part of that scenario.
Geoff Adams
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