Workhorse Watch Rd 25
As the NRLCEO builds towards a crescendo, it’s time to take a look at the big workhorse moments of 2016. Some delighting, some enraging and others downright confounding.
The Stats Drama (Round 1)
The most controversial issue of the year was the change in the way we’re fed statistics. Everyone including the NRLCEO powerbrokers were caught off guard when it was revealed that the League Live App was no longer using Champion Data and that their new provider was producing higher numbers. But far from being shortchanged, a special Workhorse Watch investigation revealed NRLCEOs were actually getting a more accurate figures with League Live prepared to count just about anything as an involvement.
Elijah Taylor (Round 2)
NRLCEOs were left wondering what Anthony Griffin had against Elijah Taylor as the New Zealand representative found himself getting limited minutes at the beginning of the season before being dropped entirely between Rounds 4 and 9. Eventually he was released to the Tigers and since then has only missed one workhorse.
Back to Belmore (Round 5)
The Bulldogs match against the Raiders produced some big workhorse performances but none better then Aiden Tolman who scored a workhorse try by halftime. Tolman has always been a workhorse legend but this season is having his best year yet.
Dylan Napa Takes It To Sam Burgess (Round 6)
Dylan Napa put on the workhorse performance of his career in Round 6 when he scored his first and to date only double workhorse try. Napa scored a try and a metre eater to go with it and helped steer the Roosters to a 17-10 win over archrivals Souths.
Peats Heads North (Round 10)
Nathan Peats became the biggest casualty of the Eels salary cap drama when he was released to the Gold Coast Titans in Round 10. While Peats continued on his merry way it killed not only Nathan Friend’s NRLCEO season but also his career. Meanwhile Isaac De Gois has been very hit and miss since Peats’ departure but since the NRLCEO Finals started (for most comps) in Round 23, De Gois hasn’t missed a workhorse. On Monday night he finished on 39 involvements but was upgraded to 40 on review, no doubt determining a few Grand Finalists.
Taylor Makes Farah Disappear (Round 13)
Was it just me that was obsessed with the plight of Robbie Farah? Did everyone else see the writing on the wall and steer clear of him at the beginning of the year? Despite playing for NSW, Tigers coach Jason Taylor felt his side was better off without the international and whilst his decision has been justified it’s left one of the most versatile scorers in NRLCEO history completely worthless.
Ryan James And The Giant Double-Double (Round 13)
Ryan James entered a very exclusive club when he touched down for 2 tries against the Rabbitohs and accumulated 66 involvements to scores this year’s only double-double. But proving that players can never score enough fantasy points, people were immediately talking about the prospect of a triple double – double try, double workhorse, double metre eater. Maybe next year.
Mannering’s Awesome 80s (Round 16)
I should probably stop banging on about this as it was only worth one workhorse but bugger it. Mannering is in his 12th NRL season and has racked up over 250 games but is posting some of the biggest tackle numbers in the league – only Jake Friend has made more.
The Green Machine Where Fensom Can’t Be Seen (Round 17)
Who has had the bigger fall from grace – Shaun Fensom or Robbie Farah? Given the love for Fensom at NRLCEO HQ and among prominent NRLCEO players, I’d say Fensom would get the nod but like Farah, Stuart’s decision not to play Fensom has been validated. Fensom is a gun, but the Raiders are flying without him. A piece of all us has died this season.
Full House At The Close But No Cigar Club (Round 21)
It remains the club that no one wants to be a member. Nothing is more frustrating than seeing a player finish on 39 involvements. In Round 21 there was a record 10 and this season we are on track to have more players finish on 39 in a game than in 2015. Last year there were 124. This season we are already at 111 (Round 24)
Workhorse of the Week:
James Graham: Four players finished with more involvements than Graham but none of them had the metreage to go with it meaning he was the only one to register a double workhorse try, his 10th for the year.
WORKHORSE PACK OF THE WEEK
- James Graham: 43 tackles + 17 hitups = 60
- Jake Friend: 67 tackles + 3 hitups = 70
- Ryan James: 44 tackles + 15 hitups = 59
- Jack De Belin: 44 tackles + 12 hitups = 56
- Matt Gillett: 47 tackles + 16 hitups = 63
- Elijah Taylor: 58 tackles + 6 hitups = 64
- Michael Lichaa: 60 tackles + 2 hitups = 62
- Peter Wallace: 54 tackles + 3 hitups = 57
CLOSE BUT NO CIGAR
James Tamou: 29 tackles + 10 hitups = 39
Kenny Bromwich: 30 tackles + 9 hitups = 39
STATS PER MINUTE
Shannon Boyd scored a rare workhorse on Saturday in a game that was largely void of workhorse tries thanks to 74 points scored between the two sides. Boyd had 41 involvements in 47 minutes (0.87 SPM) to rack up just his third workhorse try of the season.
Having players injured is not ideal at the best of times and even worse when a Grand Final or the chance to play a Grand Final is on the line. Even worse is when they get injured mid game. Nate Myles’ return last week resulted in a workhorse try but against the Raiders was off after 23 minutes having made 17 involvements.
With workhorse tries in his last two games, Wade Graham’s concussion against the Roosters would’ve been costly as he finished with 28 involvements in 60 minutes (0.46 SPM). But perhaps the worst was the injury to Siosiua Taukeiaho who went down with an ACL injury in the first minute. It brought an end to his 3 match run of workhorse tries and stopped him from adding to the 12 from 12 goals he’s kicked in the last 4 weeks when handed the kicking tee.
Having received limited opportunities throughout the year, Damien Cook is proving to be a handy option at the business end of the season with the Rabbitoh rake scoring another workhorse on the weekend; his fifth in the last four weeks. Cook had 45 involvements in 80 minutes (0.56 SPM).
I’m going to have to rename this part of the Workhorse Watch – ‘The Matt Prior Memorial Paragraph’ after an even bigger week for the Sharks prop. After equaling his personal best for involvements last round, this week he scored a try, a workhorse try (0.82 SPM) and a metre eater. Going into this round, 77 players had scored try/workhorse try doubles but who has made the most? Find out in next week at the official Workhorse Watch awards – The Workies!
Geoff Adams
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