Workhorse Watch Round 10
Robbie Farah wasted no time getting back into the workhorse swing of things notching up a double workhorse try on Saturday night. His 61 involvements equalled his personal best for the season and his early return was a welcome one for NRLCEOs who have him in their squad. His appearance on Saturday night was a fleeting on as NRLCEOs will only see Farah twice (injury permitting) between now and the start of July due to Origin and byes.
Amid last week’s pre-occupation with coming up with a backline filled with workhorses I missed out on highlighting a couple of key points. The first was the fact that Tony Williams scored his first workhorse try of the year. Williams, himself a former back who’s moved into the forwards rarely rates a mention in this column due to the un-workhorse like nature of his game. Every week he ranks among the lowest players for stats per minute so much so that it’s not even worth mentioning. However in Round 9 he managed 41 involvements to score his first workhorse try since round 15 of last year.
Still on the Bulldogs and one player who is the epitome of a workhorse is Aiden Tolman although last week was the first time all season that he missed out on one. Tolman had just 19 tackles and 12 involvements in Round 9 but with good reason as he only clocked 30 minutes on the field after suffering an ankle injury midway through the second half. Ever the Trojan, Tolman was back on deck against the Warriors last week and just managed to score a workhorse try with 26 tackles and 15 hit ups.
Jamie Buhrer continues to come into his own in the absence of Glenn Stewart on the weekend. The Manly back rower who came very close to a double workhorse try last round, got one this week to go along with an actual try which no doubt helped a few NRLCEO’s get across the line including Alex Malyon of the Anfield Jets who possesses him in my competition. Coming into Monday night the Jets trailed by 6 points against the Bass Straight Mean Machine in what had been a neck and neck battle for second place from the outset. On Monday night the Mean Machine only had Peter Hiku in action after BJ Leilua was ruled out whilst the hopes of the Jets faithful lay solely on young Buhrer. A low scoring first half meant Buhrer was well on track at half-time for at least a workhorse try but that wouldn’t be enough. Buhrer needed something special and hope to hell Hiku kept right out of it. In the end that’s exactly what happened and the Jets picked up a valuable win against the three time defending premiers.
WORKHORSE OF THE WEEK:
Paul Gallen:
One of the most lauded workhorses in recent years has finally cracked the top prize of Workhorse of the Week after scoring his first double of the year. Despite Origin teams being named this week the NSW captain did anything but shirk the work posting 67 involvements not to mention a try, a try assist, a line break and a line break assist.
WORKHORSE PACK OF THE WEEK (Round 10)
8. Sam Burgess: 47 tackles + 16 hitups = 63
9. Cameron Smith: 43 tackles + 19 hitups = 62
10. James Graham: 36 tackles + 24 hitups = 60
11. Paul Gallen: 45 tackles + 22 hitups = 67
12. Jamie Buhrer: 40 tackles + 21 hitups = 61
13. Shaun Fensom: 53 tackles + 13 hitups =66
14. Robbie Farah: 44 tackles + 17 hit ups = 61
15. Andrew McCullough: 56 tackles + 10 hitups = 66
CLOSE BUT NO CIGAR
Only two player in the in the No Cigar Club this week.
Ben Creagh: 27 tackles + 12 hitups = 39
Glenn Buttriss: 30 tackles + 9 hitups = 39
STATS PER MINUTE
Canterbury duo David Klemmer and Tim Browne had the highest stats per minute in Round 10 with Klemmer averaging 1.27 involvements per minute and Browne averaging 1.14. However with 25 minutes of game time between them you’d expect them to rip in for the limited time they were out there.
Far more impressive was Brenton Lawrence who had 50 involvements in 47 minutes for an SPM of 1.09. Lawrence missed out on a workhorse try for the first time last week since Round 5 so it was good to see the University of Canberra graduate get back amongst the thick of it.
Congratulations to Paul Carter from the Gold Coast Titans on his first workhorse try of the year. Carter hasn’t had a huge SPM, averaging 0.79 over the last month but in the absence of Ashley Harrison his minutes went up from 37.5 minutes per game up to playing the full 80. The exact same thing happened the week before to James Segeyaro who was averaging 43.3 minutes per game with an SPM of 0.77. An injury to Kevin Kingston saw Segeyaro’s minutes jump to 80 minutes also and as a result he’s scored a workhorse try in each of his last two games.
ORIGIN SOS
This week sees plenty of NRLCEOs scrambling for players as Origin and the first bye of the year will no doubt cut deep into many sides. The forward packs of Souths, Canberra, the Roosters and the Bulldogs are largely unchanged but when we look at the other teams we can see some new faces in the starting 13’s that could add some value.
In the Titans vs Warriors game there is the fore mentioned Paul Carter as well as Mark Minichiello who I mentioned a few weeks ago and who scored his third workhorse try on Friday thanks to 71 minutes of game time. This week Ben Henry moves back to the forwards following the return of Kevin Locke. Henry had 32 to involvements in 80 minutes last week but that of course was in the centres so that could very well lift but at the same time his minutes will probably go down. Your best bet (if he’s still available) is Sebastine Ikahihfo who had 40 involvements in just 41 minutes for an SPM of 0.98 against the Bulldogs.
In the Tigers vs Broncos game, obviously Brisbane is heavily affected by Origin with Corey Oates and Todd Lowrie coming into the starting side. Oates usually has an SPM of around 0.65 so perhaps with the extra minutes he might get there. Meanwhile Lowrie is a proven workhorse when given the opportunity. After ten rounds last year at the Warriors he had 10 workhorse tries. Meanwhile at the Tigers Joel Luani failed to crack it for a workhorse try whilst Robbie Farah was injured so it’s hard to imagine that will be different this week although a lot of workhorse tries generally get scored in games involving the Broncos.
In the Raiders vs Cowboys game there are a lot of changes owing to Origin and injury so it’s hard to tell who will step up. Tariq Sims had 38 involvements last week in 77 minutes and missed out on a workhorse try for the second straight week. His numbers will lift this week but considering he’s scored 6 workhorse tries this season I can’t imagine he’s on anyone’s free list. Ethan Lowe is probably the dark horse. Lowe was a late inclusion in Round 9 but played significantly more minutes last weekend with 34 involvements in 58 minutes.
In the final game, Sharks vs Rabbitohs take your pick from Tinirua Arona, Wade Graham or Chris Heighington but with every chance none of those guys are on your free list I’d be leaning towards Tupou Sopoaga. In the 5 games Sopoaga has played this year he’s scored 4 workhorse tries and in three of those games he wasn’t named in the starting side on Tuesday but still got plenty of minutes.
Geoff Adams
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