Workhorse Watch – Round 12
Isn’t it great to see so many workhorses in Origin this year? NSW looks especially workhorse oriented. Combined, their pack has scored 87 workhorse tries this year, compared to just 53 for the NSW team named for Game 1 last year. Admittedly, Origin is a round early compared to last year and Damien Cook’s 19 workhorse tries for the season does skew the numbers a bit. But even allowing for both those factors, that still leaves you with a large gap between the workhorse output of this year’s team and last year’s. Queensland’s pack has scored a combined 61 workhorse tries this season so while the Blues give away a lot of experience to the Maroons, they do have a sizable advantage in at least one department.
NRLCEOs are largely gonna have to grin and bear it this round as 8 teams have a bye this weekend. Bye weekend would normally mean a mad scramble for free agents but the pickings are slim. Of the 18 forwards named in their respective Origin seventeens, only seven of them are from teams scheduled to play this weekend which means there are very few replacements that you can pick up that would serve any sort of purpose.
Victor Radley is the big winner over at the Roosters as he gets a starting berth in one of the forward packs most affected by Origin. Radley only has one workhorse try to his name this year from when he played a season high 50 minutes in Round 9. He’s an absolute lock for a workhorse try this week. Ryan Matterson also returns to the starting side but if he’s not already taken in your league, your league is doing something wrong.
The Cowboys also have two forwards away on Origin which means workhorse legend Shaun Fensom returns to the starting side for North Queensland. Fensom is yet to get a workhorse try this season but that should change on Thursday. Ethan Lowe will also be looking to return to the workhorse circle having seen a major drop in his minutes this season resulting in just one workhorse try for the season so far.
Workhorse of the Week:
Angus Crichton. In case you were wondering if last ditch efforts matter when it comes to Origin selection, consider this. Four players scored double workhorse tries on the weekend. One was Cameron Smith – and even though he’s retired from rep footy, he’s one the greatest forwards in NRLCEO and Origin history. Two others were Damien Cook and Cameron McInnes, both battling it out for the NSW #9. (For the record Cook scored a Metre Eater on the weekend, McInnes did not). And the fourth? Angus Crichton, who was no doubt already on Brad Fittler’s radar but whose chances were only enhanced when he scored his first double workhorse of the season.
WORKHORSE PACK OF THE WEEK
- Daniel Alvaro: 48 tackles + 11 hitups = 59
- Cameron Smith: 46 tackles + 12 hitups = 58
- Marty Taupau: 37 tackles + 18 hitups = 55
- Angus Crichton: 47 tackles + 17 hitups = 64
- Simon Mannering: 41 tackles + 14 hitups = 55
- Aidan Guerra: 40 tackles + 12 hitups =52
. - Cameron McInnes: 49 tackles + 6 hitups = 55
- Damien Cook: 44 tackles + 9 hitups = 53
CLOSE BUT NO CIGAR
Lachlan Fitzgibbon: 29 tackles + 10 hitups = 39
Tohu Harris: 29 tackles + 10 hitups = 39
Jazz Tevaga: 29 tackles + 10 hitups = 39
STATS PER MINUTE
The only other team missing multiple forwards is Souths with Cook and Crichton getting the call up. Robbie Farah gets his first game of the year and should also be at short odds to make a contribution while a reshuffle in the backrow sees Sam Burgess move from lock and Cameron Murray back in the starting 13. With those no doubt accounted for by people in your comp, the new man in the 17 to look at is Mark Nicholls. Nicholls is only averaging 30.9 minutes per game so hasn’t made an impact on the scoreboard yet but with an SPM of 0.91, it won’t take much for him to jag a workhorse try at some point.
The work created by Jake Trbojevic’s absence will likely be covered by a couple of players with Shaun Lane sliding into lock and Frank Winterstein moving into the starting side. But with workrates of 0.64 and 0.48 respectively I can’t see them being snapped up by too many NRLCEOs. The player I’m more interested in seeing is Jack Gosiewski. Gosiewski has played 80 minutes on three occasions this season with returns of 36, 38 and a breakthrough performance in his last NRL game with 45. A season SPM of 0.49 isn’t all that exciting either but he’s shown a bit more potential than the aforementioned Lane and Winterstein.
Back to the Cowboys for a moment and with Matt Scott facing a trip to the judiciary, Corey Jensen could be the player to step up after he scored his first ever workhorse try last round. Jensen had 40 involvements in 46 minutes (0.87 SPM). The North Queensland prop has a great workrate with an SPM of 0.93 for the season however up until a fortnight ago he hadn’t played more than 33 minutes in a match this year. In Round 11 he played a career high 54 minutes for 38 involvements before just breaking through for his first four pointer against Melbourne.
Geoff Adams
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