Workhorse Watch – Round 14
A week after coming awfully close to our first triple metre eater by a forward, this week we were two measly involvements away from our first ever triple workhorse try. A week after his return from injury, Nathan Brown had a hell of a game playing the full 80 minutes for the first time this season and racking up 172 metres, 46 tackles and 22 hit ups. Tries to Matt Scott and Enari Tuala in the dying minutes of the game to North Queensland slayed any last ditch chance at Brown getting past the 70 involvements required as the Eels back rower finished on 69 before it was downgraded to 68.
Speaking of big, what about Ryan James securing the double-double. After fantasising about it for so long, all of a sudden it’s raining double-doubles with James’ coming just 4 weeks after Jake Trbojevic scored one in Round 10. Not only that, James has made history by not only being one of the few to achieve the feat, but to be the first one to do it twice after also getting one back in Round 13 of 2016 when he had 66 involvements. This time round he had 73.
As the dust settles from Origin I, I can’t say how pleased I am with the way New South Wales beat Queensland last Wednesday night. Some have been critical of the Blues forwards saying that without the performance of the backs, the side would not have won. I couldn’t disagree more. To me the forwards played exactly the way Brad Fittler would have selected them for. As I noted last week, the forwards were very workhorse oriented. Damien Cook was dynamic from dummy half but his work rate was also phenomenal making 55 tackles. Meanwhile you had players like Jake Trbojevic and Angus Crichton coming off the bench and playing the remainder of the game, with neither missing a tackle. The defensive work of their pack freed up their backs to run rampant the way they did rather than have to expend all their energy in defence.
During the commentary, Phil Gould highlighted the sting the Queenslander’s were putting in their hits and called on New South Wales to do the same. Instead, NSW remained disciplined, conceding just one penalty. Sure putting on a big shot can lift your teammates and inflict a little extra pain on your opponent but the thing that hurts far more than almost any shot is having to get marched down the field and having to tackle for another set because your captain conceded a penalty for being offside as he tried to put said shot.
Workhorse of the Week:
Ryan James. A super effort by the Gold Coast big man but it was interesting to see some of the other names that make up this week’s Pack of the Week. A well rested Cam Smith scored back to back double workhorse tries; Luke Bateman had a career high 62 involvements to get his first start in this elite group and cousins Matt Eisenhuth and Paul Gallen are both there after going head to head on Sunday afternoon.
WORKHORSE PACK OF THE WEEK
- Ryan James: 54 tackles + 19 hitups = 73
- Cameron Smith: 48 tackles + 8 hitups = 56
- Nathan Brown: 46 tackles + 22 hitups = 68
- Aidan Guerra: 49 tackles + 15 hitups = 64
- Luke Bateman: 51 tackles + 11 hitups = 62
- Matt Eisenhuth: 49 tackles + 12 hitups =61
. - Jake Friend: 56 tackles + 4 hitups = 60
- Paul Gallen: 41 tackles + 17 hitups = 58
CLOSE BUT NO CIGAR
Agnatius Paasi: 25 tackles + 14 hitups = 39
Ethan Lowe: 28 tackles + 11 hitups = 39
Isaah Yeo: 27 tackles + 12 hitups = 39
Jayson Bukuya: 29 tackles + 10 hitups = 39
Peni Terepo: 28 tackles + 11 hitups = 39
Reed Mahoney: 36 tackles + 3 hitups = 39
STATS PER MINUTE
Back to Origin for a moment and the aftermath saw a number of quality workhorses withdraw from their NRL games causing a double blow for NRLCEOs. Most notable was Damien Cook and Angus Crichton for the Bunnies, but it could be worse after the former went down injured momentarily during the Origin match. Boyd Cordner was also rested after playing the full 80 minutes on Wednesday night. Meanwhile every other Blues forward backed up and all of them scored a workhorse try with Jack De Belin the best, scoring 56 involvements in 63 minutes (0.88 SPM).
It was great to see Aiden Tolman back after a long injury lay off. The Bulldogs prop came off the bench and had 35 involvements in 47 minutes (0.74 SPM). Michael Lichaa also returned in the same game making 34 tackles and 7 runs in 53 minutes (0.77 SPM).
As a couple of workhorse favourites return it seems like a dozen sadly depart, one for good. Just last week we were trumpeting the return of Jamie Buhrer but alas, it was short lived with the Newcastle back rower lasting just eight minutes on the weekend. Api Koroisau is also gone, as is Jesse Bromwich, Viliame Kikau and Peter Wallace. Wallace’s season started full of promise, playing 80 minutes a game and scoring workhorse tries in each of the first 5 games of the season (0.64 SPM). Things then turned south once Sione Katoa came into the side and Wallace’s minutes dropped to 56.5 minutes a game before getting injured in Round 10. News of his immediate retirement revealing the amount of injury he’s had to soldier through in recent years. In Wallace’s absence over the last four weeks, Katoa has averaged 55 minutes per game and 31.7 involvements (0.58 SPM).
But what’s great about Katoa is that he doesn’t even have to play in order to register points; in Round 13 the Panthers had the bye but Katoa scored a try according to nrlceo.com. He’s either a magician or the fact there are two Sione Katoa’s in the NRL has claimed its first victim!
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
