Workhorse Watch – Round 2
Well there had to be some karma to the great start my fantasy team is enjoying this year and boy o boy, was it ugly to watch.
Parramatta got belted on Sunday, failing to score a point and it was bad news in the forwards as well. Cameron King ended the game under HIA, Tepai Moeroa finished in the No Cigar Club and Manu Ma’u wasn’t far behind him. One notable shining light was Brad Arthur’s decision to play Daniel Alvaro off the bench. Alvaro came on in the 18th minute and played 54 minutes of the game, finishing with 50 involvements. With a relatively low output by front rowers this week, it was enough to qualify him Workhorse Pack of the Week honours. Playing off the bench did wonders for James Graham’s numbers a few years back but for whatever reason Brad Arthur chose do it to Alvaro on Sunday, it’s hard to imagine he’ll do the same things he did this week in the face of a 54-0 defeat.
The story of Matthew Lodge continues to evolve with more information comes to light about his past, fueling debate about whether he deserves the chance he is getting. Meanwhile NRLCEOs who chose to cast all that to one side and pick him anyway are now copping some punishment for it. They’re now lumped with the worst kind of forward you can have, one that hovers around the 40 involvements mark. Lodge scored his first workhorse try on Friday night with 41 involvements, while in round one he had 39. So it looks like there’ll be weeks where he does score and weeks that he doesn’t but he’ll always be there abouts. And you can guarantee that the week you don’t pick him is the week he’ll get a workhorse and vice versa.
Happy fantasying!
It was a bad start to the year for NRLCEOs with Scott Bolton last week with the Cowboys forward tallying just 29 involvements in Round 1. Bolton’s fortunes looked to have turned around after he racked up 33 tackles and 10 runs against the Broncos but his run in the 78th minute brought things to thudding stop (literally and figuratively) as the front rower got tackled – by the goal post.
Dave Taylor ran out for his second game with the Central Queensland Capras on the weekend, who went down to the Norths Devils. This website’s Facebook account was quick to point out the considerable girth the Coal Train has developed, and sure he can only fit into the #20 jersey but I’m not going to knock a bloke for carrying a few extra kilos around the midsection – let he who is without sin cast the first stone and all that. In addition to that, Dave Taylor isn’t on the workhorse radar, rarely has he ever been, regardless of what kind of shape he is in. It was the powers that be at NRLCEO HQ that were pumping his tyres last year when I was rightly saying he would do nothing at all. We know the kind of player Taylor is by now and anyone disappointed he’s not doing more have only themselves to blame.
Workhorse of the Week:
McCullough is always up there when it comes to tackle count. The Broncos hooker had over 50 involvements in a game on 12 occasions last season but on only one of those occasions did he run more than the required 75 metres. After just squeezing in for a workhorse try off the bench last weekend, McCullough was in his element on Friday scoring a double workhorse try to go with two try assists and two line break assists.
WORKHORSE PACK OF THE WEEK
- Paul Vaughan: 38 tackles + 13 hitups = 51
- Andrew McCullough: 57 tackles + 7 hitups = 64
- Daniel Alvaro: 43 tackles + 7 hitups = 50
- Elijah Taylor: 56 tackles + 8 hitups = 64
- Tohu Harris: 41 tackles + 14 hitups = 55
- Jai Arrow: 37 tackles + 21 hitups = 58
- Damien Cook: 49 tackles + 10 hitups = 59
- Peter Wallace: 55 tackles + 5 hitups = 60
CLOSE BUT NO CIGAR
Ultimately, entry into the Close but No Cigar Club comes down to pure numbers, but the thought of excluding one unsavoury individual this week did cross my mind. Then again he probably would’ve just bashed the door down anyway.
Michael Lichaa: 31 tackles + 8 hitups = 39
Jason Bukuya: 30 tackles + 9 hitups = 39
Nathan Peats: 37 tackles + 2 hitups = 39
Joe Stimson: 31 tackles + 8 hitups = 39
Adam Blair: 30 tackles + 9 hitups = 39
Tepai Moeroa: 28 tackles + 11 hitups = 39
STATS PER MINUTE
Jai Arrow is just one workhorse try away from having a career best year after scoring his first workhorse try of the season against the Warriors. A player with a lot of promise, Arrow has never scored more than one workhorse try in a season but that looks set to change this year at the Titans. Arrow played 64 minutes, up from 48 in round 1, and had 58 involvements (0.91 SPM). Whatsmore, he’s just one game away from getting dual status making him invaluable as the season progresses.
Dylan Napa and Siosiua Taukeiaho were the major beneficiaries of Mitchell Aubusson’s injury with both players notching up their first workhorse tries of the season. Napa had 41 involvements in 59 minutes (0.70 SPM) while Taukeiaho had 44 involvements in 57 minutes (0.77 SPM). These two will be the Roosters starting props this weekend but those stats don’t give me a lot of confidence they can get the job done unless there is another game ending injury.
There was a massive drop in Robbie Rochow’s numbers from week one to week two. It appeared that the Maitland junior might be in for a big season after being parachuted into the Tigers’ back row and allowed to play the full 80 minutes to finish with 46 involvements (0.58 SPM) in Round 1. Against Melbourne, Rochow’s minutes were reduced to 68 minutes in which he made just 28 involvements (0.41 SPM).
Geoff Adams
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