Workhorse Watch Rd 2
Unlike real footy coaches, the only thing an NRLCEO has to do is name a team each week. Sure scouting and recruitment come into play in the lead up to naming your team but after that it’s all in the lap of the gods. There’s no plays to draw up or half time sprays to give (you can try), just name a team. With Robbie Farah currently injured there exists a vacancy on my bench. Ryan Hoffman got a start in Round 1 but during the week I picked up Josh Starling.
Starling has little workhorse pedigree but in a tightly contested league, as a backup option should Jake Trbojevic be unavailable, there is some appeal. But who to pick this week? I threw it open to the Twitterverse.
The people have spoken. With 91% of the vote, Ryan Hoffman retains his place in my @Fantasy_NRLCEO team #UV2RL pic.twitter.com/MTEJH6g9EO
— Geoff Adams (@geoffadams81) March 10, 2016
I received a resounding reply – Hoffman. In the end it counted for naught. Neither scored a workhorse try, not that it would have done much if they had. The poor output from my entire pack meant not even a Hail Mary was going to save me on Monday even though Trbojevic (55 involvements) did try hard. Not that anyone with few workhorse tries this week should feel bad. Only 36 were scored this week compared to 61 in Round 2 last year.
An optimist might say “At least he wasn’t playing NSW Cup” but it’s hard to be at all positive about the position Elijah Taylor finds himself in at the moment. Taylor had just 18 involvements against the Bulldogs. Not since 2013 has Taylor finished a match (ie not forced off through injury) without a workhorse try. Furthermore, Penrith hasn’t started a season with two losses since 2009 and even that doesn’t really count. Their Round 2 match that year, also against Canterbury, saw the Bulldogs stripped of their two competition points after having 14 players on the field when they scored the match winning try. I’m not saying Taylor is the linchpin to success but c’mon, why is he on the outer?
The woes of Issac Luke owners were eased on Friday night with the Warriors’ hooker crossing for a try and also getting a line break to open his account for the season. However things continue to remain quiet on the involvement front with not even the full 80 minutes enough to get the Luke a workhorse. Not so Bodene Thompson who played the full 80 minutes following the injury to Ben Henry last week and scored his first workhorse of the season with 41 tackles and 9 hit ups.
The Workhorse Watcher got called out last week after mentioning Marcho’s prediction concerning Tony Williams. Your resident previewer wanted me to come up with some of my own predictions. That’s generally not my thing but like all contributors to NRLCEO I have made the odd prediction here and there. One made at the beginning of the year was Russell Packer being a smokey this season. And for 40 minutes on Sunday afternoon it looked like Packer was serving up the perfect response to the gauntlet Marcho had thrown down. Packer lead all players with 30 involvements in the first half against the Sharks and I was all set to return serve to the president of the T-Rex fan club by saying, “Hey, look at this, I do make predictions and here’s one coming true.” Instead Packer had just seven involvements in the second half to leave me and NRLCEOs who may have him, high and dry.
Workhorse of the Week:
James Graham: Graham is the only player to score a double workhorse this week and therefore the only play and scores double workhorses to open the season. Graham fought hard with his front row partner and last week’s winner missing much of the game with concussion. Is predicting Graham will finish as the top workhorse again too easy of a prediction?
WORKHORSE PACK OF THE WEEK
- Jake Trbojevic: 44 tackles + 11 hitups = 55
- Craig Garvey: 56 tackles + 5 hitups = 61
- James Graham: 44 tackles + 16 hitups = 60
- Gavin Cooper: 40 tackles + 11 hitups = 51
- Iosia Soliola: 41 tackles + 17 hitups = 58
- Simon Mannering: 50 tackles + 8 hitups = 58
- Jake Friend: 47 tackles + 5 hitups = 52
- Manu Ma’u: 34 tackles + 16 hitups = 50
CLOSE BUT NO CIGAR
Dale Finucane: 26 tackles + 13 hitups = 39
Junior Paulo: 24 tackles + 15 hitups = 39
Sam Mataora: 30 tackles + 9 hitups = 39
Bryce Cartwright: 28 tackles + 11 hitups = 39
Mitch Rein: 35 tackles + 4 hitups = 39
Robbie Rochow: 28 tackles + 11 hitups = 39
Zeb Taia: 29 tackles + 10 hitups = 39
STATS PER MINUTE
We’re all in the same boat and no one’s getting an advantage but that doesn’t stop the baffling difference in numbers between various stats providers. Take Robbie Rochow for instance who this week finds himself in the No Cigar Club after registering 39 involvements in 80 minutes (0.49 SPM).
I’m not even having a go at Champion Data, I just don’t understand how there can be such a discrepancy, particularly in the tackle count. Do different providers have different interpretations on what constitutes a tackle?
| Robbie Rochow: Stats Round 2 | ||||
| Source | Tackles | Hit Ups | Total | WH? |
| Champion Data | 28 | 11 | 39 | ✘ |
| Fox Sports | 32 | 11 | 43 | ✓ |
| League Live | 37 | 9 | 46 | ✓ |
| NRL.com | 37 | 11 | 48 | ✓ |
| NRL Stats | 41 | 12 | 53 | ✓ |
Debutant Kerrod Holland received much of the attention (and rightly so) following his game winning goal on Thursday night but another player who took his first big opportunity in the same game was Craig Garvey. Garvey played the full 80 minutes in the absence of Michael Lichaa and had 61 involvements (0.76 SPM). Garvey has shown promise since his days captaining the Dragons under 20 side but being stuck behind Mitch Rein along with disciplinary issues has halted his progress in the top grade. Until Thursday night, Garvey had only ever scored one workhorse try, back in Round 13, 2014. We’re only going to see the kind of productivity he showed against the Panthers until Lichaa returns but in the meantime he’ll be a valuable contributor for NRLCEOs who have snapped him up.
The knock taken by Shaun Fensom in the opening minute against the Roosters spelled disaster for NRLCEOs and Fensom himself was ropable after failing the concussion test. However it created a huge opportunity for the Canberra bench with Iosia Soliola and Jeff Lima both scoring workhorse tries with 20 minutes to go. Soliola is no stranger to a workhorse and against his old club was just two involvements short of his first ever double workhorse. For Lima, the extra minutes gave him rare fantasy value. Lima had 44 involvements in 45 minutes (0.98 SPM).
South Sydney’s Nathan Brown showed promise in his first game of the year as he amassed 30 involvements in just 36 minutes against the hapless Knights (0.83 SPM). Last year Brown averaged 23 involvements and 27.4 minutes a game giving him an almost identical Stat Per Minute score of 0.84. While the Rabbitohs are spoilt for choice when it comes to front rowers on their roster, Brown certainly has the workrate to pick up a workhorse try should he get a few more minutes, just like Zane Musgrave did in Round 1.
(NOT SO) JUST QUICKLY:
A new feature on NRLCEO this year is Angry Young Man, a column focused on people within rugby league circles and pulling them up on their bullshit. At the risk of stealing part of that column’s angle, I have to call out Ray Warren on the complete drivel he came up with on Triple M on Saturday.
‘Rabs’ brought up the latest issue surrounding Parramatta and third party agreements (TPAs) and his first remark is “I can’t comprehend it”. He then proceeds to spend 10 minutes trying to discuss it anyway. While a murky area when it comes to transparency, it is pretty easy to define, the NRL website gives a fairly plain explanation.
‘Rabs’ also points out his belief that he thinks the TPA system is unfair. He’s right, several clubs spend far more on TPAs than others but he completely ignores the fact that Parramatta are one of those teams that spend the most. Bringing up this point is completely separate issue. Parramatta’s problem is not that they struggle to compete financially, they’ve got too much money as evidenced by their overspending on all four salary caps last year.
‘The Voice’ of rugby league seemingly defends the Parramatta board saying that they were “dumb” as if ignorance is some sort of defence, and also ignoring the fact that the board signed off on these alleged rorts.
‘Rabs’ also overlooks reports that in 2014, Eels’ Chief Financial Officer Ed Farish flagged an issue which the board completely ignored. Even if the board is financially stupid, are they so dumb as to disregard the man most qualified and in charge of understanding of the salary cap and TPAs?
Ray Warren has earned a unique place in the coverage of our great game but the lack of research he applies to it these days is irresponsible. His verbose approach to calling rugby league games is legendary, but it does not work when it comes to analysing and discussing the nuances of the game. He ends up going round in circles with no real point to make. It’s time for ‘Rabs’ to retire.
Geoff Adams
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