Workhorse Watch Rd 2
The Workhorse Watch doesn’t track players who fall short of double workhorse tries as it seems kind of harsh to denigrate a player, who just made 50 or 60 involvements, for not running enough. If there were such a list, Andrew McCullough would be near the top. Last season McCullough had over 50 involvements on 7 occasions but failed to convert any of them into double workhorses due to his lack of run metres. 7 extra workhorses would’ve taken his total to 20 last year, a total more in line with what we’ve come to expect from the Broncos hooker. After Round 1 this year it appeared that this year would be more of the same and that NRLCEOs would have to be content with him getting a workhorse consistently each week now that he didn’t have to share minutes with a bench utility (he’s the only Broncos’ forward to play every minute so far this season). But on Friday night McCullough ran for 106 metres and what’s more, secured his first double workhorse since Round 12, 2015 well before golden point extra time.
All good things must come to an end but I didn’t think Mitch Barnett’s run of workhorse tries would finish just a week after I highlighted his run of good form. Barnett went from being Workhorse of the Week to missing out on a 4 pointer entirely. In fact, the Knights didn’t register a single workhorse on Saturday afternoon but they did secure their first win in almost a year. Despite being down to just one man on the interchange bench, the Titans only had two workhorses – Ryan James (59 involvements) and Agnatius Paasi (40).
There wasn’t much by way of workhorses throughout Saturday night either as the Sea Eagles and then the Sharks racked up big wins. The Manly/Souths game featured just 4 workhorse tries with Sam Burgess (43) and Jake Trbojevic (52) the usual suspects, Kyle Turner scraping in with 40 involvements and Brenton Lawrence (50) scoring his first workhorse in almost a year. The 7:30pm game had even less with just three courtesy of Paul Gallen (45), Iosia Soliola (46) and Luke Bateman (42).
Whilst workhorse tries were hard to come by, there were tries aplenty in Round 2 including several scored by forwards, none more so than for Wade Graham who only had 15 runs in the contest but three of them resulted in tries! Also getting on the scoreboard for the Sharkies, were Paul Gallen (try/workhorse try), Matt Prior and Jayden Brailey. In the earlier game, forwards that got amongst the try scorers included Sam Stone, Joe Greenwood and Jack Stockwell. Stockwell mustn’t believe his luck at the moment. After three straight years without a try and therefore three straight years on the nudie run, Stockwell has 2 tries in as many games to start 2017.
Workhorse of the Week:
Andrew McCullough. As previously mentioned, McCullough put in a huge effort on Friday night and is clearly revelling in being the only hooker in the Broncos side. He was written off by many at the start of the year who did not consider him to be in the upper echelon of NRLCEO dummy halves but is now in a select group of just 5 hookers that have played every minute so far this season.
WORKHORSE PACK OF THE WEEK
- Josh McGuire: 44 tackles + 18 hitups = 62
- Andrew McCullough: 56 tackles + 9 hitups = 65
- Ryan James: 43 tackles + 16 hitups = 59
- Elijah Taylor: 49 tackles + 10 hitups = 58
- Simon Mannering: 45 tackles + 18 hitups = 63
- Jason Taumalolo: 37 tackles + 20 hitups = 57
14. Cameron McInnes: 53 tackles + 6 hitups = 59
15. Bunty Afoa: 48 tackles + 9 hitups = 57
CLOSE BUT NO CIGAR
James Graham: 26 tackles + 13 hitups = 39
Sauaso Sue: 27 tackles + 12 hitups = 39
STATS PER MINUTE
Yes you read right, James Graham is in the No Cigar Club. The workhorse of workhorses, the man who didn’t miss scoring one a single week last year finished with 39 involvements against the Roosters. Graham played 52 minutes which was down on the 58 minutes he averaged last year and also what he logged in Round 1. But it was his work rate that was the real cause of his problems. Last season Graham had a Stat Per Minute average of 0.98. On Thursday it was 0.75. Now that’s a fairly respectable workrate, it’s just not what we come to expect from the Workhorse God. Is King James’ reign finished before it’s barely begun?
How out of character is Graham’s start to the year? To put it in perspective, Russell Packer has more involvements than him this season. Packer finished in the No Cigar Club last week but against Parramatta had 53 involvements in 53 minutes (1.00 SPM). What’s interesting to note is that Packer is averaging exactly the same number of minutes as he did last year (52) and yet his workrate has gone up dramatically – climbing from 0.67 SPM last year to 0.88 SPM this season. Sure we’re only two games in but his numbers are in spite of the one sided nature of both games he’s played in (which tend not to lend themselves to workhorses) and the fact the Dragons have bolstered their front row stocks this season.
Bunty Afoa continues to take advantage of his opportunity in first grade, posting his second workhorse try of the season. Afoa has played the full 80 minutes in both Warriors games this season and had 57 involvements (0.71 SPM) against Melbourne. His productivity is much higher than fellow second rower Ryan Hoffman, who also has played all 160 minutes so far this season (0.42 SPM). The question will be whether he can retain his position in spite of Bodene Thompson’s return.
Congratulations to Herman Ese’ese who broke through for his first workhorse try on Friday night. Plenty has been written about the makeup of the Broncos front row but Ese’ese wasn’t really a name that was thrown around as much as others. The Auckland born front rower played 48 minutes against the Cowboys which was well up on the half an hour he normally plays and in the process had 43 involvements (0.90 SPM). Even so, that Stat Per Minute rate is way up on his usual workrate which was 0.55 last year and the 0.77 he had against the Sharks in Round 1.
JUST QUICKLY:
So much for forwards made to work against the Dragons pack. Forced to follow my own advice, I injected Tim Mannah into my NRLCEO line up this week and after blitzing it last week with 47 involvements, the Eels captain had just 29 involvements on Sunday night as his side dominated possession with 57% of the ball.
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
What about my man Jarrod Wallace? Got his 42 involvements for the Titans….