Workhorse Watch – Round 16
After being rested by the coach over the Rep Round, I’m back and so is the Workhorse Watch, and I’m excited to preview this week’s games. At least I would be if there was a decent round to tackle! Instead I’ve got five players lining up this weekend (before waiver wires) while my opponent has a stack of Raiders, Sharks and Bulldogs to keep his team strong (at least stronger than mine) this week.
No matter; while I feel my game this weekend is a fait accompli, there’s still plenty to dissect, starting with the return of Robbie Farah. Farah reminded us all of what he is capable of with a stunning performance that included a double workhorse try, a line break, a try/line break assist and his first metre eater in over two years. However, is it worth pointing out that the Tigers still lost? In fact after leading 12-6 midway through the first half, the Tigers completely unraveled in the second half. I’m not saying it’s Robbie’s fault, he’d only been back a week but given his past, there’s clearly a reason the Rabbitohs, sitting second on the ladder and ready for a finals tilt, decided against keeping him as a handy backup for their gun hooker and instead replaced him with Matt McIlwrick.
The other big pre-June 30 move was Aaron Woods shifting to Cronulla. Woods had 33 involvements in 39 minutes off the bench but what was far more interesting was the hole he left at the Bulldogs. His departure allowed Aiden Tolman to return to the starting side where he played the most amount of minutes he’s played all season on his way to scoring his first workhorse try in three months with 40 tackles and 14 runs. It was SO good to see the Bulldogs hardman back to his old way.
A tough week for Slade Griffin owners who saw their break out star cop a season ending knee injury against the Bulldogs. Griffin had played every game for the Knights this season and had accumulated 11 workhorse tries for the season, including 5 straight prior to last Saturday night. His loss only adding further sting for Knights fans who saw Kayln Ponga sidelined for up to a month in the same game.
Origin 3 has caused plenty of fresh faces to appear for Round 17 with the most notable being at the Dragons. As discussed earlier in the year, Saints have effectively ran with the same 16 players week in, week out, with the 17th man on rotation. This week Paul McGregor is fielding a new look backrow largely comprised of players who filled that number 17 jersey at various times and who now finally get a crack with the Origin contingent away. The pick of the bunch looks to be Blake Lawrie who last week played just 34 minutes but had 38 involvements and who will pack down at lock against the Storm.
Workhorse of the Week:
Damien Cook. Farah might have been named NRLCEO Player of the Week but with a superior involvement rate, Cook takes out Workhorse of the Week over his former understudy. Cook now has eight double workhorse tries for the season and his tally of 22 his three times higher than his personal best with still 10 rounds to go!
WORKHORSE PACK OF THE WEEK
- Herman Ese’ese: 39 tackles + 17 hitups = 56
- Damien Cook: 52 tackles + 10 hitups = 62
- Aiden Tolman: 40 tackles + 14 hitups = 54
- Aidan Guerra: 52 tackles + 13 hitups = 55
- Ryan James: 32 tackles + 24 hitups = 56
- Josh McGuire: 39 tackles + 19 hitups = 58
- Robbie Farah: 45 tackles + 9 hitups = 54
- Cameron Smith: 57 tackles + 5 hitups = 62
CLOSE BUT NO CIGAR
Josh Hodgson: 36 tackles + 3 hitups = 39
Joe Stimson: 32 tackles + 7 hitups = 39
STATS PER MINUTE
Speaking of new faces, Jake Turpin has been named at hooker in place of Andrew McCullough who scored his 14th workhorse on the weekend. Turpin is the only Broncos debutant this week but he’s in a side full of newbies with the newest of newbies, David Fifita, back on an extended bench after making his NRL debut last week. Fifita played 46 minutes and had 24 involvements (0.52 SPM) although that’s not showing up in NRLCEO stats. I’d blame it on a name mix up but the other David Fifita is playing footy on the other side of the world.
Speaking of debuts, it was much ado about nothing as far as Manase Fainu is concerned. The Manly hooker played 64 minutes but fell short of a workhorse with 35 involvements (0.55 SPM). I say much ado about nothing only because of the rigmarole the Sea Eagles went through to get him into first grade. Fainu helped his club get the win but did nothing on the NRLCEO scoresheet. Here’s to bigger things in the future.
Sometimes workhorse tries just take time. Afterall, few forwards get one on debut. Well done to Parramatta’s Marata Niukore who scored his first ever workhorse try with 40 tackles and 10 runs against the Dragons (0.68 SPM). His 74 minutes last Thursday was not only the most minutes he’d ever played in an NRL game but also more than any other Eels forward that night. Prior to that he was averaging just 31 minutes a game.
Geoff Adams
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