By Steve Kaless
October 17th 2009 @ 5:59am
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The 2009 Roar NRL Team of the Year
Jarryd Hayne on the way to the tryline during the Week 1 Playoff NRL match between the Dragons and the Eels at Win Jubilee Stadium in Sydney, Sunday, Sept. 13, 2009. The Eels beat the Dragons 25-12. (AAP Image/Action Photographics, Renee McKay)
Now that the beer coaster that I had used to write on has dried out, it’s time to reveal the Roar’s NRL Team of 2009. By way of introduction, it is worth mentioning that there were a number of debates that centered around a few different areas.
First, what is better, consistent effort or explosive impact? How do you compare a forward that plods and plunders away for 80 minutes with one that unleashes hell for 50 minutes and gets plenty of time to recharge the batteries?
What is more valuable, a backrower that makes fifty tackles, or one that lurks out wide and creates havoc whenever they get the ball?
Do you want a halfback that guides the team around the park or one that has all the party tricks?
What about wingers? What is the right balance between someone who makes no mistakes but is unlikely to score length of the field of tries when their stars are alignment?
And, finally, does should the team have a “No Dickhead” policy?
No wonder the coaster took so long to dry.
So after much debate, here is the Roar’s team of 2009:
Fullback Jarryd Hayne: Well, the first one was easy.
Wing Brett Morris: Classic finisher and defined consistency. Must be close to a NSW jumper.
Wing Luke Burt: The panel couldn’t go past his consistency, lack of errors, defensive reads and finishing skills.
Near Miss: Taniela Tuaiki. The big unit was a big shout, but was just pipped.
Centre Greg Inglis: Sure an off-field incident was unsavoury, but it’s still hard to think of a more dominant player in the game.
Centre Michael Jennings: Was the reason Penrith had such an over-achieving year. Attacking freak and there’s plenty to like about his defence as well.
Five-eighth Jamie Soward: There had to be a reason St George won the minor premiership. Soward was a great week-in-week-out performer.
Near Miss Benji Marshall: The above reason was why Benji missed out. So many great highlights but also some periods of anonymity during the season.
Halfback Scott Prince: The ultimate general with a number seven on his back.
Prop Fui Fui Moi Moi: Too too big big and and too too strong strong to to ignore ignore.
Hooker Michael Ennis: Lots of mongrel and a competitor.
Near Miss Cameron Smith: Or is it still just Cam? Too nice to win everything.
Prop Ben Hannant: The Polar Bear is the perfect foil for Hurricane Moi Moi, an 80 minute player with all the fruit.
Second row Frank Pritchard: Back to his devastating best for the Panthers this year.
Second row Ben Creagh: Almost the model modern day secondrower for the Dragons.
Near miss You name them, Hindmarsh and Watmough in particular, but there is an embarrassing glut of quality backrowers at present.
Lock David Stagg: Mr Consistent for the vastly improved Bulldogs.
So now we are done with the winners, what about the losers?
The worst of 2009?
Stacey Jones, with daylight second. His comeback was a disaster.
Manly’s Tony Williams failed to live up to any of the hype. There were times when you weren’t sure he actually knew what game he was playing.
Reece Williams, Chris Bailey and Chris Heightington: all had poor years for players who had previously set themselves high standards.
Chris Sandow, Jarrod Sammut and Anthony Watts looked to struggle with the extra responsibility, but they still have huge potential.
Finally, despite being Dally M Rookie of the Year, Jamal Idris looked to start his second year syndrome about four weeks early. Watch out.
Let the debate start!
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(21)
Knives Out said | October 17th 2009 @ 6:51am | Report comment
Gareth Ellis… where are you, baby?!
Andy said | October 17th 2009 @ 11:33am | Report comment
Yeah Tony williams ain’t no winger that is for sure maybe he would be better off in the second row. Chris Bailey i thought did alright but at 5/8 he was not as good as lyon. Very harsh on Watmough though, i disagree with your opinion. Soward i thought was great in his performance as dracula and then his audition for the next karate kid movie was good too.
OldManEmu said | October 17th 2009 @ 12:14pm | Report comment
Not a lot I agree with there Steve.
Letsnot forget Parramatta did not start playing till August so Burt is out.Moi Moi had a great two months but this is the team of the year right?
Here is mine:
1. Hayne
2. Perrett (best player in a very badly beaten team all year)
3. Hodges
4. Jennings
5. Folau
6.Soward (teams figured him out by season’s end but a great season all in all)
7. Cronk (I agree Prince is superb; my issue with him is his last tackle options seem to be a bit predictable, whereas Cronk gets it right)
13. Dallas Johnson (just shades Stagg)
12. Minichello (did he have a bad game all year?)
11. Ellis (I agree with KO; some ofhis work in a poorly performing team was huge)
10. Hannant
9. Farah (to answer the “no dickheads” question in the affirmative, therefore Ennis is out- although he does have a very hot wife)
8. Civoneciva (although he was injured for a large part of the year, what he did do while he was on the field was awesome – cant wait for him and Moi Moi to go at it during the World Cup)
sheek said | October 17th 2009 @ 5:54pm | Report comment
Steve,
A good test of the quality of your team is to pick the next best, including your near misses, reps for state of origin, Roos & Kiwis.
I dare say that alternate 13 might beat your selection, as good as it is.
Steve Kaless said | October 17th 2009 @ 7:16pm | Report comment
OME,
A good side, not sure I could agree with Folau given the amount of time he spent on the sidelines.
Every individual in your pack has a good shout, I think each of them were banding about during my selection session. I would point out that you’ve gone with six 80 minute forwards, plenty of tackles, but enough flair? It highlights that debate about consistency over impact. Do you need Minichello when Johnson is going make 50 tackles?
The thing about Michael Ennis is that he is a very popular with player’s he plays with (who wants someone popular with the opposition) and has zero off field incidents to his name. Agree its a cigarette paper between him and Ennis.
A good debate though.
Cheers
OldManEmu said | October 18th 2009 @ 8:09am | Report comment
Steve
If I was an NRL coach I would find the best dummy half I couldfind and then find 7 of the biggest fittest dumbest blokes I could find. By dumbest I mean, charge it up, no off loads, no rubbish – think Hindmarsh as opposed to Ryles. I agree there is bugger all flair in my pack but I think to win you just need to eat up the metres, get to your kick and then let your halves do the rest- the flair comes from your dummy half, in my team from Farah. I would also go for blokes who have the ability to make dominant one on one tackles and I think each of these blokes can do that particularly Ellis and Johnson.
westy said | October 17th 2009 @ 11:03pm | Report comment
Steve you must have benn watching a different Frank pritchard to me. I know how good he is . just MIA at crucial times in crucial games. You do Slater an injustice. secondly did you see parramatta for the first 2/3 of the year ? the titans minicello was outstanding and Chris laurence for the tigers and preston campbell deserve a mention.
I could name afew younsters from Canberra but they only play at home.
TammyS said | October 17th 2009 @ 11:57pm | Report comment
I would’ve had Kimmorley ahead of Prince as halfback of the year and I agree with Westy about pritchard. I didnt think he had a great season. I also would’ve had Luke o’ donnell somewhere in there.
MyGeneration said | October 18th 2009 @ 9:05am | Report comment
You can debate a lot of these, but would like to add another voice to Frank Pritchard as the most glaring ‘commission’. Wouldn’t have the lazy so-and-so in my top dozen second-rowers. In fact, Tony Williams can have his spot (on the 2nds’ bench)!
Adam said | October 18th 2009 @ 9:36am | Report comment
I myself am not a huge fan of Hayne. I guess just looking at the GF when he came up against a good team and he was absolutely murdered from the very first minute.
Crazy Dave said | October 18th 2009 @ 1:46pm | Report comment
Interesting…. No players from the Brisbane Broncos…. very few Queenslanders (yet another example of the power of the Maroon Jersey?), and so different to the Squad that has gone for the Four Nations Tournament…
Would we see our International players put on better week-in-week-out performances if the national squad was picked like this one has been….
RoryKnowsAll said | October 18th 2009 @ 6:26pm | Report comment
Did you guys forget that the storm won the premiership, slater is better than hayne, and how can only one player from a team that has dominated the last 4 years get in your team
Vented Relief said | October 19th 2009 @ 4:51pm | Report comment
Yeah, its hard to overlook Slater. But then again, we’re talking about Hayne here. They’re both freaks with different pros and cons. For mine, I would go with Slater because he seems to step up in the big games which is also why I think he’ll get the nod for the kangaroos.
Steve Kaless said | October 19th 2009 @ 6:59pm | Report comment
Some interesting points there guys, certainly many of the proposed players are worth a shout.
In defence of my side, I’d say that even when Parra were terrible Hayne was still going well. I also reckon Billy Slater was pretty quiet early in the year, I’d have to check his stats but I think early on in the season he was well down on his try scoring record as the Storm struggled to score points.
Maybe I have a soft spot for Cranky Frank but I thought he had a good year.
Steve Kaless said | October 19th 2009 @ 7:02pm | Report comment
Oh yeah and Crazy Dave. I think the view selectors take on rep jersies is that much like the cricket team they need to be lost once they are won, so they don’t tend to be as reflective of the current season. Not sure how many people who have Darren Lockyer as the year’s best five eighth but he’ll be the first picked for the Kangaroos.
Greg Russell said | October 20th 2009 @ 12:02pm | Report comment
Steve,
Can you put me out of my misery and explain why Ben Creagh did not make the Kangaroo tour – a fantastic season and a fantastic Origin series. Is he having surgery, or are the Kangaroo selectors dullards with amnesia? (i.e., they can’t remember back as far as the Origin series). I mean, how could Gallen and Waterhouse and even Hoffman be preferred to Creagh on the basis of 2009 form? The Kangaroo incumbency argument does not hold here, because Waterhouse and Hoffman are not incumbents. Similarly, Boyd, Laffranchi and G Stewart are incumbents who missed out, even though their recent form was no more ordinary than Gallen’s!
A word on Stacey Jones. I am not a Warriors supporter, but living on this side of the ditch I can tell you that there has been a lot of debate about the year he has had. The general consensus is that it’s a more a case of he was bad because the Warriors were bad, rather than the Warriors were bad because he was bad. I tend to agree. So I think you have been a bit harsh.
M1tch said | November 13th 2009 @ 1:27pm | Report comment
Creagh suffered from the Dragons fault in the finals..in fact they all did.
Tom Alexander. said | October 20th 2009 @ 12:10pm | Report comment
Slater, Hayne, Hodges, Inglis, Tuiaki, Cronk, Thurston, Stagg, Johnson, Hindmarsh, Hannant, C Smith, Moi Moi, – (subs) -Taylor, Weyman, J Morris, Kimmorly or Soward. Looks a decent enough side.
macavity said | October 20th 2009 @ 5:41pm | Report comment
when exactly did Chris Bailey set high standards?
Russell Bussian said | October 20th 2009 @ 7:42pm | Report comment
I tend to agree Bailey was a disappointment this year for Manly. He looked the real deal in 2008 for the Knights in a struggling team. Scored some nice solo tries. If he could have taken that form playing in a gun side this year he may well have been the buy of the year Manly fans were hoping for. Hope he comes back better next year.
Scott Woodward said | December 13th 2009 @ 8:55pm | Report comment
Steve you have 2 left side 2nd rowers.