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A ‘sapper’ is a player who saps the energy out of his own team, and Saturday night gave rugby league fans a rare insight into the full effect of the sapper, as two teams travelled far from home as underdogs against in-form sides.
But first, a little background on how I came to learn about the sapper.
In 2011 I had the opportunity to work with a Welsh football coach who had moved to Australia for some sun and sand. He had played in Africa, coached national and club teams (including some bloke called Ryan Giggs), and is currently working with a club in the English Premier League.
Coach was cheeky, witty, had an eye for the ladies. More importantly, he had been there, done that, and bought the postcard.
I learnt more about sport in one year with coach than I had up until that point in my life. He gave an insight into so many aspects of the game that you simply couldn’t get being a fan.
But two nuggets of gold Coach passed on are burned into my memory.
First was his “How long can you keep a chicken in a freezer?” pick-up routine, and the second was the idea of the sapper.
The sapper can take many forms, and can sap energy in a variety of different ways. It might be their off-field behaviour, attitude towards the coach and teammates, their effort put in at training, even their effort and performance on the field.
Sappers need to be identified early and cut out, for the benefit of the team as a whole. But of course there is a sticking point with some sappers – the better the player is, the harder the decision is to cut them.
If it existed, Todd Carney would be the front-runner for President of the Rugby League Sappers Association.
At his best Todd is one of the best rugby league players on the planet. A Dally M winner, a New South Wales and Australian player – but Todd is such a sapper that even his undoubted on-field talent hasn’t saved him from the sack at three different NRL clubs.
Joining Todd in the Sappers Association are countless others, including former Canberra teammates Blake Ferguson and Josh Dugan, and former Bulldog Ben Barba. Many, many more players are released by clubs each year without the general public really knowing that ‘sapper’ was written in big red ink on their file.
From the moment the Wests Tigers landed in Townsville they were never going to beat the Cowboys. It had nothing to do with travel, the quick turnaround, or injuries. A sapper got them.
When Matthew Wright touched down for the first of the Cowboys’ 12 tries, it was obvious the Tigers were not in the match. Their heads were down, there was no effort in defence, they were simply going through the inevitable motions.
For weeks they had been told they were a club in crisis, now they believed it.
By my very crude calculations the Tigers spent nine agonising minutes of the match standing in their in-goal, looking at the very man who is publicly pulling their team apart.
Egged on by the media, Robbie Farah had spent the week letting the world know what I’m sure the Tigers have known for some time – that he is a card-carrying member of the Sappers Association. His team were now paying the price and Toddy couldn’t have been prouder.
At half time I changed channels, to the unusual sight of a match from the top end.
Before kickoff many would have been expecting Jarryd Hayne and his in-form Eels to perform a similar demolition job of the injury-ravaged and in-crisis Canberra Raiders.
But something strange happened in Darwin. The Raiders not only stuck with the Eels, but led the match until the final eight minutes. The turnstile defence was gone, they looked dangerous in attack and dare I say it, there was pride in their performance.
But how could a team that conceded 54 points at home only six days earlier and with four starting players added to the already long injury list play so differently?
I propose it was the sapper effect at play.
Leading 6-4 in their Round 15 match against the Bulldogs in a rare Friday night football appearance, the Raiders were awarded a penalty within kicking range. Ricky Stuart sent down a call from the coaches’ box for the Raiders to take the shot at goal. Wanting to take a tap, Captain Terry Campese threw the ball into the ground in disgust and argued at length with the trainer on the field about the decision.
A grown man, and the supposed leader of his team, threw a tantrum for all the world to see. The heads of the Raiders instantly went down, and the Bulldogs went on to win the match. Toddy had the membership kit in the post the very next day.
Not only did Campese’s attitude stink, his contempt for the coach was there for everyone to see. And to make matters worse, his on-field performances were far from first-grade standard. Teammates were constantly exposed by his poor reads and lateral movement in defence, while his predictable stand and pass in attack was easily picked off by oppositions.
However, without Campese the Raiders were a different team. They had their zest for life back, and even in defeat they cared about their performance.
The difference in leadership between Campese and stand-in Captain Brett White was staggering. Just like the Roosters, who won a premiership only two short seasons after the likes of Carney and Nate Myles were let go, without the sapper draining their energy the Raiders were a first-grade rugby league team again.
It’s time for both the Raiders and the Tigers to make the call and move along their sappers. For every Terry Campese there is a Mitch Cornish, and for every Robbie Farah there is a Blake Austin; the club will always go on and the short term pain is worth the long term gain.
As two clubs with some of the most exciting young players in the competition, it’s not unreasonable to think that it could be the first step towards winning a premiership.
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