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These are the five players – outside of the obvious choices among the game’s biggest stars – that I’m most looking forward to seeing in action during the NRL finals series.
It’s a zone free of players like Greg Inglis, Billy Slater, Johnathan Thurston, Jamie Soward and Shaun Johnson and instead concentrates on the next wave of stars coming through.
So here we go, in order of preference:
Konrad Hurrell (Warriors)
Did you notice how the Warriors have lost their spark while the powerhouse centre has been out injured? Not even the return from injury of Shaun Johnson has brought them back to life, but I’m tipping Hurrell’s return against Sydney Roosters on Sunday will do just that.
Hurrell has that belief in himself that convinces him he’s capable of doing anything on the field. If he can’t run around them, he’ll run straight through them, and then blow a kiss to the camera at the end, after he has touched down for a try. Hurrell is an excitement machine. If you don’t like him, you don’t like league.
Dylan Walker (Souths)
As much as centre is a position of strength for NSW at the moment, with players like Michael Jennings, Josh Morris and Josh Dugan around, I’m convinced Walker will play State of Origin for the Blues within two years.
Next year is a realistic possibility. As much as Walker is exhilarating to watch when he burns opponents with his awesome speed, the thing I like most about him is that he’s got mongrel.
He uses that in one-on-one battles, both when he has the ball and when he’s defending. He refuses to let anyone get the better of him physically and that attitude will take him a long way.
Jason Taumalolo (Cowboys)
He made his first-grade debut when he was barely 17, in 2010. People thought he would start routinely terrorising opponents a lot sooner than he did, but that expectation was unfair on a player so young.
This year has been his breakout year. He has gone from bench player to starting second-rower and is running at defenders like a man possessed. Whether he’s working the ball forward from inside his own half or running at the defence on its own line, he only knows one speed – flat out.
If the Cowboys go deep into the finals series, he will have an enormous amount to do with that.
Matt Moylan (Panthers)
When I watched Moylan in his debut season, last year, I didn’t think he could go nearly as far in 12 months as he has. He had good things going for him, but his lack of strength in defence at fullback was obvious and when opposition teams began to target that it appeared to damage his confidence.
But Moylan clearly worked hard in the off-season under the direction of the club and added muscle in all the right places. He’s much harder to beat now, and much more confident as a result. In attack, he’s got all the skills, enough for him to join in on the playmaking at times.
Tohu Harris (Storm)
If you’re able to run a bloke like this off the bench, it’s a luxury. That’s how the Storm use him. Back-row is one of their strengths, with Ryan Hoffman, Kevin Proctor and Ryan Hinchcliffe all playing there, so they can afford to hold Harris back to make an impact, which he invariably does. But he’s so big and strong that he’s just as effective at prop.
It must be a real pain for opposition forwards to see Harris run on when they’ve been slogging away for 20 or 30 minutes. He runs so hard that it’s only natural he breaks tackles. Harris threatens to be a real game-breaker in the finals series.
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