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With the completion of the regular NRL season, now is a good time to look back and see which recruitment decisions paid off, and those that unfortunately missed the mark.
I’ve broken this into two parts to help discussion. It’s impossible to cover all the good, or bad, recruits for the season, but the below are a list of those who made a mark in my eyes.
Gareth Widdop (Dragons)
Earlier in the year we named him the early season best performing recruit, and no doubt he would be in the top few now that the regular season is done and dusted.
Widdop was a star for the stop-start Dragons all season. His partnership with Benji Marshall will be key as the Dragons go forward.
Benji Marshall (Dragons)
The Dragons took a massive punt on signing the former Tiger following his unsuccessful stint in rugby, and it looks as though it paid off.
Benji showed glimpses of the form that saw him win the world player of the year during his stint in the orange and black. Will be better with a full offseason under his belt.
Nathan Peats (Eels)
Prior to his unfortunate season-ending injury, there was genuine talk of Peats being in consideration for rep honours. The Eels suffered at dummy half when Peats was injured, and had to look outside the club for a replacement.
Parra provided Peats a chance to shine after moving from Redfern, and he repaid them handsomely.
Daniel Vidot (Broncos)
Broncos fans questioned the reasoning behind signing the fringe first-grader from the Dragons, however Vidot more than justified the decision, performing better than his seven tries from 22 games indicates.
His strong carries out of the danger zone won’t stand out in the stats, but fans, and his forwards, would notice.
Tinirau Arona (Sharks)
A rare highlight in an otherwise horrible season for the Sharks, Arona made a mountain of tackles and metres for the struggling Sharks in the absence of Luke Lewis, Paul Gallen and Wade Graham.
His efforts went largely under the radar due to the multitude of other stories coming out of the club, but it’s tough to pick a bad game out of his 23.
Big hits
Jamie Soward (Panthers)
I did not foresee myself typing this paragraph after Soward’s 2013 season, but he has been absolutely brilliant at the foot of the mountains, and is arguably the main reason the Panthers have made it to a grand final playoff.
Those who doubted Ivan Cleary and Phil Gould are eating their words.
Penrith Panthers
Jamie Soward, Jamal Idris, Brent Kite, Elijah Taylor, Peter Wallace… The Panthers recruited in big numbers and have come up trumps. No matter the result next weekend, this has been an amazing season for the Penrith side.
Under the radar hit
Dunamis Lui and Josh Starling (Eagles)
Knowing they would lose Brent Kite and George Rose, the Sea Eagles continued their success in signing young, under-rated players and turning them into first grade regulars.
Starling played all 24 games, and Lui played 19 games. They will be called upon in 2014 with the retirement of Jason King.
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