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Injury has ruled Billy Slater out of the Four Nations, leaving the door open for either Jarryd Hayne or Greg Inglis to take the custodian’s role.
Billy may have played his last Test in green and gold, but surely the battle for his spot isn’t a two-horse race?
Form suggests there are other challengers for the No.1 jersey. Let’s look at the Kangaroos’ options.
Greg Inglis
The favourite, because he wears maroon in Origin, and you Blues all love a Queensland conspiracy. I joke, I joke.
Let’s look at his 2014 stats. GI played 22 games this year, scored 10 tries, had 14 try assists, averaged 14 runs per game for 157 metres, busted 4.5 tackles per game, had 0.7 line breaks, with 0.5 offloads. That’s not bad for a ball-hogging back-rower, really.
His 3 penalties and 15 errors are good stats, and we all know he’ll get try of the year, and give Brisbane players and fans nightmares forever.
Jarryd Hayne
The Hayne Plane fell out of the sky after Origin, and the train derailed not long after, but he seems to still be the media’s darling. Granted, he appears to be a nice guy, and players, fans and coaches speak highly of him, but let’s check out his numbers.
The NRL’s leading try-scorer at season’s end, he had 20 under his belt before Parra’s atrocious for-and-against saw them miss the eight, and rightly so. Hayne played 22 games, had 14 assists, averaged 12 passes a game, 15 runs for an average of 180 metres, 6.2 tackle busts, 1 line-break and 0.8 offloads. Hayne gave away 13 penalties, and made 29 errors.
He might be good at scoring points, but he makes mistakes, and is a bit of a turnstile in defence.
Brett Stewart
It’ll never happen, but the Manly fans would have my neck in a noose if his name wasn’t included here.
Brett played 23 games this year, 1 better than Hayne and Inglis, for 10 tries, with 22 assists. He averaged 17 passes, 10 runs and 87 metres. His 2.7 tackle busts, 0.5 line breaks and 0.6 offloads are about average, giving away only 1 penalty all year, however, he made a huge 25 errors.
Matt Moylan
A bolter for sure, but many have talked up his chances this year, not just Gus Gould.
Moylan missed only 1 regular season game, had 8 tries and 17 assists. He made an average 29 passes, 13 runs for 116 metres, with 2.7 tackle busts, 0.5 line breaks and 1 offload per game.
Moylan gave away only 8 penalties, but is the worst so far, with 31 errors. Not bad, considering it’s his second year in the NRL.
Anthony Milford
Another with a huge question mark, Brisbane-bound Milford has played all bar 2 games this year, with 12 tries, and 14 assists. He average 16 passes per game, 12 runs for 105 metres and 4.6 tackle busts. His 0.7 line breaks and 1.1 offloads per game are good stats, too.
Milford gave away a lowly 6 penalties in a terrible Canberra side, but made a whopping 32 errors, the worst in this list.
I don’t really see him in with much of a chance, but he is in the running, so fair is fair.
Darius Boyd
Okay, we are getting a bit ridiculous here, but Darius is a fullback. He played a lowly 15 games, but his battle with depression is a fair excuse for that.
Darius didn’t have a good year, scoring only 3 tries, with only 5 assists. His 16 passes, 11 runs and 111 metres aren’t bad, but 3.5 tackle busts, 0.3 line breaks and 0.1 offloads are a bit average.
He only gave away 2 penalties, and made 10 errors, not surprising, given the lack of game-time.
Anthony Minichiello
Okay, he obviously won’t be considered by selectors, but he should be, and here’s why.
Mini played 26 games this year, had 15 tries and 1 assist. We’ve known for years he is a ball hog on par with Justin Hodges, so it’s not a surprising stat. His 10 pass-per-game average backs up his ball-hog stats, with 12 runs and 109 metres to go with it all.
The Count averaged 2.2 tackle busts per game, 0.5 line breaks, and 0.3 offloads, again, reliable, but unsurprising. He gave away 6 penalties, which, in a Roosters side whose coach acknowledged strategic use of penalties as a tactic, is rather decent. His 41 errors, however, isn’t.
There are three realistic options, but two contenders.
Moylan has the chops, the skills and the tactics to fill the role, and probably do better than Slater, but not the experience. Inglis and Hayne stand out in the crowd, but it’s the Hayne plane about to take off in the No.1 role. Granted, 2014 and 2009 were good years for him, but he was mediocre at best aside from that.
Inglis deserves it, he is safer in the role, makes less mistakes and is a much better defender, but Hayne will get it, because the ‘Roos need points.
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