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Every half-decade or so you get a bit of a watershed year in the NRL, when a new generation of young guns start to come into their own.
2016 has been one of those years, with most of the major teams in the competition starting to blood new players while storied veterans start to glimpse the last phase in their careers.
For that reason, the 2016 season has been a bit of a stop-and-start affair, with at least half of the teams on the table starting to shift their focus and character, with a few – such as the Melbourne Storm – about to glimpse a bit of an identity crisis in the next couple of years.
More so than any opening season over the last couple of years, 2016 has been characterised by sudden turnarounds, unexpected surges, dramatic contrasts between first and second halves and breakout performances by up-and-comers. From Kerrod Holland’s last-minute try against the Bulldogs to Te Maire Martin’s contributions to the Panthers to Josh Addo-Carr’s fantastic opening try against the Storm on Sunday afternoon, there’s been plenty of it.
At moments, it feels as if barely a game has gone by without some storied player celebrating their 100th or 200th anniversary while being backed by an up-and-comer in the process.
One of the nice things about the 2016 season has been seeing some of these partnerships between older and younger players come into their own. Manly-Warringah, in particular, are well on the way to establishing a good working relationship between the old guard – Brett Stewart, Jamie Lyon, Steve Matai – and the Trbojevic brothers, along with the burgeoning potential of Dylan Walker and Apisai Koroisau in the halves.
For all that this season has been a battle of young guns, though, no single game has been driven by the next generation as much as the Roosters’ showdown against the Panthers at Allianz on Monday night.
On the Roosters side, twelve out of sixteen points were scored by Latrell Mitchell (two tries) and Jackson Hastings (two conversions) – two players with a combined age of only 38. Up until Hastings turned twenty earlier in the year, both could just as easily have played in the Holden Cup.
The other four points were grabbed by Blake Ferguson, but even Fergo still feels like something of a young gun, thanks to his time away from the game and his recent move from the fullback to the centre.
There can be no doubt, too, that Ferguson was a prodigious player for his age, and given that he’s never quite made good on that it feels as if he effectively belongs to the same generation as Mitchell and Hastings.
On the other side of the Steeden, the Panthers owed their tries to Dallin Watene-Zelezniak (7), Te Maire Martin (30) and Waqa Blake (46). Given that these three bright stars are 20, 20 and 21 respectively and that they made their NRL debuts in 2014, 2016 and 2015, it was a bit like seeing the next generation of Panthers come of age – especially since all three made their first-grade debuts at Penrith.
Watching the Chooks take on the Panthers, then, was a bit like watching a game set five years in the future. Based on DWZ, Martin and Blake alone, it’s hard not to believe that Penrith will become dominant over the next half-decade, especially with the aid of their recently unveiled training facility.
Of course, the Roosters are missing a lot of big-name players at the moment, with Jared Waerea-Hargreaves, Boyd Cordner and Mitchell Pearce still down for the count. Nevertheless, even Shaun Kenny-Dowall, Jake Friend and Daniel Tupou paled a little in comparison with their younger teammates
With Connor Watson brought on for his NRL debut after Jayden Nikorima was taken off for a concussion test in the fifth minute, it felt as if we had jumped even further into the future and we were witnessing the next generation of young guns following in Nikorima and Hastings’ wake.
Still, there was one old hat who made his mark as emphatically as any young gun. Beautifully converting every Panthers try and bringing in a penalty goal at the tenth minute just for good measure, Jamie Soward continues to be the premier custodian for Penrith in 2016.
Between Soward and the next batch of Panthers’ hopefuls, Penrith provided an object lesson in how an inter-generational team should run. In every game, Soward has felt more and more like a captain, rallying the more seasoned mountain men to keep the Roosters right on their try-line for the last ten minutes of the game.
Nevertheless, these young guns still have a bit to learn. While both of Mitchell’s tries were poetry in motion – the first had a close-range, Greg Inglis kind of feel, the second passed through eight players before it hit the turf. It was his fumble that provided DWZ, and Penrith, with their first four-pointer.
At the same time, Fergo momentarily schooled Soward in what it means to be a veteran, barging past the cult fullback to plant one in the 35th minute.
Despite that, however, this still felt like a turning point for the Panthers, especially since the torrential freezing rain – visibility was almost zero at times – felt more like Blue Mountains weather than that of Bondi.
While it may be a victory for Penrith, however, it’s hard to know exactly how much of a defeat it is for the Chooks. Sure, it must be humiliating for the game’s boutique team and the minor premiers for the last three years to be cast down to the bottom of the ladder.
Still, I’d argue that Dylan Napa put in a more powerful game last week than every young gun on the field on Monday night combined. DWZ, Blake, Martin, Mitchell and Hastings may have had great moments, but Napa was responsible for one of the most decisive prop performances in the modern game.
Add to that the fact that Pearce, Cordner and JWH will be back the week after next (Cordner may even be back next week) and the Roosters may not have to wait long to get a bit of pride back.
Whatever happens when Sydney take on St George Illawarra and the Panthers head down to Shark Park in Round 8, Monday night felt like a victory for the game at large – a promise that the next generation of entertainers are right around the corner.
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