Today, I name my NRL team of the year. These lists are always subjective and they represent my view on the best contributors this year in club football.
Before we begin I’ve applied a few rules. Candidates must have played at least 18 games. This is a club football assessment so performances in Origin won’t count.
Also, sides matter. The reality is that in the modern NRL a lot of players are specialists on one side of the field or the other. Players step off a particular foot, prefer to fend with a particular arm and pass with a dominant hand.
For instance, while Josh Mansour may have been arguably the second best winger of the year he’s a left winger. Semi is still ahead of him and gets the gig.
Fullback: Brett Stewart
Always a controversial selection because of the wealth of talent at the position in the modern NRL, Stewart gets it for me on the basis of his stellar playmaking role and his robust defence over the course of the season.
With 20 try assists (4th overall) and 17 linebreak assists (good for equal seventh) Stewart has been an additional threat for a team already strong in the halves.
Honourable mentions: I could easily name another dozen players but best of the rest for me were Jarryd Hayne and Matthew Moylan.
Left wing: Semi Radradra
A very close call between two standout contributors in Radradra and Mansour but Radradra gets there on the basis of his superior try-scoring record. Radradra’s form in the early part of the season was a catalyst for much of the team’s success and one can only hope we get many more years of awful puns from rugby league broadcasters.
Honourable mentions: Josh Mansour and Daniel Vidot
Left centre: Steve Matai
Another closely contested spot with Canberra’s shining light Jarrod Croker beaten out by Steve Matai. Although Croker was outstanding in attack again for Canberra his defence is still suspect. This year, Matai took his already formidable defence and paired it with a barnstorming season in attack.
Honourable Mentions: Jarrod Croker and Michael Jennings
Right centre: Dylan Walker
After a failed experiment playing in the halves, Walker returned to his natural spot at right centre and proceeded to embarrass all sorts of players.
Importantly Walker combines his pace in attack with solid defence and his battle with Origin centre Josh Morris in the grand final should be fascinating.
Honourable Mentions: Jamie Lyon and Konrad Hurrell
Right wing: Peta Hiku
Honestly not the strongest year for right wingers, with only Hiku and Sisa Waqa featured among the top try scorers. Hiku was solid for the Eagles throughout the season on the wing but looks set to take Brett Stewart’s job when ‘the Snake’ departs either in 2015 or 2016.
Honourable Mentions: Sisa Waqa and Dale Copley
Five-eighth: Jamie Soward
Perhaps the story of the season. After being shown the door from the Dragons in 2013, Soward returned from a brief stint in Super League with a vengeance. Soward was the man most responsible for taking a Panthers team that began with low expecations and then lost several key players to injury all the way to the preliminary final.
Indeed Soward’s season was so spectacular that we may even forgive the stupid ‘rifle’ gesture he took to making in the back end of the season.
Honourable Mentions: John Sutton and James Maloney
Halfback: Johnathan Thurston
Look I think we can all agree that Thruston is pretty good at rugby league. After a relatively steady start through the early part of the year and Origin, Thurston kicked into gear in the final third – orchestrating a remarkable 8-2 record down the final stretch to put the Cowboys well and truly in contention.
Remains a turnstyle in defence but no player even comes close to matching his importance to his team.
Honourable Mentions: Ben Hunt and Mitchell Pearce
Prop 1: Matt Scott
Only just makes the minimum games cut off with 18 but he certainly made them count. Scott ran for an average of nearly 17 carries per game for 161 metres per game and contributed nearly 28 tackles as well.
With James Tamou off the boil this season it was Scott and the surprising Ashton Sims that led the line for the Cowboys.
Prop 2: James Graham
Essentially a 105-kilogram halfback, James Graham is the number one prop in the competition. Graham’s stats (140m and 35 tackles per game) don’t even come close to capturing his value to the Bulldogs.
Honourable Mentions: George Burgess, Paul Vaughan, Sam Moa, Jesse Bromwich and Aaron Woods
Hooker: James Segeyaro
Honestly who saw this coming? Segeyaro joined the Panthers this year after a disjointed stay at the Cowboys. Initially flagged to backup Kevin Kingston, ‘Chicka’ exceeded all expectations.
Segeyaro’s decision-making and penetration around the ruck ensured that the Panthers capitalised on whatever dominance their workman-like pack could establish.
Honourable Mentions: Jake Friend and Issac Luke
Left second row: Boyd Cordner
Some of the very best attacking players ply their trade on the left edge and for many teams that player is a critical link man in a lot of set plays.
Such is the case with Boyd Cordner, whose aggressive hole running and deft passing make the Roosters left edge sweep so dangerous.
Though Cordner was heavily more scrutinised after a strong season in 2013 he still edges out Keptin Simon Mannering and the resurgent Tony Williams.
Honourable Mentions: Simon Mannering and Tony WIlliams
Right second row: Josh Jackson
After a solid season in 2013, Jackson made the leap from contributor to star in 2014. Occasionally used out of position in the halves, Jackson was among Des Hasler’s most dependable players all year. Narrowly edges the departing Sonny Bill Williams who had a slightly down year by his lofty standards.
Honourable Mentions: Sonny Bill Williams and Tariq Sims
Lock: Sam Burgess
In a position that features some of the most remarkable players in the competition, be it workhorses like Shaun Fensom or Paul Gallen or flat out weapons like Jason Taumalolo, Sam Burgess still manages to stand head and shoulders above the rest.
A truly remarkable combination of size and skill Burgess will be sorely missed by the Rabbitohs and league fans in general
Honourable Mentions: Shaun Fensom and Aidan Guerra
Follow Lachlan on Twitter @mrsports83
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