The coming NRL halfback bonanza

What do Trent Hodkinson, Adam Reynolds, Aidan Sezer, Daly Cherry-Evans, Luke Keary, Chris Sandow, Kieran Foran, James Maloney and Albert Kelly all have in common? Two things actually.

They’re all first-rate NRL halves, and they’re all off contract at the end of 2015.

So they’re all eligible to start fielding rival clubs’ offers as of November 1 this year.

Before considering the implications of this pending bonanza, let’s all agree that for the most part the terms ‘halfback’ and ‘five-eighth’ are irrelevant. Almost no teams play an old-fashioned first and second receiver arrangement with the vast majority preferring a split halves set up with one ‘half’ controlling each side of the field.

So whereas Trent Hodkinson and Daly Cherry-Evans both wear number 7 and are both nominally halfbacks, Hodkinson operates almost exclusively on the left edge of the field for Canterbury and Cherry-Evans is on the right for the Sea Eagles.

Johnathan Thurston meanwhile has alternated between 6 and 7 but his job has remained the same. There is some overlap of course, but for the most part halves have their preferred side of the field.

With that being said, let us assume then that almost all of the players listed above could easily wear number 7 and operate as the primary playmaker for an NRL side.

Regardless of title or number, the importance of halves has in no way diminished in the modern game. Ask the Bulldogs how they fared with mediocre games from Origin halves Josh Reynolds and Hodkinson in the grand final on Sunday. Or picture the directionless Rabbitohs whimpering out of the finals after Adam Reynolds went down to a hamstring injury in 2012 (an episode now well and truly forgotten of course).

At the other end of the spectrum ask a Raiders fan what it is like watching a forward pack regularly put a team in great field position – which they did in 2014 – only for no points to come of it.

There can be no doubt that talented halves are absolutely critical to success in the NRL. That is what makes the signing period that will open on November 1 so fascinating. With ten regular first-graders, including three with Origin experience, one incumbent Test half, and a handful so-called future Origin players, there will be a lot of teams looking to fill a spot before the music stops.

Very few teams can consider themselves comfortable in the halves. Certainly the Warriors and Cowboys will for the time being only require a player to complement their Test halves, and the same goes for the Storm with Cooper Cronk. The Knights feel comfortable with Jarrod Mullen and Tyrone Roberts, and the Tigers will roll the dice that potential becomes reality with Luke Brooks and Mitchell Moses.

However every other team in the competition is either unsatisfactorily represented in the halves or their incumbent players are on this list.

Arguably the pressure is most intense for the Rabbitohs and Sea Eagles, who each find two halves off contract at the end of next year.

The Sea Eagles’ much publicised internal ructions will go a long way to determining if they can keep both Foran and Cherry-Evans. Though even if they can retain them, what sort of team will they be able to put around them? Whatever the internal dynamics at the Eagles one thing is certain: someone is going to come along with a Godfather offer for each of those players.

The Rabbitohs face an equally unenviable dilemma after watching Adam Reynolds – who was reportedly on the outer as recently as eight weeks ago – return to the team to orchestrate an historic win on Sunday night. For now the partnership between Reynolds and wunderkind Luke Keary looks like a match made in heaven, but paying to keep both could prove problematic.

Then in the middle of the table there is a raft of teams who face tough decisions about whether to stick with their current guys or chase a proven commodity such as Cherry-Evans, Foran or Maloney. Teams such as the Eels with Sandow, the Titans with Kelly and Sezer and even the Bulldogs with Hodkinson, whose form post-Origin was uninspiring, must decide whether those players can anchor their future.

Meanwhile, at the bottom of the table the Raiders and Sharks both ended the season road-testing promising juniors in the halves, but both remain very publicly in the market for a big name. Canberra is of course hamstrung by certain perceptions about the club and city (and no doubt some will say by the coach), and the Sharks are limited by the fact that they’re never going to win a premiership.

But both clubs will have oodles of money available in 2015 and will no doubt be making aggressive offers.

The Broncos have already made the first move with respect to the class of 2015. The club announced the re-signing Ben Hunt last week for a reported $400k, which is a remarkably good deal for the club given the season Hunt just enjoyed. Whatever the Broncos are paying Hunt, the timing of the deal – with Anthony Milford and Darius Boyd set to add to an already solid stable of playmakers in Brisbane – demonstrates how important it is to lock-up quality halves.

No doubt some teams will follow Brisbane’s lead and double down on their current players before those players get to listen to rival clubs. But inevitably a few big names will still be on the market come November and the musical chairs will begin.

It used to be that the NRL season would finish and aside from a few dry pre-season updates – ‘this year was the toughest preseason ever‘ – rugby league would go away until at least February.

This year however we can expect that the reckless speculation and innuendo about players signings will continue right through the summer.

Won’t that be fun.