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Everyone knows about the superstar players of the NRL. They get all the news headlines, the TV interviews and their faces on the membership card. But there are a lot more champion players whose efforts on the field are just as important but often go unnoticed.
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These players are the heart and soul of a team, the glue that binds, the quiet achievers. This year they’ll go about their business again, but we’ll barely hear a peep about it.
So let’s give them some recognition.
Here are five under-the-radar players who’ll have a big impact in season 2019. Make sure you’re not missing out on watching them.
Adam Reynolds, South Sydney
With much of the media preferring to focus on big-name halves like Cooper Cronk, Nathan Cleary, Daly Cherry-Evans and now Kalyn Ponga, it’s easy to forget the quality work South Sydney’s number 7 puts in year after year.
Reynolds is a State of Origin player and a premiership winner. He’s a great goal kicker and his field kicking is sublime, racking up a phenomenal 8,680 metres last year. Unlike a lot of other halves, Reynolds can pin a kick returner anywhere he wants.
In last year’s semi-final win against St George Illawarra, Reynolds scored all of his team’s 13 points including a remarkable three clutch field goals in 11 minutes – more one-pointers than what nine NRL teams managed for the entire season.
Souths will meet the Dragons again in Round 2 in what should be a belter of a game between two genuine title contenders and Reynolds will undoubtedly have a heavy influence on the contest.
He’s a consistent, durable performer who isn’t afraid to put his body on the line. He’s loved by his team and their supporters but for some reason has faded from the discussion when people talk about the game’s best halfbacks.
Mahe Fonua, Wests Tigers
The former Melbourne junior exploded back onto the NRL scene for the Wests Tigers in Round 8 last year after a spell with Hull FC in the United Kingdom. He then promptly disappeared after badly breaking his arm, taking with him all the hype and excitement from his emphatic arrival.
Fonua is a formable opponent. He runs the ball like a madman, glorious mullet flowing in the breeze. His defence leaves no questions unasked, you know you’ve been tackled when Mahe Fonua sorts you out.
But Fonua, like his club, dropped from the NRL consciousness in 2018 after their blistering six straight wins to start the season turned into a 12-12 record and no finals appearance.
With premiership-winning coach Michael Maguire taking over at the Tigers, things could finally be on the improve for long-suffering Wests fans.
With a full preseason in the tank, Fonua is now fit, he’s ready to tear in and there’s a decent chance by the end of this season he and his club won’t able to fly under the radar any more.
Mahe Fonua during his time with Hull. (Photo by Paul Keevil/Action Plus via Getty Images)
Chad Townsend, Cronulla Sharks
Often in the shadow of names like Josh Dugan, Matt Moylan, Andrew Fifita and Paul Gallen, Chad Townsend will spend 2019 like he has every year since returning to the Shire in 2016 – beavering away at halfback, quietly putting together another quality season.
The 2016 premiership winner is Cronulla’s steady hand on the till who makes his teammates better. He lays on scoring opportunities, he takes the defensive line to get his star backs into open space and he’s highly effective in defence.
His teammates know he can be relied on to make the smart decision and his kicking, both for goal and for field position, are high quality. Townsend’s not a bad person to have on hand for a match-defining field goal, either. Panthers fans still anguished at their club’s semi-final exit last year know that better than most.
Townsend is joined in the Cronulla halves by Shaun Johnson, recently of the New Zealand Warriors. They’re a classic fire and ice duo and there’s no doubt Johnson will take all the headlines. But Chad Townsend wouldn’t have it any other way.
(Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)
Raymond Faitala-Mariner, Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs
Raymond Faitala-Mariner has had a tough run of it so far in the NRL. He’s played four seasons for a total of 21 wins and just as he was hitting some great form in 2018, injury struck while he was on international duty with New Zealand.
Dean Pay’s Bulldogs started to work things out a bit at the back end of 2018 and Faitala-Mariner is a big part of the club’s planning for the future. In only 13 games last year he managed 23 offloads, ran for over 110 metres per game and stuck 90 per cent of his tackles.
Like his teammate Josh Jackson, Faitala-Mariner slides under the guard of opponents because he’s effective without being flashy. His numbers have been steadily increasing year on year and at full fitness, he certainly has a role to play in dragging the Bulldogs back to where they feel they belong.
Faitala-Mariner will run out against his former coach Des Hasler and the Manly Sea Eagles at Brookvale in Round 8. Never mind the traditional rivalry between the two clubs, this will be a massive game with plenty of feeling after Hasler’s unceremonious departure from the Bulldogs in 2017. Don’t miss the lead up to this one!
(Photo by Matt King/Getty Images)
Leeson Ah Mau, New Zealand Warriors
Ah Mau returns to where it all started after spending the last seven years at St George Illawarra.
The forward is the perfect recruit for New Zealand coach Stephen Kearney. He’s one of the best defensive props in the game, tackling at 94.5 per cent in 2018 and barely missing a tackle throughout his career.
Don’t mistake him for a one-dimensional player who’s nothing more than a defensive phenom, though. He carts the ball up with the best of them and has an eye for a timely offload.
He’s a reliable option up the middle for the Warriors at a time where they’re searching for stability with the departure of talisman Shaun Johnson and in light of their trademark topsy-turvy seasons. Ah Mau’s understated yet effective approach will keep the Warriors on track as they look to build on the gains they’ve made of late.
Ah Mau and his Warriors will get their first crack at Shaun Johnson when they welcome the Cronulla Sharks to Westpac Stadium in Round 18. That might seem a little while away, but make no mistake: the Warriors circled that date in their calendar a long time ago.