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Opinion
There is nothing better than seeing a fresh talent explode onto the scene and immediately light up the NRL. It is exhilarating, and their dazzling skills remind everyone why they fell in love with the game in the first place.
However, for every success story, there are bound to be quite a large number of players who simply cannot cut the mustard.
Most of these players do not get more than a passing go in first grade and simply cannot latch onto their chance. Others might play a couple of dozen games, filling in here and there due to their team’s injuries or representative call-ups before calling it quits.
There is no shame in that, as any professional NRL player has reached a level that very few people in the world will. The problem can come when coaches persist with players long past any warranted statistics says they should.
Every team has them, but here are the most glaringly obvious players who your team should consider moving on from.
Talatau Amone – St George Illawarra Dragons
Junior Amone has racked up over 40 NRL games, and to start off with, he certainly looked like a bright prospect. However, it has now been 20 games since his last try, this season, he has just two try assists, and his effort in defence is bordering on diabolical.
Playing the Raiders this year, he made seven completed tackles and was credited with eight missed tackles. The rest of his games aren’t that much better. If he is not assisting in attack, is a hindrance in defence, and his off-field antics are still in front of the courts, one has to wonder why he is being persisted with when the Dragons have a quality replacement in Jayden Sullivan.
Bailey Simonsson – Parramatta Eels
To put it bluntly, four tries in 25 games as a winger is pretty anaemic, yet those are the figures you will find for Bailey at the Eels. The Eels are not short on points either; Simonsson just isn’t often in the mix. He is not that quick, quite prone to errors, and his metre eating has taken a backward step this year.
His positioning is also less than ideal, considering he now has 70 first-grade games, and he is not big enough to use as a battering ram, either. Another finishing option would be great for Parramatta, especially when Sivo has scored over five times the amount of tries that Simonsson has since Bailey joined the club (and in fewer games too).
Wade Graham – Cronulla Sharks
There is no doubt that Wade Graham is an extremely accomplished and, at his height, supremely talented player who has achieved virtually everything in the game. That is why it has been hard to watch him fade so steeply in the latter half of his career.
No one will take away the accolades that Wade has garnered, but he has been coasting on them for a fair while. This is compounded by the fact that the Sharks have continuously unearthed great second-rowers and forwards that have been forced to sit behind Wade for a few years.
He is just too slow and too big for the modern game, and the introduction of the six-again rules a couple of years back really exposed his weaknesses. It is a bittersweet pill to swallow for many loyal Sharkies fans, but Wade really should have been tapped on the shoulder a few years ago.
(Photo by Jason McCawley/Getty Images)
Aaron Woods – Manly Sea Eagles
It truly is stunning that Aaron Woods secured another contract after his tenure at his previous two clubs. While he has only played as an interchange forward, and even then not all that much, it is hard to see any reason why one would sign Woods other than the lovely fairytale ending it was to bring him back to his childhood team.
Even without considering the fact Manly traded two young and upcoming players to the Dragons for Woods’s service, it is hard to see where the value in Woods lies.
His reads in defence are shocking, and his runs are even softer than ever, often hitting the opposition line backward.
To add to these deficiencies, he routinely gives away fresh sets because he cannot get out of tackles quicker due to his fitness. How he managed to get a gig with the Dragons and now Manly will forever be a question for many fans.
Tariq Sims – Melbourne Storm
A lot of people pegged Tariq Sims to be a value signing for the Melbourne Storm, as is the case with so many of their recruits who come from mediocre teams. The issue in Tariq’s fairytale story seems to be that father time has finally caught up with the hulking forward.
While he still looks incredibly fit, the gas tank just isn’t there anymore. He doesn’t have that impact in the line that he once did, and he is struggling to pick out the smaller men on the field to run at as the opposition covers him with ease.
In defence, he still has those defensive brain snaps that he has had all his career, just at an accelerated level. While he may not be bad as depth, you’d have to imagine he is being paid a little too much for the 20-odd minutes he sometimes plays in a game.
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