Throwback forward clash between Jared Waerea-Hargreaves and Jason Taumalolo could decide Roosters-Cowboys prelim

JARED Waerea-Hargreaves and Jason Taumalolo are set to stage a forward battle for the ages on Saturday night, just like in the old days writes PAUL KENT.

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NOBODY in the Roosters camp said much when Jared Waerea-Hargreaves hit the back page early this week.

Nobody was shocked. Nobody was surprised, either.

There is a little throwback in the air ahead of Saturday’s game at Allianz Stadium. The Roosters look to their big guy and feel it themselves, with skipper Boyd Cordner saying, “He’s been the leader of our pack for a number of years now.”

This late sense of throwback began in Round 21 when Taumalolo ran and Waerea-Hargreaves went in late and hard and with more than a little oomph.

“He went to pass the ball and I committed — Bob’s your uncle,” Waerea-Hargreaves said earlier this week.

He did not stop there. He knew what he did and what he was saying and so he goes on.

Waerea-Hargreaves is the leader of the Roosters pack.

“You say ‘bring it on’, he says ‘okay’. That’s footy. That’s what we’re meant to do. That’s what you want — your best players going at each other.”

Told about this several days later Taumalolo smiled that sweet, murderous smile of his and said, “I don’t really pay attention too much to it, but it’s one thing saying it and it’s another doing it on the field. I think we’ll find out Saturday night.”

He, too, seemed to be enjoying it.

“He’s put some accountability on himself to single me out, but that only puts a lot of pressure on himself,” he said.

“I hope for Jared’s sake that he comes out and does it.”

Waerea-Hargreaves is the big bull in the paddock. For some weeks now he has watched Taumalolo roll through opponents to put polish on a season that sees him become the greatest metre making forward in the game’s history.

Taumalolo has been truly incredible this season.

The only player in the history of the game with more metres than him over a season is Roger Tuivasa-Sheck, a fullback with a lot of easy metres to gobble early on kick returns. Like Tuivasa-Sheck, every other player in the top five is also a fullback.

Taumalolo and Waerea-Hargreaves evoke memories, sweet ones, of Mark Carroll standing over Paul Harragon, “like he was my prey” way back when.

It’s the way it used to be.

Nobody could win without a dominant big man upfront, making it personal.

Bob Fulton used to challenge Steve Roach before a Test to take out the opponent they identified as their great threat.

“One condition,” Blocker would say, “ ... If I do, will I be in the team next time?”

“Of course,” Fulton would say.

Small motivations.

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Just two days ago Matty Johns was talking about Harragon knocking out an opponent early in the 1990s so badly the young man never played again.

Something changed in Harragon that day and for many years after Johns always got the sense Harragon held something back, to the point opponent’s picked up on it.

Then, before the 1997 grand final, Harragon called his teammates together and told them he was going to give it to them today.

Early on, Harragon grabbed Carroll and threw a few short ones.

At that moment Johns thought to himself, “We’re gonna win this.”

That was always the thought behind the big shot.

The psychology of attacking the leader is old rugby league but it has a shiny new face.

The Storm calling it putting a player in the chopping block.

Former Souths coach Michael Maguire calls it “roadkill”, a phrase picked up by at least one other club, the Parramatta Eels.

It’ll take a legion of Roosters forwards to stop Jason Taumalolo.

Taumalolo heard it last week. The Eels name dropped him throughout the game.

Identifying him, before coming in waves.

Taumalolo still ran for 230m.

The Roosters see a difference between motivation and mindset.

Motivation is short-lived. In former days it worked beautifully.

Manly prop John Bucknall goes after John Sattler in the 1970 grand final, breaking his jaw behind play.

Sattler, ever courageous, pushes his jaw back in place and realises when he bites down on his mouthguard his shattered bones will stay in place, and so down he bites.

His South Sydney teammates stand taller for his courage and begin pushing him out of the way, protecting their leader, until finally Sattler tires of it and tells his team at halftime, “the next bloke that pushes me out of the way is in trouble”.

Carroll or Harragon could set up on an opponent and deliver him a week’s worth of bad news. Each turned the game for their team when the wiped out the other.

Such moments changed games.

But the players got fitter and the hits became more consistent. Force is weight times velocity. As the players got fitter they became more able to recover. The game got cleaner.

Defensive systems made it harder for the hitters to isolate ballrunners.

Motivation has had to become mindset. Present in every play.

That aggression has to come against the opponent again and again and again.

“It’s about sustained brutality,” says Roosters coach Trent Robinson.

This organised intimidation is the tactic of the modern game.

“We will try and work him over in ‘D’,” Dylan Napa said earlier this week. “We will try and figure out a strategy this week to try and limit him as much as we can.

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“Try and wear him out as much as we can.”

Taumalolo represents the bravery of the Cowboys.

Waerea-Hargreaves’ comments are seen as a challenge to himself.

Taumalolo remains ready.

“He said a couple of comments before a Bulldogs game and I said to him ‘You have to back it up now’,” Green said, “and he said ‘When have I not?’”

***

AS far as being The Family Club goes, all we can be sure of is that Canterbury is somewhere between Modern Family and the Manson Family.

That’s a lot of space in between, and points to the large gap that the Canterbury Bulldogs supposedly understand and adhere to like no other club.

A lot of nonsense has been said and written this week about the Family Club and their supposed values by a lot of people who would not know Peter Moore from Dudley Moore.

Yet modern-dayers lament the loss of the club’s family values and point to the loss of Josh Reynolds as the primary case.

Reynolds epitomised the club’s family values, apparently, but based on what? He has no wife, no children, so they can’t be speaking literally.

All season long the same fans lamenting the loss of family values were roaring about the team’s lack of direction and ability to score, an obligation traditional to the position Reynolds plays.

Yet they forget all about it when Reynolds leaves, pointing to a lack of loyalty from the club.

Reynolds left not because Canterbury failed to make him a legitimate offer.

He left because he got offered a longer and richer deal at Wests Tigers.

He could have stayed if he chose.

The Bulldogs, in a bid to get back to the winning culture the club, simply decided Reynolds was not worth matching what Wests Tigers were willing to pay and so they wished him their best.

Moore moved on premiership winning coach Warren Ryan after he coached the Bulldogs to two premierships and a grand final in his first three seasons but then missed the finals by a point in his fourth.

Phil Gould replaced him, won a premiership his first season and got no opposition from Moore when he wanted to move on to Penrith after coaching the Bulldogs to ninth in his second season.

The only currency that demands loyalty in rugby league is winning.

The rest is decoration.

Des Hasler was sacked on Tuesday after missing his first finals series in six seasons.

Shined under the light of standards set for Ryan and Gould — the era Bulldogs faithful hold so dear — it was hardly harsh.

The difference, though, is the great difference. Bullfrog Moore would have paid him out.

Originally published as Throwback forward clash between Jared Waerea-Hargreaves and Jason Taumalolo could decide Roosters-Cowboys prelim