By Dan Walsh
In the bowels of Allianz Stadium last Friday night, after ground staff had unsuccessfully tried to drain the $828 million venue’s surface using pitchforks, Sam Walker was raving about the slop.
Turns out, in Seinfeld parlance, this horse loves the slop.
“Muddy, slippery, big puddles, personally, I love it,” Walker said having starred against Parramatta, a day after coach Trent Robinson had waxed lyrical about his growing relish for the “weight you have to carry” as a No.7.
In the same breath, Robinson mentioned that a halfback’s lot “comes with its rewards too.” Over the next few weeks and finals to follow, Walker’s looking at a seven-figure-and-change annual reward if he can take the Roosters to the grand final and/or deliver a title.
He’s one of several halves across the game stepping out from the shadow of illustrious teammates in career-best form.
At Penrith, Jarome Luai’s $6 million, five-year move to the Tigers as their marquee signing gets another once over now that he’s taking charge again in Nathan Cleary’s place.
Out of the shadows: Sam Walker, Jarome Luai and Luke Brooks lead a host of halves with plenty to play for in September.Credit: Stephen Kiprillis
Daniel Atkinson has steadied the Sharks since Nicho Hynes broke his leg and ruptured ankle ligaments, to the point there’s now a genuine question about where the unheralded utility fits when the Dally M winner returns.
Luke Brooks was booed and not in the same suburb as his best form when he returned to Leichhardt Oval on Thursday night. But despite Manly’s shock loss, he’s still in good shape to end the longest individual finals’ drought in rugby league history as the Sea Eagles’ second play-making banana.
Canterbury’s Toby Sexton, Jake Clifford at North Queensland and the Dragons Kyle Flanagan (if St George Illawarra do snag eighth spot for him to make a finals return) have all been written off for the majority of their careers too.
As the most promising and duly hyped half of his generation, Walker hasn’t.
But as Roosters boss Nick Politis prepares to meet once more with Walker’s family about his future beyond 2025, the sense is some at the club want to see him produce when it matters most, against the likes of Penrith and Melbourne in the biggest games of the season.
Walker, 22, can name his own price if he does.
On that score, and defying the Roosters’ dominance of this year’s bottom-nine teams, Walker has actually performed better statistically against the NRL’s best sides.
Despite the Roosters winning all 11 games against the bottom nine teams by an average margin of 38-14 this year, Walker averages more try-assists, line-breaks, runs and tackles against top eight opponents, with less missed tackles and errors too.
“His attitude towards defence and the dirtier areas of the game [the slop, if you will], he’s really improved his mentality of wanting to get stuck in,” teammate Connor Watson says of the next phase in Walker’s development.
“This year, the ownership he’s taken of this football side, he’s been that dominant No.7 for us.”
Luai also thrived with his first extended taste of the same for Penrith during Cleary’s nine-week lay-off with a torn hamstring.
He wears the No.7 again - starting against Canberra on Saturday - now the game’s best player is nursing a dislocated shoulder, but it’s hard to recall a side coping better without a marquee player of Cleary’s status.
Ricky Stuart went down in a 68-0 win over Parramatta late in 1993, and Canberra’s season went with him.Credit: Fairfax Media
Where Canberra famously went from premiership favourites in 1993 to bombing out of the finals in straight sets when Ricky Stuart broke his leg, the Panthers have barely missed a beat without Cleary.
Luai’s emergence as a dominant half has been critical in that, with his and Cleary’s play-making dynamic evolving too along the way.
In the four games they played together between Cleary’s injuries, Luai’s 50.25 average touches per game were a marked increase on the 42 that has been his norm over the past four years.
His dominance in Cleary’s absence gives Penrith a luxury few rivals could entertain - they don’t need to rush their Origin halfback back for week one of the finals if he’s not quite right. Luai has proven he can steer the premiers and then some.
Atkinson, meanwhile, has emerged as the most unlikely match-winner for the Sharks, who are 9-3 with the one-time carpenter in their halves.
Even before his match-winning field goal against Newcastle, without Atkinson, Cronulla don’t come close to stealing the win that could well seal their top-four spot.
Retaining him somewhere in the Sharks 17 is now a welcome selection headache for Craig Fitzgibbon when Hynes - a valuable sounding board for Atkinson - is scheduled to return in round 27 against Manly.
“I’ve got to thank Nicho a lot, now he’s injured he’s helping me with video, just little stuff to keep an eye on,” Atkinson says.
Daniel Atkinson celebrates his golden-point field goal against Newcastle.Credit: NRL Images
“He’s one of the best in the game and I think the more I can pick his brain, obviously it’s going to help my game too.”
As for Brooks, the occasion of returning to Leichhardt Oval seemed to get to him when he dropped balls cold and kicked them out on the full in Wests Tigers stunning 34-26 upset. He wasn’t without company though.
Like most good things at Manly, and their late comeback on Thursday night, Brooks has been at his best in concert with Tom Trbojevic - whose own game management from fullback amazed the former Tiger when he first arrived at Brookvale.
Brooks has drifted in and out at times this season, but the bones of a great combination between five-eighth and fullback are there, and laid on Manly’s second try last week when they were far more impressive against the Warriors.
A seemingly innocuous play at the 10-minute mark had Brooks at the line and drifting left, dummying to runners Tommy Talau and Ben Trbojevic before turning brother Tom back under to the inside defenders.
It amounted to little in the moment. But 14 minutes later, the same play is on. Tom Trbojevic’s lurking on the same line draws Marata Niukore out of his line and into error. Instead, it’s Talau slicing into the backfield and sending Trbojevic over.
At his best and keeping his composure in the biggest moments of the biggest games, Brooks is a critical cog in a Manly backline that is capable of blowing opponents out of the finals in quick time.
Like several of his playmaking contemporaries, there’s no time like right now to do it.
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