NRL 2022: Halfback overtakes fullback as most important position, Paul Kent

While the NRL’s Covid affected seasons were dominated by fullbacks, the return to normality has once again cast the spotlight on No.7 as the most important position, writes Paul Kent.

With the changes to six again rules, the halfback has re-emerged as the NRL’s most important position.

Not everybody is made to be a halfback, it seems.

The smart ones figure it out early and point to their growing biceps and expanding Adam’s apple as evidence they need a career playing somewhere more robust, like on the edges, where they have to do no more than pick a hole in the defence and run at it while waiting for the halfback to deliver the ball.

Occasionally, though, some make a rookie error and think a career running a football team is the fast-track to getting themselves a beachfront property so they stick their hands high in the air when the coach pulls out the seven jersey.

Invariably from here they can’t wait for that moment when all their years of training has them ready for the time when, not only the game, but the entire season is on the line, and the ball is thrown their way and an entire stadium is watching them make the play that wins the premiership.

In most good sporting biographies, this is commonly referred to as The Moment.

At least, that’s how most dreams are imagined, although the reality for most is completely different.

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With the changes to six again rules, the halfback has re-emerged as the NRL’s most important position.

For most of us, it begins to all come undone once the play is called, just as we are about to take off, and the brain sends a message to the legs to start running and the message quickly fires back: which leg first?

At least that’s how I remember it.

Pressure has that effect on some people, which underlines why the quality halfbacks are the very elite in the competition.

The truly good halfbacks are on top of all these small failings of the body. They simply won’t allow their body to show weakness, and because of them their teammates benefit greatly for it.

It is for this reason that the halfback is a very important position in rugby league, and why most will say it is the most important position, particularly the managers who manage halfbacks and try to shop them around regularly.

It is not always like this.

Just last year, for example, there was a small disturbance in the force when a rule change was implemented while everybody was being distracted by Covid, which grew into the need to make the game more entertaining, and so, with everybody either in a fever or avoiding one, the six-again rule was created.

Better entertainment for when you had to watch at home.

It suddenly thrust fullbacks into that place under the spotlight that had always been reserved for halfbacks. The quickened play-the-ball speed created havoc around the ruck.

2021 was dominated by fullbacks like Tom Trbojevic, with the six again rules creating chaos around the ruck.

The game was dominated by the likes of Dally M winner Tom Trbojevic, who took the title after playing just 15 of the 24 games allotted, almost making a mockery of the awards themselves.

Sensing this shift, most coaches followed the Billy Slater Rule, which basically equated to get the ball to Billy as often as possible, and the fullbacks became the most desirable equity in the game.

Last summer saw the peeling back of the six again rule, though, and, with it, halfbacks have re-emerged in their rightful place as the most dominant players in the game.

It is a rough rule of thumb, but you can almost track your team’s success by the quality of the player wearing the seven jersey, which means factoring in considerations such as experience, talent and movie star good looks, which helps to drive memberships.

Look at the big turnarounds this season at clubs like Brisbane, North Queensland and Cronulla.

One of the more clever things said about Adam Reynolds when he was at Souths – and while appreciated, he was never regarded as the star of the team – was that Reynolds “plugged his teammates in”.

I forget who said it.

Reynolds simply made his teammates better, it went, helping them play to their potential. It was a quality often overlooked.

Since getting to Brisbane, Reynolds has gone to another level, still making his teammates better but also creating opportunities for himself that take us back to when he first came into the game and his legs were much younger, if not longer.

Reynolds never got the spotlight at the Rabbitohs, but has taken the Broncos to another level. Picture: NRL Photos.

Similarly, Chad Townsend has transformed the Cowboys. Like Reynolds, Townsend has used the change of clubs to reinvent himself, not restricting himself to simply being a part of the team but elevating himself to that of leader inside the club.

His teammates have responded accordingly, and the results are showing it.

Nicho Hynes’ arrival at Cronulla has also seen a marked improvement in the Sharks, although for different reasons.

Coach Craig Fitzgibbon watched a lot of Hynes’ junior career, before he emerged as a fullback at Melbourne, and saw a lot of time spent in the halves and knew he was capable of being exactly what Cronulla needed.

Hynes at halfback has transformed the Sharks into a true premiership threat, a truth revealed last week when Fitzgibbon gambled against Canberra last round and switched Hynes from half to fullback to cover the suspension of Will Kennedy.

Fitzgibbon was obeying the basic law of footy that says pick your best 13 and find a position for them. Without an elite half, though, the Sharks played more sideways than straight and the Raiders’ defence picked them off easily.

It is a symptom from which no one is immune.

Nicho Hynes turned the Sharks into a genuine finals contender, but his move to fullback backfired against the Raiders in Round 10. Picture: Getty Images.

Last week, Melbourne went into the game against Penrith without Jahrome Hughes and Ryan Papenhuyzen and the impact was immediate.

Down half their spine, the Storm copped a flogging off the Panthers, who were ably led by arguably the best player in the competition, their own halfback Nathan Cleary.

Cleary has continued to develop as such a talent he is now the short money to wear the No.7 jersey when Australia heads to England later this season for the Rugby League World Cup.

If so, he will have to wrestle it from Manly halfback Daly Cherry-Evans, who has used the shift in rules to re-establish himself once again as the big guy at Manly, ahead of Trbojevic.

When it comes to doing form, the availability of top-quality halves are like a cheat sheet.

The Raiders lost first-string halfback Jamal Fogarty before the season and, while Brad Schneider is young and with tremendous talent, he is still learning his trade. The Knights have struggled with inconsistent performances at half, as have Souths, the Warriors and Gold Coast, and their results show it.

The Roosters’ results generally match up to the performances of their halves that weekend.

The Tigers turned their performances around when Jackson Hastings took over the seven jersey, and on it goes.

In pure coaching terms, the great absence for Trent Barrett before he was shuffled out of Canterbury earlier this week was the absolute lack of a quality half, although that finished as the least of his problems.

Melbourne have been one of the best sides in the competition, but with Jahrome Hughes out injured they were picked apart by Nathan Cleary. Picture: Getty Images.

SHORT SHOT

Tim Tszyu’s plans to take out Jermell Charlo and become just the ninth undisputed champion in the four belt era, something not even his father Kostya achieved, might be under threat.

For the eagle-eyed ones, the eighth undisputed champion will be crowned next month when Australia’s George Kambosos fights Devin Haney in Melbourne.

Kambosos is the WBA, IBF, WBO and Ring Magazine lightweight champion, while Haney holds the WBC version and the winner will walk out of the ring with all four belts on June 5.

Charlo became the undisputed champion last weekend and immediately set about antagonising Tszyu at the post-fight press conference, calling him “Tim Kazoo” among other names, and Tszyu was immediately up for the fight.

Tim Tszyu’s bid to become undisputed change could be under threat. Picture: Christian Gilles

Tszyu was hoping to take his titles as the mandatory and reign as the undisputed champ.

The word is that Charlo will relinquish his titles and move up to the middleweight division.

His twin brother Jermall is the current WBC middleweight champion but, to avoid having to fight his brother, Jermall will move up to super-middleweight.

If Charlo relinquishes and moves up the four belts will be fought for by the highest ranked fighters in each organisation, which means a whole series of fights but no undisputed champ.

Tszyu will fight for the WBO version, where he is ranked the No.1 mandatory, and no doubt his promoters will push to get at least one other belt in the picture.

It is all very complicated, even for those who care, but safe to say it will destroy Tszyu’s bid to become the undisputed champ and rob him of bragging rights over his father Kostya, who went close by holding the WBC, WBA and IBF titles at the same time but could not reel in the WBO version.

Originally published as NRL 2022: Halfback overtakes fullback as most important position, Paul Kent