Monday Buzz: Controversial omissions from NRL’s top 100
An Origin player-in-waiting, an NRL club captain, a new signing and some impressive young talent are just some of the players left out of the game’s top 100, writes PHIL ROTHFIELD.
NRL
Don't miss out on the headlines from NRL. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Launching pad: Fringe players set to light up NRL Nines
There’s an Origin player-in-waiting, an NRL club captain, a new signing and some impressive young talent.
That’s what made leaving them out of the NRL’s top 100 players so hard.
When compiling a list of the NRL’s best players, there are always going to be questionable omissions.
Your columnist couldn’t find room in his Top 100 for Brisbane captain Alex Glenn, who was seemingly unwanted by the Broncos a year earlier.
Nor was there places for veterans accomplished veterans — Cronulla centre Josh Morris and Sydney Roosters utility Mitch Aubusson.
More Monday Buzz: Weekend highlights, lowlights
Watch the 2020 NRL Nines tournament LIVE & On-Demand on KAYO. New to Kayo? Get your 14-day free trial & start streaming instantly >
Former Melbourne prop Jordan McLean won North Queensland’s players’ player award in 2019. He has also been considered a NSW Origin player-in-waiting but hasn’t been able to earn a Blues berth or lift the Cowboys out of the doldrums. For that reason, he didn’t make my top 100 list.
Shaun Lane, Kurt Capewell and Tohu Harris are all established first graders, while Zac Lomax, Liam Knight and Ken Maumalo are all on the rise and can consider themselves unlucky.
WASTE OF MONEY
The Brisbane Broncos are spending almost $2 million of their salary cap on two players who are not even rated in the NRL’s top 100.
Dumped skipper Darius Boyd and former Cronulla Sharks grand final hero Jack Bird have been left out of the top 100 after both struggling for the past two years.
Bird is off contract at the end of this season while Boyd has two seasons to go.
Other clubs are paying millions of dollars for players who are not justifying their salaries.
The Gold Coast’s Ash Taylor, Canterbury’s Kieran Foran and the Cronulla Sharks’ Josh Dugan are on a combined $3 million.
CAP OUT OF WHACK
It shows the NRL salary cap is not working.
This list of arguably the top 100 players in the competition shows a significant gap between the top and bottom sides.
It demonstrates the premiership heavyweights have up to four times more elite stars than many of their struggling rivals and that the talent pool is lopsided, even with all teams spending $9.5 million.
The NRL will reasonably argue there have been seven different premiers in the past 10 years, that success goes in cycles, and that no sporting competition will ever have completely level rosters.
However, the New Zealand Warriors, the Gold Coast Titans and the Canterbury Bulldogs are clearly off the pace, with a combined eight players in the top 100. It is hard to believe they spend the same amount as the glamour clubs.
The Penrith Panthers and the Newcastle Knights have only four top players each.
GROW YOUR OWN
Warriors recruitment chief Peter O’Sullivan has been in the NRL for 25 years and knows the business better than most. He has offered huge money to Matt Lodge, David Fifita and other big names in recent times with no results.
“They haven’t needed to move to get the bigger dollars,” O’Sullivan said.
“We have to develop them. We have to buy undervalued players and local kids and turn them into top 100 players.
“We are confident we are heading in the right direction.”
At the other end of the scale, premiers the Sydney Roosters still have the most elite players along with the Melbourne Storm, despite the retirement of Cooper Cronk and the departure of Latrell Mitchell.
PLAYER MAGNETS
The Canberra Raiders and the South Sydney Rabbitohs are the next strongest in the top 100.
It highlights the importance of having a coach who can attract players, or a smart one like Ricky Stuart who made a raid on Great Britain’s best talent to build his magnificent Raiders roster.
There are three coaching standouts in recruitment — Trent Robinson, Craig Bellamy and Wayne Bennett. Players will accept less to join their clubs because of their track records.
TOUGH SELLS
You then look at the Wests Tigers and coach Michael Maguire who, until signing the unwanted Joey Leilua last week, couldn’t attract a decent player.
Mitchell rejected Maguire’s $4 million offer over four years to accept an extraordinary $3.3 million less — a $700,000 one-season deal at the South Sydney Rabbitohs.
Boom forward Ryan Matterson broke his contract and walked out on the Tigers because he didn’t want to play under the 2014 premiership-winning coach. So too did powerful centre Esan Marsters.
Titans forward Jai Arrow took $200,000 a season less than he could have earned at the Wests Tigers to join the Rabbitohs. It’s said Maguire’s punishing approach at training is a turn-off for potential recruits.
Penrith’s Ivan Cleary is another who has struggled to attract top talent. He left the Wests Tigers in a terrible mess by paying way over the top for the likes of Josh Reynolds, Russell Packer and Ben Matulino.
He has also released top 100 players Dallin Watene-Zelezniak, Waqa Blake and Reagan Campbell-Gillard from the Panthers.
Back-to-back premiers the Roosters are often accused of rorting the salary cap. Yet they rarely get into bidding wars to keep players.
Mitchell was offered $800,000 a year for two seasons but knocked it back. They withdrew the offer.
They let Roger Tuivasa-Sheck go in 2016 because they refused to match the Warriors offer. The same with James Maloney, who was released in 2015.
It is a fact that elite players will accept less to play under Robinson, who has won three premierships in seven years.
Even youngsters like boom 17-year-old halfback Sam Walker will take less to play at Moore Park, for the opportunity to learn from the three-time premiership coach. He could have got $200,000 more at Belmore.
At the Roosters you are also almost guaranteed to play finals football and it increases your chances of playing State of Origin or Test football and getting the bonuses that go with it.
At the same time, the weaker clubs often have to pay overs to sign the bigger names — and that weakens the rest of the roster.
The Knights have a ‘‘big three’’ — Mitchell Pearce, Kalyn Ponga and Dave Klemmer — but have struggled to build a competitive roster around them because the funds have not been available.
That might change this year with the appointment of the highly regarded coach Adam O’Brien, although he will have basically the same roster that Nathan Brown failed with.
At least he’s come out of the Storm and Roosters systems — they are the best in the business.
NRL’S TOP 100 PLAYERS
Brisbane Broncos (7): David Fifita, Payne Haas, Matt Lodge, Anthony Milford, Corey Oates, Tevita Pangai, Kotoni Staggs
Canberra Raiders (9): John Bateman, Nick Cotric, Jarrod Croker, Josh Hodgson, Josh Papalii, Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad, Elliott Whithead, Jack Wighton, Joseph Tapine
Canterbury Bulldogs (3): Will Hopoate, Josh Jackson, Dallin Watene-Zelezniak
Cronulla Sharks (6): Wade Graham, Andrew Fifita, Matt Moylan, Shaun Johnson, Bronson Xerri, Chad Townsend
Gold Coast Titans (3): Jai Arrow, Jarrod Wallace, Alexander Brimson
Manly Sea Eagles (7): Daly Cherry-Evans, Addin Fonua-Blake, Curtis Sironen, Marty Taupau, Jake Trbojevic, Tom Trbojevic, Dylan Walker
Melbourne Storm (11): Josh Addo-Carr, Nelson Asofa-Solomona, Jesse Bromwich, Kenny Bromwich, Dale Finucane, Felise Kaufusi, Ryan Papenhuyzen,
Cameron Munster, Brandon Smith, Cameron Smith, Suliasi Vunivalu
Newcastle Knights (4): Dave Klemmer, Mitchell Pearce, Kalyn Ponga, Daniel Saifiti
North Queensland Cowboys (5): Valentine Holmes, Kyle Feldt, Josh McGuire, Michael Morgan, Jason Taumalolo
Parramatta Eels (9): Waqa Blake, Dylan Brown, Nathan Brown, Blake Ferguson, Clint Gutherson, Mitchell Moses, Maika Sivo, Reagan Campbell-Gillard, Ryan Matterson
Penrith Panthers (4): Nathan Cleary, James Fisher-Harris, Viliame Kikau, James Tamou
St George-Illawarra Dragons (6): Tyson Frizell, James Graham, Ben Hunt, Tariq Sims, Paul Vaughan, Cameron McInnes
South Sydney Rabbitohs (8): Tom Burgess, Damien Cook, Dane Gagai, Latrell Mitchell, Cameron Murray, Adam Reynolds, James Roberts, Cody Walker
Sydney Roosters (11): Boyd Cordner, Angus Crichton, Jake Friend, Luke Keary, Joseph Manu, Brett Morris, Victor Radley, Sio Siua Taukeiaho, James Tedesco, Daniel Tupou, Jared Waerea-Hargreaves
New Zealand Warriors (2): Blake Green, Roger Tuivasa-Sheck
Wests Tigers (5): Luke Brooks, Benji Marshall, Moses Mbye, Joey Leilua, Adam Doueihi