Paul Gallen, Tony Williams, Jack De Belin — the seven strangest positional switches in the NRL
JACK De Belin into halfback was plain wacky. We’ve dug into the archives to find seven of the strangest positional switches in the NRL.
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WHO doesn’t love a left-field positional switch?
Whether it’s front-rowers ranging out in the centres, halves playing fullback or wingers running around in the middle, there’s always an element of intrigue attached when a player moves from one spot to another.
Sometimes it works fantastically — like when Darren Lockyer moved from fullback to five-eighth.
Sometimes it doesn’t — like Dragons big man Jack de Belin’s ill-fated switch from the backrow to halfback last week.
With that in mind, we’ve dug around and found seven of the strangest positional switches in recent times.
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BRAITH ANASTA — one game at fullback.
Where else could this list start? The Roosters were in a serious hole in 2009 and on a wet, windy night in Penrith, Brad Fittler made the fateful decision to throw his captain to fullback in a bid to…..you know what, we’re not exactly sure what this was meant to achieve.
What makes the decision all the stranger was that the Roosters had English import Jordan Tansey, who had spent the bulk of his career at fullback, packing down at hooker. There was no need to switch Anasta to an unfamiliar position, but Freddy rolled the dice and ended up with snake eyes.
Transitioning to fullback would have been tough at the best of times, but throw in the potent kicking game of Panthers halfback Luke Walsh and the wet conditions at CUA Stadium and it was a bloodbath. Poor old Anasta was all at sea as Walsh targeted him mercilessly with bombs and grubbers. A horde of Anasta errors precipitated a 42-6 drubbing, Fittler departed at season’s end and Anasta never played at the back again.
PAUL GALLEN — nine games at five-eighth
Here’s a curly one that would win you many a bet down at the local — Paul Gallen has started more club games in the halves than in the front row. The NSW captain has played Test and Origin football up front but has just played just seven of his 253 first-grade games at prop compared to nine at five-eighth.
Gallen’s stint at five-eighth came in 2004 when he slotted in as Brett Kimmorley’s regular halves partner on eight occasions. The now 34-year old was fair bit more spry in his younger days and was more than capable of playing on the edge of the ruck and as such he didn’t fare too badly in his new role — the Sharks won four of the eight matches and the four defeats were all to teams who ended up making the finals that season.
Gallen scored three tries, including a double in a 30-28 defeat of Manly in Round 11, before switching back to the pack. In Round 26 of 2009 Gallen had one last go in the halves following a host of Cronulla injuries and despite barging over for another try, the Sharks went down to the Rabbitohs 26-24
ANTHONY MINICHIELLO — five games at five-eighth
Brad Fittler makes his second appearance on the list after he slotted Anthony Minicheillo into the halves towards the back end of 2009. By that point in the season the Roosters had been ripped apart by injury and were on their way to the wooden spoon in one of the worst seasons in club history. Minichiello actually missed much of the year with injury and was thrown into the halves alongside Mitchell Pearce from Round 22 to Round 25.
While the fullback to five-eighth switch (or vice versa) is becoming increasingly commonplace, Minichiello struggled with the finer points of the new position. The Roosters lost all five matches when Minichiello was in the halves and were outscored 127-30. As with the Anasta switch, it wasn’t like Fittler didn’t have a specialist half at his disposal — for many of those games utility back Ben Jones, who was perfectly capable of playing five-eighth, was in the squad but stuck out in the centres or on the bench.
TONY WILLIAMS — two games at five-eighth, one game at halfback
Williams has played every position on the field bar hooker, fullback and front-row, which is a measure of the skill and athletic ability of the big man. The Bulldogs behemoth began his career as a centre or winger with Parramatta and initially stayed out wide when he moved to the Sea Eagles before making a full-time switch to the back-row in 2011.
When the Bulldogs lost Josh Reynolds and Trent Hodkinson to Origin in the middle of last season, Des Hasler made a move that only Des Hasler would make and switched his biggest player to the scrumbase to partner Josh Jackson against the Sea Eagles in Round 17. Williams had actually played a little bit in the halves before, winning a Queensland Cup premiership with Sunshine Coast Sea Eagles as a five-eighth in 2009, and he acquitted himself well in the Dogs’ upset 23-16 win. Williams also played two matches at five-eighth that season, a 6-4 win over Melbourne and a 20-12 defeat to North Queensland.
BEN CREAGH — six games on the wing
While he’s currently toiling away in the front-row for the Dragons, back in the day Ben Creagh was a fleet-footed, high-flying centre or winger and it was on the pick and swing where he made his debut in 2003.
While the Dragons were suffering a horrendous injury toll, Creagh did quite well in his first season of first grade, scoring three tries in five matches, including one in the famous 26-25 win over Brisbane in Round 26 where a decimated Dragons side upset the finals-bound Broncos.
Creagh made a couple of appearances in the centres and one more on the wing in 2004 before settling into the forwards.
GREG EASTWOOD — one game on the wing
Greg Eastwood was sneakily versatile when he first came into the NRL — while he’s now entrenched as a hulking lock forward, Eastwood’s mobility and footwork have seen him start a match in every position bar hooker, fullback and halfback. The big Kiwi was used as a bench forward and utility for the early part of his career and had a run around in the centres once or twice.
But when the Broncos took on Melbourne in Round 18 of 2006 coach Wayne Bennett had a host of players backing up from Origin III and needed to shuffle the deck a little bit.
Eastwood was pitched out on to the wing and did a surprisingly good job — he scored the Broncos’ only try in a 10-4 loss in what was a grand final preview before dropping back to the bench the following week.
Towards the back end of 2007 Eastwood also jumped in the halves for the Broncos’ final few matches amid a horrendous injury toll but didn’t fare as well — Brisbane were outscored 82-28 in the two matches he played in the No. 6 jersey.
JOEL REDDY — one game at five eighth
More known as a centre or winger, journeyman Joel Reddy was thrown into the halves one night in 2009.
Reddy had a little bit of halves pedigree — he’d won a reserve grade premiership with the Eels a few years earlier at five-eighth — but the jump in class and the degree of difficulty was far higher.
It was a grim, rainy night at ANZ Stadium and the Eels fought out a tough match with the Rabbitohs that went right down to the wire.
The score was locked at 16-all with both sides missing a litany of shots at field goal and the match ended controversially with referee Brett Suttor calling fulltime as South Sydney were about to feed a scrum 10 metres out from the Parramatta line.
Reddy was solid in his one and only sojourn into the halves, but soon returned to his regular role of utility outside back.
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