Mystery surrounds Rhyse Martin’s shock omissions from Bulldogs

How a player who broke a record in his rookie season, Rhyse Martin, can’t get a start in the league’s bottom-placed team remains a mystery for Bulldogs fans.

Rhyse Martin hasn’t been able to crack Canterbury’s 17 this season. Picture: Brett Costello

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The disappearance of Rhyse Martin is the biggest mystery of the NRL season so far.

How a player who broke a record in his rookie season can’t get a start in the league’s bottom-placed team.

Martin, a Supercoach and Bulldogs fan favourite, burst on to the scene in 2018 as a bright spot in what was an otherwise dire season for the Belmore club.

Martin produced the greatest goalkicking season in the NRL, converting 36 goals from 38 attempts at an incredible 94.7 per cent. He knocked back rival offers to pen a contract extension with the Bulldogs.

But for the past two weeks he has been missing from Dean Pay’s team sheet.

The Bulldogs have built a wall around his omission, insisting Martin is merely a casualty of the recruitment drive to secure Dylan Napa, Sauaso Sue and Corey Harawira-Naera in a bid to sure up their forward pack following the departures of Aaron Woods and David Klemmer.

Rhyse Martin hasn’t been able to crack Canterbury’s 17 this season. Picture: Brett Costello

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But it’s understood he has fallen foul of the coaching staff after he returned to pre-season training carrying a little too much condition.

Other speculation centred around concerns with his defence.

Martin missed four tackles in his first game in the Canterbury Cup last week against the New Zealand Warriors. But Raymond Faitala-Mariner, the man who has replaced him in the starting side in 2019, missed seven tackles in the Bulldogs’ 40-6 round-one thrashing.

Which only raises further questions about Martin’s exclusion from Sunday’s clash against Parramatta.

Martin was a star rookie in his first NRL season. (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)

Although Martin’s omission for a second straight week has caused whispers, the first sign of trouble for the 26-year-old came back in February, when he didn’t appear in Pay’s best 17 in Canterbury’s trial match against Canberra in Bega.

Martin was also relegated to the reserves in round 14 and 15 last season after he missed a training session, but the Bulldogs have moved to quash any speculation his latest demotion is the result of any discipline or behavioural issues.

Bulldogs lock forward Adam Elliott, one of the few people at the club to address Martin’s absence, insisted the strength in Canterbury’s forward stocks in 2019 was the only reason behind his teammate’s axing.

“Rhysey is definitely an NRL player, he showed that for us at the end of the year,” Elliott said.

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“I think it’s the people that he is behind, Jacko [Josh Jackson], he’s the captain of the side and plays on the edge and Ray and Corey are both internationals so it’s not anything against Rhysey that he’s not in the side.

“There are some really quality players ahead of him at the moment.”

Outside of the missed tackles, Martin put in a commendable 66-minute performance in reserve grade last weekend. The back-rower made 131 metres, 53 post-contact metres and three tackle breaks.

Martin finished season 2018 with the best strike rate of any goal kicker with a minimum of 25 attempts in the NRL era — booting 36 goals from 38 attempts at 94.7 per cent.