NRL 2021: Resting star players carries huge risk and reward for premiership contenders
You only need to look back two years to see the adverse impact that resting your star players late in the regular season can have.
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Resting your biggest stars can be the masterstroke that delivers a team the premiership or a bomb that blows up a championship campaign. Three of the best teams in the NRL will enter this minefield in round 25.
South Sydney, Parramatta and Melbourne will have a host of top-shelf talent watching on from the sidelines this weekend and flip a coin with their title hopes.
There’s no exact science when it comes to resting players or late-season form, but it has brought down juggernauts before – like the 2019 Storm.
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Craig Bellamy’s side claimed the minor premiership by six points and were being hailed as one of the best sides of the modern era before they rested some of their stars for the final round clash with the Cowboys.
While Storm still won, they couldn’t recapture the winning form and went down to the Raiders in the first week of the finals before being eliminated by the Roosters two weeks later.
This time it’s South Sydney who will run that same gauntlet, with Rabbitohs coach Wayne Bennett standing down most of his starters for the clash against the Dragons, including halves Adam Reynolds and Cody Walker.
“They’ve been such a cohesive unit this year, I suppose that was the thinking behind resting those players. They’re able to take a breath and have a week off, and they’re the players you’re going to really lean on,” said Fox League’s Corey Parker.
“Hindsight is a wonderful thing. They’re in a position where they can’t go lower or higher, so they’re playing the long game and Wayne has adapted to that over the years.
“If they bow out for whatever reason it becomes a different conversation.
While the Rabbitohs will likely finish third regardless, sitting down Walker and Reynolds robs them of an extra week to build their combination with rookie Blake Taaffe, who will replace Latrell Mitchell at fullback for the rest of the year.
But Parker believes spelling the star halves, as well as Origin players Damien Cook, Jai Arrow and Cam Murray, is the right call from Bennett.
“There might be able to be a stronger combination with Taaffe in that time, but I think with training they can still get that combination,” he said.
“Taaffe has been in the squad all year, he knows the plays, he knows the moves, he’s been in there when Latrell wasn’t playing.
“The temptation would have been there but I think for the long-term benefit of the team giving a few individuals a rest is, to me, the right call, but time will tell.”
Melbourne have rested half their stars but still boast a strong side for Friday’s clash with the Sharks, while Parramatta have gone totally the other way with a second-string side to play Penrith that same evening.
The Storm won the premiership last year after resting nearly their entire side for the final round, and Parker believes the plan for this round would have been locked in long before last week’s loss to Parramatta.
“You don’t really know how the players are travelling, it’s the time of year they’re getting needles to play and maybe their bodies need a rest. There’s a lot that goes into it,” Parker said
“I’ve got no doubt the players who are being rested this week, it’s not like they turned up on Monday morning and said ‘hang on a minute, you’re not playing’.
“Those players would have been under no illusion that they would be stood down for that reason.”
NRL thrown into farcical $15m integrity debacle
A talent pool worth about $15 million will sit on the sidelines, but despite some farcical final round matches, the NRL has no plans to change the road into the finals.
The NRL’s last regular season round has been overshadowed by a host of high-profile absentees which could have serious ramifications on the make-up of this year’s finals series.
The consequences are huge and include:
* Cronulla gifted an easier run to the finals with their opponents Storm resting many of their stars, hurting the Raiders and the Titans.
* The Eels costing themselves a top four spot by basically conceding victory against the Panthers. The Eels are now $11 outsiders to win the match.
* The emergence of unlikely captains in Will Smith (Eels) and Mark Nicholls (Rabbitohs).
* Among the superstars rested or named outside the top 17 include Clint Gutherson, Cameron Munster, Adam Reynolds, Damien Cook, Cody Walker, Mitchell Moses, Dane Gagai, Nathan Brown, Dylan Brown and Alex Johnston.
Walker could forfeit his chance to win the Dally M medal with rivals Nathan Cleary and Tom Trbojevic named to play.
The Sea Eagles are also likely to rest or reduce the game time for their superstars if a top four spot is clinched by the time they play the Cowboys on Saturday.
Despite other sporting leagues, including the AFL, finding ways to address the issue of stars being rested in big games, the NRL has no intention of implementing changes.
“That’s the coach’s prerogative,” ARL chairman Peter V’landys said.
“They know their players. We are not going to tell them how to coach. You can’t mandate telling coaches how they should coach.
“We respect that. Their aim is to win a competition. It’s hard to argue against.”
The local derby between Parramatta and Penrith has gone from top four blockbuster to fizzer after Eels coach Brad Arthur deciding against picking his top squad.
Penrith on the other hand have gone all-out, naming a full-strength side as they push for consecutive minor premierships for the first time in the club’s history.
The Sharks need to beat the Storm to guarantee a top eight. The Raiders have to win against the Roosters on Friday and then hope for the Storm to beat Cronulla if they are to make the eight. The Titans need Canberra and Cronulla to lose and they need to defeat the Warriors on Sunday.
Raiders chief executive Don Furner said he had no concerns about the Storm’s approach.
“We have done it before,” Furner said. “It’s a long year. There are mental and physical wear and tear on players. I’ve got no problem with it.”
The situation was raised last season when teams guaranteed of a finals spot took a similar approach. It was blamed on a Covid-19 impacted season with teams not having a bye, but it has been repeated this year and now shapes as becoming the norm.
The AFL introduced a bye between the regular season and the finals in 2016 because of similar issues, but it has the flow-on effect of the top four teams who are week one winners playing little football ahead of preliminary finals.
The NBA implemented a resting policy in 2017 with the San Antonio Spurs fined $35,000 earlier this year for not picking a full strength team. In the NBA, teams cannot rest multiple healthy players for the same game. When they do rest healthy players, it is supposed to be in home games. Teams can be fined up to $135,000.
Fox Sports executive director Steve Crawley had no qualms about the decision to rest stars.
“If I’m Bart Cummings and I’m getting a horse ready for the Sydney Cup and I decide not to race him the previous weekend, so be it,” Crawley said. “I want the first prize.”
The move will allow emerging talent such as South Sydney trio Blake Taaffe, Lachlan Ilias and Peter Mamouzelos to showcase their skills.
While KFC SuperCoach players who are in grand finals might not be happy with the chaos, the majority of fans are happy with the tactic.
Only 45 per cent of fans in a News Corp poll said the NRL should take action to stop clubs resting their stars.
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