NRL power rankings: Who are the top hookers in the NRL?
IT’S one of the most important positions on the field, but does your team have the player they need at dummy half? In the first instalment of our NRL power rankings we take at look at the best hookers in the game.
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YOU’RE not getting anywhere in rugby league without a good dummy half.
The difference between a passable hooker and a great one can be what decides a team’s premiership fate and given the attacking and defensive requirements of the position, there’s a case to be made it’s the most physically gruelling position on the field.
With the NRL season fast approaching, we’ve run the eye over all 16 hookers in the first instalment of our positional power rankings.
16) Craig Garvey/Siliva Havili
If Josh Hodgson was on this list he’d be in the top three without a doubt and the Englishman’s knee injury is a hammer blow for Canberra. With a proposed move for Wigan’s Michael McIlorum not eventuating, the Raiders will have to make do with Craig Garvey and Siliva Havili. Garvey has played 23 matches for the Dragons and Bulldogs, and is known for his high work rate. A star of junior football, his attacking game is yet to translate to the highest level.
Havili has played 24 games for the Warriors and Dragons, with all but four coming from the bench. He spent times in the NSW Cup playing lock and similar to Garvey he is yet to show his best with ball in hand. What will give Raiders fans a little optimism was Havili’s World Cup performances for Tonga. Havili grew in stature as the tournament went on and Tonga always looked more dangerous when he was on the field, and he finished his campaign with a good showing against England in the semi-final which was capped with a late try. Neither man should try to replace Hodgson, as such a task is close to impossible, but both have the skills to be serviceable NRL hookers.
15) Matt McIlwrick
The journeyman former Raider, Shark and Rooster had an understated but successful year for the Tigers in 2017, playing 23 games and holding down the middle of the field well. While McIlwrick doesn’t have the most expansive attacking game in the league he defends well and offers good service, which is all the Tigers needed from him at the time.
With exciting prospect Jacob Liddle on the horizon, look for him and McIlwrick to split their game time more evenly in 2018.
14) Kaysa Pritchard
Here’s the thing about the Pritchard brothers. If Kaysa had the same physical gifts as Frank, he’d be an out and out star, because he’s one of the most tenacious players Parramatta has to offer.
As it stands, Pritchard the younger throws his weight around as best he can, takes on monsters who dwarf him without a scrap of fear, and pays the price with his body.
Since making his NRL debut in 2013, Pritchard has never managed more than 16 matches in a season and has just 39 total games to his name.
Still just 23, there’s plenty of time for Pritchard to fulfil the potential that had him pegged as a future star in the juniors, and he started to really find his feet in 2017 before injury again struck him down.
Well suited to Brad Arthur’s hard-nosed coaching style, if Pritchard can stay healthy he’ll be one of Parramatta’s most dependable players in 2018. But given his history with injury, that’s a pretty substantial “if”.
13) Issac Luke
How the mighty have fallen. We’re not that far removed from some pundits claiming Luke was challenging Cameron Smith as the best hooker in the game. Now, his career could be on its last legs.
Luke’s two seasons with New Zealand have been underwhelming to say the least, but 2017 was nothing short of a disaster.
He posted career lows in runs per game and metres per game, his lowest try assist total since 2007 and his lowest line-break assist count since 2008.
The year ended in fitting fashion when Luke, a veteran of 37 Tests for New Zealand over the last ten years, was excluded from the Kiwis World Cup squad.
Off-contract at the end of 2018, Luke could be facing the end of his NRL career if he doesn’t right the ship. Given his play during his time with the Warriors, nothing short of a return to the form of his glory days will result in a new deal, especially given the rise of impressive youngster Nathaniel Roache.
Luke’s exclusion from the World Cup will give him his first proper pre-season in many years, and such a preparation could rejuvenate his career and given the heights of the past and the depths to which he has sunk, one can only hope he finds his best form again.
12) Michael Lichaa
It is impossible to truly get a read on Michael Lichaa. His years at the Bulldogs have been difficult to say the least. Since joining the club on a hefty deal from Cronulla in 2015, Lichaa has been a popular target for frustrated fans as he made his tackles and made them well, but offered little to no attacking output under Des Hasler’s conservative game plan.
The Lebanese international seemed destined to leave the Bulldogs, but in the final two matches of the season Lichaa threw it all out the window.
Against the Titans in Round 25, Lichaa ran for 109 metres, a career high, and was one of the best players on the field.
Against the Dragons a week later, Lichaa won man of the match and scored the winning try for a Bulldogs team playing for nothing but pride.
He engaged the markers, tested the defence and looked a world away from the high-priced punching bag he’d been reduced to over the previous two seasons.
Lichaa followed that up with an excellent World Cup for Lebanon, where he showed plenty of the old attacking instincts that made him such a coveted prospect in the juniors.
Lichaa could rocket up this list if he’s let off the leash by Dean Pay, and behind a pack containing Aaron Woods and David Klemmer he should have plenty of opportunities to run the ball.
Despite the upside that surrounds the 24-year old, he’s clocking in at 12th on our list just because of the scarcity of those performances, as good as they may have been.
11) Jayden Brailey
Brailey’s career is still in it’s infancy but the Cronulla product is already showing himself to be a player of rare ability.
While his own attacking stats in his debut NRL season were meagre — one try assist, two line breaks and one line break assist — such a circumstance is not unusual for young dummy halves and his true value came in areas that cannot be measured on the stat sheet.
Brailey’s service from dummy half was impeccable, even though he averaged 65 minutes per match in one of the most physically demanding positions on the field.
His value to the Sharks as a wider unit was best seen whenever he wasn’t on the field.
James Segeyaro has the superior pedigree and may end up returning to his former powers in the long run, Cronulla were far more effective when Brailey started at dummy half.
The 21-year old was a serious attacking weapon in the Under 20s and the further development of those skills will be a highlight for the Sharks this year.
10) Peter Wallace
Wallace’s days as Blues halfback seem very long ago as the Panthers skipper has totally reinvented himself as a workhorse dummy half who leads the way for a Penrith team filled with youthful exuberance.
Tough as a leagues club steak, Wallace is exactly what Penrith need him to be.
While scores of injuries have reduced his capabilities as a runner, Wallace is still sharp around the ruck and has a great long-kicking game to take the pressure off Nathan Cleary.
One of rugby league’s real survivors, the 32-year old has again been appointed Penrith skipper and he’s so highly thought off at the foot of the mountains the club is already making moves to add him to the coaching staff once he retires.
9) Damien Cook
Damien Cook is this high on the list because of what he could be, not because of what he has been for South Sydney.
Cook has never been given the full opportunity to make the hooking role his own in two seasons and 40 matches with the red and greens.
He’s only played hooker for Souths 17 times as first Cameron McInnes and then Robbie Farah relegated him to the bench. But Cook has the capabilities to be a real asset for Souths with his speed, support play and ability to play 80 minutes.
Cook is again locked in a battle with Farah to secure the starting spot at the Rabbitohs.
If he can beat out the veteran, he has the ability to throw his name into Origin contention. But despite his undeniable talents, Cook simply hasn’t received the opportunity to showcase those talents in two difficult years at Redfern. He has the highest upside of anyone on this list.
8) Danny Levi
It has been a tough few years from the Knights but Levi is one of the diamonds they’ve found in the rough.
Levi has won just six of his 48 NRL matches but he’s the kind of player Newcastle can build their future around. The similarities between Levi and Issac Luke, the man he replaced as New Zealand’s Test hooker are just too stark to ignore — both are compact, powerful runners with tremendous acceleration off the mark and the strength to break the line.
Levi recorded five try assists, four line breaks and six line break assists in 2017, all career highs, and played a major part in Newcastle’s late season revival before enjoying a fine World Cup campaign with New Zealand.
Much of his success came after coach Nathan Brown switched him to the bench, allowing Jamie Buhrer to play the opening 20 minutes at hooker before Levi played the final three quarters of the match and it gave Levi a new lease on life.
Brown’s possible return to that strategy is one of several intriguing roster choices surrounding the Knights this season.
7) Apisai Koroisau
In 2017 Koroisau locked down a starting spot at hooker for the first time in his career and the Sea Eagles were rewarded for their faith with a fine season from the Fijian international. Koroisau accumulated six try assists, nine line breaks and seven line break assists and 42 tackle busts while also forging a fine combination with Daly Cherry-Evans.
Given the Manly pack’s love for offloads, Koroisau suits their style of play down to the ground, as he excels in broken field play and has the speed to trouble even the tightest of defences.
Koroisau will be duking it out with Nathan Peats and Cameron McInnes for a spot in the Blues side this season but where he loses ground on his two rivals is defensively.
While he is by no means a liability and never shirks the work (Koroisau made 37.7 tackles per match last season, the 9th highest average in the competition) he missed 94 tackles, behind only noted swinging gate James Maloney.
It’s easier to hide these defensive mishaps in the middle of the field, but along with occasional drops in the quality of his service it is the final hurdle for Koroisau to clear.
6) Nathan Peats
Tenacious, aggressive and industrious, Peats was a deserving recipient of his Origin debut last season and toiled hard in the middle of the field throughout the three matches.
The colourful Titans dummy half boasts a tremendous appetite for defending, and his 39.3 tackles per match was the highest average on the Gold Coast and seventh highest across the league.
Peats also boasts an underrated attacking game — he put together five try assists and six line break assists last season despite playing just 15 games for the injury hit Titans.
He was unable to showcase the same attacking spark in the Origin arena, but part of that was by design as Laurie Daley was desperate to hand full attacking responsibilities to the halves. The former Eel faces some serious challenges to retain his Blues jersey, and his own tenacity often comes back to bite him in the form of injury, but Peats is a top class hooker.
5) Cameron McInnes
One of the buys of the year in 2017, McInnes has found a home at the Dragons. Appearing in all 24 matches and playing close to every minute of every game, the red and white ironman averaged 44 tackles per match, the third highest total in the competition, and gave St George Illawarra much more starch in the middle of the field.
His passing was also crisp, no matter the circumstances of the match or his own fatigue.
But it would be remiss of us to pigeonhole McInnes as a tackle bag given the attacking improvement he showed last year with St George Illawarra.
He recorded 6 try assists, three line breaks and seven line break assists in his maiden season as a Dragon. In 39 games with the Rabbitohs he put together one try assist, eight line breaks and two line break assists.
The change of scenery has done McInnes a world of good and he should push for a New South Wales Origin berth this year. There is only a struck match between him, Peats, Koroisau and Levi.
4) Jake Granville
Granville is yet to match the incredible attacking form of his debut season with North Queensland in 2015, where he made 11 line breaks, broke 45 tackles and scored 10 tries, but he remains a valuable contributor for the Cowboys.
We saw a different side to Granville in 2017 — he went away from his deadly running game somewhat, recording just 1.9 runs per game on average, but improved as a ballplayer, accumulating 11 try assists which is a career high in that regard.
Of particular note was his improved combination with Michael Morgan, which was showcased most spectacularly in a dramatic set play the two deployed at various times through the season whereby Granville would dart down the blindside on the last tackle before hooking a kick back for a flying Morgan.
The play is reminiscent of one used by Cameron Smith and Cooper Cronk, and speaks to the strong understanding between hooker and half.
Granville is already one of the competition’s best in his position — if he can marry his improved skills with the speed off the mark that made him such a weapon in the past it shapes to be a difficult prospect for any opposition to stop.
Along with the men above him on this list and the absent Josh Hodgson, Granville is part of the top tier of NRL hookers.
3) Andrew McCullough
One of the real success stories in Brisbane since his debut in 2008, McCullough was enjoying one of the best seasons of his career before a knee injury prematurely ended his year in 2017. Well-rounded and clever, McCullough would have been playing hooker for the Blues years ago had he been born south of the Tweed.
The 27-year old might not have the most dynamic running game in the world but he makes up for it with his fitness, clean service and terrific kicking game. McCullough has had the best kicking game at the club for some time and given the loss of Ben Hunt look for him to take over more of those duties in 2018.
His knee injury will hamper his preparations somewhat, but McCullough is a consummate professional and even without an extended pre-season he can achieve great things in 2018.
2) Jake Friend
In any other era, Friend would have been the Maroons hooker for close to half a decade. The Roosters rake has been one of the best hookers going around for some time now with excellent defence, impeccable service and strong organisation skills the hallmark of his game. When the Cooper Cronk saga threatened to force one of the Roosters spine players out, some fans believed Friend would be the man to go, citing a decreased effectiveness in attack due to his defensive workloads.
Nothing could be further from the truth. While Friend did lead the league in average tackles per match last season with 47.7, he is still capable of doing the job with ball in hand and his kicking game continues to improve, particularly in regards to clearing kicks.
Friend has often shined during the Origin period when he has been given more playmaking responsibility and his budding combination with Cronk will be one of the highlights of the former Storm halfback’s transition to Bondi.
1) Cameron Smith
You didn’t need this list to tell you Smith is the best hooker in the game.
The Melbourne skipper is the top dummy half in the game and has been for close to a decade. He’s the greatest player to play this position in the history of the sport.
