Boyd Cordner aims to play every remaining game of 2020
Sydney Roosters skipper Boyd Cordner has put his hand up for a marathon challenge — and fellow veterans Brett Morris and Jake Friend are also on board.
Roosters
Don't miss out on the headlines from Roosters. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Inspirational Sydney Roosters skipper Boyd Cordner has put his hand up for a marathon challenge — trying to play every game for the remainder of this season.
And if they had their way, fellow veterans Jake Friend and Brett Morris would also go through without a break.
As a debate heats up about Brisbane coach Anthony Seibold’s controversial plan to employ a rotation policy similar to what our Aussie cricketers have used in the past, senior Roosters want to play as many games as possible.
Kayo is your ticket to the 2020 NRL Telstra Premiership, returning Thursday 28th May. Watch every game Live & On-Demand with no-ad breaks during play. New to Kayo? Get your 14-day free trial & start streaming instantly >
How coaches manage the workloads of players this year could be crucial given there will be 18 consecutive regular-season games without a bye followed by a four-week finals series, while the Origin series will start 10 days after the grand final.
Friend and Cordner said winning the title this year could even be tougher than their past two premierships because of the new schedule.
Coach Trent Robinson has tried to manage his senior players’ workloads in the past but Cordner is champing at the bit to play arch-rivals South Sydney on Friday night because he hasn’t been on the field since November.
After missing the opening two rounds, Cordner wants to play all 18 regular season games from here on.
“Yeah, for sure. I am looking forward to it,’’ he said. “It is new (playing a regular season without a bye) but we have had that break now.
“We are going to be playing our first, well, my first game in June, so the body is well rested.
“It is going to be a big task, not only for myself but for everyone that is going to be playing this year.
“When you look at having a rest, I don’t think there is one until probably after the grand final, if we are lucky enough to make it that far. So I am really looking forward to the year.”
To put Cordner’s challenge into perspective, Fox Sports Stats show he has only once cracked 20 NRL games in a season in the past four years, while his best consecutive run of matches was 12 NRL games in 2018. Admittedly, every season you can throw in an Origin series to his workload.
Co-captain Friend also doesn’t want to miss a game and he will be in the Origin mix for Queensland.
LISTEN! Adam Mobbs, Phil Rothfield and Michael Carayannis are back with The Daily Telegraph NRL Podcast to discuss the revamped draw, South Sydney’s salary cap in the wake of Greg Inglis coming out of retirement, the fallout from Cody Walker’s street fight and Wayne Bennett’s hand in the cover-up, PLUS Paul Gallen, is this comeback for real?
“I haven’t played much footy in the last couple of years so I am pretty excited to get out there and string some games together,’’ Friend said. “I want to play all 18.
“Our sports science guys and support staff will try and come up with a plan to be able to play 18 straight.
“I am sure they will look to get some breaks in there at some stage but I think it is going to be different for all teams. I think player management is going to be a big part.”
Brett Morris is also against players being rotated in and out.
“I think you put your best 18 out there week in, week out, regardless,” Morris said.
“We are here to win games of football. We want to win. We want to play footy.
“So we just had (10 weeks’ rest) and for blokes who have been playing footy for 20 years, that is a pretty long break.”