NRL mock rookie draft revisited: Which clubs turned fantasy into reality with class of 2021?
As the annual AFL draft kicks off, see how the NRL landscape would look if rugby league finally introduced a rookie draft. We revisit our 2021 mock draft, revealing the winners and losers.
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Reece Walsh the Bulldog. Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii the Bronco. A Sam Walker-Tom Dearden decade-long halves combination at the Cowboys.
That’s how the 2024 NRL landscape could look had rugby league finally introduced a rookie draft.
While the annual AFL Draft was held on Monday to spread the best young talent across the game and help lowly clubs improve, rugby league’s strugglers are still languishing in cycles of failure.
While teams like Brisbane and New Zealand have been able to do it themselves under the current framework of pathways and free agency, others like the Wests Tigers, Canterbury and St George Illawarra have been unable to regenerate their rosters in their bid to emerge from the NRL cellar and become finals contenders.
While the draft is a mainstay in the AFL, it’s been placed firmly in rugby league’s too-hard basket as a combination of factors has prevented it from ever getting off the launch pad.
Dolphins coach Wayne Bennett is a long-time supporter of a draft, advocating for a three-tiered system that he said would clean up the player movement
“We are the only sport in the world that operates with a salary cap but no draft. They have to go hand-in-hand,” Bennett said.
“I would see a rookie draft, I would see a state league draft and then there are those players already in the NRL who are seeking releases or being cut, so I’d see a draft for them as well.”
This masthead conducted a mock rookie draft two years ago, identifying a positional issue at each club and which player they should target with their pick.
Based on the worst-to-first finishing order from the 2021 season, the 2022 rookie draft class were assigned to different clubs, depending on their needs.
Some moves would have been exciting to watch, others would have been a bust. But that’s the nature of a draft – you don’t always get it right.
Here we revisit the mock draft class and how each team actually addressed their very real roster issue.
THE 2021 ROOKIE DRAFT REVISITED
PICK NO.1: BRONCOS
Position: Fullback
Mock selection: Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii
Actual solution: Tesi Niu, Te Maire Martin
The Broncos tried Niu and Martin in the No.1 jersey when they faded to finish ninth in 2022. Suaalii would have given coach Kevin Walters a raw, exciting talent at the back who could have developed into a franchise player at the Broncos. At least Brisbane remedied it at the end of the season by bringing home No.2 mock pick Reece Walsh from the Warriors. Given that, the points go to the actual solution.
Verdict: Actual
PICK NO.2: BULLDOGS
Position: Fullback
Mock selection: Reece Walsh
Actual solution: Matt Dufty
How different things could have been for Canterbury. Dufty played half a season at Belmore before being released to England. Under the mock draft, Walsh would have been lighting up the Bulldogs’ backline, gifting the underperforming club a genuine future superstar.
After trying Jake Averillo and Hayze Perham this year, the Bulldogs have spent big on Stephen Crichton as their potential 2024 fullback.
Verdict: Mock
PICK NO.3: COWBOYS
Position: Halfback
Mock selection: Sam Walker
Actual solution: Chad Townsend
The Cowboys opted for experience in replacing retiring skipper Michael Morgan, bringing in Townsend on a two-year $2.4 million deal. In a draft scenario they could have paired five-eighth Tom Dearden with 2021 rookie of the year Walker in what would have potentially been a 10-year all-Queensland halves combination.
Verdict: Mock
PICK NO.4: SEA EAGLES
Position: Second row
Mock selection: Ben Trbojevic
Actual solution: Ben Trbojevic, Ethan Bullemor
Keeping all three Trbojevic brothers together was a no-brainer for Manly, both in the mock draft and reality. Trbojevic has played 22 games in the past two seasons as the 193cm, 105kg 22-year-old continues to develop. With Kelma Tuilagi departing for Parramatta, he is expected to become even more important to the Sea Eagles’ squad.
Verdict: Both
PICK NO.5: DRAGONS
Position: Fullback
Mock selection: Rocco Berry
Actual solution: Cody Ramsey, Tyrell Sloan, Moses Mbye
The Dragons had two talented fullback options in Ramsey and Sloan, but neither made the position their own in 2022. Berry, a schoolboy rugby star, established himself as a strike centre at the Warriors this season and looks to have a big future.
Verdict: Mock
PICK NO.6: TIGERS
Position: Halfback
Mock selection: Toby Sexton
Actual solution: Jackson Hastings, Adam Doueihi, Jock Madden
Turns out it is quite difficult to fix the Tigers.
In a bid to solve their halves conundrum, Wests signed Hastings – who was let go after one season – and tried shifting Doueihi into five-eighth, before he suffered a serious knee injury. After Brandon Wakeham deputised in 2023, they have again opted for youth in signing Latu Fainu from Manly. In the mock draft they landed Sexton, a crafty Queensland Under-18s five-eighth who has since been recruited by Canterbury. Although he isn’t quite in the elite halfback category, he would have been able to develop a solid partnership alongside Luke Brooks.
Verdict: Mock
PICK NO.7: WARRIORS
Mock selection: Jayden Campbell
Actual solution: Reece Walsh
Position: Fullback
Walsh was a revelation in his lone year at the club in 2022, and Charnze Niccol-Klokstad has been a standout since replacing him.
Due to having the seventh pick in the mock draft, they would not have fared as well as they likely wouldn’t have had access to Walsh, who went to the Bulldogs.
Campbell isn’t in the same class, but the 23-year-old showed plenty of upside in his 22 appearances for the Titans this season, switching between fullback, five-eighth and bench utility, earning himself a contract extension to the end of 2026.
Verdict: Actual
PICK NO.8: TITANS
Mock selection: TC Robati
Actual solution: Beau Fermor, Kevin Proctor
Position: Second row
The Titans looked within for an edge forward to play the opposite side of David Fifita and found it in Fermor, who enjoyed a stellar 2022 season. He scored 11 tries and was one of the few bright spots for the Gold Coast. In a mock draft scenario, it would have been back to the drawing board given Robati has had several off-field issues that resulted in him being sacked by the Broncos and derailed his NRL career.
Verdict: Actual
PICK NO.9: SHARKS
Mock selection: Blake Taaffe
Actual solution: Nicho Hynes
Position: Halfback
The Sharks hit the free agency jackpot in signing Hynes from Melbourne with the promise of a starting NRL halfback spot as he went on to win the 2022 Dally M Medal. In a mock draft world, Taaffe could have developed under coach Craig Fitzgibbon with the chance to nail down a regular starting spot, something he couldn’t do at Souths. Regardless, we’ll get to see that now he’s shifting to Canterbury, where he could fit into either the No.1, No.7 or No.14 jumpers.
Verdict: Actual
PICK NO.10: KNIGHTS
Position: Halfback
Mock selection: Jock Madden
Actual solution: Adam Clune
Clune played 22 games in 2022 before losing his spot alongside Kalyn Ponga this season to new recruits Jackson Hastings and Tyson Gamble. Madden, a Scone junior, could have provided valuable back-up in the halves, something he’s done this season at the Broncos.
Verdict: Mock
PICK NO.11: RABBITOHS
Position: Fullback
Mock selection: Selwyn Cobbo
Actual solution: Blake Taaffe
Taaffe has been a solid understudy to Latrell Mitchell, filling in admirably during his injury and suspension absences. But Cobbo would have been the steal of the mock draft for the Rabbitohs, given he’s developed into a Queensland Origin star. Cobbo was already drawing comparisons to Mitchell and, at only 21, could have been competing with him for premierships. Instead, Souths have spent $800,000 a season to bring 30-year-old Jack Wighton to Redfern on a four-year deal from next season.
Verdict: Mock
PICK NO.12: RAIDERS
Position: Winger
Mock selection: Dean Ieremia
Actual solution: Nick Cotric
In a bizarre turn of events, the Raiders eventually covered the loss of Nick Cotric by signing … Nick Cotric. The 24-year-old spent a season at Canterbury but returned a year later. Played most of 2022 but spent half of this season in reserve grade, unable to cement his place on the wing. Ieremia had a similar time in Melbourne, playing 11 games last year before an ACL injury cruelled his entire 2023 campaign.
Verdict: Unclear
PICK NO.13: ROOSTERS
Position: Second row
Mock selection: Tukimihia Simpkins
Actual selection: Siua Wong
Simpkins arrived as a big body with big expectations. After five appearances in 2021, his career suffered a setback when he was questioned by police for allegedly fleeing the scene of a car accident. He didn’t feature for the Tigers’ NRL team again. Simpkins would have been a development project at the Roosters but he would have been well and truly overshadowed by outstanding young back rower Siua Wong who has blossomed into a potential superstar.
Verdict: Actual
PICK NO.14: EELS
Position: Winger
Mock selection: Greg Marzhew
Actual solution: Bailey Simonsson, Waqa Blake
The Eels went to free agency to recruit Simonsson to bolster their backline stocks in 2022, and he and Blake played on the flanks with Maika Sivo and Haze Dunster injured. Local junior Sean Russell has since emerged as an option. Marzhew’s nine tries in 17 games for the Titans that year and 22 in 22 games in his breakout year for Newcastle in 2023. Marzhew was once in Parramatta’s junior system and the Eels would have loved a player of his potential back in their side.
Verdict: Mock
PICK NO.15: STORM
Position: Winger
Mock selection: Xavier Savage
Actual solution: Xavier Coates
Right Xavier, wrong surname. Coates has been an astute signing from Brisbane, scoring 32 tries in 38 games. In 2022, Melbourne also used Dean Ieremia and George Jennings on the flank, and signed David Nofoaluma to a short-term loan deal, before rookie Will Warbrick cemented himself a spot in 2023. Savage was a revelation for Canberra in 2022, usurping fullback Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad, but struggled this year, playing mostly in reserve grade.
Verdict: Actual
PICK NO.16: PANTHERS
Position: Hooker
Mock selection: Jake Simpkins
Actual solution: Mitch Kenny
The (Panthers) house always wins. Penrith’s pathways system is the envy of the league and they could have the least use for a draft, but astute recent signings like Zac Hosking and Jack Cogger prove the value in signing recycled talent. Simpkins could have been a dynamic back-up hooker option for the Panthers. But how can you argue against the job local junior Kenny has done in transitioning from Api Koroisau’s understudy to first-choice No.9?
Verdict: Actual
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