By Dan Walsh
“Five tackles and a kick” is the old argument against rugby league.
“Schlossy’s shoe”, John Hopoate and any number of unsavoury off-field incidents – or, say, a gravity-defying Xavier Coates touchdown if you prefer to keep it family-friendly – are fair responses to accusations of predictability.
In 2024, it’s been no different. Attacking football is fashionable, big names have made way for new talents and the off-field wheeling and dealing is as intriguing as ever.
So, in no particular order, we present a few of the surprises rugby league has delivered so far this year.
Young talent time: The NRL’s next generation of halves has emerged
Not so much a surprise as a sight for sore eyes. The NRL’s young playmakers are standing up, in some cases taking several large leaps forward in their development in quick time.
Sam Walker’s facial hair says otherwise, but the Roosters half has come of age in 2024.Credit: Getty Images
A year ago Sam Walker was seemingly at a crossroads, demoted from top-flight duty by the Roosters and then repeatedly injured. He’s now in the form of his life and the linchpin of the NRL’s most prolific attack.
The evolution of Walker’s kicking game especially has him racking up try and line-break assists faster than ever while his error-rate is also at a career low. He’s still only 22.
Meanwhile, Isaiya Katoa is 20 and only in his second year of NRL, but he’s taking on the defensive line with the relish of a young Kieran Foran. His own defence and decision-making are that of a much older halfback.
Teenagers Ethan Strange (Canberra) and Lachie Galvin (Wests Tigers) are bigger bodies probably destined for back-row shifts at some point, but right now, they’re impressing with their physicality and running games as rookie pivots of extreme promise.
Considering a clutch of the NRL’s best halves are well into their 30s (Daly Cherry-Evans, Ben Hunt, Cody Walker), the next generation is emerging at just the right time.
Gone to the Dogs: The best offence is a good defence
More utilities than Batman’s belt was the gag at Canterbury’s expense before the season started. But now we’re at the end of June and the Bulldogs are conceding fewer points than every rival bar reigning premiers Penrith.
A scrambling, “small ball” defence based on speed and mobility has almost halved the 32 points Canterbury conceded each game last season (easily the NRL’s worst), to just 16.73.
Since colleague Adam Pengilly drilled down into the numbers two months ago the Bulldogs miss 39 tackles a match, the worst in the NRL, yet Cameron Ciraldo’s defence is still setting a cracking line speed and swarming ball carriers, to the point their opposition’s 1458 average metres ranks them second to only Penrith.
The Bulldogs are caught up in a fourth-to-13th logjam on the ladder, but after Friday’s win over the Sharks, they don’t play heavyweights Penrith, Melbourne, Cronulla or the Roosters again. The Dogs can dare to dream in 2024. Who’d have thought?
The deal with the Eels: Time for roster renovations?
Not since claiming the 2018 wooden spoon has Parramatta sat in last place (they’re now up to 16th, thanks to the Tigers’ heavy defeat on Sunday) and while last time Brad Arthur was backed to overhaul his roster and revive the Eels fortunes, this time he’s been shown the door.
Mitchell Moses’ lengthy lay-off this year has cruelled the Eels.Credit: NRL Photos
Parramatta’s line-up against Newcastle featured 10 of the 18-man 2022 grand final squad, including big-earners Mitchell Moses, Dylan Brown, Clint Gutherson, Reagan Campbell-Gillard, Junior Paulo and Ryan Matterson.
Theirs is arguably the most top-heavy roster in the NRL, which is where the lengthy injuries to Gutherson and Moses this season, and absences of players like Brown and Matterson last year, have had such an impact.
Of the Eels’ heavy-hitters, only Moses has improved since that fairytale 2022 run, while Gutherson has been as consistent as ever.
It’s not often you find a team running last also using the fewest players (26) in the competition, a figure that was lifted by Matt Arthur’s debut and Matt Doorey’s first game of 2024 on Saturday.
So the question looms for Parramatta’s next coach: can the Eels’ big guns be lifted back to their best, or is it time to take a broom to the roster?
Once were Warriors, so what’s happened?
Of all the NRL’s snakes and ladders, the Warriors’ slide back toward mediocrity is arguably the most surprising. Glaring issues at Parramatta and South Sydney reared at the end of 2023. Newcastle have built around Kalyn Ponga and he’s played just seven games this year.
Addin Fonua-Blake was stood down for skipping the Warriors team song earlier this year.Credit: Getty
And the drop-off of a young, uber-talented Broncos outfit lines up with North Queensland’s demise a year earlier, with players seemingly getting ahead of themselves after a rapid rise along with the exits of Tom Flegler, Herbie Farnworth and Kurt Capewell probably being underestimated.
The Warriors though? Andrew Webster had a seasoned, no-frills side playing impressive, no-frills footy all the way to the grand final qualifier. Another top-four finish loomed with an extremely settled roster.
Instead, it’s been the Dolphins riding a tough, uncompromising style through a torrid injury toll so far this season.
Shaun Johnson has battled Achilles and pec complaints and failed to reach the heights of 2023, but so have far too many of his teammates, with Addin Fonua-Blake’s move to Cronulla next year seemingly hanging over the star front-rower.
A 66-6 capitulation to the Titans was the bad old Warriors back with a vengeance, though they got the job done against an under-strength Brisbane on Saturday.
More of the same, and it’s nothing to worry about for a street smart side. But consistency has hardly been their calling card this season.
Birds of a feather: Roosters upheaval has rivals on edge
The Roosters are starting to take flight on the field and as one of the NRL’s glamour clubs, there’s always something going on off it. Such is life at the top.
But it’s hard to recall this much uncertainty around the club’s star-studded roster, at least during Trent Robinson’s time.
Particularly after a couple of recruitment misses, headlined by David Fifita sensationally backing out of his $3.3 million move, and also including bids for Shaun Johnson and Dane Gagai.
Brandon Smith’s $850,000-a-year future has been questioned by senior figures in the playing group and club, though the past few weeks might be the wake-up call the rambunctious No.9 needed.
Angus Crichton is close to re-signing on marquee money given his career-best form, but that will likely push Sitili Tupouniua to the exit given he sits well down the back-row pecking order.
Jared Waerea-Hargreaves is off to Super League and Luke Keary is expected to link with Catalans. Joey Manu and Joseph Suaalii are rugby-bound for at least a couple of years with untried ex-Wallaby Mark Nawaqanitawase coming the other way.
All the upheaval leaves the Roosters with serious salary cap space to work with and rival clubs on edge given the dearth of talent in the market.
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