Tweet
There’s a saying in the NFL that the most important player after the starting quarterback is the team’s back-up quarterback.
When the Cleveland Browns lost quarterback Deshaun Watson to a shoulder injury in November, they signed 38-year-old veteran and 2012 Super Bowl MVP Joe Flacco. He led the club to their third play-off appearance since 1999. At the other end of the spectrum, the New York Jets lost superstar Aaron Rodgers in the first game of the season, chopped and changed with three replacement quarterbacks and missed the play-offs with a 7-10 win-loss record.
Rugby league’s equivalent is the halfback, who is the chief organiser and communicator in a NRL team.
This week, two of the game’s leading No.7s – Nathan Cleary and Mitchell Moses – were ruled out with injury.
When clubs lose a halfback teams can go two ways, says Roosters coach Trent Robinson.
The coach can put a rookie in, or they can do what the Browns did with Flacco, and bring in an experienced gun-for-hire.
“Either you develop them through your system like Sandon [Smith] and they’re eventually going to take over that role at some point,” Robinson said. “Or, there’s the back-up half which is almost like a gun-for-hire, where you get them in, and they’ve got some experience, and they come in and back up that role. You see it in the NFL a lot.”
Sandon Smith was promoted to five-eighth for the club’s impressive 48-6 victory over the Rabbitohs last week after playmaker Luke Keary was subject to the NRL’s 11-day stand down for a concussion sustained in round two.
Smith, who has been playing off the interchange bench as a utility, is the club’s future No.6.
“It depends on what role you’re looking for, but Sandon’s both played half and five-eighth, so I really liked that,” Robinson said. “He’s our longer-term plan post-Luke [Keary], and then we’ve got younger ones underneath that developing as well.”
“[Sharks five-eighth] Braydon Trindall is a good example of that, where he learned his trade underneath in the system, and then he develops into that [starting half]. The benefit of that is that they know the culture really well, they know the team and the dynamics.”
The other option is buying a halfback with experience to fill in when there are injuries and during Origin. It’s unlikely they’ll ever be the club’s first-choice No.7, but they need to be skilled enough to slot into the starting side at any moment.
Penrith’s Brad Schneider falls into that category. Schneider debuted for the Raiders in 2021 before making a move to the Super League in England. Now signed on a two-year deal with Penrith, Schneider has taken up the vacancy left by Jack Cogger.
Ahead of Thursday night, where Schneider had the responsibility of filling in for an injured Cleary against the Roosters, coach Ivan Cleary said he wanted Schneider to “play his own game, and fit into our system.”
“That’s why he came here, he’s followed a couple of other halves that have done well in that role over the last couple of years, so that’s what we’re expecting of him.”
The 23-year-old was instrumental in the Panthers 22-16 victory on Thursday and slipped into the team so well you’d be forgiven for thinking he’d played there for years.
It’s no small feat filling in for the best halfback in the game, but Schneider said his job was straightforward.
“To be honest, it’s a pretty simple role for me. You’ve got people like Isaah Yeo and Dylan Edwards, and it makes my job so much easier, they have a big impact on what the team’s doing and how it’s rolling,” Schneider said after the match.
“So I pretty much slot straight in and my game is pretty easy after that when you’ve got players like that.”
Despite being new to the team, and on debut for the Panthers, Schneider said he had no trouble steering the team around.
“To be a halfback in any team, you’re the dominant half, you’re the half that gets them round the park and that’s my job, and I think in any team, you go in and that job you’ve got to do as a halfback, it doesn’t matter what team you go into,” he said.
“So, it’s sort of stock-standard. That’s what you’d expect from a halfback, and that’s what they want. They want someone to come in and be able to be a voice and tell them where they’re going and what’s happening, and that makes their game a lot easier as well. But they’ve given me a lot of confidence to be able to do that and that’s what they want from me and that’s what I can do.”
The Roosters have employed that kind of gun-for-hire player in the past.
“We did that a few years ago with Drew Hutchison,” Robinson said. “So, he came in an – and stayed for a long time because he could play other positions – but he was that gun for hire.”
Hutchison left for the Bulldogs this year to take up a starting halves position alongside Matt Burton. It was the same reason Cogger left for Newcastle, and after beginning the season on the interchange bench, he’s been upgraded to No.7.
It can be difficult to retain players, said Robinson, especially if they’re sitting behind a halfback as good as Cleary or Moses, and sometimes you lose people anyway, for money or a position.
Panthers playmaker Jarome Luai is an example of that, said Robinson.
Luai is off to the Wests Tigers next year, on a lucrative deal, but also the chance to be the club’s No.7. If his performance on Thursday – where he put bombs up that had the Roosters back line scrambling – is anything to go by, he’ll step into the halfback role with ease.
Eels coach Brad Arthur has opted for something in the middle. He’s moved experienced playmaker Dylan Brown to halfback and is giving young gun Blaize Talagi an opportunity at five-eighth.
Talagi had an impressive first-grade debut last week in the centres, where he barrelled over the top of Manly fullback Tom Trbojevic to score.
“He’s a kid learning his trade, he’ll get things wrong, but he’ll move on and keep going with the game, and that’s what I like about him,” Arthur told this masthead.
“He also played all his junior reps at five-eighth, and it was only last year we played him in the centres and at fullback to have a look. When I spoke to him today about being at No.6, he was excited and couldn’t get the smile off his face.”
When the Cleveland Browns lost quarterback Deshaun Watson to a shoulder injury in November, they signed 38-year-old veteran and 2012 Super Bowl MVP Joe Flacco. He led the club to their third play-off appearance since 1999. At the other end of the spectrum, the New York Jets lost superstar Aaron Rodgers in the first game of the season, chopped and changed with three replacement quarterbacks and missed the play-offs with a 7-10 win-loss record.
Rugby league’s equivalent is the halfback, who is the chief organiser and communicator in a NRL team.
This week, two of the game’s leading No.7s – Nathan Cleary and Mitchell Moses – were ruled out with injury.
When clubs lose a halfback teams can go two ways, says Roosters coach Trent Robinson.
The coach can put a rookie in, or they can do what the Browns did with Flacco, and bring in an experienced gun-for-hire.
“Either you develop them through your system like Sandon [Smith] and they’re eventually going to take over that role at some point,” Robinson said. “Or, there’s the back-up half which is almost like a gun-for-hire, where you get them in, and they’ve got some experience, and they come in and back up that role. You see it in the NFL a lot.”
Sandon Smith was promoted to five-eighth for the club’s impressive 48-6 victory over the Rabbitohs last week after playmaker Luke Keary was subject to the NRL’s 11-day stand down for a concussion sustained in round two.
Smith, who has been playing off the interchange bench as a utility, is the club’s future No.6.
“It depends on what role you’re looking for, but Sandon’s both played half and five-eighth, so I really liked that,” Robinson said. “He’s our longer-term plan post-Luke [Keary], and then we’ve got younger ones underneath that developing as well.”
“[Sharks five-eighth] Braydon Trindall is a good example of that, where he learned his trade underneath in the system, and then he develops into that [starting half]. The benefit of that is that they know the culture really well, they know the team and the dynamics.”
The other option is buying a halfback with experience to fill in when there are injuries and during Origin. It’s unlikely they’ll ever be the club’s first-choice No.7, but they need to be skilled enough to slot into the starting side at any moment.
Penrith’s Brad Schneider falls into that category. Schneider debuted for the Raiders in 2021 before making a move to the Super League in England. Now signed on a two-year deal with Penrith, Schneider has taken up the vacancy left by Jack Cogger.
Ahead of Thursday night, where Schneider had the responsibility of filling in for an injured Cleary against the Roosters, coach Ivan Cleary said he wanted Schneider to “play his own game, and fit into our system.”
“That’s why he came here, he’s followed a couple of other halves that have done well in that role over the last couple of years, so that’s what we’re expecting of him.”
The 23-year-old was instrumental in the Panthers 22-16 victory on Thursday and slipped into the team so well you’d be forgiven for thinking he’d played there for years.
It’s no small feat filling in for the best halfback in the game, but Schneider said his job was straightforward.
“To be honest, it’s a pretty simple role for me. You’ve got people like Isaah Yeo and Dylan Edwards, and it makes my job so much easier, they have a big impact on what the team’s doing and how it’s rolling,” Schneider said after the match.
“So I pretty much slot straight in and my game is pretty easy after that when you’ve got players like that.”
Despite being new to the team, and on debut for the Panthers, Schneider said he had no trouble steering the team around.
“To be a halfback in any team, you’re the dominant half, you’re the half that gets them round the park and that’s my job, and I think in any team, you go in and that job you’ve got to do as a halfback, it doesn’t matter what team you go into,” he said.
“So, it’s sort of stock-standard. That’s what you’d expect from a halfback, and that’s what they want. They want someone to come in and be able to be a voice and tell them where they’re going and what’s happening, and that makes their game a lot easier as well. But they’ve given me a lot of confidence to be able to do that and that’s what they want from me and that’s what I can do.”
The Roosters have employed that kind of gun-for-hire player in the past.
“We did that a few years ago with Drew Hutchison,” Robinson said. “So, he came in an – and stayed for a long time because he could play other positions – but he was that gun for hire.”
Hutchison left for the Bulldogs this year to take up a starting halves position alongside Matt Burton. It was the same reason Cogger left for Newcastle, and after beginning the season on the interchange bench, he’s been upgraded to No.7.
It can be difficult to retain players, said Robinson, especially if they’re sitting behind a halfback as good as Cleary or Moses, and sometimes you lose people anyway, for money or a position.
Panthers playmaker Jarome Luai is an example of that, said Robinson.
Luai is off to the Wests Tigers next year, on a lucrative deal, but also the chance to be the club’s No.7. If his performance on Thursday – where he put bombs up that had the Roosters back line scrambling – is anything to go by, he’ll step into the halfback role with ease.
Eels coach Brad Arthur has opted for something in the middle. He’s moved experienced playmaker Dylan Brown to halfback and is giving young gun Blaize Talagi an opportunity at five-eighth.
Talagi had an impressive first-grade debut last week in the centres, where he barrelled over the top of Manly fullback Tom Trbojevic to score.
“He’s a kid learning his trade, he’ll get things wrong, but he’ll move on and keep going with the game, and that’s what I like about him,” Arthur told this masthead.
“He also played all his junior reps at five-eighth, and it was only last year we played him in the centres and at fullback to have a look. When I spoke to him today about being at No.6, he was excited and couldn’t get the smile off his face.”
Comment