Renegade
State of Origin Captain
Contributor
- Mar 14, 2008
- 9,252
- 11,900
I could write a grandiose post in the form of @Big Pete but I probably wouldn't do it or him justice.
So i'll write a shit one instead - every year we see players seemingly hit the invisible wall, they've either hit their peak and have begun to regress or the legs have just completely gone over the course of one summer offseason.
Based on the first quarter of the season, who are those players in your eyes? I'll start with two:
Alex Johnston is the first one that comes to mind. I was sure before the start of this season that this guy would go on and break the all time try scoring record, but every game I've seen him play this year makes me think he may not even be playing in the NRL next year. At 28, he's theoretically at his athletic peak, but multiple times this year I've seen him in space and he deadset looks like he's running in quick sand. The legs appear to be gone. He has played a lot of football from a young age though, perhaps this is more the miles on the legs rather than the age. I don't think it's entirely his fault, Souths have been woeful, but even half breaks he can't seem to get through cleanly anymore, or gets run down within 30m.
Ben Hunt is the second. His erratic style might've worked for him with younger legs, but he appears to be a step slower and he's getting caught when doing his usual ropeadope in the line tactic. You could never rely on Ben to make the right play every time, but he'd normally somehow come up with an answer even in the most unorthodox of ways, mainly because he had that lower center of gravity to shrug off and skip away. I haven't seen that from him this year. This one is a little more understandable at 34, but in my eyes he's going to go on a very steep decline in the next 12 months. Not even sure he'll make the origin team this year.
What's everyone else think?
So i'll write a shit one instead - every year we see players seemingly hit the invisible wall, they've either hit their peak and have begun to regress or the legs have just completely gone over the course of one summer offseason.
Based on the first quarter of the season, who are those players in your eyes? I'll start with two:
Alex Johnston is the first one that comes to mind. I was sure before the start of this season that this guy would go on and break the all time try scoring record, but every game I've seen him play this year makes me think he may not even be playing in the NRL next year. At 28, he's theoretically at his athletic peak, but multiple times this year I've seen him in space and he deadset looks like he's running in quick sand. The legs appear to be gone. He has played a lot of football from a young age though, perhaps this is more the miles on the legs rather than the age. I don't think it's entirely his fault, Souths have been woeful, but even half breaks he can't seem to get through cleanly anymore, or gets run down within 30m.
Ben Hunt is the second. His erratic style might've worked for him with younger legs, but he appears to be a step slower and he's getting caught when doing his usual ropeadope in the line tactic. You could never rely on Ben to make the right play every time, but he'd normally somehow come up with an answer even in the most unorthodox of ways, mainly because he had that lower center of gravity to shrug off and skip away. I haven't seen that from him this year. This one is a little more understandable at 34, but in my eyes he's going to go on a very steep decline in the next 12 months. Not even sure he'll make the origin team this year.
What's everyone else think?
