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  1. #1
    Super Moderator TITAN PETE's Avatar
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    Default We name the top 10 players in the NRL with something to prove for season 2014

    OVERRATED, under pressure, swapped clubs, next big thing - we name the top 10 players with something to prove next NRL season, with 10 honourable mentions for good measure.

    TONY WILLIAMS (Bulldogs)

    You know the story: T-Rex looks like Tarzan (after 10 years of drinking protein shakes and pumping iron) and plays like Jane (albeit with hairy, tree-trunk legs). Except for that one time back in 2011, when Williams was the most destructive player in the game. What happened to that guy? The NRL misses him greatly.

    Having signed a fat contract to join old coach Des Hasler at Canterbury, Williams proceeded to completely underwhelm Bulldogs fans with a quiet 2013 season that delivered none of the firepower which saw him represent NSW and Australia.

    T-Rex started out the season playing a full 80 minutes, as Hasler insisted he was best suited to doing, though he ended the year playing a variety of roles: long minutes, short minutes, starting and off the bench. What works best for the giant backrower this season remains to be seen, but Dogs fans will desperately hope he regains his firepower. So will NSW coach Laurie Daley.


    LUKE BROOKS (Wests Tigers)

    The next Andrew Johns. It's a horribly unfair tag for a teenage kid to carry but it gives you some idea of just how talented budding halfback Brooks is. How will he handle the hype - especially when he is expected to command the fortunes of a lowly team?

    Brooks played just one NRL game for the Tigers last season - at the SCG, no less - and was a match-winner on debut with a pair of try assists and a memorable four-pointer of his own.

    The Tigers will do everything in their power to shield their prodigy from damaging expectations but you get the sense Brooks is the type to thrive in the spotlight. He is a confident young player desperate to make his mark and will be ably assisted by captain Robbie Farah as he takes on the key playmaking role in the wake of Benji Marshall's departure.

    Barking orders at older players is the biggest challenge for a rookie playmaker and it may take Brooks a while to find his voice. When he does, watch out.
    CHRIS SANDOW (Eels)

    What role Sandow will actually play this season for the Eels, who knows? The cheeky and hugely-talented halfback has had bigger things on his plate recently, though he has rejoined his team for pre-season training.

    Setting aside the sensitivities of his personal issues, Sandow's signing has been a disaster for Parramatta. Signed for $550,000 a year from South Sydney, a paycheque based more on hope and potential than a solid track record of consistent performance, he has collected wooden spoons in the first two seasons of a bumper four-year contract.

    While the Eels hoped the man once dubbed "Aboriginal Alfie" could become the club's best No.7 since Peter Sterling, he has spent time in park football due to poor form and three weeks in a rehab clinic last August. He missed the end of last season as he tried to overcome a gambling problem, so he enters the back half of his contract with an enormous amount to prove to both himself, the club who handed him a golden ticket and Parra's long-suffering fans.




    GARETH WIDDOP (Dragons)

    Can talented Englishman Widdop play - really play? All indications suggest the answer is a resounding yes, and St George Illawarra certainly thought so by offering him a meaty contract, but playing as the junior partner in a Melbourne spine featuring Aussie Test champions Billy Slater, Cooper Cronk and Cameron Smith is a plum gig.

    Widdop will have a huge amount on his shoulders this season at a club that has bottomed out since the departure of supercoach Wayne Bennett. He will be the Dragons' key playmaker, with unproven halfback Sam Williams alongside him rather than Dally M winner Cronk.

    St George Illawarra will also be a team under a glaring spotlight from the outset, with coach Steve Price expected to reinstate the Dragons as a finals outfit after a strong recruitment drive. Widdop will take a large slice of responsibility for his new team's results, something that will either make or break him as an elite player in his own right.


    BEN HUNT (Broncos)

    It has been a long time since Allan Langer at Brisbane and the beloved memory of Darren Lockyer is fast being engulfed by concern for the current Broncos outfit. In the playmaking stocks, fringe half Ben Hunt is suddenly the man main after the exits of experienced halfbacks Scott Prince and Peter Wallace, and highly-regarded five-eighth Corey Norman.

    Hunt ended last year in the No.7 jersey, signing off from what proved to be Brisbane's worst-ever season with a pair of try assists in a win over Canterbury. He will be in the hotseat from the outset this season, hoping to finally prove he has the right stuff to be a first-choice NRL halfback after playing nearly 100 games without cementing a spot.

    As if that wasn't enough, how Hunt performs will play a large part in whether coach Anthony Griffin hangs on to his job, regardless of the fact he is signed until the end of 2015. Hunt at least has some exciting new attacking options available in his bid to return impatient Brisbane to the finals, thanks to the recruitment of former Dally M winner Ben Barba and promising back Daniel Vidot.


    DAVE TAYLOR (Titans)

    The talent of the "Coal Train" has notoriously been in inverse proportion to his work ethic. Again this year, NRL fans wait with bated breath to see if this will be the season in which Taylor - Allan Langer trapped in a WWE wrestler's body - becomes an unstoppable force.

    Taylor hit another serious low point in his career last season, when he found himself dumped back to park footy exactly one year after making his Test debut for Australia. He also copped a damning character assessment from Test and Queensland captain Cameron Smith, who declared the giant forward could be one of the greatest players in the game but currently lacked the maturity to make that step.

    Taylor, who superfreak Greg Inglis believes could be the NRL's most dangerous player, will be out to regain a Maroons Origin spot this year - perhaps even a Test jersey. He must also finally pull his considerable weight as a marquee for the Titans, especially with coach John Cartwright under pressure to keep his job after missing the final for three straight seasons.


    JAMIE SOWARD (Panthers)

    Former NSW five-eighth Soward doesn't buy the line that he has anything to prove to anybody, having won a premiership with the Dragons and played Origin with the Blues. But as the old saying goes, you're only as good as your last performance - Soward's form was so dire during last season that he exited the Dragons mid-term to the howls of fans who thought he was not putting in, having already been told he was not in the club's plans for the future.

    The playmaker's signing with Penrith should have been a chance for him to reignite his career with relatively little scrutiny in a re-emerging side at the foot of the mountains. That was, until Panthers boss Phil Gould announced he has been signed to a four-year deal as a "marquee player", a big statement that drew widespread derision.

    Is Soward still a big-time player? That is what he needs to prove this season, with the potential for exciting results at a club that looks on the rise under coach Ivan Cleary.


    ADAM REYNOLDS (Rabbitohs)

    South Sydney general Reynolds has proven he is an excellent NRL halfback - but is he more? Is he the man to deliver the Rabbitohs a first premiership since 1971, is he the player to fill the NSW No.7 jersey and end Queensland's Origin dominance after eight years?

    Reynolds has cemented himself as one of rugby league's finest kickers, both in general play and off the goalkicking tee. His passing and running game is strong, he has a good head on his shoulders and he has dodged the serious lapse in form that often hits young playmakers after they burst on to the scene amid blazing hype.

    Again, the question is merely whether Reynolds is more than good. He will have his work cut out for him this season, with the Souths roster weakened rather than strengthened by the ins and outs of personnel, though the Bunnies should again be right in the mix. His Origin prospects took a hit with his side's meek exit from the 2013 finals and incumbent Mitchell Pearce's premiership win with the Roosters.


    SAM TOMKINS (Warriors)

    Flying England Test fullback Tomkins has declared he wants to test himself against the best in the NRL, and be tested he shall. The prevailing mood on fan forums has been that the pint-sized custodian could be in for a rude shock, with his raft of achievements in the English Super League buying him little street cred.

    At just 79kg, Tomkins is an old-school will-o-the-wisp No.1, reliant on searing pace and freakish evasive skills to get by rather than the power of new-age dynamos like Greg Inglis. That will be his first challenge: Proving he can not only get by, but star, with his slight build.

    Tomkins' appearance in the NRL was already hotly-anticipated, with the Englishman having established himself as the Super League's brightest star, and his astounding $1 million a season contract at the Warriors has only heightened expectations. He will be expected to spark a side that has badly underachieved in recent seasons, with coach Matt Elliott in the gun.


    ANTHONY MILFORD (Raiders)

    IF you've watched this teenage superstar play, you'll have an idea of why Canberra fought tooth and nail to keep Milford from the clutches of Brisbane. With the ability to play in the halves and fullback, Milford was offered the best part of $1 million a season to stay with the Raiders, yet has ultimately signed a three-year Broncos deal from 2015.

    This year will throw up a number of difficult scenarios for Milford. Firstly, he will need to dodge the dreaded second-year syndrome and prove himself the genuine article. Secondly, he will be under some pressure to show why on earth a kid with 18 first-grade games under his belt should be showered with cash befitting some of rugby league's proven champions.

    Lastly, and most intriguingly for a 19-year-old, Milford's professionalism will be put to the ultimate test this season. Put simply, he doesn't want to be at Canberra, given he aimed to move to Brisbane to be with his ill father and is merely fulfilling his Raiders contract to avoid an ugly legal wrangle or a season on the sidelines. If Milford can put such a major dispute aside to perform to the best of his ability, in an underperforming side with plenty to prove under new coach Ricky Stuart, he will greatly enhance his reputation.

    10 HONOURABLE MENTIONS

    Will Hopoate (Eels), the former NSW Origin star back in the NRL after a two-year Mormon mission, desperate to reignite his career on a massive contract at Parramatta.

    Ben Barba (Broncos), the former Dally M winner who founds all sorts of trouble before exiting the Bulldogs last season to join struggling Brisbane in a saviour role.

    Jamal Idris (Panthers), the giant centre now back in Sydney and keen to transform himself into a consistently elite player after years of promise.


    Willie Tonga (Eels), the centre who since returning to his old club has done very little due to poor form and injury, despite having proved he is a Test and Origin standard player at his best.

    Eric Grothe Jr (Sharks), the former Parramatta winger who is trying to make an NRL comeback with his 34th birthday looming, purely to prove to himself he's still got it.

    Kade Snowden (Knights), the former NSW and Test prop once regarded as the NRL's best young front-rower, who regained decent form last season and will hope to step it up in 2014.

    Chris Lawrence (Wests Tigers), the former Test centre who has still not achieved his burning ambition of playing Origin for NSW, and has fallen well down the pecking order.

    Sam Williams (Dragons), the exciting young halfback who spent plenty of time on the fringe at Canberra and now has a chance to run a battling team at a high-profile club.

    Luke Keary (Rabbitohs), a terrific young half who was branded the next Johnathan Thurston, but is yet to earn himself a regular first-grade spot in a strong South Sydney outfit.

    George Rose (Storm), the roly-poly prop who was unwanted at Manly and is currently putting his less than elite physique through the NRL's toughest pre-season at Melbourne.
    Last edited by TITAN PETE; 20-01-14 at 11:24 AM.
    #itaintweaktospeak

  2. #2
    Coach C-Whiz's Avatar
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    Coal Train is one of those guys that I just would hate to see waste all the talent he has, mainly because he wears the mustard V now.

    But the one on this list I love is big George Rose. Always love to see him run out with his body testing the stitching of his jersey. And always happy to see him do good things.


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