NRL Bottom-8 Awards
You da real/Bottom-8 MVP Sam!
Welcome to the Nichey Niche's Bottom-8 NRL Awards. We gather today to celebrate/pour some out for the teams who weren't quite good enough to kick it with the best, those who are enjoying an early shower without the stress or craziness of NRL Finals footy. It's gotta be said though that in the current NRL climate, finishing outside the top-8 isn't necessarily such a bad thing when you look at the quality in the top-8.
Sure, as a fan you'll probably be down in the dumps about your team's work this season. We are all fans of a great competition in which there's a constant flow of teams regrouping, then mounting a charge towards a Premiership. I know it's hard, don't be sad though. Celebrate the NRL because there's other competitions (Super Rugby) that simply aren't as competitive nor entertaining as the NRL on such a consistent basis.
Young Kiwis
Taane Milne
Joseph Manu
Ava Seumanufagai
Three young kiwis stood out for me this season from the bottom-8 teams and the pick of the bunch has to be Ava Seumanufagai, who has been on the scene for a few years but enjoyed a breakout season. Seumanufagai often came off the bench for Wests Tigers and rolled through the middle of the field, giving the Tigers a dose of power and Seumanufagai also stood up and replaced Aaron Woods admirably for a period of the season when Woods was out injured.
Seumanufagai is a Wainuiomata junior and he could be a smokey for the Kiwis' Four Nations squad, while another consistently solid season could see him sneak into the World Cup picture. He's joined by Taane Milne and Joseph Manu, two outside backs who enjoyed successful stints in the NRL this season.
Milne was a bright-spot for the Dragons in a stinker of a season, with Milne playing at right centre and constantly looking like one of their more potent attacking weapons. He's got good footwork and loves an offload, which should see him get plenty of NRL game time next year.
Tokoroa's finest was named in the Holden Cup Team of the Year for the second year in a row and managed a debut for the Roosters on the wing. Manu is electric, he's got a huge left-foot step and enjoyed a bit of game time at centre in the Roosters last game as well. The Roosters lost Roger Tuivasa-Sheck, however they have blooded another kiwi lad with fabulous footwork and we should all be looking forward to seeing Manu establish himself in the NRL next season,
Most Depressing Team
St George Illawara Dragons.
Negativity seemed to hover over the Dragons all season and while a team like Parramatta had more drama and general shenanigans associated with it, the Dragons were just straight up depressing. They had a soft forward pack that never enabled their backline the go-forward they needed to score points and the Dragons were the most un-watchable team in the NRL thanks to a bumbling attack, not helped by a defence which simply fell off a cliff compared to last season.
Also lending itself to a depressing vibe was the constant presence of the Dragons in the player market. This only made their recruitment failures more visible as they were simply in the market more than any other team and I constantly found myself pondering either 'why would they bother chasing that bloke?' or 'why would that bloke wanna go there?' which is never a good sign.
In Danger
Paul McGregor
The drums are already beating that Nathan Cleary is in talks with the Dragons, meaning Paul McGregor is in a whole heap of danger. I've got Cleary going to the Dragons, which is interesting when you've got the NZ Herald constantly reporting that Cleary could/should go to the Warriors.
Most Upside
Sydney Roosters
Forced to revamp their roster after winning a Premiership, the Roosters struggled to maintain their spot near the top of the NRL and you'd expect that to be the case when you take Roger Tuivasa-Sheck and James Maloney out of that side. They weren't helped by Mitchell Pearce's drama and constant injuries to the likes of Boyd Cordner and Jared Waerea-Hargreaves.
The Chooks have immense upside though as they still have a huge forward pack that has a nice splash of power and footwork in Sio Siua Taukeiaho and Isaac Liu. This season they gave Conor Watson, Ryan Matterson, Latrell Mitchell and Joseph Manu plenty of game time, which when combined with a full summer of work alongside Mitchell Pearce and Jake Friend will ensure that the Roosters are back up in the mix next season.
MVP
Sam Burgess
Playing in the middle of the field for a Rabbitohs pack that looked fairly fluffy at various stages this season, Burgess was monumental on a weekly basis. Burgess finished the season 3rd in runs, 7th in run metres, 5th in offloads and 14th in tackles which pretty much means that Burgess was doing Sam Burgess things, despite the Rabbitohs not quite having the same artillery around him. Burgess didn't have any games this season in which he ran for less than 100m and only three games in which he didn't record an offload; Burgess averaged 2.1 offloads per-game.
Special mention to Corey Norman and James Tedesco, both of whom weren't too far behind Burgess in the MVP stakes. Norman was instrumental in Parramatta's hot start and even without Kieran Foran, Norman pulled the strings with flair and precision while Tedesco was arguably the most exciting outside back in the NRL this season. Both Norman and Tedesco were impacted by injury/suspension though while Burgess got through his work week in, week out.
Top Kiwis
Manu Ma'u
Martin Taupau
Sio Siua Taukeiaho
Trying to split these three is far too tricky, so instead let's all rejoice that we have three Kiwis forwards operating as stand out players for their respective clubs. All three played at least 20 games this season, with Ma'u churning out 80 minutes in all but three games this season while averaging 8.86m per-carry and 1.6 offloads a game on the edge, plus Ma'u spent time at centre for the Eels throughout the season.
Taupau and Taukeiaho epitomise everything that we should love about this current Kiwis team as the combine speed and footwork with their size. Taupau averaged 12.57m per-carry with 1.6 offloads a game while Taukeiaho averaged 9.4m per-carry and kicked goals at a high level for the Roosters.
My personal favourite was Ma'u and his steady (but brutal) presence on the edge for Parramatta ensured that coach Brad Arthur was able to enjoy the luxury of not worrying about this position at all. That Ma'u also played centre saw him add a funky string to his bow and while there's a level of ferocity in the work of all three of these lads, Ma'u could be one of the more feared edge forwards in the NRL. He should earn more game time with the Kiwis on the back of this season.