The kids are killing it in the NRL this year. It would be easier to stop Payne Haas on a surge towards the try-line than stop him from winning Rookie of the Year. He was joined in Origin by another babyface, David Fifita.
Bronson Xerri is still 18 but already a jet. You can’t have missed the spectacular efforts by flying teenage backs Jason Saab and Dylan Brown, and the Storm’s Tino Fa'asuamaleaui has only needed one outing to become hot property.
But the glow of these shiny new stars should not distract us from appreciating a vintage crop of veterans. The 10 oldest players in the league will not be around forever (with the obvious exception of Cameron Smith, likely to still be playing when Halley’s Comet next puts in an appearance) and we should enjoy this bunch of quirky individuals while we can.
Gal started the year by starching John Hopoate in a boxing bout at the Hordern Pavilion, and landed plenty more big hits on and off the field once the NRL season began. This year the Cronulla captain became the player with the most losses in history, not a stat anyone wants to own, but he has proved a surprising winner as a television personality, bringing a welcome willingness to shoot straight. You might love booing Gal, but you have to admit you’ll miss him when he’s gone. Especially when his team loses.
The Festival of Smith that surrounded the Storm talisman’s 400th match was rained on by Max Krilich’s salty assessment the following week. This seems appropriate for a player as divisive as he is brilliant. Some Smith haters reportedly rethought their antipathy after watching the excellent doco Cam Smith: His Story. Others continue to think he could have played second receiver to Attila the Hun. No-one doubts he will be pivotal in the Storm’s quest for playoff success. Let’s hope someone with a sense of humour lines up Kriilch to present the premiership trophy.
The lowest-profile of the elderly brigade, Gordon’s outings for the troubled Titans this season have seen him in reasonable attacking form. While he was absent for nine rounds with a nasty blood clot, his teammates’ defensive haemorrhaging could not be stopped with a field dressing the size of Jupiters Casino. With AJ Brimson staking his claim as the club’s long-term custodian, it would be surprising to see Gordon saddle up for another year in the big league – but he has been written off before and made the naysayers look stupid, so we will just leave him in the ‘very probably most unlikely to continue’ column.
Possessor of the most famous scapula in rugby league history, Cronk will hang them up at the end of the year. His Roosters stint has included not just a famous Grand Final victory, and not just the emergence of Luke Keary as a complete playmaker, but also the emergence of two brilliant young halves who will don the salary sombrero and compete for headline status in 2020 – Lachlan Lam and Kyle Flanagan. What will Coops do next? Coach? Commentate? Mentor? Undertake a NASA mission while finishing an MBA? There are more doors open for this bloke than tatts on Josh Dugan’s torso.
Much scrambling at Leichhardt this week to get a red velvet cushion on the scoreboard ready for Robbie’s final farewell. Passed 300 games this year and used the occasion to dump a bucket of bile on former coach Jason Taylor and offsider Rod Reddy. Some fans loved it; some thought it was lousy. Par for the course for the durable hooker. Farah has played every game but one this year, scurrying over for five tries, but his greatest moment for 2019 was attempting to convert one of Fiji’s umpteen tries while representing Lebanon. That’s Robbie.
The Bra Boy has had a solid 2019 after a strong 2018, and will probably go around again in 2020. Will anyone notice? Consistently underrated outside the Rabbitohs, his low error rate should be a model for any Souths player whose name starts with B and ends with urgess. Still looks like he could nod off at any moment. His pulse rate must be slower than treacle.
With his fellow oldtimer Farah handing in his retirement papers, will Benji head for the rocking chair as well? Farah suspects not, although Michael Maguire might have other ideas. Still the leading exponent of the ‘rocks and diamonds’ methodology, Marshall continues to bring plenty of entertainment. Still only the second most famous person to come from Whakatane, and has no hope of the number one spot unless Meryl Streep agrees to play him in a biopic.
Entitled to ask, a la Corey Parker, where the respect has gone. Barged about by bustling young frontrowers, the Cowboys' bookend probably stayed one season too long. But why not? You’re a long time retired, and by the end of this bruising year he will know for certain that his body can’t face any more punishment. Scored twice in this farewell season, so avoids a final Townsville nudey run.
Life after JT (the scheming halfback, not the runaway truck wearing number 13) was never going to be easy for the Cowboys, but few players have missed him more than Cooper. After 13 tries running off Thurston’s hip in 2018, Cooper has only crossed the stripe twice in 2019. Far from the Cowboys’ worst player in 2019, and notched his 300th, but a tough year nonetheless. Probably time to stop thinking of him as Dustin Cooper’s little brother.
The madcap Englishman has made the transition from cult hero to media megastar in 2019, an unlikely development for a player who once regarded journalists the way haemophiliacs regard leeches. A fractured fibula crippled the middle stages of his season, and the Dragons badly missed his leadership and will to win. Hard to pick a favourite off-field moment from Jammer this year between his bizarre concoction of a story about Sam Burgess’s mischief in front of a bathroom mirror, and his assertion that he will call female referees ‘Sir’. Enjoy this British gem while we’ve got him. He might look a little like Boris Johnson, but he makes a lot more sense.