NRL Team of the Week: All hail Haas, Tito is dancing and DCE keeps on keeping on

Life, death, taxes and Daly Cherry-Evans kicking Manly to victory at home. 15 years in, the Sea Eagles playmaker doesn’t look like slowing down.

Throw in Api Koroisau bamboozling static defenders and Isaah Yeo playmaking in the 13 and this was a banner weekend for some of the league’s oldies. Brain, you might say, trumped brawn.

Then again: Payne Haas. The Broncos prop reduced an NRL match to a schoolboy under 13s with this running, not so much batting away North Queensland Cowboys as intimidating them out of attempting a tackle in the first place.

When big bursts don’t work, Zac Lomaz can pick up our weekly Stakhanovite Award for pure work ethic, taking more hits than Berry Gordy in the Sixties.

They’re just a few of our Love Rugby League NRL Team of the Week – here’s the rest.

Ryan Papenhuyzen (Melbourne)

Ryan Papenhuyzen is perhaps fourth placed among Melbourne’s Big Four, behind Harry Grant, Jahrome Hughes and Cam Munster. But on nights like Thursday, you can see why Craig Bellamy puts so much faith in his much-injured number 1.

Papi is the man who, more than anyone else, adds spark to the attack. Against the best of the best, the fullback is a gamebreaker, with his pure speed, creative ability and timing proving too much for even the best defences.

They’re used to playing without him, and Sua Fa’alogo is a pretty decent back-up, so sometimes his contribution is overlooked. Thursday night showed what Melbourne miss when he’s not there.

Sunia Turuva (Tigers)

Anyone who saw Sunia Turuva play reserve grade knew that there was something in him. That was confirmed when he burst onto the scene with Fiji, then underlined by his subsequent performances at Penrith.

His on-field ability is one thing, but his effect on the dressing room is just as impressive: not for nothing did Jarome Luai pass over his title of CEO – Chief Energy Officer – to the man they call ‘Tito’.

For the second week running, Turuva was at the heart of it all for the Tigers. His play 1 and 2 work is exceptional and so is his finishing, but the most telling moment was towards the end with the game on the line at 18-all.

Jack Bostock knocked on under the posts and the Tigers were up celebrated – in the centre of it all, having charged in from a wing, was the CEO himself. That infectiousness is exactly what this team needed.

Zac Lomax (Parramatta)

Parramatta have been a rabble thus far under new coach Jason Ryles. He needed his senior players to step up after two poor showings – and got a response.
This was far from vintage stuff from all concerned, but where there is no inspiration, perspiration can take over.

Zac Lomax was the poster boy for the effort shown by Parramatta, with the centre worth more than 30 runs, the bulk of them hard carries in yardage.

With the roster that they have, the Eels are going to have to scrap to get anything this year. Lomax showed them the way.

Kayal Iro (Cronulla)

It says a lot about the way the Sharks operate that it took Kayal Iro so long to get a crack at first grade.

The Leeds-born Cook Islander – only in rugby league, etc etc – was player of the year in the NSW Cup but still had to wait another 12 months for a consistent run in the top tier. Once given the chance, he hasn’t looked back.

Here, he dominated Campbell Graham with his footwork, showed all his speed in transitional play and, in a new addition to his game, plenty of composure too.

Reuben Garrick (Manly)

OK, so Reuben Garrick started the game in the centres but he ended up on the wing and, with four tries, it’s impossible not to include him.

It’s been a big week in the Garrick household, as the Gerringong product busted out the rocking arms celebration for his first try in celebration of a new baby. That would have been plenty, but three more followed.

One wasn’t a try, with the Bunker deciding to award it when a held up might have been more appropriate, but another was a classic kick through from Daly Cherry-Evans of the sort that Manly have scored plenty of times over the years.

Garrick, once on the wing full-time, knew it was one well before it happened and got the jump as a result.

Braydon Trindall (Cronulla)

Don’t be fooled by the number 6 on the back – Braydon Trindall is as much the halfback at Cronulla as Nicho Hynes is.

It’s a dynamic that works for the Sharks, who can run both players on both sides of the field, and it all comes together because of the five eighth.

Trindall dominated the first half of his side’s win over Souths, kicking two 40/20s and laying on a try, before scoring one of his own after the break.

Daly Cherry-Evans (Manly)

If there was any doubt that Daly Cherry-Evans still has it, they were dispelled late on Sunday.

The Manly halfback has been in the papers all week, his contract not signed for next year and every club without a topline 7 swirling for a piece of him.

Moreover, he left last week’s defeat to the Warriors with a back spasm, and as the oldest player in the NRL, there were doubts that he could recover in time.

The contractual wranglings might have distracted lesser players, as might the injury, but DCE simply keeps on keeping on.

When his side were banging their heads against the Raiders’ defensive wall, he remained calm. When attacks faltered, he kicked to success. Everything, from soup to nuts, ran through the halfback – as it has for well over a decade.

Payne Haas (Broncos)

If the Bronx do anything this year, it will be because of Payne Haas. The front rower is already known as one of the best in the game, but this showing revealed yet more to his game, with a level of pace and athleticism that nobody else in his position can match.

There’s the usual grunt work, the offloading skill and the leadership, but Friday night was all about the broken field running – not the usual for a prop, but everyday stuff from Haas.

Api Koroisau (Tigers)

After three years as the leader of the pack, Api Koroisau now has a few bodies to go with him. His mate Jarome Luai is one, taking the bulk of the leadership strain away, and the emergence of Lachlan Galvin and Jahream Bula has picked up some of the burden of creativity, too.

Koroisau can now get back to what he does best, which is being the premier attacking 9 in the comp. Nobody has his deception, his control of the ruck and his feel for a game.

The final nail in the Dolphins’ coffin on Saturday was pure Koroisau: set them one way, go the other. Lucky for Benji Marshall and co, his are skills that don’t fade as much with age, either. This spine could really be great.

Ethan Bullemor (Manly)

Sometimes, it’s fun to have a player who looks like a big labrador at the beach having a great time. Ethan Bullemor is the poster boy for effort, putting yourself in the frame and making good stuff happen around you.

Bench forwards should be about the energy they can bring to the team, and Manly have one of the best. Bullemor has a happy knack of finishing tries, but it’s no accident. He chases everything, runs a killer inside line and gets up around the play just in case.

It was worth two tries this weekend – and it’s not just the finishing. His carries are hard, fast and often result in a quick ruck. All you could ask for and more in a front-rower, especially one off the interchange.

Eliesa Katoa (Melbourne)

Eli Katoa is the posterboy for Craig Bellamy’s ability to improve a side. Not that great at the Warriors, he’s now a superstar at the Storm.

The formula is so simple yet so hard to replicate. Bellamy has identified one or two key strengths in Katoa – his dominant ball-running top of the list – and simplified his game to get the best of them.

Moreover, he’s built in structures to amplify what Katoa does best. The Storm use him almost like another prop in yardage – his average metres per game was top 5 among backrowers last year – but in more expansive situations, he’s there on a crash line or using his speed around the edge.

Penrith struggled with Katoa all night on Thursday. They aren’t the first and won’t be the last.

Haumole Ola’kauatu (Manly)

If there’s a guideline for what Katao can be as a backrower, it’s Haumole Olakau’atu. The Manly star was at his imperious best in the late Sunday game, topping the metre count as an edge forward.

He managed that despite Manly spending much of the first half using him solely as a decoy to create space for Lehi Hopoate out the back, before realising that the big, hulking Tongan might also be good if he got the ball from time to time.

Isaah Yeo (Penrith)

Even in defeat, the Panthers lock was among the best on ground. The established creative hierarchy for years has been Nathan Cleary and Isaah Yeo first, Jarome Luai and Dylan Edwards second, but Thursday was the first time that he’s had to take centre stage.

Luau has left, Edwards is out and Cleary went off five minutes in, leaving Yeo to take the reins ahead of Jack Cole and Blaize Talagi, both inexperienced at this level.

The 13 is just about the smartest player in the world, and needed to show every inch of it to move his side around the field on the toughest assignment in footy, Melbourne away, with two rookies in the halves.

To do that while also performing the regular up-and-down work as a middle forward was exceptional, a testament to what a champion player Yeo is.