Saturday 23 February 2013

NRL 2013: Hello Tohu Harris... welcome to my Dream Team

Melbourne production line rolls out another one...

2013 NRL Premiership

By W D Nicolson - February 23, 2013

World Club Challenge reveals a Dream Team/SuperCoach must.

If you watched Melbourne's 18-14 World Club Challenge victory over the Leeds Rhinos on Saturday morning - you'll have taken two things away from the game.

One, the team that had a genuine halfback won the game - that would be Cooper Cronk of the Melbourne Storm, and two, the UK commentary team makes most of their Australian equivalents sound like Rugby League commentary doyens.

Cronk (alongside two other handy players in Cameron Smith and probably the most dangerous player on the field - Billy Slater) made sure the Storm won the match by doing what a top shelf halfback does - control the game.

While the UK commentary team (there's no point naming them as it's just too embarrassing to identify them all) did their best to make it sound like Leeds had Melbourne right where they wanted them... despite trailing for most of the match. There were two disheartening moments of commentary that stood out - one, was giving Storm front rower Jesse Bromwich no credit at all for his superb solo try in the second half, and two, one of the commentators declared that Jason Ryles should have been sent off for a shoulder charge... that the entire commentary box had just announced as not being a shoulder charge. Yes Ryles made contact late on Kevin 'Golden Boots' Sinfield but calling for the 'red card' was excruciatingly laughable and the penalty was clearly sufficient.

But there should have been a third key observation made by every NRL Dream Team and NRL Super Coach participant.

Because The Postman didn't miss the play and - almost as significantly - the minutes played by Melbourne second rower Tohu Harris.

Need an update on who will or won't play in Round 1?
Make sure you take a look at our dedicated NRL Injured List

Harris scored a try on his Storm debut - Melbourne's 3rd which was a beauty from deep inside their own half - but he also started in the second row and wasn't replaced until deep into the second half.

He put up decent base numbers with 29 tackles and 11 runs for 108 metres - while adding a try, line break, tackle break and an offload. 

DT wise that's a decent effort of 56 pts, while for SC that's a beautiful return of 77 pts.

And right now he's only going to cost you $116,100 in DT, and $94,300 in SC.

With Sika Manu and Todd Lowrie leaving Melbourne in the off-season, Harris's main opposition for a spot in the Storm starting lineup (when Kevin Proctor was hurt in the pre-season) was fellow youngster Kenny Bromwich... and Kenny B didn't make the final 17 for the World Club Challenge.

Harris did and he just pumped out a great score, played 65+ minutes and looks an absolute lock for a starting spot in Round 1 for Melbourne.

So go get Tohu now.

NOW!

Have you moved heaven and earth to get Harris into your lineup yet? If not, why not?
Let your Local Postman know by commenting below or reply on Twitter.

The NRL Injury List is updated regularly during each week of the season, making it an invaluable Fantasy and Tipping Tool alongside our Weekly NRL Previews once again.

Remember if you want game-specific Late Mail every week, then check out our Round Previews Every Wednesday and they are updated with all the very latest Late Mail on Friday.

If we are missing any players on this list - please comment below, reply on Twitter or email this address.
Can Ben Barba repeat as champion in the 2013 @NRLTweet Player of the Year Awards?

 The Prestigious Award returns for a 4th season in 2013.

Remember you can track all the votes each week after each match in 2013 via the Twitter hashtag #nrltweetpoty
By Warrick D. Nicolson