Eels Blogs

It was only a short time ago when Josh Papalii and Jason Taumalolo were regarded as the best forwards in the NRL. Players such as Jnr Paulo and Taukeiaho were also regarded as top tier forwards. However, as the game has moved forward, these players form has been very poor. J Papalii & Taumalolo have been quiet average, with a couple good glimpses. This could also be a reflection of the performacnes of their club. Taukeiaho is quiet old now and is heading to the super league by all reports. Paulo has been solid this year, but no where near his offoading best. For someone so big and with great footwork, he rarely breaks tackles. I have seen players such as Milford and Cook easily tackle him 1 on 1. AFB from warriors has been injured a lot this year, but is no where near his best. So is this the end of big forward in the NRL.

If you look at the top teams the in NRL right now (Storm, Manly, Panthers, Manly, Roosters & Bunnies) they do not have any big forwards. Mobile and explosive forwards are tending to be the top forwards in the NRL right now. Players such as Haas, Saifiti, Murray, Fifita, A Crichton and I Papali'i to name a few are very powerful and mobile forwards who have been the best this year.

I will make some observations of Jnr Paulo this year because out of all the big forwards I obviously see him play the most. Many times this year a try has been scored because he gets fatigued. As people like to say, you should defend as one big organism. I have noticed when our team slide when defending second phase footy, Paulo slacks of a lot and gets too tired to defend. This is most likely from fatigue due to the 6 again calls. This would adversely effect his attack. We have rarely seen a Paulo offload set up a try like we had become so used to. So I ask you again, are big forwards in the NRL becoming a dying breed? Or do these players now have to become impact players who play a max 40 minutes a match? For these big forwards I have named, normally play big minutes.