Just looking back at some of the stats from the last game, unbelievable effort from Hopgood. Lot of people have been bashing him on socials all season (not much of that here) for his errors but he has really finished the season with a bang. Propgood is here to stay 🫡
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Yeah taking away ball playing has completely changed him. He is now playing like a rep player. I still think he has a bit of ball playing in him, but he really needed to go back to basics and he has certainly done that very well.
Hoppy has been a revelation. Love him. Tough. Unassuming. A damn Queenslander, but ours. Ryles saw what many of us did: Hopgood needed to simplify his game, strip back the Walker-lock-Link Man role, and let his grit shine.
Prop is probably the most physically taxing position in rugby league. They cart the ball up into the heaviest collisions, absorb the biggest G-forces, and tackle the biggest bodies. It’s even tougher than dummy half, where at least you pass more than you carry.
To do 80 minutes at prop is superhuman. Neither Haas nor Tino has managed that this year, and Tino has mostly played lock. Both average around 60 minutes a game.
That points to a bigger issue: cap management and the role of props in the modern era of hyper-speed and fatigue management. Once, props were among the best-paid outside of sevens, fullbacks, and the odd superstar nine or six like Munster. But think about it. If Tino (say $1.5m) and Haas ($1.2m) are giving you 60 minutes, you’re effectively paying $2m and $1.6m when you factor in the minutes they don’t play.
Is that good value? I can’t see the Dogs, Panthers, or Roosters buying into that logic. They’d call it madness. They'd need to prop it up with creative accounting, not guaranteed NRL contracts. And that’s where someone like Hopgood shows his worth. If the Eels are paying him $500–600K, he’s really worth closer to $800K.
Of course, Tino and Haas are future hall-of-famers. Every club wants them. But they don’t move the scoreboard like spine players do. Even wingers like Foxx or Marky have a direct impact saving tries, creating them out of nothing, lifting those around them. It’s no accident Russell is playing the best footy of his career with Foxx alongside him. Don't forget wingers and centres have an intimate relationship with touchies and this can affect how badly you get pinged. Even Walker, in his Yeo-like Link Man role, as an additional spine member effects the scoreboard more. Moses said he feels like he’s playing with another half out there. Someone who helps him and Pap spread wider by two passes and create space for them.
Hopgood, though, gives you everything: toughness, work ethic, leadership by action, and underrated skills. That offload is lethal. He’s the kind of forward who makes a club stronger in every way imaginable. Kudos to Hoppy. Gold class.
With Tino and haas you do get game breaking ability and the line gets bent a lot. But paying over 1 million for either is a big ask. AFB to a lesser extent is in that group those 3 can kind of break a game open in the middle
He had a very lean start to the year, seemed his injyry last year really hurt him. He looked low on confidence. Ryles moved him to Prop and now he is steadily going back to his old ways minus the offloads.
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