I always have a particular match, trend, team, or player in mind to focus on heading into each round of the NRL season. This week, I’m previewing the latest Newcastle Knights halves pairing which, I think, will be their greatest.
These are meant to be short and sharp articles to introduce the weekend, but they can sometimes become full features. If you like what you see, pass it on.
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The Newcastle Knights haven’t been able to land on a halves pairing this season.
Whether it be form or injuries, Adam O’Brien has chopped and changed Tyson Gamble, Jack Cogger and Jackson Hastings all season. Four games has been the longest streak any pair have lasted together.
Gamble/Hastings – 4 Games
Gamble/Cogger – 2 Games
Cogger/Hastings – 2 Games
Gamble/Hastings – 4 Games
Cogger/Hastings – 4 Games
This comes after Gamble and Hastings, along with Kalyn Ponga, Phoenix Crossland, and Adam Clune, also featured in the halves last season.
It’s been something the Knights have been juggling for 18 months, and now the seventh different face will slot in there for Round 17.
Will Pryce has been named to make his NRL debut after playing 13 games for the club at New South Wales Cup level this year. He’s still only 21 years old but has 45 games worth of Super League experience underneath him and is the son of Great Britain international, Leon Pryce. The occasion is unlikely to rattle the confident-on-the-verge-of-cocky youngster.
I, for one, have thought for a little while now that we might be looking at the best halves pairing Newcastle has available.
The duo complement each other well on paper. Hastings is the on-ball half who will dominate the touches and march Newcastle around the field. He knows who the target is in the line and how to get at them through the middle to open up space on the edges. I’d expect him to play a middle service role, with Pryce spending the majority of his time down one side of the field and Fletcher Sharpe—and eventually Kalyn Ponga—down the other.
Meanwhile, Pryce’s running game will soon have fans on the edge of their seats. He has a lethal step – left and right – that he can string together in bunches.
Keep an eye on the hips of the three and four-in defenders, and how quickly Pryce is able to expose their outward positioning back on the inside.
He’s dangerous down shortsides and a decent distributor at the line. Pryce has played plenty of fullback. Like many who fill both positions, he’s a run-first half who can pop up on the second layer, which should suit Hastings well.
There are concerns defensively. Pryce isn’t the strongest defender and I have no doubt that the Parramatta Eels will have him circled in the front line on debut. Missed tackle stats are noisy and should be taken with a grain of salt, but he has missed 12 tackles in his last four games in reserve grade and can expect to be tested on Saturday night. His contact might be where he struggles if he is beaten a few times.
Still, I’m excited to see the young Englishman in the NRL. He has played at a high level before and completed a lengthy apprenticeship down under. Pryce is not only a recognisable name, but he carries the stigma that seems to come with English backs and spine players.
The Knights lost three in a row between two byes and risk losing touch with the Top 8 without a win in Round 17. They need a spark and Pryce is capable of providing it.