By Andrew Webster
Many years ago, legendary coach Warren Ryan said he valued a player by how that player assessed his own form.
“Most will tell you they’re playing well,” he said in an interview for Inside Sportmagazine. “I find that amusing.”
On that score, you suspect Ryan would rate Melbourne Storm hooker Harry Grant highly.
The Australian and Queensland representative plays his 100th match for the Melbourne Storm when his side hosts the Brisbane Broncos at AAMI Park in a Thursday night blockbuster.
He does so as the premier hooker in the game. According to Eighth Immortal Andrew Johns, he’s one of the top three hookers of all-time. High praise indeed.
All great players are brutally honest about their own form — Johns especially.
On NRL 360 on Tuesday night, I asked Grant if his uncharacteristically quiet performance in game one of this year’s State of Origin I series had been the impetus for how he’s been playing as the finals approach.
“Going into Origin, I’d had a few games where I was injured with a hamstring and didn’t have the best runs on the board,” he replied. “You’re your own harshest critic and I was very harsh on myself with the Cronulla game [in his return match] and then Origin I. I knew internally I needed to knuckle down on a few things in my game.”
When Storm legend Cameron Smith announced his retirement at the start of the 2021 season, people inside and outside the club wondered if the void could ever be filled.
Grant has so much footy ahead of him but in so many ways he already reminds me of the man he replaced, seemingly thinking two moves ahead of everyone else at dummy half.
His milestone comes at an intriguing time as the Storm try to shake off some very un-Melbourne like ill-discipline and the Broncos try to prove to themselves that they can give this premiership a shake.
And another thing …
I often wonder what legendary Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein — who broke the Watergate story that led the downfall of US President Richard Nixon — feel about being linked to every minor sports scandal that pops up.
This week it was “trainer-gate” after Penrith runner Corey Bocking was banned for five matches after running in front of the Titans’ Jayden Campbell as he took a crucial and potentially match-winning kick at goal.
The Panthers, who were also slugged $50,000, insist it was an innocent mistake.
We all have brain fades — I’ll have several before finishing this sentence — but Bocking’s actions were dubious at best, not least because it was the sixth time since 2021 the club’s trainers have raised the ire of head office.
NRL chief executive Andrew Abdo deserves praise for showing strong leadership in sanctioning Penrith.
The sad part about it is the focus this past week has been on a trainer and not the magnificent actions of hooker Mitch Kenny firing a bullet-like pass to halfback Nathan Cleary, who stepped behind the 40-metre line and landed a two-point field goal to send the match to golden point.
Absolute scenes, as the kids say.
