NRL great PAUL GALLEN writes exclusively for Wide World of Sports and will appear on Nine's 100 FOOTY% on Monday night, debating rugby league's big issues alongside Phil Gould and James Bracey.
There are three types of NRL player.
Those with talent.
Those with great work ethic.
Don't get me wrong – everyone who makes it to the NRL has some talent. But some are just more naturally gifted than others and don't necessarily have to work too hard to make it.
They can run, tackle, pass, they're fast, agile and powerful. They've got it all.
Then you've got the guys who simply work harder than everyone else. They're not the most talented guys on the field but they're the type of players you need in a team.
They're the toilers who go out and do their job every week. You know exactly what you're going to get from them.
These are the kind of blokes who had to absolutely bust their guts to get there. They weren't the best players in under-16s but worked relentlessly, above and beyond everyone else, to get to the NRL.
Then you've got your special players, Test players, who are both talented and hard-working. They have those natural gifts but still do everything to maximise their potential.
To build a good side, you need as many of those special players as you can get within the salary cap system. Then you want plenty of blokes who work hard, who won't let you down.
If you just rely on talent, you will be found out eventually in the NRL. That's what we've seen this season. It has given a reflection of where a lot of clubs and their rosters are at, especially after the COVID-19 shutdown.
When the competition returned, we could see who had done the work and who hadn't. Hard work during that period would have been player-led; you can have as many coaches as you want ringing up guys and telling them to train but unless you had senior players setting the standards, that was a recipe for disaster.
We can tell who did it properly. Melbourne Storm, with their strong leadership and renowned work ethic. The Roosters. Penrith, no doubt.
I've been critical of Parramatta recently but I think you have to give them credit for what they did during that break. They look a bit drained, a bit off now compared to how they were earlier this season; but they obviously did the hard work during the COVID break because they came back and won eight of their next 10 games, and 15 from 20 for the season.
Much of that was based around their physical fitness. They showed a bit of what they could do last weekend, beating Wests Tigers from behind when I doubted they could; something that comes back to fitness and discipline. They did not drop off during the shutdown, unlike other clubs.
Brisbane are the obvious example, having won the wooden spoon. They've already admitted that their shutdown period was badly handled.
They're an extremely talented young team but without leadership, that's all they've relied on. To be honest, that's probably what many of those young players have relied on to make the NRL.
That's fine but without someone showing them the proper way to work hard, showing them how to get to that next level, how to survive and win games in first grade, they're not going to know any better. They're going to keep getting found out.
That's what's been reflected in their season, the worst in Brisbane's history. There's been other clubs like that, too.
I've been critical of Manly. I just don't know how hard they worked in the COVID break, their forwards in particular. They did not handle the six-again rule change at all. The game sped up and they couldn't cope with it.
Tom Trbojevic was a huge out for the Sea Eagles, everyone knows that, but you can't pin it all on one bloke. This is a team sport and Manly's players, even with Des Hasler in charge, were found out.
The Dragons have to be thrown in the same boat. Talent wasn't an issue, with five State of Origin players from last year in their squad.
You've got to be brutally honest: the Dragons were extremely disappointing, right up there with the Broncos and Manly in terms of underachieving. You can see the Dragons didn't work as hard as they should have and as I've said previously, they were let down by their big-name senior players and a lack of leadership.
One player who I 100 per cent exclude from that is their captain, Cameron McInnes.
He was their player of the year by the length of the straight, a bloody long way. He's been unbelievable every week, even when playing at lock at just 90kg.
He's played above his weight all season, tried his guts out every game and I'm happy for him that he's been picked in NSW's 27-man State of Origin squad.
Outside of teams like the Broncos, Manly and Dragons, there's some 50-50 cases - like the Gold Coast Titans.
You've got to give them credit, finishing ninth after winning the wooden spoon last year, but I don't want to give them too much praise. They were out of the semi-final race about two months ago, then all of a sudden, they win their last five games under zero pressure.
Pressure does amazing things to rugby league players. When there's no pressure or expectation, you can flick that ball out your backside and if it lands, it lands and if it doesn't, no one cares.
I'm happy for the Titans that they finished the year well but suggestions that they should be playing finals instead of the Sharks – no they shouldn't be and no they're not, because they didn't win as many games. Simple.
You've got to be careful not to praise them too much. They missed the eight again, they won their last five games under no pressure. They looked just short of the required talent to be a finals team, so let's see what they can do next year.
They've got some superstars going to their club and they've built up some expectation. Next year, when they're under genuine pressure, is when they should be judged.
The Warriors worked hard this season. No one can say otherwise. They did their absolute best under incredibly difficult circumstances.
They got some benefit from loan players, no doubt, but their contracted players worked hard while stuck in Australia to keep the NRL going. I just don't think they quite had the talent to make the finals.
Wests Tigers are another side in that category. Just short of the talent to be a finals team, so I'd probably give them a pass mark, despite disappointment about them again missing the top eight.
They finished about where I expected and Michael Maguire has an ongoing mission to toughen up that club, as I've discussed previously.
All told, the gap in quality between the good sides and the rest this season has been startling at times.
Even South Sydney; it's too easy to only look at performances like last Friday's, thrashing the Roosters 60-8. It was a fantastic, unbelievable performance yet just a week earlier, they were beaten by the Bulldogs. Inconsistency has been a serious problem, even for the sixth-placed team, and things got ugly lower on the ladder.
FINALS SHAKE-UP MAKES THINGS INTERESTING
The Roosters' drop to fourth with that loss to South Sydney has thrown up what I believe are more interesting first-week finals match-ups, with more scope for upsets in the two top-four games.
Melbourne will be tested by Parramatta due to the Eels' style. Parramatta can worry the Storm.
Passing and linking through the forwards, offloading from guys like Junior Paulo – Melbourne don't like that. They like a structured game. That's when they can eat you up.
Parramatta, with less structure, have a game plan that could beat Melbourne, or at least give them real problems.
The Roosters will have that bounce-back factor against the Panthers. They also won't have to travel to Brisbane, as the Eels now must to play the Storm.
And for Penrith, the time has come to answer the big question: can they meet the benchmark of a premiership side in the finals, by beating the Roosters straight off the bat?
The Roosters should have all their available players back, with Brett Morris, Joseph Manu, Isaac Liu and Lindsay Collins added to the team beaten by Souths. Penrith rested a couple of players against the Bulldogs, so they'll be fresh and ready to go.
The Panthers are a young, enthusiastic team, enjoying their football and playing without fear. But like our Cronulla side in 2016, everyone is asking questions about whether they're the real deal. It's a fair question, when they're yet to prove themselves in the finals.
Now, they face the defending back-to-back premiers. To their credit, they show no signs or caring about that; they don't fear big names. The Panthers will just go out here and play and it will be a big test to see if they're good enough.
I think if things had stayed the same and form lines held, Melbourne would have eaten-up the Roosters and Penrith would have done the same to Parramatta.
The way it's turned out is certainly beneficial for the Roosters and Eels, and will give the Panthers and Storm a more difficult test.
NRL great PAUL GALLEN writes exclusively for Wide World of Sports and will appear on Nine's 100 FOOTY% on Monday night, debating rugby league's big issues alongside Phil Gould and James Bracey.
There are three types of NRL player.
Those with talent.
Those with great work ethic.
Don't get me wrong – everyone who makes it to the NRL has some talent. But some are just more naturally gifted than others and don't necessarily have to work too hard to make it.
They can run, tackle, pass, they're fast, agile and powerful. They've got it all.
Then you've got the guys who simply work harder than everyone else. They're not the most talented guys on the field but they're the type of players you need in a team.
They're the toilers who go out and do their job every week. You know exactly what you're going to get from them.
These are the kind of blokes who had to absolutely bust their guts to get there. They weren't the best players in under-16s but worked relentlessly, above and beyond everyone else, to get to the NRL.
Then you've got your special players, Test players, who are both talented and hard-working. They have those natural gifts but still do everything to maximise their potential.
To build a good side, you need as many of those special players as you can get within the salary cap system. Then you want plenty of blokes who work hard, who won't let you down.
If you just rely on talent, you will be found out eventually in the NRL. That's what we've seen this season. It has given a reflection of where a lot of clubs and their rosters are at, especially after the COVID-19 shutdown.
When the competition returned, we could see who had done the work and who hadn't. Hard work during that period would have been player-led; you can have as many coaches as you want ringing up guys and telling them to train but unless you had senior players setting the standards, that was a recipe for disaster.
We can tell who did it properly. Melbourne Storm, with their strong leadership and renowned work ethic. The Roosters. Penrith, no doubt.
I've been critical of Parramatta recently but I think you have to give them credit for what they did during that break. They look a bit drained, a bit off now compared to how they were earlier this season; but they obviously did the hard work during the COVID break because they came back and won eight of their next 10 games, and 15 from 20 for the season.
Much of that was based around their physical fitness. They showed a bit of what they could do last weekend, beating Wests Tigers from behind when I doubted they could; something that comes back to fitness and discipline. They did not drop off during the shutdown, unlike other clubs.
Brisbane are the obvious example, having won the wooden spoon. They've already admitted that their shutdown period was badly handled.
They're an extremely talented young team but without leadership, that's all they've relied on. To be honest, that's probably what many of those young players have relied on to make the NRL.
That's fine but without someone showing them the proper way to work hard, showing them how to get to that next level, how to survive and win games in first grade, they're not going to know any better. They're going to keep getting found out.
That's what's been reflected in their season, the worst in Brisbane's history. There's been other clubs like that, too.
I've been critical of Manly. I just don't know how hard they worked in the COVID break, their forwards in particular. They did not handle the six-again rule change at all. The game sped up and they couldn't cope with it.
Tom Trbojevic was a huge out for the Sea Eagles, everyone knows that, but you can't pin it all on one bloke. This is a team sport and Manly's players, even with Des Hasler in charge, were found out.
The Dragons have to be thrown in the same boat. Talent wasn't an issue, with five State of Origin players from last year in their squad.
You've got to be brutally honest: the Dragons were extremely disappointing, right up there with the Broncos and Manly in terms of underachieving. You can see the Dragons didn't work as hard as they should have and as I've said previously, they were let down by their big-name senior players and a lack of leadership.
One player who I 100 per cent exclude from that is their captain, Cameron McInnes.
He was their player of the year by the length of the straight, a bloody long way. He's been unbelievable every week, even when playing at lock at just 90kg.
He's played above his weight all season, tried his guts out every game and I'm happy for him that he's been picked in NSW's 27-man State of Origin squad.
Outside of teams like the Broncos, Manly and Dragons, there's some 50-50 cases - like the Gold Coast Titans.
You've got to give them credit, finishing ninth after winning the wooden spoon last year, but I don't want to give them too much praise. They were out of the semi-final race about two months ago, then all of a sudden, they win their last five games under zero pressure.
Pressure does amazing things to rugby league players. When there's no pressure or expectation, you can flick that ball out your backside and if it lands, it lands and if it doesn't, no one cares.
I'm happy for the Titans that they finished the year well but suggestions that they should be playing finals instead of the Sharks – no they shouldn't be and no they're not, because they didn't win as many games. Simple.
You've got to be careful not to praise them too much. They missed the eight again, they won their last five games under no pressure. They looked just short of the required talent to be a finals team, so let's see what they can do next year.
They've got some superstars going to their club and they've built up some expectation. Next year, when they're under genuine pressure, is when they should be judged.
The Warriors worked hard this season. No one can say otherwise. They did their absolute best under incredibly difficult circumstances.
They got some benefit from loan players, no doubt, but their contracted players worked hard while stuck in Australia to keep the NRL going. I just don't think they quite had the talent to make the finals.
Wests Tigers are another side in that category. Just short of the talent to be a finals team, so I'd probably give them a pass mark, despite disappointment about them again missing the top eight.
They finished about where I expected and Michael Maguire has an ongoing mission to toughen up that club, as I've discussed previously.
All told, the gap in quality between the good sides and the rest this season has been startling at times.
Even South Sydney; it's too easy to only look at performances like last Friday's, thrashing the Roosters 60-8. It was a fantastic, unbelievable performance yet just a week earlier, they were beaten by the Bulldogs. Inconsistency has been a serious problem, even for the sixth-placed team, and things got ugly lower on the ladder.
FINALS SHAKE-UP MAKES THINGS INTERESTING
The Roosters' drop to fourth with that loss to South Sydney has thrown up what I believe are more interesting first-week finals match-ups, with more scope for upsets in the two top-four games.
Melbourne will be tested by Parramatta due to the Eels' style. Parramatta can worry the Storm.
Passing and linking through the forwards, offloading from guys like Junior Paulo – Melbourne don't like that. They like a structured game. That's when they can eat you up.
Parramatta, with less structure, have a game plan that could beat Melbourne, or at least give them real problems.
The Roosters will have that bounce-back factor against the Panthers. They also won't have to travel to Brisbane, as the Eels now must to play the Storm.
And for Penrith, the time has come to answer the big question: can they meet the benchmark of a premiership side in the finals, by beating the Roosters straight off the bat?
The Roosters should have all their available players back, with Brett Morris, Joseph Manu, Isaac Liu and Lindsay Collins added to the team beaten by Souths. Penrith rested a couple of players against the Bulldogs, so they'll be fresh and ready to go.
The Panthers are a young, enthusiastic team, enjoying their football and playing without fear. But like our Cronulla side in 2016, everyone is asking questions about whether they're the real deal. It's a fair question, when they're yet to prove themselves in the finals.
Now, they face the defending back-to-back premiers. To their credit, they show no signs or caring about that; they don't fear big names. The Panthers will just go out here and play and it will be a big test to see if they're good enough.
I think if things had stayed the same and form lines held, Melbourne would have eaten-up the Roosters and Penrith would have done the same to Parramatta.
The way it's turned out is certainly beneficial for the Roosters and Eels, and will give the Panthers and Storm a more difficult test.
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