It’s not easy being the smallest player on an NRL field. But it can be lucrative if you are the best of the best.
But the NRL is suffering from a distinct lack of young prospects who look capable of making the grade as a long-term half.
Ben Hunt is nearly 35 and agitating for another season beyond next year with St George Illawarra.
Daly Cherry-Evans will be 36 before the start of the 2025 season and as the incumbent Queensland halfback and captain, he is in no rush to the retirement lounge.
Adam Reynolds is 34 and still Brisbane’s chief playmaker with no heir apparent in sight while the Titans have kept Kieran Foran on the books for another year due to a lack of alternatives.
They have at least looked outside the box to sign former Wallabies five-eighth Carter Gordon as a potential solution to their ongoing problem in finding a reliable on-field general.
Canberra’s Jamal Fogarty, Cody Walker at South Sydney, Warriors legend Shaun Johnson, North Queensland’s Chad Townsend and Wests Tigers veteran Aidan Sezer are all the wrong side of 30 but by and large carried their team’s playmaking duties this season.
Townsend has picked up a one-year superannuation deal with the Roosters even though he was punted by the Cowboys for a player they have recycled after a couple of stints elsewhere in Jake Clifford.
Sam Walker’s recent ACL tear would normally mean he could have been facing a pay cut when he comes off contract next year but as one of the few genuine young halves with representative potential, he should still be able to command a seven-figure salary at the negotiating table.
Roosters execs are desperate to keep him on the books while the Broncos and several other cashed-up suitors will be throwing significant salary cap space his way.
After giving up on their Lachlan Ilias experiment, Souths have also looked elsewhere for a young half with potential, adding 22-year-old Lewis Dodd from St Helens next year.
The Dolphins paid over the odds at the time to prise a teenager away from his Penrith home but they were wise to invest in Isaiya Katoa as he is another of the scarce crop of youthful playmakers dotted around the NRL landscape.
For players like Cronulla’s Dan Atkinson and Melbourne’s Tyran Wishart who have been impressive in their limited opportunities at their current club but are not guaranteed a start, they are sure to attract huge offers in the off-season.
Atkinson is able to negotiate with other clubs on November 1 while Wishart is also under contract for next year with the club holding an option on his services for 2026.
There has already been speculation that Canberra are prepared to offer a starting gig to Wishart at hooker if the Storm agree to a release while his junior club St George Illawarra would be mad not to pursue him as a long-term spine option at the team, kinda, where his dad Rod became a fixture in the NSW and Australian sides in the 1990s.
Dragons coach Shane Flanagan has let Hunt and his manager know that they are in no rush to offer him an extra year in 2026 and why would they be?
But by the same token, Hunt can see by the way Foran has been able to extend his use-by date by a season or two at the Titans that there is a lack of quality options on the market when it comes to finding someone to direct a team around the park.
Hunt may not have performed up to his price tag this season in Flanagan’s eyes but he led the NRL in try assists with 34 with Melbourne’s Dally M favourite Jahrome Hughes (30) the only other half within 10 of that mark.
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As recently as last year, the Dragons looked like they had a couple of young playmakers who were on their way to taking over from Hunt as the players to steer the team into a new era.
However, Talatau Amone’s career is now in tatters and may never recover after he narrowly avoided jail after being found guilty over a hammer attack and Sullivan engineered an early exit from his lucrative deal to try his luck at the Tigers.
Sullivan had more than enough of an opportunity to show he could shine at Wests but Benji Marshall lost patience with his patchy form and after spending most of the season in the NSW Cup ranks, he could be the latest young half touted as a future star who never fulfils that potential.
The Tigers have struck the jackpot with teenage five-eighth Lachlan Galvin, who was the top performer in a strong 2024 rookie class.
After a few flutters mid-season when Galvin’s management made noises about wanting to get a release, the 19-year-old will have a much better chance to succeed alongside Panthers star Jarome Luai when he changes his stripes next year.
Canberra are confident in Ethan Strange making the grade after he also cut his teeth in the NRL this season but their long-term hope is for fellow NSW under 19 representative Ethan Sanders to become their point of attack down the track after coughing up big bucks to hook him away from the Eels.
Poor old Parra churned through approximately 777 playmakers post Peter Sterling before Mitchell Moses was snapped up from the Tigers to fill the blue and gold No.7 jersey.
The Knights are up to a similar number in their quest to find someone half as good as Andrew Johns.
Newcastle performed more spinal adjustments than the busiest chiropractor this season.
The team was mostly at sixes and sevens as Jackson Hastings, Tyson Gamble, Will Pryce, Jack Cogger and Phoenix Crossland erratically rotated through those two jerseys at regular intervals.
One of the toughest parts about being a young halfback with talent is the physical burden that this unforgiving sport can have on growing bodies when they are being smashed in attack and defence by the larger opponents who populate a rugby league field.
Apart from the four outmatched members of the spine, all modern players look like they have come off a production line of being 100kg-plus with only their pace or tackling ability determining where they slot in from the wing to prop.
Jahrome Hughes takes on the line. (Photo by Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images)
Playmakers need time to develop, to get a feel for the pace of the NRL, when to attack and when to hold back.
One of the main differences between the halfbacks who make it and the ones who don’t is the ability to read the play in advance and realising when it’s the right time to risk life and limb by taking the ball to the line (off a quick play-the-ball) and when it’s best to pass to a teammate or kick (when the defensive line is set and the opposition want nothing more than to rip the young playmaker’s head off).
And if injuries strike early in a young half’s career, that time on the sidelines could mean the difference between getting enough reps at this level to earn another contract or being tossed on the proverbial scrap heap where many talented prospects end up.
Halfbacks dominate awards like the Dally Ms and they are the top earners in the NRL for a reason.
It’s the toughest task in the sport, physically coping with the punishment they cop and being skilful enough to implement a coach’s game plan to the letter.
Paul Suttorhttps://www.theroar.com.au/2024/09/18/hunts-got-dragons-by-the-horns-nrl-suffering-from-lack-of-young-playmakers-as-30-something-veterans-cash-in/Hunt’s got Dragons by the … horns: NRL suffering from lack of young playmakers as 30-something veterans cash in
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