D.T.
Mitchell Pearce’s $4 million move to Newcastle means just four NRL clubs will go into the opening round next year with the all-important same set of halves they finished last season with.
Pearce will need to quickly build a combination with former Sydney Roosters teammate Connor Watson at the Knights, with plenty of rival coaches also privately hoping their chief playmakers immediately gel.
The off-season playmaker fire-sale will see James Maloney join Nathan Cleary at Penrith, Matt Moylan link with Chad Townsend at Cronulla, while Blake Green will look to strike up a bond with Shaun Johnson at the New Zealand Warriors.
Kieran Foran ditched the World Cup for New Zealand to focus on settling into Canterbury alongside Moses Mbye, Matt Frawley or Nu Brown, and Brodie Croft has the unenviable job at premiers Melbourne of succeeding Cooper Cronk who has his own work cut out coming together with Luke Keary at the Roosters.
Cronk, like St George Illawarra’s new pairing of Gareth Widdop and Ben Hunt, will be given just six weeks to build a new combination because of the leave they require after the World Cup.
Manly are still to settle on a five-eighth, with Brock Lamb expected to head to the northern beaches after the Knights’ big-money play for Pearce.
Only Parramatta, Brisbane, Canberra and the Gold Coast will open their campaigns with the same combination from round 26 last season.
Cowboys coach Paul Green has the luxury of playing Te Maire Martin off the bench, with Johnathan Thurston returning from injury to partner Michael Morgan.
Dragons coach Paul McGregor told The Daily Telegraph earlier this week the limited time for his new-look halves Hunt and Widdop to prepare was not a huge concern, and teams were able to work within a 10-day turnaround to be ready for Origin.
Both Hunt and Widdop do not start training with the Dragons until the new year.
First Choice Halves Pairings That will be new in 2018.
Mitchell Pearce’s $4 million move to Newcastle means just four NRL clubs will go into the opening round next year with the all-important same set of halves they finished last season with.
Pearce will need to quickly build a combination with former Sydney Roosters teammate Connor Watson at the Knights, with plenty of rival coaches also privately hoping their chief playmakers immediately gel.
The off-season playmaker fire-sale will see James Maloney join Nathan Cleary at Penrith, Matt Moylan link with Chad Townsend at Cronulla, while Blake Green will look to strike up a bond with Shaun Johnson at the New Zealand Warriors.
Kieran Foran ditched the World Cup for New Zealand to focus on settling into Canterbury alongside Moses Mbye, Matt Frawley or Nu Brown, and Brodie Croft has the unenviable job at premiers Melbourne of succeeding Cooper Cronk who has his own work cut out coming together with Luke Keary at the Roosters.
Cronk, like St George Illawarra’s new pairing of Gareth Widdop and Ben Hunt, will be given just six weeks to build a new combination because of the leave they require after the World Cup.
Manly are still to settle on a five-eighth, with Brock Lamb expected to head to the northern beaches after the Knights’ big-money play for Pearce.
Only Parramatta, Brisbane, Canberra and the Gold Coast will open their campaigns with the same combination from round 26 last season.
Cowboys coach Paul Green has the luxury of playing Te Maire Martin off the bench, with Johnathan Thurston returning from injury to partner Michael Morgan.
Dragons coach Paul McGregor told The Daily Telegraph earlier this week the limited time for his new-look halves Hunt and Widdop to prepare was not a huge concern, and teams were able to work within a 10-day turnaround to be ready for Origin.
Both Hunt and Widdop do not start training with the Dragons until the new year.
First Choice Halves Pairings That will be new in 2018.
- Storm: Munster/Croft
- Roosters: Keary/Cronk
- Broncos: Milford/Nikorima
- Sharks: Moylan/Townsend
- Sea Eagles: ?/Cherry-Evans
- Panthers: ?/Cleary
- Dragons: Widdop/Hunt
- Bulldogs: Foran/Mbye
- Warriors: Green/Johnson
- Tigers: Reynolds/Brooks
- Knights: Lamb or Watson/Pearce
- Eels: Norman/Moses
- Cowboys: Morgan/Thurston
- Raiders: Austin/Sezer
- Rabbitohs: Walker/Reynolds
- Titans: Elgey/Taylor
