Brits Down Under: Burgess in top form, Farnworth’s consistency & Hodgson solid in defeat

After round 20 of the NRL season we take another in depth look at the performances and stats of the league’s British contingent.

Tom Burgess

The 28-year-old has been in great form lately as he continues to rack up the metres and make life extremely difficult for his opponents with some powerful performances. It looked to be just another day at the office for Burgess in South Sydney’s impressive 50-14 win over the Dragons as he muscled his way through the St George Illawarra defence to secure 191 metres, 92 post contact metres, four tackle busts, a line break. The Rabbitohs have now won their last eight in a row and are set to see out the regular season in a great deal of form with the likes of Burgess right at the forefront of both their attack and defence.

Herbie Farnworth

The Broncos sealed an impressive 37-18 derby day win over North Queensland on Friday with Farnworth putting together a steady display. The 21-year-old may not have eclipsed 100 metres but a total of 10 carries, 77 run metres and 33 post contact metres proves he has been one of Brisbane’s most consistent performers all season. So far this year, the Lancashire-born centre has the second most metres gained by a Broncos player (1,971) alongside the second most post contact metres (770), the fourth most tackle busts (38) and the third most line breaks (6).

Josh Hodgson

Canberra’s play-off chances were given a slight dent over the weekend as they succumbed to a 34-24 loss to Newcastle. The Knights’ forward pack proved to be too strong for the Raiders in the end with the table now seeing five teams level on 18 points in seventh place. The 31-year-old was undoubtedly one of Canberra’s better players throughout the game though as he tried to continuously find gaps in the defence. Overall, Hodgson racked up the most tackles in the game by any player with 43 whilst also securing a try assist.

Elliott Whitehead

The experienced second-rower was back in action this week after missing the last couple of rounds due to injury. It may have ended in defeat for the Raiders, but it was the kind of display we are so used to seeing from the dynamic forward as even though it was not the best or the flashiest or even one that ended with a monster stat line, it was still a solid and dependable showing from the 31-year-old. The former Bradford and Catalans star always gives 100% and remains one of Ricky Stuart’s most influential pieces in the pack. In the loss to the Knights, Whitehead had another high tackle count with 33 as well as six carries, 48 metres, 20 post contact metres and a tackle bust.