Ranking the spines of every NRL team ahead of 2021 season
Editor's Picks
1 Related
These players are able to get their hands on the ball more frequently and heavily influence their team's ability to drive downfield and score points. More often than not, the quality of a team's spine will directly correlate to their final position on the ladder.
This is where each club stands prior to the 2021 NRL season:
South Sydney Rabbitohs
9. Damien Cook
On paper, I believe the Rabbitohs have the most polished, consistently performing spine. I think each individual offers their own unique point of attack, while complementing each other nicely to form a lethal spine. Latrell Mitchell is perhaps the only member of the spine to have some question marks around him, given his propensity to fall in and out of games, but on his day he is simply unstoppable. Cody Walker offers some dangerous off-the-cuff attack for Souths, with his running game and vision in broken play supporting Adam Reynolds' pinpoint kicking game and organizational tendencies. Damien Cook, finally, can rip opposition defences wide open with his quickness off the mark from dummy-half and is a handy option with the boot. All have representative honours to their name and can handle the big stage.