The Most Improved Player in the NRL

 

There is no greater demonstration of the influence of quality NRL coaching then the career of John Sutton. It is well known that Michael Maguire's appointment in 2012 awakened the NRL's underachieving sleeping giants. The emergence of a slew of young guns in the forward pack and across the backline along with the much heralded move of Greg Inglis to fullback have dominated column inches in Maguire's three years in charge of the Cardinal and Myrtle. Often glazed over however has been the improvement of a then 150 game established NRL player that personified the Redfern club after readmission. Under Michael Maguire however, John Sutton is the most improved player in the NRL

A player maligned so often by his own fans not to mention the media and wider public, John Sutton totally revolutionised his game in 2012. There were no shortage of eyebrows raised when South Sydney announced Sutton as part of their five man leadership group and even more when he became the stand alone skipper of a side including the likes of Sam Burgess and Greg Inglis. A first grader since 2004 with 150 plus games to his name, the powerful ball player had always threatened a good performance but rarely delivered consistently on his significant talents. Sutton’s size and talent meant people expected him to drag South’s up the ladder without any support and his inability to do so made him an easy target for criticism. Under Maguire and without the pressure of covering for the deficiencies of others the wheel started to turn for Sutton in 2012.

John Sutton may not have entirely silenced the critics in 2012, indeed they’re still out there  in 2014 (hey Cahill!) hanging onto a dead and buried line of argument, but his performances over the last three seasons have undoubtedly addressed the most significant criticism levelled against him. John Sutton is no longer a 'soft' footballer wasting his considerable talents.

The area of Sutton’s game that he doesn’t get enough credit for is his football IQ.  Former Souths and newly appointed Wests coach Jason Taylor detailed in 2012 that Sutton’s greatest asset is his game intelligence. The example he used was Sutton going to the line to put Nathan Merritt away down the sideline on tackle four forcing the winger who had dropped back to come forward and make the tackle on Merritt. Sensing opportunity Sutton pushed Nathan Peats out of the way and took the ball down the blind side where he put a perfectly placed kick into the sport where the winger in question was supposed to be. As Taylor has said Sutton is a 'born footballer'.

While Adam Reynolds might capture all the praise and plaudits for South’s improved run in 2012 and 2013 don’t undersell the contribution of John Sutton. Sutton did a lot of the talking and directing on the park taking the responsibility his senior status afforded him and allowing Reynolds to ease his way into the NRL.

While Chris Sandow might have been the darling of South Sydney supporters it was injuries to Sutton towards the close of the 2010 and 2011 seasons that cruelled their semi final chances. In fact without Sutton, South Sydney routinely looked the way Parramatta did in 2012-13, directionless and without structure. The reintroduction from injury of Sutton as an edge backrower in 2014, straightened South Sydney's attack and directly contributed to their two best performances of the year in the dismantlings of Manly and the Roosters in the finals series. It wasn't until Sutton returned to the side that the Keary-Reynolds partnership seemed a success.

So confident am I in Sutton’s new found consistency that before you fire off your clichéd criticisms in response, I’ll ask you to sit down and judge Sutton in the Grand Final on Sunday night. The result of the game is immaterial to my argument. Just watch the way he takes the ball to the line straight and at pace. Watch his clever pass selection when previously he would have looked to thread the needle on an impossible miracle ball. Count the amount of times he makes it back for the first tough hit up after a Canterbury kick into his corner. Check the number of missed tackles he finishes the game with and more importantly then all of this, look at the way in which Sutton leads the competitions most star studded roster around the park. In a side with future Immortal Greg Inglis and the peerless Sam Burgess, it is John Sutton that is the undisputed King, the standalone skipper.

Twenty four hours from the biggest game of his career John Sutton is undoubtedly one of only three genuine chances at being South Sydney's next Clive Churchill Medalist. Because when you compare the 2004-2011 John Sutton to the Michael Maguire vintage there is only one label that fits the South Sydney junior...

The Most Improved Player in the NRL

The Daily Telegraph does its best Sandra Sully impersonation with the 'Late News' a full year after AVFTT