2020 in review - Corey Harawira-Naera

[greeneyed]

2020 in review - Corey Harawira-Naera



This is the twenty first instalment of 2020 in review. As is the tradition, now the Raiders' season is over, we are reviewing all 32 players who pulled on a green jersey this year. So far, we've looked at Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad, Jordan Rapana, Jarrod Croker, Curtis Scott, Nick Cotric, Bailey Simonsson, Semi Valemei, Michael Oldfield, Jack Wighton, George Williams, Josh Papalii, Josh Hodgson, Tom Starling, Siliva Havili, Dunamis Lui, Sia Soliola, Ryan Sutton, Hudson Young, Elliott Whitehead and John Bateman.

Corey Harawira-Naera joined the Canberra Raiders mid-season, after a controversy filled start to 2020 with the Canterbury Bulldogs. He and Jayden Okunbor had their contracts terminated by the Bulldogs, and they were deregistered by the NRL, due to off field incidents during a pre season trip to Port Macquarie. In July, the NRL Appeals Tribunal determined that the contract terminations were too harsh and should be reversed - with Harawira-Naera handed a 10 game suspension and $15,000 fine instead. Harawira-Naera, however, refused to return to the Bulldogs - and signed a two and a half year deal with the Raiders.





His arrival in Canberra was welcome news for the Raiders, not only because of the impending departure of second rower John Bateman, but because the club was facing one of its worst injury crises in history. The 25 year old was more than a handy pick up. He'd previously played 46 games for the Panthers in 2017-18 and 21 games for the Bulldogs in 2019. He can play in the middle, but he's at his best on the edge. He can be a real attacking weapon - as Raiders fans will well recall when he scored one of two late tries in Canberra's infamous last gasp loss to Penrith at Bathurst in 2017.

He made his debut in green in the Round 12 win over the Cowboys in Townsville, and went on to make 11 appearances for Canberra this season. He provided a good injection of enthusiasm at a tough time in the season. The only game he missed after his arrival was the Round 16 win over the Bulldogs - because the terms of his release from Canterbury prevented him from playing against the Belmore based outfit. He started in the second row once and at lock once, with the remainder of his matches off the bench.

I rated him an average of 5.7/10 through the season, with his overall season rating affected by his low number of appearances. I rated him a "7" twice - in the Round 14 win over the Broncos and in the Preliminary Final against the Storm. For mine, his best game was the clash with the Broncos, when he produced 12 runs for 173 metres, two line breaks and four tackle breaks. He picked up two points in Fans' Choice voting in the Preliminary Final, when he made 11 runs for 81 metres, three tackles breaks, five offloads and 20 tackles.





Harawira-Naera only averaged about 30 minutes per match, and it took some time for him to get back to match fitness on his return to the NRL. His attack is his relative strength, but given his low minutes, he was well down the list of Raiders forwards for total try involvements and average running metres per game. However, he was still ahead of Elliott Whitehead for average running metres. On a per game basis, he ranked fourth for line breaks and offloads and sixth for tackle breaks amongst the Canberra forwards. He was one of three Raiders forwards to manage a forced line drop out.

Harawira-Naera had the lowest average tackle count per match and the lowest tackle efficiency rate amongst the Raiders' forwards. He also produced three try causes, second only to Elliott Whitehead (10) amongst the Raiders forwards.

As mentioned, Harawira-Naera was recruited with an eye to the vacancy left in the second row by John Bateman's departure. But he'll be in a battle for the spot with Hudson Young. It is difficult to compare the 2020 statistics of the two players, because of Harawira-Naera's low minutes and fewer appearances. But I'd still conclude that Young's defensive numbers were better this year, while Young's attacking numbers compare pretty well too. Most people are expecting that Harawira-Naera will be given the first shot at filling Bateman's spot. He'll have the benefit in 2021 of a "full" pre-season - something he didn't have this year. But he'll need to be working hard on his defence. The choice between Harawira-Naera and Young will be one of the tougher calls for Ricky Stuart prior to Round 1 next year.

How did you rate Corey Harawira-Naera's 2020? Tell us below.

Corey Harawira-Naera's 2020: 5/10



2020 Statistics: (Stats from Fox Sports Lab)
Games: 11
Average minutes: 30
Points: 0
Tries: 0
Try assists: 0
Try contributions: 2
Total try involvements: 2
Total kicks: 3
Kick metres: 31
Forced line drop outs: 1
Total runs: 84
All run metres: 810
Average metres per carry: 9
Average metres per game: 74
Tackle breaks: 15
Offloads: 11
Line breaks: 3
Line break assists: 1
Tackles: 135
Average tackles per game: 12
1 on 1 tackles: 6
Missed tackles: 12
Average missed tackles per game: 1.1
Ineffective tackles: 12
Tackle efficiency: 85 per cent
Try causes: 3
Line break causes: 4
Errors: 2
Penalties conceded: 4

[Botman]

If Stuart takes Hudson Young, and plays him in the back row to start the year...that would stunningly dumb
The guy looks a solid OK fger on the edge, and a budding superstar as a middle... that's surely not a tough or hard call for anyone who watched the 2020 Raiders

CHN should get first crack at back row, he'll give us a strong hole runner on the edge, but he's not going to be the defensive stand out JB is. Looking forward to seeing how he goes for us next year. Think 5/10 given his limited games and minutes is a reasonably fair score when stacking him against others... his individual performances in a vacuum are probably a touch higher

[afgtnk]

His defensive frailties are almost solely concentrated on his inside shoulder and players cutting back in on it. I don't see too many issues with him on the physical side or reading play.

He's a powerful ball runner and knows how to hit a hole. An off season spent on correcting his issue with lateral mobility in the line will round him out as a quality player IMO, and a far better edge option than Young, who at the moment should be a middle or nothing.

[BJ]

Good analysis Afgtnk. I’m 5 / 10

[Belcher#1]

I know it takes time to climatise to a new team especially after being basically ostracised for 6 months due to the school girl controversy, but I thought he was disappointing.
His stats are padded big time by the last 20min against the broncos when they pretty much gave up and stopped tackling. He has shown for the dogs and kiwis how good a hole runner he is but never really clicked with Georgie this year.

His lack of effort in defense is a big concern and will hopefully be worked on in the off-season.

[BadnMean]

If we look at how long it took Rapana to get fit and firing after coming back from Japan - several weeks- then I don't see any issue with how CHN came back after being completely alone and outside a professional organisation + during a lockdown + a personal lowpoint.

He was steady enough in his first month getting fitness and looked more and more the weapon he's been for other clubs as the season progressed. Let's look at his last game- a finals performance vs a perennial benchmark team and he absolutely stood up. 11 runs, 80 odd metres, 3 tackle breaks, 5 offloads!!! 20 tackles- in less than a half of footy. That's a meaningful contribution. The offloads alone would match some of our forwards output for a whole or half a season. That's what he's for.

Good analysis of his defensive areas for improvement here already. I hope we see them. Pretty sure we'll see a better outcome, he'll be fitter and more used to his team mates, Ricky will work on the exact issues. But I doubt he'll become JB in defence- he's a different beast.

Overall our pack needed 2 things; some more powerful, direct runners, guys who can hit a hole and punch through+ some more offload threat to break down really good defences and spark attack. When Young was out we really lacked that threat as our best runners in the forwards (JB and Tapine) tend to stop and palm or shimmy across. Sometimes that's great but overall, you need a balance and no one else could really run that style really well (Papa aside, and Elliot can do it, just not the athletic level needed to excel at it). Papa was our only real offload exponent left on the park. Everyone else is in the "occasional" category apart from maybe Havilii.

CHN ticks those boxes. So he's a good addition to the pack. He showed he can still run hard, surge onto a ball or through a gap. He'll give George a bit to work with in gap running and offloads. Hopefully we station CNK over that side with a brief to run off his hip to get something going on that right side and Jack, Smelliot and Toots can do their thing on the left.

6/10 contribution, but all told and if we look at his time on the park or how well he did his role as an impact benchy it's more like 6.5/7 out of 10.

[-PJ-]

He went ok.

Rip into the off season Corey.

5.43/10

[BadnMean]

I'd like to see him starting at right edge, with Young at starting lock or bench role (give him minutes at lock or even resting an edge). I just see that CHN can terrorise out there with his size and offloads and running style whereas Young doesn't quite overmatch people that well on an edge but he can certainly step through a slower prop or bulldoze a hooker or outpace both of those through the middle.

If an edge forward goes down for a period of games, I'd be shifting Young to an edge only then as a stop gap- since he's our best FG standard backup edge and we have more than enough quality middles.

[Matt]

Ill have what Botman and Afgfk are having. CHN edge. Young middle. Score of 5. That is all.

[sprintman]

Came in cold after a long time without playing/training. Damn good effort considering...

[Seiffert82]

Our right side SR spot and our two centres will be the most intriguing questions for Stuart to answer next season.

I thought CHN looked enthusiastic and showed a lot of potential this season. Improving his technique in defence will be a job for the coaches, but I do think his hole hitting ability will complement Williams' game more than Bateman did.

I'm really not sure if he's an 80 minute player though. Certainly not with the same impact. (I have worries that Whitehead's impact might regress a bit too.)

Anyway, I saw some really good signs late in the season that CHN should be a good fit for our team, but I do have some concerns about our defence right across that right hand side.

5/10 is probably fair.

[Seiffert82]

I'm also pretty comfortable using Young to spell either Whitehead or CHN at second row to be honest, although it will be interesting to see what Rushton brings.

[greeneyed]

Anyway, I saw some really good signs late in the season that CHN should be a good fit for our team, but I do have some concerns about our defence right across that right hand side.

The defence is really the thing that gives me reason to pause on CHN starting in the second row. And I think Ricky Stuart will have concerns about that too, given his emphasis on defence after 2017-18. He will really be wanting to work on it in the off season. 85 per cent tackle efficiency for a forward who was often playing in the middle... that needs improving.

[Seiffert82]

Anyway, I saw some really good signs late in the season that CHN should be a good fit for our team, but I do have some concerns about our defence right across that right hand side.

The defence is really the thing that gives me reason to pause on CHN starting in the second row. And I think Ricky Stuart will have concerns about that too, given his emphasis on defence after 2017-18. He will really be wanting to work on it in the off season. 85 per cent tackle efficiency for a forward who was often playing in the middle... that needs improving.

Yeah, it wouldn't surprise me if Stuart started Young in that spot and left CHN in that impact role off the bench. Given our depth of quality middles I'd be pretty OK with that to be honest. I think Young has the ability to play either role successfully.

[Botman]

Anyway, I saw some really good signs late in the season that CHN should be a good fit for our team, but I do have some concerns about our defence right across that right hand side.

The defence is really the thing that gives me reason to pause on CHN starting in the second row. And I think Ricky Stuart will have concerns about that too, given his emphasis on defence after 2017-18. He will really be wanting to work on it in the off season. 85 per cent tackle efficiency for a forward who was often playing in the middle... that needs improving.

Yeah, it wouldn't surprise me if Stuart started Young in that spot and left CHN in that impact role off the bench. Given our depth of quality middles I'd be pretty OK with that to be honest. I think Young has the ability to play either role successfully.

You've lost your god damn mind.
Di.. Did you watch Hudson Young at all this year? The mind truly boggles.
It is utterly unfathomable to me that anyone who watched this season would 'OK' with moving Hudson Young away from the middle. You've got a player who consistently made impact plays in the middle, like game changing impact, and you're 'OK' with shifting that guy out wide where the best anyone ever said about him was "i didnt notice him at all, which means he didnt **** up"

Young is the last resort option to plug the gap if CHN is utterly unplayable. He's not the starting option for 2021 right now unless we're taking the god damn piss.

Now it may be that Young develops something different and ends up a stud edge player... crazier things have happened, but as it stands right now, based on what we have seen of him, i have to question the sanity of anyone who is OK with taking a major offensive x-factor in a team that sorely needs ones, and sending him to a positon where the best you can say is he's barely noticable.

[Seiffert82]

Anyway, I saw some really good signs late in the season that CHN should be a good fit for our team, but I do have some concerns about our defence right across that right hand side.

The defence is really the thing that gives me reason to pause on CHN starting in the second row. And I think Ricky Stuart will have concerns about that too, given his emphasis on defence after 2017-18. He will really be wanting to work on it in the off season. 85 per cent tackle efficiency for a forward who was often playing in the middle... that needs improving.

Yeah, it wouldn't surprise me if Stuart started Young in that spot and left CHN in that impact role off the bench. Given our depth of quality middles I'd be pretty OK with that to be honest. I think Young has the ability to play either role successfully.

You've lost your god damn mind.
Di.. Did you watch Hudson Young at all this year? The mind truly boggles.
It is utterly unfathomable to me that anyone who watched this season would 'OK' with moving Hudson Young away from the middle. You've got a player who consistently made impact plays in the middle, like game changing impact, and you're 'OK' with shifting that guy out wide where the best anyone ever said about him was "i didnt notice him at all, which means he didnt **** up"

Young is the last resort option to plug the gap if CHN is utterly unplayable. He's not the starting option for 2021 right now unless we're taking the god damn piss.

Now it may be that Young develops something different and ends up a stud edge player... crazier things have happened, but as it stands right now, based on what we have seen of him, i have to question the sanity of anyone who is OK with taking a major offensive x-factor in a team that sorely needs ones, and sending him to a positon where the best you can say is he's barely noticable.

I know that's your position.

I'm not saying Young is a better edge than middle. I'm saying we've got a ton of quality middles and not many second rowers. I want our best players on the field as much as possible.

It's really not that hard to comprehend.

Hopefully CHN kills it and it's a moot point.

[Botman]

I disagree. Its extremely difficult to comprhend as a viable option to start the 2021 season given what we have seen so far, unless something catastophic happens to our two edge players, or Hudson Young suddenly emerges in pre season as something he's not shown so far in FG.

To comprehend it with what we have seen thus far, i would need to have my skull bashed in with a tyre iron until i had no memory of 2020... which in fairness wouldnt be the worst thing.

Lets also not gloss over this fact, ultimately the 2020's teams achillies heel was not the defence, despite that being a major talking point, the major failing of the 2020 Raiders was that we couldnt score points in the red zone against good teams.

The 2021 team shouldnt be swapping two potential game breakers (Hudson as a middle, and CHN as an edge) with the aim of winning a premiership built on defending 14-18 at best against the top teams. That just wont cut it.

[afgtnk]

I'll never quite understand people's obsession with moving a player out of a position they're shining in, with the intention being that somehow it'll benefit the team.

Young was crud as an edge player this season. He had little to no effect there, and many on here rightfully called him out. He then moves to the middle, taking a few games to find his feet before he starts to shine. To the position he brings a different set of skills and attributes, which has an uplifting effect on our dour game.

He needs to keep playing there as much as possible to develop, because although at the risk of getting ahead of myself, it's where he could potentially become a rep player down the track based on some of his performances at the back end. Should he keep at this pace, footy natural selection will take place and the guys beneath him will have their spots put into question.

[julian87]

As usual agree with pig.

CHN is the direct Bateman replacement. He came in unfit and solved our middle third injury problems this season (Guler, Soliola and Hors long term injuries). That was simply a short term fix that solved several short term problems in one hit.

If CHN doesn’t get flogged this pre season to become our right edge second rower then Stuart has lost it. In fact he could probably play on the left to run off Wighton with Whitehead giving the team a ball player on both edges.

Hudson Young is our version of Radley/Murray/Yeo. If this doesn’t happen we’re kidding imo.

[julian87]

In terms of this year’s campaign he performed admirably and exceeded my expectations. A 5/6 out of 10 makes sense. He has the potential to be a 9/10 second rower though. He’s almost born for that role in modern footy when fit.

[greeneyed]

Who says Hudson Young played poorly in the second row? All round he’s performed more strongly than CHN in 2020... Let’s see how they shape up in the pre season. I’ll go with Ricky’s choice. But there shouldn’t be a long leave pass given for poor performance for any player stepping into the second row. Of course the other option is Tapine. There are heaps of middles, but not many edge players.

[julian87]

Young was admirable but mediocre on the edge. He grew another leg using leg speed and footwork through the middle once Bateman was back. It was like it was a completely different player.

[Seiffert82]

Who says Hudson Young played poorly in the second row? All round he’s performed more strongly than CHN in 2020... Let’s see how they shape up in the pre season. I’ll go with Ricky’s choice. But there shouldn’t be a long leave pass given for poor performance for any player stepping into the second row. Of course the other option is Tapine. There are heaps of middles, but not many edge players.

Yeah, unfortunately Young had his papers stamped by many after the 12 games he played last season. This is a guy who has come in and done anything his coach has asked of him. He really stepped up at the end of this season and I'm not at all convinced that the only contributing factor was moving him into the middle of the park.

In saying that, I'm also not suggesting he's a better second rower than he is a lock. It's a discussion of the relative merits of CHN vs Young if CHN doesn't improve his defence next season. We have the likes of Papa, Guler, Tapine etc who are clearly middles. If there are any issues with either Whitehead or CHN next year I'm really not sure why the idea of using Hudson Young in the second row is a stupid. It's really quite odd.

I also find it quite odd that certain people had completely written Young off as a player but now think his form at the end of the season came out of the blue and was due to one single factor.

[Seiffert82]

As usual agree with pig.

CHN is the direct Bateman replacement. He came in unfit and solved our middle third injury problems this season (Guler, Soliola and Hors long term injuries). That was simply a short term fix that solved several short term problems in one hit.

If CHN doesn’t get flogged this pre season to become our right edge second rower then Stuart has lost it. In fact he could probably play on the left to run off Wighton with Whitehead giving the team a ball player on both edges.

Hudson Young is our version of Radley/Murray/Yeo. If this doesn’t happen we’re kidding imo.

I'm quite aware of all that. I'm the first person hoping CHN does a good job of replacing Bateman. When CHN came onto the market I was gunning big time for the club to sign him to replace Bateman. No need to convince me of his potential.

[Seiffert82]

I disagree. Its extremely difficult to comprhend as a viable option to start the 2021 season given what we have seen so far, unless something catastophic happens to our two edge players, or Hudson Young suddenly emerges in pre season as something he's not shown so far in FG.

To comprehend it with what we have seen thus far, i would need to have my skull bashed in with a tyre iron until i had no memory of 2020... which in fairness wouldnt be the worst thing.

Lets also not gloss over this fact, ultimately the 2020's teams achillies heel was not the defence, despite that being a major talking point, the major failing of the 2020 Raiders was that we couldnt score points in the red zone against good teams.

The 2021 team shouldnt be swapping two potential game breakers (Hudson as a middle, and CHN as an edge) with the aim of winning a premiership built on defending 14-18 at best against the top teams. That just wont cut it.

We made the Prelim final and directly lost it on the back of horrific defence on the edges.

And all it takes is for the club to have an issue with one of our second rowers for Stuart to need to look for alternatives. That's the point.

Anyway, we get it. Hudson Young is a gun middle. Thanks for the scoop.

[Botman]

Who says Hudson Young played poorly in the second row? All round he’s performed more strongly than CHN in 2020... Let’s see how they shape up in the pre season. I’ll go with Ricky’s choice. But there shouldn’t be a long leave pass given for poor performance for any player stepping into the second row. Of course the other option is Tapine. There are heaps of middles, but not many edge players.

he didnt play poorly. He was a JAG.
Where as he impacted games consistently as a middle... If we want to just fill a gap and let an x-factor be reduced to a JAG. Then sure stick him out there in the backrow and we'll be poorer for it.

Edit: Julian nailed it with this post

Young was admirable but mediocre on the edge. He grew another leg using leg speed and footwork through the middle once Bateman was back. It was like it was a completely different player.

[Botman]

As usual agree with pig.

CHN is the direct Bateman replacement. He came in unfit and solved our middle third injury problems this season (Guler, Soliola and Hors long term injuries). That was simply a short term fix that solved several short term problems in one hit.

If CHN doesn’t get flogged this pre season to become our right edge second rower then Stuart has lost it. In fact he could probably play on the left to run off Wighton with Whitehead giving the team a ball player on both edges.

Hudson Young is our version of Radley/Murray/Yeo. If this doesn’t happen we’re kidding imo.

Wighton and Whitehead have quite a potent combination going there on the right and in most cases you'd be hesitant to change that up, but this is one instance where i would think really hard about whether we should do that. George and Smelly on one side and Wighton, CHN on the other could be really beneficial for both edges. interesting idea, that one.

[Seiffert82]

I'll never quite understand people's obsession with moving a player out of a position they're shining in, with the intention being that somehow it'll benefit the team.

Young was crud as an edge player this season. He had little to no effect there, and many on here rightfully called him out. He then moves to the middle, taking a few games to find his feet before he starts to shine. To the position he brings a different set of skills and attributes, which has an uplifting effect on our dour game.

He needs to keep playing there as much as possible to develop, because although at the risk of getting ahead of myself, it's where he could potentially become a rep player down the track based on some of his performances at the back end. Should he keep at this pace, footy natural selection will take place and the guys beneath him will have their spots put into question.

Being lectured about Young by a bloke who had completely written him off half way through the season. That'll do me.

[afgtnk]

..... because he was playing on the edge. A position he does not seem to play very well in.

[Seiffert82]

So we keep being told.

All I was saying was that out of our entire squad Young is the bloke I'd put on the edge if CHN struggles next year. Apparently that's the equivalent of me saying I am keen to drop CHN and rearrange the forward pack to play Young in the second row because I think that's his best position.

I'm very well aware that Hudson Young played very good football in the middle at the end of last season. I watched it with my own eyes. I was also VERY keen for the club to sign CHN as he is clearly a great runner on that edge.

However, I don't at all agree that Hudson Young was mediocre in the second row. I rate him as our best backup in that position should we have any issues with CHN or Whitehead. I'd much prefer him there than Tapine or Horsburgh or Havili or whatever other option we might have.

[greeneyed]

So we keep being told.

All I was saying was that out of our entire squad Young is the bloke I'd put on the edge if CHN struggles next year. Apparently that's the equivalent of me saying I am keen to drop CHN and rearrange the forward pack to play Young in the second row because I think that's his best position.

I'm very well aware that Hudson Young played very good football in the middle at the end of last season. I watched it with my own eyes. I was also VERY keen for the club to sign CHN as he is clearly a great runner on that edge.

However, I don't at all agree that Hudson Young was mediocre in the second row. I rate him as our best backup in that position should we have any issues with CHN or Whitehead. I'd much prefer him there than Tapine or Horsburgh or Havili or whatever other option we might have.

I agree. It’s not madness to suggest Hudson Young is a very reasonable challenger for the starting second row spot. He’s a better defender than CHN, while CHN is probably better in attack running wide, when in form. Personally, I think Young was better than CHN all round this year. Certainly better in defence and compared well in attack.

I do expect Ricky Stuart will give CHN first shot in the second row. I wouldn’t be surprised if he was promised that on recruitment. But I don’t expect Ricky will tolerate leaking a lot of points on the right for long either.

[Botman]

Young was better than CHN this year, no questions about that

Primarily because young was moved to be a middle forward where he is clearly best suited and CHN played out of position in the middle to help us get out of the jam with middle injuries we had and to help get him back into game shape

It is however absolute madness to suggest Young is a challenger for the starting back row spot. That option shouldn’t even be on the table whatsoever unless Elliott/CHN are injured

[Bay53]

I am super excited about having this guy going forward. I am not too interested about his performances this year, I reckon with a full preseason and being in the right headspace coming into next season he can be a star for us.

[Matt]

Q. How many people thought Yeo was an avg edge player with decent defensive reads and versatility?
My guess, most.

Cleary moves him to lock, all of a sudden he is a top 4-6 lock in the comp.

Same goes for Young. He is ok on the edge, defends well, but doesn't really add anything in attack. He moves back to to the middle, and starts looking like a rep player.

In short, I agree with J87s assessment that Young is our Murray, Radley, Yeo, Carrigan.

In fact, I think Tapine is a better edge player than Huddo. The top edge guys are tackle breaking try scorers, such as Fifita, Kikau, etc. CHN is that guy. All his big plays this yr incl footwork, power, strength and speed. Perfect for the edge.

[Botman]

Edge or middle, i still think Yeo low key is kind of average

I wouldnt trade any of our young middles for him straight up. None. He's a JAG in a very good team.
Guler, Hors, Young... Nope. Ill take my chances with those guys over Yeo.