It's Ben, not Benji, seizing half chance
July 3, 2009
Dragons skipper Ben Hornby is flourishing at halfback, writes Andrew Stevenson.
Rugby league halfbacks are born, not made. Start with a dominant personality type, the ball skills and vision to match an inherent desire to control a game, throw in a dose of short-man syndrome and a lipful of cheek and you've got your man.
Or so popular wisdom goes, supported in point of fact by the overwhelming number of failed attempts to graft a player into the game's most influential position. Most often they fail and, only this week, Benji Marshall - without peer as a conjuring wizard with the ball in his hands - conceded defeat after an underwhelming year trying to fit snugly into the No.7 jersey.
Marshall hadn't had that far to move, slotting in one spot closer to the play and the knockers and know-alls will have evidence now to support their contention: "Benji's not a halfback."
Once, they might have said the same about Ben Hornby, the St George Illawarra fullback-cum-hooker-cum-five-eighth who's shed the utility moniker with an accomplished season in the playmaking role. The man who started wearing No.7 because everyone else had fallen over is standing upright as captain of a side on top of the ladder and favourites for the NRL title. With 11 wins from 15 it's little wonder he feels the jersey is a perfect fit and the reason is because Hornby, 29, has found where he fits into a much bigger picture.
"In previous years I felt like I had to do everything when I went to halfback. I felt like I had to kick off, do drop-outs, kick the ball in general and come up with tries every time I touched it and it probably just got the better of me mentally," he said. "This year I've really concentrated on what I need to do well to play well."
Having the competition's best kicker in Jamie Soward took one weight off his shoulders. Having, in Wayne Bennett, the rare coach who has successfully converted a fullback into a playmaker - and done so with such success that despite the initial howls of outrage few can remember Darren Lockyer the fullback - has also made life easier. Is it a coincidence that his form flourished with Bennett's arrival?
"I don't think so," Hornby said. "Obviously he's had the experience before so that's helped me as well. But I'm not allowed to talk about Wayne. He keeps his cards close to his chest."
So close they're tattooed many would say. But Hornby, too, doesn't have that effusive personality normally found in the halfback, although he says he is a talker and likes to be in control.
Bennett, in fact, had to push him to have more say in the Dragons attack. "Every week we'd come in to video and he'd be on me about getting the ball more. It just took a bit of time to find my feet - now I'm trying to get as much as I can," said Hornby.
Hornby was not alone in thinking he had to come up with a try every time he touched the ball as he played in some very good Dragons sides that never achieved greatness. Like the halfback, the team has changed and Bennett's guiding hand is revealed. "In the past we've had good sides and we've probably tried to score too much, too often and we've come up with errors," Hornby said.
Under Bennett, the Dragons try to "to play with some composure, try and build pressure. You've got to weigh it up. You don't want to try all risky plays and be tackling the whole match," he said. "We've still got that element of unpredictability but generally we try and play pretty conservatively."
Former NSW and Illawarra coach Graham Murray has watched with admiration as the Dragons have been transformed into a side that's out-performing their roster rather than the underperformance of past seasons. The hand of Bennett is there for all to see with Murray viewing Hornby as a major beneficiary. The decision to put Hornby in the seven jumper and leave him there has paid off with a player who might have lost a bit of toe but who has definitely got faster between the ears.
"He [Hornby] probably couldn't have made the halfback transition when he first came in but he's been around long enough now to know what's required as a halfback," Murray said.
And should he doubt himself, Bennett has parked his truck firmly in Hornby's corner.
"Hornby probably had some doubts himself about whether he could play halfback. Any setbacks Wayne just rolls over and goes again, whereas any setback in the past probably got a bit too much for him," Murray said.
If Bennett is the brains behind the Dragons' revival, Hornby is the body. "We coaches demand so much of our halfback," admitted Murray. Hornby agreed. "You're going out there putting his tactics or instructions into play so you've got to be pretty aware of what he wants you to do."
It's also the most intimate relationship any player has with his coach meaning Hornby is one man who knows what's written on the cards Bennett is keeping so close to his chest. And, as the Dragons' credentials grow each passing week, you don't need to read tarot to know the destiny they have in mind.
