A few things about speed and the NRL. Players with a high turnover but short stride length will always look faster than they actually are. And the players with the highest top speeds recorded are often those that are chasing without a ball in their hands. Drinkwater chasing down Walsh in the weekend is a good example.
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NRL NRL - Who is this fastest sprinter?
- Thread starter Playdaball
- Start date
NZWarriors.com
Both Walsh and Drinkwater are not that fast. Walsh is fast off the mark and has rapid acceleration. He will however get hunted down over the 100m by most of the speedsters.
They should do an NRL obstacle course.
Something like run 40m, tackle a bag with over 100kgs of force, run 20m, drop to the ground to simulate a tackle, bounce back up and run the rest of the length of the field, stepping around cones to test lateral movement. Then finally kick a ball over the posts.
Test multiple league skills for best all round player/ athlete.
CHT would be in the running until the final kicking test
Okay, at high school my best 100m was 11.02 but I have to say this pales into comparison when you consider just how fast Graham Annesley who easily performs above and beyond Olympic standard can convince the media on any given Monday that no matter how much the officials got it wrong they didn't get it wrong.
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11.02 is very good for school sprinters. Metcalf is probably the only current Warriors 1st grade player that could beat that time.
10.58 is the Auckland schools record and that was set by a highly competitive athletics sprinter that I know. 10.6 is the NZ schools record. None of the boys running those times would have body type suitable for footy though.
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Most footy speedsters are good up to 60m then struggle in the speed maintenance phase as they don't train for it. Line breaks of more than 60m are rare anyway. Those that do get run down around the 60m mark, probably panic and try to accelerate again which is a speed killer on the track and the footy field. Once you get to top speed, that's it. You aren't getting any faster.
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Beastmode
Contributor
On one 
I’d give it to Tohu Harris
I’d give it to Tohu Harris NZWarriors.com
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How appropriate 2 of the best oblige us not long after this thread starts up.
Ill say it again, i dont care about track times, on a footy field and in a game situation.....ill back the Hammer over anyone....this was great to watch....apparently he was clocked over 40km at one point.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3iwA3hu5Qiw
Ill say it again, i dont care about track times, on a footy field and in a game situation.....ill back the Hammer over anyone....this was great to watch....apparently he was clocked over 40km at one point.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3iwA3hu5Qiw
If you watch the video at the point where it shows JAC running head on in slow motion, you can see his right foot splaying out then twisting back in to push off which costs him time.
You might not care about track times but Hammer has definitely been shown how to relax and back his top speed which is something that the vast majority of footy speedsters don't do naturally. He will have probably got that from Brisbane Grammars athletics programme. I'd back him over Saab and Young over 100m, his power to weight ratio is optimal for speed.
40kmph is insane on grass and in boots. He hit that speed about 40m into the chase too.
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Hammer didn't even look like he was putting maximum effort in. Just such a relaxed running style. Fast and smooth.
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Relaxing at top speed is such a hard thing to coach, most sprinters think that if they try harder they'll go faster. That's not what happens, they tense up and their stride shortens.
Another great aspect of that chase down by Hammer is that he didn't try to grab the Fox until he got as close as possible. One of the worst things to do on a chase down is to reach out to grab the runner as soon as you get within a couple of metres of them. All your speed goes out the window when both of your arms are reaching out in front of you.
Kini's not that fast but he doesn't lose speed when he moves laterally. He'd be behind Campbell, Fifita, Pariera and Brimson in straight line speed. Maybe Sami too.