Brian To’o is likely one of the NRL’s greatest big-game gamers. May he be the primary winger to win the Clive Churchill Medal?
Typical knowledge says a winger cannot win the Clive Churchill Medal for greatest participant within the NRL grand remaining.
It is by no means occurred within the awards’ 37-year historical past, with playmakers and sometimes forwards dominating the listing of previous winners as outdoors backs get omitted within the chilly.
The bookies predict it to occur once more, with Brisbane’s Reece Walsh and Penrith’s Nathan Cleary heat favourites to take it residence after Sunday’s decider.
But when ever a winger may win it, it is Brian To’o, and if he cannot do it then it most likely cannot be executed in any respect as a result of it is laborious to see a winger doing greater than what To’o has managed in Penrith’s most significant wins over their outstanding four-season run.
The highlight is at all times drawn in direction of backbone gamers however To’o has quietly put collectively a fame as the most effective big-game performers in all the sport. It is laborious to think about a winger doing extra on the most important stage.
He was at it once more in Penrith’s 38-4 win over Melbourne within the preliminary remaining when he scored three tries, ran for 181 metres and broke 9 tackles.
After the match, To’o was limping round on a sore calf and regarded like he’d simply been in a automotive crash, however that is common for the nuggety Samoan worldwide. The bumps and bruises he wears aren’t an occupational hazard — they’re why he does what he does on the sphere.
“I at all times have the urge to come back off that area and really feel busted up, however I at all times need extra of it. I am unable to get sufficient of it,” To’o mentioned.
“It is at all times part of the job however I adore it. I really like the physicality, the battle between two groups.
“With the large events, everybody has to play their position and do their half. That is all I am making an attempt to do; I simply wish to do my job to the very best of my skill.”
One of the best of To’o’s skill has confirmed itself to be fairly rattling good, and the numbers he is put up over the previous few finals sequence are completely wild.
He is obtained 182cm and 97kg of Samoan metal at his disposal and, by God, he’ll use it the one means he is aware of how — by working the ball over and time and again till there’s no one else to run it at.
To’o has scored 12 tries in 11 finals matches for the reason that begin of 2020, together with at the very least one in every of Penrith’s 4 preliminary remaining wins and in three throughout two completely different grand finals.
Over the previous three finals sequence, To’o has averaged 24 carries, 229.5 metres and 6.75 sort out busts per recreation and proven a terrific knack for peaking on the proper time.
In 2021, it was his attempt simply after half-time that put Penrith in management of their epic preliminary remaining win over Melbourne, which he scored on a busted ankle.
Final yr he was at it once more with a long-range intercept attempt that flipped the script within the prelim win over Souths and on the way in which he despatched Cody Walker to the land of wind and ghosts with a hellacious fend.
And, like all big-game specialists, To’o by no means peaks too early. In every of Penrith’s two grand remaining victories he is produced his highest run metre complete of the finals.
And final yr, when he scored two tries and churned out 299 yards on the bottom, solely a sterling show from fullback Dylan Edwards stored him from claiming man of the match honours.
It was the second yr in a row To’o may declare runner-up standing for the Clive Churchill Medal — he ran for a whopping 299 metres from 24 runs within the membership’s 14-12 win over South Sydney the yr earlier than, lacking out to halfback Nathan Cleary.
However the legend of Massive Recreation Bizza has stored rising on a regular basis, and he is already obtained a bit of little bit of {hardware} to show it after To’o claimed the Brad Fittler Medal as New South Wales’ greatest participant on this yr’s Origin sequence.
To’o is humble to a fault and dismissed any discuss he may make historical past on Sunday towards Brisbane.
In accordance with him, his power, sturdiness, and inhuman willingness to maintain taking over each opposition defender he can discover comes from his teammates.
“I get it from our middles, as a result of I do know they’re busting their arses,” To’o mentioned. “I get motivation from them. They do the laborious yards and so they’re extra busted than me.”
“I get again and do my job for them.
“My drive comes from not solely my household and my religion however from the boys we have now right here. Everybody is keen to come back and put the laborious work in, and it is an infectious power.
“We’ve that can to grind laborious for one another.”
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