17,000 touches. 6100 tackles. And Blayke Brailey is still filthy if he misses a minute

2 weeks ago 2

Blayke Brailey has handled a Steeden 917 times more than any other player this season.

Cronulla’s stand-in skipper hasn’t missed a game in six seasons. He has averaged between 78 and 80 minutes a week for the past five years – almost 200 hours of football.

Accordingly, Brailey has touched the ball over 3000 times more than the NRL’s next most involved player – Bulldogs rake Reed Mahoney – in that period.

His 6146 tackles are the most of any man since 2020. In all, Brailey has handled the ball 17,763 times since he last missed an NRL game. And yet, the 80-kilogram hooker is still filthy about the eight minutes he had to watch from the stands earlier this year when a round-3 win over the Rabbitohs was well and truly in the bag.

“I got a cork and had to come off. I know, soft,” Brailey grins. “I copped a cork in my leg trying to tackle Jack Wighton. He’s big and strong and awkward to handle and I came off. I’ve walked into the sheds and Fitzy [Craig Fitzgibbon] is giving me a bit of cheek about not playing my full minutes.”

Fair enough from Fitzgibbon. Brailey was filthy, after all, when his coach last called him to the bench early – in the final 13 minutes of a 40-20 thrashing of Manly in round 27 last year, when Cronulla’s top-four berth was already assured.

“What can I say? I’m a pretty competitive player, I love the Shire and I love the Sharks. I don’t like sitting on the sideline and I can’t really imagine not playing for 80 minutes.

“It’s something I’m pretty proud of, and I’m just glad Fitzy sees it the same way. Most of the time anyway.”

Brailey signed a new four-year deal with his junior club earlier this month and there’s no arguing he hasn’t earned Cronulla’s healthy upgrade.

When he sheepishly returned the trophy for the Porter-Gallen medal, awarded to the Sharks’ best player, a week ago, officials joked that he might as well hang onto it. Brailey’s name is already inscribed as the 2023 and 2024 recipient, and a third straight win is all but nailed on.

Dally M hooker honours loom large this year, too, given Kangaroos, Maroons and Storm No.9 Harry Grant – his direct opponent in Saturday’s grand final qualifier – is ineligible due to suspension.

In four of the past five NRL seasons, Brailey has handled the ball more than any other player in the game (he was second to Mahoney in 2022).

Since that same season when Fitzgibbon arrived the club, he has ranked in the top three for most tackles across the season, with more than 1000 in each.

Blayke Brailey’s running game has come to the fore this season.

Brailey was already in career-best form before the Sharks lost Cameron McInnes – their spiritual leader and resident ironman – to his second ACL rupture a month ago.

“He’s gone to another level since Cam was injured,” prop Braden Hamlin-Uele says. “The captaincy has brought out the best in him, even if it now means we take orders from someone who looks and sounds like they’re 12 years old.

“His voice has definitely dropped a few octaves these past few weeks, but he leads with that work rate. How many tackles was it? 6000? That’s not healthy.”

Brailey shrugs off his NRL-leading 45 tackles and 134 touches per game this season as simply a No.9’s lot in life. The 27-year-old is not wrong. The difference, in Brayley’s seventh NRL season, is the confidence to back his damaging running game, which has yielded a career-high 16 try-assists.

“Being in the thick of the action, everyone that plays hooker knows that’s what comes with the role, I think that’s why we all play it,” he says. “I touch the ball more than anyone else and I’m the first person to touch the ball on most plays.

“It’s not like you’re waiting for someone to pass the ball to you, right? You’re in charge and you’re steering that. It’s probably been a bit of a slower progression than I had hoped in terms of bringing my running game into the NRL, I’ve always known I’ve had that ability around the ruck, and I’ve been happy with some of the games I’ve produced this year.

“And that’s where credit goes to our middles – I can’t run unless they create ruck speed and a quick play-the-ball to work with.”

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