After a wonderful debut season, Shannon Boyd picked up from where left off in 2014 to not only consolidate his position in the Raiders’ top 17, but establish himself as one of the most exciting front row prospects in the game.
With Brett White retiring at the end of 2014, Boyd took his game to another level this year to help fill the void left by the former international bookend.
The 2014 Rookie of the Year improved on every one of his statistics from his debut season, bar offloads.
The most impressive of these stats were increasing his average metres gained per game by 31 metres, his average tackles per game by 10, more than doubling his tackle breaks and scoring four more tries.
Throughout the season opposition front-rowers not only now knew Boyd's name but had singled him out as one of the dominant forces in Canberra’s pack of forwards.
Boyd is blessed with a monstrous frame, standing at 194cm and weighing in at 122kg, and his ferocious charges into the teeth of the defence regularly puts a dent into the opposition line and allows Canberra to gain the ascendency in momentum.
Ricky Stuart views Boyd as a feature of his forward pack for quite some time, but it wasn’t just the Raiders Coaching staff who rates the Cowra Magpies junior, with Boyd selected in the Country Origin camp alongside Jarrod Croker, Paul Vaughan and Jack Wighton.
Although Boyd didn’t take the field in the fixture, the opportunity to rub shoulders with representative class players did the young tyro’s development a world of good.
If Boyd continues with the same exemplary attitude that he has exuded in the opening two seasons of his NRL career, the sky is the limit for the likeable front-rower.
Most Memorable Moment:
Boyd only scored one try in his 21 appearances in 2014 but he doubled that figure in the space of 11 minutes against the Wests Tigers at GIO Stadium in Round 22.
Wests had hit an early 4-0 lead before the former NSW Under 20’s representative entered the field and with one of his first touches, levelled scores with a barnstorming run off a Josh Hodgson short ball. Incredibly, Boyd managed to plant the ball down amidst four Tigers defenders.
Boyd’s second was even more impressive, and rather intimidating.
Off a tap 10 metres out from the Tigers’ line, Boyd charged ferociously through the teeth of the defence to slam the ball down underneath the posts, giving the Raiders the lead.
He then threw the ball down at James Tedesco in an act of intimidation and possibly a reply to the fullback turning his back on the Raiders last year.
CLCK HERE to see Boyd's two tries.
Boyd's double gave the Raiders a 12-4 lead at half-time, before they eventually succumbed to a 20-18 loss.
Statistics:
Matches |
Runs |
Metres |
Tackles |
Tries |
Try Assists |
Tackle Breaks |
Offloads |
Line Breaks |
20 |
195 |
1971 |
520 |
5 |
0 |
31 |
1 |
4 |
