How Brodie Retallick 'changed the game' for locks in New Zealand

An unsung hero amongst the many success stories of the Chiefs’ 2023 Super Rugby Pacific campaign, Brodie Retallick’s world-class form is proving just as exceptional as it was ten years ago when the lock’s immense work rate first amplified expectations of what the position is capable of.

A Super Rugby winner in both 2012 and 2013, Retallick became the youngest player to win World Rugby Player of the Year in 2014 and then started in the 2015 Rugby World Cup final, all before turning 24.

Now an All Black centurion, the 31-year-old isn’t compromising an ounce of effort as his Chiefs side look to reclaim the glory that has now evaded them for the past decade.

“The amount of breakdowns he hits, if you look at another lock, say that lock hits 18 or 19 – which is still a good amount of attacking breakdowns – he’s (Retallick’s) in the thirties,” Former Blues captain James Parsons explained on the Aotearoa Rugby Pod.

“32 or 33 times he is in the first three from the Chiefs clearing that breakdown. And what I like about it is he still has relatively high carries, he plays roles elsewhere, but it’s his selfless nature.

“If you watch him work off the ball, sometimes he’s passing teammates to clean another breakdown and another breakdown, so it’s all those sorts of unseen efforts that coaches will pick up and it’s why everyone in the team loves him. It’s because he does things that probably don’t get celebrated in terms of publicity – because you have to watch it and you have to know what you’re looking at to see it.”

The breakdown was an area of weakness for the All Blacks at the start of the 2022 international season, Ireland proved the more clinical side in both retaining and turning over the ball which had the All Blacks consistently on the back foot. The team managed to make some strong strides in that area though and by the end of the year they were providing a strong platform for their backs to attack from.

Parsons says Retallick’s tireless effort around the park set an entirely new precedent for locks when he first came into Super Rugby, and he’s yet to relinquish that superior work ethic.

“He sort of changed the game in the locking sense when they won it back-to-back 2012 and 2013 and from there it was almost like an expectation of tight five players to reach his levels of those attacking breakdowns.

“And he’s second to none in defensive breakdowns as well, he get’s a number of turnovers and for a big man, it’s actually really hard to get that low and not get blown out because you’ve got so much of a target area to get rid of. But he’s so strong and he’s got that size back he’s sort of an immovable object.”

The Chiefs currently sit atop the Super Rugby Pacific table, Retallick and company can enjoy a bye this weekend before facing the Hurricanes in round eight.