Prolific Hess mixing it with greats of game

HOW does anyone stop Coen Hess from scoring tries?

This is the newest conundrum facing Penrith coach Anthony Griffin – and, indeed, the entire Panthers forward pack – who this Thursday night confront a 110kg Cowboy scoring as quickly as any league forward in history.

News Corp can reveal 21- year-old Hess is suddenly crossing the white stripe as consistently as legendary forwards Steve Menzies, Frank Burge and Bob McCarthy.

While his North Queenslanders may have lost against Melbourne on Thursday, the barnstorming backrower still bagged himself a double – taking his overall tryscoring tally to 21 tries from 39 games.

According to Fox Sports Statistics, the stunning strike rate is on par with even Manly Sea Eagles great Menzies, whose 180 career tries remains a record among NRL forwards. Yet over the same time period Hess has now played, even Menzies had scored only three more tries.

Incredibly, the men placed second and third on that list – Glebe forward Burge and Bunnies favourite McCarthy – had both scored fewer tries than this Bundaberg boy has so rapidly racked up. In fact, McCarthy had bagged less than a third of the current Hess tally.

Already the Panthers are being forced to overhaul their attacking playbook after the loss of star No.7 Nathan Cleary with a medial injury.

On top of that, coach Griffin must also find a way to combat Hess – no easy task.