"Heads In!" Round 19
Unpacking the scrum each week in the NRL
It might be a case of too little, too late, but the return of fullback Tom Trbojevic for Manly this week is reason enough to tune in on Saturday afternoon. Meanwhile, Newcastle are still searching for answers in an injury riddled spine.
Whether you’re searching for an edge in the workplace tipping comp, or just desperate to talk some footy, you’ve found the place. Join me as we unpack the scrum that is the NRL each week.
Centre-Field Scrum
What’s centre-frame in the Rugby League lens this week?
Tale of Two Fullbacks
While the Sea Eagles race may be already run for 2020, the return of fullback Tom Trbojevic from injury this week against the Gold Coast Titans adds plenty of hype to what would otherwise be a dead rubber fixture on Saturday afternoon.
It’s been a case of polar opposites for Manly and the Gold Coast this season, and there may be a particular reason for this.
The Sea Eagles starting the year well and quickly firmed as a popular pick for finals contenders, while the Titans began the year as relative unknowns - a new coach in Justin Holbrook (who has since well and truely proven his coaching credentials) and a roster most agreed was in a rebuilding stage meant that Gold Coast fans were realistic about their chances in 2020.
But as Manly’s strong start to the season was literally hamstrung by injuries to key players - namely Trbojevic - and their form deteriorated, the Titans have shown signs of improvement from week to week since the competition’s resumption, and particularly since the return of fullback AJ Brimson.
As we covered a few weeks back, Brimson’s involvement in the Titans’ offensive and defensive structures have been first class since his return from injury in Round 12, notching up three tries, nine line breaks and some crucial try saving efforts including this one on a flying Kotoni Staggs last week:
Just as Brimson has freed up halves Jamal Fogarty and Ash Taylor to play some of their best attacking footy in the last month or so, Des Hasler and Manly fans will be hoping their own talismanic fullback can help the Sea Eagles find their mojo and finish the season strongly - or at least give us another one of these to enjoy:
Rookie Tevita Funa - who was relatively unheard of before this season - has shown a willingness and ability to compete in first grade admirably in Trbojevic’s absence but respectfully, there is no comparison.
The man they call ‘Turbo’ plays his role brilliantly in set plays (see above) while his combination with brother Jake Trbojevic is grossly understated - take this passage against the Raiders which we covered earlier in the season, where the brothers almost created something out of nothing:
The play begins with Taniela Paseka and Tom running simple support lines for a Jake Trbojevic hit up, and Canberra’s defence tightens up accordingly:
As Jake engages the line, Tom is running an unders line between George Williams (just out of frame) and Joseph Tapine:
But just before Jake passes, Tom bounces off his right foot, to Williams’ outside shoulder:
This means by the time Tom gets the ball, he already has Williams beat on the outside, and Curtis Scott is forced to come in:
If Gosiewski had been up flatter in support, it’s a simple offload from Tom and Manly score again.
It’s easy to picture Jake and Tom practising this against imaginary defenders in the backyard as kids growing up.
Should ‘Turbo’ play on Saturday, his combination with Jake and captain Daly Cherry-Evans will be crucial to Manly’s hopes of ending the season on a high.
Right Scrum-Line
Who is feeling the pressure this week?
Defending with Drinkwater
Way back in the offseason when we were preparing to launch Rugby League Writers this year, I was searching for a theme around which to frame these weekly preview articles, and ended up settling on this scrum analogy (which hopefully makes a little sense to you all by now).
I paired the right scrum-line with an individual/collective under pressure that week, as most teams favour a left-edge attack - if not for any other reason than because most playmakers have a better right-to-left pass - which by default means that right-edge defensive units are often under the most pressure.
The North Queensland Cowboys’ right edge is a primary example of this as they prepare to face a firing Penrith Panthers on Friday night, after being picked apart by Cameron Smith and the Melbourne Storm last week:
The Cowboys’ right edge has conceded 35 tries this season, only slightly better than the cellar dwelling Broncos (36) and Bulldogs (40) who’s horror seasons have been widely publicised.
New signing Esan Marsters started the year at right centre but was consistently found out defending alongside Kyle Feldt until he was dropped from the side in Round 10 and replaced with veteran centre Justin O’Neill, who has done only marginally better.
But it is five-eighth Scott Drinkwater who I will be keeping an eye on this Friday, after he was targeted ruthlessly by his former club last weekend and made a number of poor reads in defence (see above).
While I still believe a Drinkwater / Jake Clifford halves combination is North Queensland’s best bet currently, Drinkwater in particular needs to improve his defensive combinations with O’Neill and Feldt down that right edge, or the Panthers will have a field day tomorrow night.
A few wide passes from the Storm last week moved the ball to an edge which forced Drinkwater out of the line and into this tackle on Kenny Bromwich:
Bromwich earns a quick play the ball to leave Drinkwater out of position, meaning the much slower Mitchell Dunn is now at marker and must chase Cameron Munster and Nicho Hynes down the short side:
Dunn is no chance from this position, meaning O’Neill has to jam in on Hynes and Feldt on Josh Addo-Carr. They do - and that should have been the end of it - but Addo-Carr brushes off Feldt’s soft attempt before darting back infield and scoring an easy try.
Defending at three- and four-man (Drinkwater and Dunn in this instance) is arguably the most difficult position to defend at in rugby league. Backline shifts are designed to target these defenders in order to create space for their outside men, with various attacking options available depending on the defender’s movements.
In this instance, Drinkwater needed more help from Dunn to make the tackle on Bromwich, so that Drinkwater could fill into the defensive line down the short side - or at the very least, so that he could get into position at marker.
How Drinkwater and the Cowboys work as a unit against a Panthers’ left edge featuring Jarome Luai, Viliame Kikau, Stephen Crichton and Josh Mansour this weekend is likely to be a key feature of the match.
This is a Panthers quartet with 34 tries between them - only Newcastle (think Kalyn Ponga and Bradman Best early in the season) and South Sydney (through Cody Walker) have scored more tries down their left edge in 2020 - with Luai handing out almost half of those (16 try assists) in what has been a breakout season for the young five-eighth.
Expect Penrith to explore heavily down their left edge on Friday night.
Left Scrum-Line
My left-field thought on the NRL this week
Hoy to Halves
Newcastle Knights’ Head Coach Adam O’Brien has just two more games to find his best 17 to take into the finals series.
A horror year of injuries has spine players Jayden Brailey, Connor Watson, Andrew McCullough, Blake Green, and Kurt Mann all watching from the sidelines this week as the Knights take on a languishing St George Illawarra, in what new five-eighth Tex Hoy must be considering as a job audition for the finals.
After a stellar showing in the NRL Nines tournament that had club legend Andrew Johns calling for him to be Mitchell Pearce’s halves partner for the 2020 season, Hoy has managed eight first grade appearances this year from the bench or at fullback.
The diminutive utility back has shown some classy touches along the way - he cracked 180 running meters both times when starting at fullback this year - although the pressure will be on his ball playing and decision making as he starts in the halves for the first time in his NRL career.
Even more so, considering ‘regular’ hooker Kurt Mann is missing through suspension this week, meaning another rookie in Chris Randall will line up in O’Brien’s starting squad on Sunday night.
Pearce was under immense pressure as Newcastle’s primary playmaker last weekend, with Ponga out of the side. Even with his fullback returning this week, Pearce will need Hoy to present more of an attacking threat than Mason Lino did last week.
Too often Pearce was making decisions or fifth tackle options with two or three Roosters’ players all over him. The defending premiers were able to commit defenders there because Lino and Hoy weren’t threatening elsewhere on the park.
While Pearce will be expecting to do the bulk of the kicking again this weekend, having Ponga or Hoy outside him as attacking threats will at the very least buy him some more time to execute or give him a retreating defensive line to run at.
Off the back of this run, Pearce shifted left to Lino who put a deft grubber in behind a scrambling Roosters’ defensive line which tri-colours knocked on, earning Newcastle a fresh attacking set - good footy.
It’s not hard to picture Pearce passing to Hoy down the Knights’ right edge this weekend with Ponga hanging around the back, before looking to cut back through the middle at tiring defenders.
But just as with Scott Drinkwater and the Cowboys above, we’ll be watching to see how Hoy handles the responsibilities of defending in the front line.
Jake Friend picked out Hoy’s smaller frame short of the line last week, and with Ben Hunt playing some clever footy out of dummy-half at the moment, it won't surprise for the Dragons to look for similar opportunities on Sunday afternoon.