NRL Notepad: Round 10
From now through to October, I’ll look back at my notes from the prior round and highlight an area of each team to keep a close eye on from your couch.
Sydney Roosters v Canberra Raiders
Roosters
Lachlan Lam made the most of his 56 minutes last week to retain his spot on the bench for Thursday night. Jake Friend played roughly 60 minutes when Sam Verrills was available and given how well Lam went against the Cowboys, it won’t be a surprise to see Trent Robinson employ a similar rotation over the coming weeks.
Lam is quick to spot Jake Clifford filling up on the wrong side of the ruck leaving big gaps either side of the defender at A in this play. Darting out of dummy half with James Tedesco hanging off his shoulder, Lam triggers a play that sends the Roosters 30 metres up the field.
He’s spent a lot of time in the coaches box when not on the field, and it shows already.
Raiders
There is only one thing to look out for with the Raiders this week: Dummy half.
Siliva Havili and Tom Starling won’t be able to fill the void left by Josh Hodgson. They simply don’t have it in them. They can’t replicate his control of the side, his poise, or ability to win a match on his own when things are clicking.
Havili and Starling may have decent stints. They might even string together a full game of Hodgson-like domination. But they’re not going to be able to do it over the full season.
So, what is there to look at?
How the pair goes about doing their part to replace the Englishman.
Havili has spent a lot of time at lock. He’s not particularly quick, but the Tongan is a hard ball-runner. Will he look to make his mark with some of the tougher carries rather than trying to make things happen inside the opposition 20 as Hodgson would?
For those that haven’t seen Starling play in his four career-games, he’s a little fella. At only 170cm and 82kg, most players in first-grade can man-handle the 22-year-old if he puts himself in the wrong position. He played three games off the bench for the Raiders last season but didn’t blow anybody away. Can he offer something in attack without cancelling out his good work by being trampled over when defending the goal line?
Melbourne Storm v Gold Coast Titans
Storm
Cameron Munster had started to play some really good football before his injury. Named to return for this one, he’s presented with an ideal opportunity to get straight back into form.
The Titans edge defence is poor. It’s getting better, but there is still a lot of work to do. Munster can expose the Titans edges in ways Ryley Jacks and Jahrome Hughes can’t.
Mainly with plays like this:
With the Titans edge lacking in cohesion, I’d love to see Munster dish up something similar on Friday night.
Titans
It took the Titans 15 minutes to complete a set last week.
They finished the game with 20 errors.
Sure, a win is a win, but that’s all there is to take out of that game. A bad Titans team beat an even worse Warriors team. A repeat of anything close to that will see the Storm run up a cricket score.
To expect the Titans to win is setting them up to fail. Stats Insider gives them a 20% chance to take the chocolates and even that might be generous.
What I would like to see out of the Titans is a high-percentage 80 minutes. Keep the errors to a minimum, compete through the middle, and hang with the Storm by thriving on the little things.
There aren’t many fan bases that will accept a moral victory this far into the season, but a good performance in a loss this week would be more to celebrate than the ugly two points picked up in Round 9.
Wests Tigers v Brisbane Broncos
Tigers
It has been difficult for some to accept given the Tigers ranked 2nd in points per game just three weeks ago, but they are not a good attacking side.
Michael Maguire admitted as much by naming Benji Marshall on the bench last week and has doubled down by dropping Luke Brooks from the side for Friday night.
Billy Walters isn’t the long-term answer for the Tigers but he is a trier. It’s Marshall that will help reignite the Tigers attack. It may only be through simple things, just as he did last week.
In seeing Jaydn Su’A close in on Oliver Clark before the Tigers prop releases an offload, Marshall knows they now have the numbers out wide. A split second is all it takes for Marshall to create the try-scoring opportunity. To Brooks’ credit, he throws a great skip-pass to Moses Mbye who puts Reece Hoffman over the line.
It’s those split-second decisions that come with 313 games worth of first-grade experience that Marshall will provide this week.
Broncos
Much like the Titans win against the Warriors in Round 9, the Broncos beating the Bulldogs doesn’t do a lot for the form guide. The Broncos looked better without playing particularly well. That can have just as much to do with how bad the Bulldogs are, and how bad the Broncos have played recently.
One guy that contributed to the Broncos looking better is Tevita Pangai Jr.
Whether he was told to or not it really doesn’t matter, but he ran riot against the Bulldogs while breaking five tackles, dishing out six offloads, scoring a try and providing a freakish try assist.
He’s going to have errors in him playing with this style. The Broncos look a lot more dangerous when this version of Pangai Jr is unleashed on a defence, though.
Will Anthony Seibold tell him to relax, or will we see a repeat on Friday night?
St George-Illawarra Dragons v Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs
Dragons
This forward pack can do enough to compete with the best teams in the competition if they can string together a few consistent performances.
Last week vs Manly:
Blake Lawrie - 155 running metres
Ben Hunt - 53 running metres, 1 try assist
Paul Vaughan - 237 running metres, 37 tackles, 100% tackle efficiency
Tyson Frizell - 137 running metres, 39 tackles
Tariq Sims - 48 running metres, 28 tackles
Cameron McInnes - 144 running metres, 46 tackles, 100% tackle efficiency
Now, this new-look Dragons pack did dominate an understrength Sea Eagles middle in a relatively easy win. While the Bulldogs don’t make for the toughest of opponents this week, it’s a prime opportunity for the Red V middle to get a roll on into the second half of the season.
Bulldogs
The Bulldogs should re-sign Kieran Foran on a club-friendly deal for next season. He’s shown enough when healthy to prove he can still dominate a game if given the chance.
Foran needs a halves partner, though. In the wake of Dean Pay’s departure, Steve Georgallis is giving Lachlan Lewis another crack. Brandon Wakeham hasn’t done enough to guarantee selection, so the change makes sense.
“Wakeham has failed to impress in the halves alongside Kieran Foran, and his two weakest attributes - defence and kicking - are arguably Lewis’ greatest strengths.” - Oscar Pannifex, Round 10: Heads In!
Lewis played through the honeymoon period to start his career as footy fans revelled in his strange kicking style and famous last name. But the reality is, Lewis is a bang average footy player. At least, that’s all he’s shown us in his 29 first-grade games to date.
Can he take this opportunity and earn a place for the rest of the season?
South Sydney Rabbitohs v Newcastle Knights
Rabbitohs
Jaxson Paulo makes his debut on the wing for the Rabbitohs this week.
Growing up on Auckland’s North Shore, Paulo came up through the Northcote Tigers before moving to the Gold Coast to attend Keebra Park State High School.
As a fellow Shore boy, albeit a Mt Albert fan, I’m particularly interested in seeing how the 20-year-old goes on debut this week.
Knights
Daniel Saifiti is a massive loss for the Knights. In the midst of a career year, his absence throughout the final quarter last week could well have been the difference in the end.
That game was there for the Knights, but the Eels dominated the middle of the field late to secure the 10-4 win.
In one particular set with seven minutes to play, the Knights tried to work their way up the field without a single forward touching the ball. It was no surprise to see Kurt Mann put in a hurried kick to end the set. While Saifiti would no doubt have been involved if he was out there, the rest of the Knights pack struggled to get back. This team has looked one of the fittest in the competition at times this season. That wasn’t the case in Round 9.
We’re still keeping an eye on where Kalyn Ponga takes possession. I’ll be following Mitchell Pearce after he amassed an unhelpful 96 touches of the football last week. But it’s the improvement of the forward pack that has allowed the Knights to take a couple of steps forward this season. Who will put their hand up for the tough carries to take them up the field this week?
Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles v Parramatta Eels
Sea Eagles
Will the real Daly Cherry-Evans please stand up?
What was that last week?
In a game you would expect the State of Origin halfback to command his side and manufacture a win over a beatable team, Cherry-Evans coughed the ball up three times.
But, with this simple ball to Joel Thompson:
And this line break before a crippling intercept leading to Dragons points:
We can see how Cherry-Evans might be able to inspire an unlikely win on Saturday night.
Eels
Reed Mahoney saved Dylan Brown and Jai Field last week.
The young halves pairing struggled to create in good ball sets, and in those that they finished, offered poor 5th tackle options.
However, Mahoney provided a dangerous grubber to end this set…
…but not before an unthreatening shift to the left, an ineffective Nathan Brown crab across the field, a just as ineffective Clint Gutherson dart from dummy half, and a disrupted shift back to the right side.
I’ll be looking at how Parramatta end their sets this week.
New Zealand Warriors v Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks
Warriors
Their start to the game made it more frustrating. After getting Roger Tuivasa-Sheck one-on-one off a scrum to score, the Warriors soon crafted another very nice rugby league try.
On the back of an Adam Blair hit up along the right tram line, Blake Green shapes left before feeding Tuivasa-Sheck down the right side.
Seeing that there is nothing on, Tuivasa-Sheck cuts back before hitting Jamayne Taunua-Brown on the left post. He gets Keegan Hipgrave involved in the tackle which forces an adjustment in the defensive line.
With a long pass out of dummy half taking the A defender out of the picture while Tohu Harris acts as the ball-player and Karl Lawton runs a lead line, the pair put Jamal Fogarty in his seat to create a three-on-two on the outside.
Let’s see more of this - Green shifting the ball, Tuivasa-Sheck thinking to run first, and Harris ball-playing - and less of whatever it was they dished up in the following 70 minutes.
Sharks
How long can John Morris put up with this?
Penrith Panthers v North Queensland Cowboys
Panthers
Oscar highlighted the improvements of the Panthers right-side attack earlier in the week.
“What was most impressive was the variety with which Penrith’s right edge attacked, as Nathan Cleary linked beautifully with fullback Dylan Edwards in particular, who displayed some superb touches throughout the game.”
But I’m still dialling into their left edge. Jarome Luai is learning how to get the most out of Viliame Kikau. Sometimes, as was the case in Round 8, less is more. With the big fella needing a little love after a 6-touch 80 minutes, Luai doubled his touches in Round 9.
I’m focused on how the Panthers use Kikau against an awful Cowboys right edge this week.
Cowboys
After highlighting the Cowboys’ NRL-worst right-side defence last week, their left-side allowed Matt Ikuvalu to score five tries in Round 9.
This double block, albeit by the Roosters, shouldn’t look so easy:
Paul Green is in trouble if he can’t fix things up on the edges.
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