NRL Notepad: Round 11 (Saturday)
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.
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New Zealand Warriors v Sydney Roosters
Warriors
The Warriors have plenty of excuses for sitting 13th on the ladder. A lot of their on-field struggles aren’t a surprise. However, their soft middle is inexcusable.
They’d displayed enough of a weakness in the centre-third to write them off last week even before Braden Hamlin-Uele strolled over from 30 metres out:
If the Warriors are going to do anything more than make up the numbers this season, they need to offer more resistance in the middle of the field. Todd Payten has given Adam Blair a spray during the week. He’s been relegated to the bench with Karl Lawton, Jazz Tevaga, Jamayne Taunoa-Brown and Jack Hetherington to start in the middle of the field. It’s not a big name lineup, but it doesn’t take a big name to get in front of an opposing player and force the attack to go around you.
The Roosters will score plenty of points on Saturday afternoon. Making it difficult in the middle can be something the Warriors build on, though.
Roosters
This doesn’t happen often and the Warriors attack might not be the best opposition to measure any improvement against, but we’re looking at the Roosters middle defence after a poor performance last week.
A Jack Wighton linebreak stretched them before Dunamis Lui scored under the posts in this one:
The middle caved in to open up space for Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad to put in a grubber for this one:
They couldn’t stop a big George Williams step here:
And simply fell apart for Josh Papalii to score the match-winner:
Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks v St George-Illawarra Dragons
Sharks
It turns out we’re spending a lot of time focused on middle defence this week…
Add the Sharks to the list.
Perhaps I’m being a little picky, but a big reason I’ve been eager to see Toby Rudolf spend more time in the middle for the Sharks is to see if his speed and footwork can help improve what is often a lazy defence.
But one of his first involvements off the bench In Round 10 was to fly out from A, get beaten, and for the Sharks to concede two quick play-the-balls as a result.
I like the way Rudolf plays. He showed great intent in trying to shut down the Warriors set as they worked out of their own end. I’m looking for better execution on Saturday.
Dragons
So, Cameron McInnes at lock and Ben Hunt at hooker looks here to stay.
Everybody, including Hunt, seems pretty happy with the setup:
“I am liking the forward pack we have got at the moment. Moving Cam to lock is a massive bonus for us.”
Now we’re keeping an eye on how it develops and beginning to picture what it can become. McInnes as a ball-player, in particular. There is potential for this Dragons attack with McInnes and Matt Dufty both capable of getting involved in the ball-playing throughout good ball sets. A lot of Hunt’s issues appeared to stem from an overreliance on him in attack. While he’s now in at dummy half, having five ball-players able to share the load is an exciting prospect. The forward pack is certainly good enough to get the team up the field.
Canberra Raiders v South Sydney Rabbitohs
Raiders
The hooker rotation is back on the agenda this week.
Siliva Havili’s service worried me at times last week. As a guy that isn’t going to beat defences with his feet, his service needs to be better.
Tom Starling, on the other hand, really impressed in his 48 minutes to run for 61 metres and hand out a ripper try assist to Josh Papalii.
I’ll be keeping an eye out for how Ricky Stuart uses the duo and whether or not Starling’s performance forces any changes.
Rabbitohs
Like last week, we’re on debutant watch. Only this time it’s the nephew of an immortal.
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