NRL Notepad: Round 11 (Sunday)
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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Newcastle Knights v Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs
Knights
The Knights should thrash the Bulldogs.
Should…
They had the rabbit on a plate last week and almost dropped it by falling asleep and allowing the Rabbitohs to get a sniff of a comeback win.
Elite teams don’t take their foot off the gas until the job is done. It’s something Adam O’Brien will be drilling into his group this week ahead of a Bulldogs side known for their toughness.
It’s simple and a tired cliche, but seeing the Knights play a full 80 and putting the bottom-placed Bulldogs to the sword will help their transition from good team to a great one.
Bulldogs
Everybody knows the Bulldogs defence could do with some work, but I was still surprised to see that their left edge is the worst defensive area of all 16 teams in the competition.
Jake Averillo is an excellent attacking prospect. Readers here know that I want to see the Bulldogs provide him with some more early ball so he can use his speed and footwork with a little more room to move. But this week, it’s on the defensive side that he needs to thrive.
Kalyn Ponga has been spending more time searching down the Knights right side and will almost certainly have a target on the Bulldogs left defence.
Gold Coast Titans v Penrith Panthers
Titans
The focus for the Titans has effectively been covered in the Storm segment of this piece. Their left side was torn to shreds last week with both Ash Taylor and Brian Kelly both getting caught out by Cameron Smith.
Meanwhile, Keegan Hipgrave missed 12 tackles as Tino Fa’asuamaleaui ran rings round him on the Titans right side.
The Titans edge defence has long been a target for this weekly column and attacking plans of their opposition. This week, they play the top of the table team who have thrived behind their play on the edges.
Panthers
Mitch Kenny has the impossible task of replacing Api Koroisau this week.
Kenny isn’t going to be able to emulate the dynamic Koroisau as he crafts a career-best year with the Panthers attack thriving behind it. So, who is going to make up the difference?
Will the Titans target Nathan Cleary knowing they aren’t as exposed to conceding metres and line breaks through the middle out of dummy half?
Will the Panthers go with what works and hammer their left edge attack more than usual?
In a game where the result feels like a foregone conclusion, we still have a couple of interesting wrinkles to keep an eye on.
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