NRL Notepad: Round 13
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.
St George-Illawarra Dragons v Sydney Roosters
Dragons
This spine should be the way forward for the Dragons.
With Adam Clune beside him, Ben Hunt has a partner that is prepared to complete the traditional halfback duties. In theory, that should allow Hunt to concentrate on picking his moments in attack and doing the things he does best. He’s a dangerous runner of the football. If that becomes a regular threat to the defence, opportunities will open up outside him.
Less could well be more for Hunt and the Dragons. Hunt touched the ball 68 times when paired with Corey Norman last week - too much for my liking. The balance of touches between Clune (44.5 per game) and Hunt will be something to monitor in the coming weeks.
Roosters
With Kyle Flannagan dropped from the side, Lachlan Lam has been presented with an opportunity to make the number seven jersey his. He’s been mentioned here before and is an exciting young prospect to follow.
Lam has a different skillset to Flanagan who fills a more traditional halfback mould. With a killer step and speed to boot, Lam is a dangerous ball-runner. His combination with Joseph Manu has the potential to turn heads with their flare set to bounce off each other.
There is no doubting Lam’s ability in attack. It’s how he copes with the defensive workload that might be the issue. Flanagan did a good job of getting his body in front and at least acting like a speed bump in defence. Although, the Storm did have some success in sending a lot of traffic his way in Round 8.
The Dragons have the size on the edges to try something similar and put Lam under the pump early if they wish.
Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles v New Zealand Warriors
Sea Eagles
Danny Levi scored a nice try out of dummy half when he caught Clint Gutherson out at A defender in Round 10.
Levi tried to go back to the well in Round 12 by repeatedly hitting Caleb Aekins defending around the ruck. Nothing came of the plays on this occasion, but on two, in particular, there is little doubt that Aekins was his target. It looks to be something Des Hasler has put on the whiteboard for Levi in recent weeks. Will he try it on against the bigger and stronger Roger Tuivasa-Sheck on Friday night?
Warriors
With Blake Green now in Newcastle, it’s Chanel Harris-Tavita’s time to shine.
He’s not played his best footy in limited opportunities this season. Many fans of the Kiwi club have already put a line through him as a long-term option in the halves. But he’s been awarded the first crack at filling Green’s jersey this week and I, for one, desperately hope we see the signs of a really good first-grade footballer that started to show in 2019.
Harris-Tavita is a physical player. His highlight reel in first-grade is largely on the defensive side. It’s time to use that physicality and willingness to get hit in attack.
I want to see Harris-Tavita engage the line and isolate Tohu Harris one-on-one outside him. Harris-Tavita doesn’t need to throw the try assists when he has an elite talent in Harris outside him. Just put Harris in positions to dominate and watch him go. When it’s not on, Harris-Tavita has the footwork to cause the defensive line problems.
Ideally, the 21-year-old has the rest of this season to get comfortable and show his future coach that he is the first-choice half for Round 1 in 2021. History suggests he won’t be given long before he’s dropped from the side, though. Particularly if the Warriors are to suffer a big loss.
South Sydney Rabbitohs v Brisbane Broncos
Rabbitohs
We’re starting to see what this Rabbitohs left edge looks like at it’s best as Cody Walker and Latrell Mitchell develop their combination. They had a field day down that side of the field to inspire a comeback from 16-0 down in Round 12.
The threat of Mitchell receiving the ball is enough to draw Zac Lomax out of the line here:
Later, Mitchell got his hands on the ball as the Rabbitohs completed an early shift down the left edge. Dane Gagai was dragged down close to the line, but Walker scored on the following play:
While Walker commands the left edge and directs traffic from five-eighth, Mitchell is the key. You’ll struggle to find many players in the competition that can complete a pass like this:
But for everything Mitchell does in attack at the moment, a question over his defence soon follows. We can start to expect him to play a hand in scoring points every week now. It’s Mitchell’s positioning and effort in defence that we will monitor on Friday night.
Broncos
Tom Dearden is the future for the Brisbane Broncos. He proved as much last week by offering more to their attack in 80 minutes than Brodie Croft has done all season.
Unlike Croft, Dearden engages the line and asks questions of the defence. He creates space for his outside man with the Broncos looking a lot better with him in the side last week.
Paired with Dearden in the halves for Friday, I’m curious to see how Croft responds to the pressure being put on his place in the side, and whether or not the two can work together given the limited alternative options the Broncos have in the short-term.
Melbourne Storm v Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs
Storm
Oscar mentioned the signing of Ricky Leutele as “another example of the Melbourne Storm’s supremacy as one of the best-managed clubs in the competition” in his preview this week.
Add Nicho Hynes to the list.
The Storm have had him hiding away in the Queensland Cup but an injury to Ryan Papenhuyzen sees the 24-year-old prepare for just his fourth first-grade game this week.
Some numbers: Hynes played 21 games for the Sunshine Coast Falcons in 2019 scoring 6 tries, handing out 21 try assists, and running for 116 metres per game as a five-eighth and fullback.
You can see how some of his long passes to end sweeping plays will fit right in with the Storm on Saturday.
Bulldogs
Following a quintessential Aidan Tolan hit up on the 2nd tackle in good ball and with the defence bunched close to the ruck with an eye on the two lead runners, Sione Katoa throws an excellent ball to Kieran Foran who heads straight for the four-man inside Mitchell Moses. As Foran engages the defender, he hits Raymond Faitala-Mariner on an overs line. Moses is never stopping the big back-rower from there.
The Foran/Faitala-Mariner combination is Canterbury’s best-attacking weapon at the moment. Can they crack one of the best defences in the competition?
Newcastle Knights v Wests Tigers
Knights
How Blake Green and Mitchell Pearce combine will determine Newcastle’s finals chances. As high-usage players playing their first game together with the Knights looking to avoid a three-game losing streak, they don’t have long to figure things out.
As touched on for Sport Tech Daily this week: “Pearce and Green make up two of the top three players in the NRL in the proportion of total team receipts in 2020 amongst halves that have played 11 or more of the 12 games.”
Green provides the Knights with an improved kicking game while taking some of the organisational duties away from Pearce. While Kurt Mann’s move to hooker isn’t ideal, he’s provided some nice touches from dummy half already.
It’s not perfect, but if the trio can hit the ground running and put in a strong performance on Saturday evening, the Knights should retain their place in the Top 8 for the rest of the season.
Tigers
There is no faulting David Nofoaluma’s effort. It’s a large reason why he’s gone from jumping in and out of first-grade and into the State of Origin conversation. However, his desperation to get involved isn’t always for the best. We’ve talked about Nofoaluma’s high work rate costing him opportunities in attack before. There is a defensive trend that popped up last week that the Knights may look to expose on Saturday.
The Warriors made an effort to kick to Tommy Talau whenever they could in Round 12. As you’d expect, Nofoaluma still tracked across the field to take his carry. However, he didn’t take his hit up until the fourth tackle on this set.
Roger Tuivasa-Sheck sees the space out wide straight away and fires a pass to George Jennings. Jennings doesn’t quite get past Luke Garner, but he picks up a few extra metres nonetheless.
While Nofoaluma and the Tigers got away with it here, a quicker winger that is anticipating the early shift may get past Garner entirely and start the set over halfway.
I’ll be watching Nofoaluma and the Tigers tackle count when they’re working out of their own end.
Penrith Panthers v Canberra Raiders
Panthers
As a former Jarome Luai doubter, I’ve come around on him being the long-term option beside Nathan Cleary.
Luai came into first-grade as a dynamic ball-runner and exciting attacking player. He jumped between the halves, fullback and bench utility while struggling to lock down a single position. But after being awarded the number six jersey this season, it’s been the ball-playing and short kicking game that has seen Luai excel.
While he will be faced with tougher tasks in his career than feeding Viliame Kikau and Stephen Crichton the ball outside him, Luai is making the right decision more often than not at the moment. His kicking game allows Nathan Cleary to pick his moments in attack more freely too.
“When the Panthers aren’t scoring points, they’re piling up pressure through an excellent kicking game. It’s an area that best displays Luai’s growing maturity as the first-choice five-eighth with his new-found reliability giving Cleary the freedom to pop up when he wants.” - Repeat Set: Round 12
With so much of the focus on Nathan Cleary, it’s Luai’s growth that we’re monitoring as the finals approach.
Raiders
With 80 minutes under their belt, we’re looking at the continued development of the Raiders right-side attack.
An early shift and some slick hands created the space out wide before George Williams scurried away to score last week:
But it’s the tackle-breaking ability and overall individual brilliance of John Bateman that is most encouraging:
Plenty have written the Raiders off as premiership chances already, but if this right-edge can pile up points while the team continues to play with a top five defence in the NRL (currently conceding 14.8 points per game), they might just cause a few problems in October.
Gold Coast Titans v North Queensland Cowboys
Titans
AJ Brimson
Anthony Don
Brian Kelly
Dale Copley
Phillip Sami
Ash Taylor
Jamal Fogarty
You know what? That backline doesn’t look half bad on paper…
Up against one of the worst defensive teams in the NRL this week, we need to see it produce on the field before getting too excited.
Cowboys
After talking last week about how the Cowboys attack in good ball sets and their recent use of Francis Molo as a battering ram, they went and produced this beauty in Round 12:
Per Stats Insider’s ‘Try Scoring Analysis’, only the Broncos have conceded more tries through the middle of the field than the Titans.
I’m on the lookout for something similar again this week.
Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks v Parramatta Eels
Sharks
Matt Moylan is back and has been paired with Shaun Johnson in the halves for Sunday.
It might be a tad optimistic given Moylan’s injury history, but we’re watching how these two combine with an eye on the future. The extra ball-playing Moylan can offer when Chad Townsend returns is appealing. We saw it in action way back in Round 7.
He threw a nice ball to Jesse Ramien in that game too:
Moylan’s future in this side is likely at fullback, but he can still work with Shaun Johnson in the coming weeks.
Eels
I’ve loved Junior Paulo’s play this year. He’s worth every penny of the deal many called ‘overs’ when signing the dotted line in 2018. After giving him a wrap in the Repeat Set on Monday, I realised he’s yet to cross the line in 2020. Paulo has scored a try in all seven seasons in the NRL.
It’s only a matter of time before he scores one like this:
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