NRL Notepad: Round 9 (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 Parramatta Eels
Knights
Where is Kalyn Ponga popping up?
That’s the question will be recording answers for during this one.
He’s not parking down the left side quite so much at the moment. Strangely, that’s being perceived as not working hard enough despite being on track to record a season-high in touches last week having registered 48 in only 68 minutes.
Is it the running metres? He did only run for 100 metres in Round 8 and 86 in Round 7, but there is more to Ponga’s game than piling up yardage. Let’s see where he pops up this week and what he looks to do with the ball rather than looking down at the numbers.
Eels
“Go left in attack, Parra,” I asked. And go left in attack they did.
Maika Sivo finished with four tries and the Eels left side used the Cowboys right side as a turnstile towards two competition points.
For Blake Ferguson’s sake, go right this week, Parra.
He’s without a try in 2020 and State of Origin chat and distractions are already popping up as a result. Feed him some ball and let him backflip over the line.
St George-Illawarra Dragons v Man-Warringah Sea Eagles
Dragons
My scepticism toward Matt Dufty continues for another week. Initially impressed with his long cut-out passes in recent weeks, the worry is now that it might be all he has in his toolbox. He’s overusing it at the moment at the very least.
There is nothing on out wide here:
Bailey Simonsson has Mikaele Ravalawa covered before Dufty passes the ball. Moving across while the ball is in flight, Simonsson bundles Ravalawa into touch. Dufty had Tyrell Fuimaono winding up and one-on-one with George Williams on offer, too.
My eyes are staying on this new-look Dufty and whether or not he’s a long-term option as a ball-playing fullback or simply a flash in the pan.
Sea Eagles
As if things weren’t already tough enough for the Sea Eagles, Addin Fonua-Blake soaked the referee with an unnecessary and disturbing spray after full time last week and finds himself in the stands for Sunday.
As Oscar mentions in his piece, Fonua-Blake “is a big reason for Manly’s strong start to the year.”
He could also be a big reason for another loss and an increasing gap between themselves and the Top 8 if his teammates can’t dominate the middle in his absence.
This is a game the Sea Eagles should win comfortably. But without their best attacking weapon in Tom Trbojevic and the motor to their engine through the middle in Fonua-Blake, I know who the headlines will be about on Monday if they don’t.
Can the Sea Eagles hang in the arm-wrestle for long enough for Daly Cherry-Evans to work some magic out the back?
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