NRL Repeat Set: Round 11
Recap the latest round of NRL action with the Repeat Set.
Here’s your repeat set for Round 11:
Gold Coast Titans bringing the fire in 2021
Panthers first-quarter defence
Shawn Blore with a debut to remember
The Bunker with a(nother) weekend to forget
Play of the Round: Mitchell Moses
Graham Annesley’s Briefing Summary
F-F-F-Fire on the Gold Coast
Moeaki Fotuaika.
Tino Fa’asuamaleaui.
David Fifita.
Whether or not allocating close to $2 million a season on 20-year-old backrowers pays off for the Gold Coast Titans remains to be seen. What we do know is that they will send out the most exciting young forward pack in the NRL next season.
I fawned all over Fa’asumaleaui last week, so won’t get into it too much again. Just know that he’s getting better every week he plays first grade. A product of the Storm and one they aren’t happy to let go, Fa’asuamaleaui is big, powerful, and ridiculously good on his feet for somebody his size.
He’s almost as light on his feet as this bloke:
Fifita’s rise to stardom has only been further highlighted by the Broncos’ poor showing of form in his absence. Their attack is stale and relies on the individual brilliance Fifita provides on the edge. He’s taking those talents to the Gold Coast, though.
In Fotuaika, the Titans have the best young forward not named Payne Haas. Grossly underrated due to the shadow that hangs over him from up the M1, Fotuaika has been a standout for a poor Titans outfit over the last 18 months. The team has struggled around him. It’s easy to have glossed over the 20-year-old given the relative lack of coverage the Titans receive. However, prepare to hear the name in 2021.
Fotuaika is averaging 139 metres per game in 2020 after managing 133 per game in 2019.
For some perspective, Addin Fonua-Blake averaged 71 metres per game as a 20-year-old; David Klemmer 84 metres per game; and Josh Papalii 87 metres per game. He’s capable of playing big minutes, too. More than what Justin Holbrook has been giving him lately.
The Titans will need to shrink the defence through the middle of the field if they’re to really get the most out of Fifita and Fa’asuamaleaui on the edges. Fotuaika is where it will start. Jaimin Jolliffe could be the guy that works alongside him after a promising last six weeks of footy.
The Fifita signing caps off an excellent week for the Titans off the field. With Bryce Cartwright reportedly negotiating a release and Shannon Boyd working through a payout, they’ve shed two terrible contracts and replaced them with what may turn out to be a generational talent and one of the best signings in NRL history.
Panthers Producing Early
The Penrith Panthers are proving a tough nut to crack defensively. While some teams can start a little slow and need to warm into the contact and the arm-wrestle, the Panthers have conceded just 12 points inside the first 20 minutes all season. Those 12 points came against the Sydney Roosters in Round 1 when the defending premiers looked every bit like defending premiers.
Overall, the Panthers have won the opening quarter this season by a combined 70-12.
On average, they aren’t letting their first try in until the 41st minute.
Incredible numbers.
The Panthers attack is almost equally as good. Scoring 23.8 points per game to be 4th in the NRL, I’m a regular watcher of their developing left-side attack. Oscar recently highlighted how well their right-side is coming along as Nathan Cleary develops a partnership with Liam Martin, and the influence an improving Dylan Edwards can have as a ball-player.
But if the Panthers can keep up this early-game defence and play from in front - something rather foreign to them in recent years - they will be a force to be reckoned with in October.
It was a round to remember for…
Shawn Blore’s introduction to the match flew under the radar a little bit. Replacing Michael Chee Kam following his sickening incident in the 26th minute, the focus was on him rather than the 19-year-old debutant. What didn’t go unnoticed on the second watch of Blore’s debut is Nathan Brown flew out at him on his first carry.
Brown caught him, but Blore couldn’t be forced onto his back with a quick enough play-the-ball getting the Tigers on the front foot.
Blore’s first big defensive involvement came minutes later as he collected Reagan Campbell-Gillard with a powerful shot from the side with a hearty spray directed toward the Eels prop to top it off.
Fitness is an understandable issue he faced towards the end of the first half. Without a lot of footy in him recently and in his first game played at this pace, he offered a lazy effort in defence on Dylan Brown before an ineffective run on the following set. Blore was at times too far behind the play and it will be something Michael Maguire will be sure to point out during the week. But again, it’s understandable given the debut and the fact he’s likely to have played more minutes than anticipated with Chee Kam’s injury forcing an adjustment.
Despite getting left behind once or twice and misreading Benji Marshall’s intent on a short side play close to the line, Blore displayed the odd glimpse of promise in attack. His physically makes him somebody the defence worries about already. He attracts Micheal Jennings here, and with the ball in two hands and shaping to pass, could have released Chris Lawrence on the outside.
Then came the exchange that defines Blore’s debut and his announcement to the NRL.
After Brown took exception to Blore tackling him on suspicion, the Eels veteran lined up the 19-year-old. Blore won the contact first up with Brown appearing to feign an injury rather than completing the play-the-ball. Upon hearing the whistle, Brown shot up and demanded the ball.
Choosing to line up Blore again, the debutant welcomed the challenge and handled Brown for a second time.
While his physicality against one of the most physical players in the NRL is impressive, his post-match comments are my favourite.
“I'm honoured he even wanted to run it straight at me,” Blore told Chris Kennedy of NRL.com.
Those guys, the sort that thrive on the “run it straight” mentality, are a special breed. I’m excited to see how Blore develops and what he adds to his game outside of a willingness to put his body on the line.
It was a(nother) round to forget for…
The officials in the Bunker are making things difficult for this referee apologist. For those not on Twitter, I have somewhat of a reputation:
However, the Bunker is making it impossible to argue on their behalf at the moment. It was only two weeks ago that we were right here, in this very column, talking about the howler leading to Bailey Simonsson’s sin-bin against the Storm. But Saturday’s incident is worse. It’s not a matter of opinion and there is no grey area; it’s simply the wrong call.
The only explanation is that the Bunker rushed their decision. On further review and without the pressures that come with a live decision, it won’t have been long before Steve Clark and Ben Galea felt a sinking feeling in the pit of their stomach. Still, a decision like that is unacceptable and they were released of their duties for the rest of the round.
Now, in putting my apologist hat on, the Bunker is low on man-power. It’s what the NRL calls a ‘dirty area’ right now. Referees like Ashley Klein would normally take a shift in the Bunker throughout the weekend but as he’s in the referee bubble - just like the players - he’s not able to enter the dirty area.
That’s the best I’ve got, Bunker.
Let’s not need to do this again any time soon.
Play of the Round
We don’t see the regulation chip and chase nearly enough these days. Perhaps Mitchell Moses’ effort on Thursday night will trigger a resurgence?
With the scores level and the Eels attacking the Tigers line before halftime, Moses spies Adam Doueihi in the line at B. He gets on the front foot and is presented with perfect service from Reed Mahoney. Doueihi can’t make the typical sideways covering run fullbacks make in defence these days; Moses engages him.
The Eels half catches it out in front and drops it onto his foot in one fluid motion.
Halves have opted to kick early in good ball sets but typically try to dribble it in behind the opposition back rower when the fullback is caught on the other side of the field. It will be interesting to see whether or not Moses’ chip and chase starts a trend.
Graham Annesley’s Briefing Summary
Despite not being ones to spend a lot of time focused on referees and measuring the impact a single poor decision can have on the game, we want to offer a summary of Graham Anneseley’s weekly reviews that doesn’t deliberately mislead or misuse quotes to generate further controversy.
Graham Annesley briefly touched on the Matt Dufty incident but didn't replay it. We've all seen it and the NRL had already made their comments and changed the appointments.
Brent Naden completed a lovely try assist to Malakai Watene-Zelezniak, which from the central camera, looked forward. Annesley highlighted how camera angles can make passes looked worse than they are and showed the same pass from different angles. Nothing definitive, but shows that it isn't always a case of looks forward is forward.
Dale Copley looked to have knocked the ball on in the tackle before Anthony Don scored on Sunday evening. Annesley confirmed as much while calling it "difficult to pick up."
Kalyn Ponga couldn't clean up a bouncing ball on Sunday with the referee awarding a knock-on. Strangely, Annesley didn't actually disagree with this decision. He's spoken to Bernard Sutton about almost every ball that goes to the ground being called a knock-on. Annesley and Sutton both think the referees could reexamine the things they're looking for and whether or not the ball is propelled backwards.
The officials determined that Kurt Mann took Nick Meaney out in the air in the same game. Annesley pointed out that the Knights could have challenged the decision had Mann not sprayed the referee before they requested one.
As he has a habit of doing when the Bunker is under pressure, Annesley provided an example of exactly why the technology is in place. He used Herbie Farnworth's try on Friday night as the example on this occasion while adding:
"We also need to remember the countless other decisions across the course of each season each year that are correct because of the technology we use in our game."
Also in the Sharks and Dragons game, Jesse Ramien had a try disallowed due to obstruction. On breaking it down, Ramien did run through a gap created by his own two players.
"They've actually created obstructions."
"I think that was absolutely the right decision in this case."
On the prospects of forward pass tracking technology: "I can't tell you its close."
On the Bunker being scrapped entirely: "I don't envisage that we would ever go back to a situation where we simply weren't using technology to help make decisions".
Annesley has "no issue" with the talk surrounding Phil Gould and a consultancy role with the NRL.
Steve Clark and Ben Galea "may not" be in the Bunker this week. As already mentioned above, the Bunker is a 'dirty area', but they're working towards cleaning that up so Klein and others can get involved.
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