Take the Repeat Set: Finals Week 3
And then there were two...We break down the prelims and wave goodbye to Canberra and South Sydney.
Jason and Oscar are linking up on a Monday to compile a Take the Two and Repeat Set hybrid wrap of each week through to the Grand Final.
Here’s your Repeat Set for Week 3 of the NRL Finals:
Storming into the Grand Final
Panthers finding a way to win
Goodbye Canberra Raiders
There’s always next season for…Souths
Play of the Round: Suliasi Vunivalu
Graham Annesley’s Briefing Summary
Storming into the Grand Final
It’s a pleasure to watch the Melbourne Storm when they’re in this sort of form.
They pick opponents apart better than any other side. Knowing full well they have the talent to beat anybody, they stick to the process and the refined game plan Craig Bellamy has set. While their quick-fire start may have looked like an ambush on Friday night, it was no fluke.
Melbourne picked out a Raiders weakness and hit it early and often to fly out to a 12-0 lead before a freakish Suliasi Vunivalu individual effort made it 16-0.
We made mention of how well the Raiders kept a lid on the Roosters short side plays a week earlier. However, when faced with speed and space, the makeshift Raiders right-edge struggled.
The Storm stretched the Raiders defence to score their first. Importantly, Cameron Smith spent his time in the middle of the field for this one. After playing wide of the ruck up the field and exploring down the left edge, Cameron Munster, Smith, Jahrome Hughes and Ryan Papenhuyzen all linked up in a sweeping right-side shift with an assortment of lead runners keeping defenders on their heels:
Coming back, it was much the same again: Papenhuyzen to Hughes, Hughes to Smith, Smith to Munster. It’s here that the Storm started to get a hint at how the Raiders right edge - Jordan Rapana, in particular - would try to handle Justin Olam. Rapana came in which allowed Munster to feed Josh Addo-Carr via Kenny Bromwich:
The Raiders did well to scramble, but they found themselves short out wide. By the time Munster made his pass to Hughes, seven Raiders players were on the inside of the lead-running Nelson Asofa-Solomona with George Williams also keeping enough of an eye on him that he couldn’t close down Hughes in time. The Kiwi international had his pick of passes and found Jesse Bromwich:
Melbourne went straight back to that side of the field on the following set. Again playing with width on their way up the field, Christian Welch played a key role in shrinking the defence before Papenhuyzen’s speed and the threat of Olam forced Rapana in. That allowed Addo-Carr to get back on the outside. They didn’t need the extra tackle this time:
From there, the Storm played with the patience we talked about in the preview. Everybody knows that despite the nightmare start Canberra had a punch or two to throw. They’re that sort of team in 2020. Well aware themselves, Melbourne absorbed the pressure when they needed to before striking back.
With roughly 25 minutes to mount a comeback from 24-6 down, Canberra started to throw the ball around. Jack Wighton looked dangerous as he searched for the individual effort to spark his side while John Bateman should have done better with this opportunity:
Having spent time defending their line with the Raiders offering the slightest hope of a comeback, the Storm then marched down the field to seal their place in the Grand Final. Again, they looked wide to get there. Down the right edge this time, Wighton did well to close down Hughes:
But with Wighton caught in the tackle and Smith’s crafty dummy half run able to engage the second marker, Melbourne have the numbers to send Vunivalu down the right wing:
After Papenhuyzen, Hughes, Smith and Munster link up again on another shift, Hughes, Vunivalu and Dale Finucane combine to score the clincher:
Just as Canberra began to threaten, Melbourne turned the screws and iced the game. It’s an excellent example of their ability to stay in the grind and stick to a plan no matter the shape of the game. In a Grand Final most expect to be a lot closer early on, it will likely come down to who blinks first. It’s defensive efforts like those on Friday night and the response with ball-in-hand that can get Melbourne over the line in the decider.
~ Jason
Penrith - Finding a Way to Win
Perhaps the most convincing part of Penrith’s 20-16 win over South Sydney last weekend was that the Panthers won without playing their own brand of footy.
Penrith’s unusually high possession rate over the course of the season, coupled with their dominance in the yardage battle most weeks has afforded the Panthers with plenty of attacking opportunities in games this year. But with just 45% of the ball and only 100 more run metres than their opposition on Saturday night, Penrith had to find another way to win - and they did.
Nathan Cleary will get all the credit - his kicking game, in particular, was exceptional and forced the Rabbitohs to work it off their own try line for most of the match. But it was a few of Penrith’s ‘lesser’ stars that were the difference for me.
Isaah Yeo looks certain to claim what was an extremely unlikely Blues jersey just 12 months ago after he carved up South Sydney’s middle for fun on Saturday night, including a scything run to set up the match-winner. It shouldn’t have come as a surprise - he broke the line twice back in their Round 7 clash, and again early on in this one:
Brian To’o continues to develop into one of the game’s most dynamic and exciting wingers - his kick returns and carries out his own end constantly got Penrith out of trouble or, in this instance, led to points for his team.
After Penrith were sent backwards in the first two tackles of this set, To’o charges up the middle to scatter Souths’ defensive line and earn a quick play the ball. Off the back of this run, Apisai Koroisau marched his team a further 30 metres upfield and into attacking position:
This clever “chip-bomb” has fast become a signature move for Cleary this season. The kick is low enough that defending fullbacks or wingers can’t get under it in time, while it isolates a smaller half against a leaping outside back - in this case Tyrone May:
Say what you like about scoring tries from kicks, but this is an extremely difficult skill to execute under pressure, and the Panthers have nailed it a number of times this year.
Another area Penrith have been dangerous in 2020 is via Jarome Luai down the left edge, and while Viliame Kikau’s absence was felt, it certainly didn’t prove telling. Luai was still up to his scheming best, almost setting up Penrith with some sublime vision and ball-playing early in the first half when he spotted Adam Reynolds out of position after making a tackle.
Koroisau engages Jaydn Su’a at marker before releasing to Luai, and suddenly it’s a three-on-two. Luai squares up Cameron Murray, double-pumps to send Jaxson Paulo outwards before hitting Kurt Capewell with a beautiful short ball - slick.
Penrith should have scored, but Josh Mansour botched the pass back inside and Souths were let off the hook.
They say the tries you save are better than the tries you score though, and Luai’s try saving effort on Cody Walker in the final stages of the game was the individual play of the match for me.
With just ten minutes to go, Souths were coming at Penrith hard and looked for all money to score when Adam Reynolds and Walker combined close to the line with that fade-out short ball play we’ve seen so many times in the last month:
Su’a bounces out to drag Luai sideways and open the hole for Walker, but Luai sees it coming and pushes back off his left foot to get his body in front of Walker and force the error. A cracking tackle from a player who has gone from fringe first-grader to grand finalist five-eighth in the space of 12 months, and a tackle that likely sealed the result for the Panthers.
Whether or not they can hold up against the professionalism and precision of the Melbourne Storm is another thing, but the Panthers showed on Saturday they are far more than just flat-track bullies and well-deserving of a grand final berth next weekend.
~ Oscar
Goodbye Canberra Raiders
“Havili and Starling may have decent stints. They might even string together a full game of Hodgson-like domination. But they’re not going to be able to do it over the full season.”
That’s something I said after Josh Hodgson went down for the season in Round 9…
While it may not have been every week, Havili and Starling filled the void well enough for the Raiders to fall one game short of a Grand Final.
That in itself sums up the team and their 2020 season.
Next man up.
Canberra had plenty of opportunities to settle for a 7th or 8th and lose in Week 1. Nobody would have blamed them when so many key players missed time to injury. Per NRL.com’s Casualty Ward, Ryan Sutton (knee, 2021), Corey Horsburgh (foot, 2021), Emre Guler (ankle, 2021), Curtis Scott (leg, 2021), Josh Hodgson (knee, 2021) and Bailey Simonsson (shoulder, 2021) were all unavailable for their preliminary final. Sia Soliola missed time throughout the year too.
Most notably, John Bateman missed the first 11 rounds which slowed down the development of Canberra’s right side. Jordan Rapana played in the centres for just the seventh time in his career over the weekend which produced a handful of defensive issues we’ve already covered on the right edge. Friday marked just the tenth match of Semi Valemei’s career over on the left wing and he became somewhat of a target in the air too.
Still, the Raiders offered hope leading into their clash with the Storm. If any team could upset a focused and in-form Storm side, it was the Raiders.
2019 still feels like the peak for this Raiders team as we know it. Nonetheless, there is no scoffing at what the Raiders have achieved over the last 24 months, and what they will continue to achieve as a side well-positioned to play finals footy for years to come.
Maybe one of the promising youngsters can rise into replacing Bateman’s impact?
Is the Joseph Tapine we’ve seen over the last month now the Joseph Tapine we will see over a full season?
Does Hodgson return and form a lethal one-two-punch with Starling?
Will Horsburgh, Guler, Josh Papalii and Hudson Young form one of the best packs in the competition in the not too distant future?
A lot of questions need to be answered if the Raiders are to surpass their 2019 efforts. They’ve proven me wrong numerous times this season, though.
The Green Machine faithful can hope that trend continues into 2021.
~ Jason
There’s Always Next Week (Year) For…
South Sydney Rabbitohs
Coming so close three seasons in a row hurts, bad.
It wasn’t as if Souths didn’t have their chances either. More time in possession and a higher completion rate than their opposition saw the Rabbitohs on the attack for long periods in the match, but their blistering offensive form of late was well contained by a resilient Penrith outfit, particularly on their own line.
There are no excuses in finals footy, but Souths fans will spend the summer wondering whether the inclusions of Latrell Mitchell or Campbell Graham, among others, could have made a difference on Saturday night. We won’t focus on the “what if’s” though. The Rabbitohs still gave us plenty to talk about as they fought back to within just four points - or four centimetres if you’re an Adam Reynolds fan - of this year’s minor premiers.
South Sydney were dominated through the middle third of the field early in the match - perhaps a by-product of Cameron Murray’s forced shift to the centres - as they struggled to contain the mobility and speed of Penrith’s’ forward pack directed by Api Koroisau from dummy-half.
Tom Burgess has had a career year in 2020 but the big Englishmen managed just 96 metres (his second lowest return of the season), six missed tackles and a crucial error in a tired performance on Saturday night, and perhaps a reflection of South Sydney as a whole at this point of the season. Names like Bailey Sironen, Keaon Koloamatangi, Jaxson Paulo and Corey Allan were unheard of this time last year, yet all were called upon to play big roles in this year’s finals series, perhaps before their time.
In a match where the numbers barely seperate the two teams, Penrith’s kick-chase might have been the difference. Reynolds and Cleary both kicked strongly on the night, consistently finding the grass and kicking to corners, but where Penrith were able to lock South Sydney in their own end, the Rabbitohs struggled to contain the Panthers’ back three and earn good field position:
Still, this bits-and-pieces Rabbitohs outfit took it to a near full-strength Panthers squad, absorbing a barrage of pressure in the first half to be down just 14-6 at the break and within range of an unlikely comeback, only for errors at crucial moments to cruel their chances. Walker and Reynolds looked dangerous as they combined across the park, but with Damien Cook playing behind a beaten forward pack and Corey Allan hampered by injury, too much fell on the halves to create in attack, and the Panthers defended accordingly.
But to call South Sydney’s 2020 campaign a failure or even a disappointment would be a far cry from the truth, despite suggestions that the Rabbitohs have just watched their premiership window close following a third consecutive preliminary final defeat.
Wayne Bennett has one more chance to leave South Sydney a winner next year, and it’s a good chance. With no notable changes to the roster bar the addition of Jai Arrow and some better luck with injuries, the Rabbitohs loom as an early pick for the ’21 Premiership, and not just for one-eyed fans like yours truly…
Glory Glory.
~ Oscar
Play of the Round
It has to be this, doesn’t it?
The tiptoes down the sideline a dummy to grubber!
He may not have produced the highlights quite so often this season, but we will miss Suliasi Vunivalu when he moves over to the dark side in 2021.
Graham Anselsey’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 a game, we want to offer a summary of Graham Annesley’s weekly reviews that doesn’t deliberately mislead or misuse quotes to generate further controversy.
Finals Week 3 Briefing Summary:
Another quiet one from Graham Annesley
He first showed a handful of numbers to highlight how many more points and tries are being scored in the 2020 finals. They’re not particularly interesting and we saw most of them last week.
Annesley then wanted to debunk the “why don’t they watch it in real-time?” calls that flood commentary boxes and social media channels following a close call. Put simply: "That's not how the media addresses these things."
He then showed the decision to rule Josh Addo-Carr knocked the ball on when attempting to score on Friday night. Broken down frame-by-frame, Annesley didn’t go one way or the other: "You couldn't get a closer, tighter decision to make."
"People will look at that and make their own decision...There is one frame in it."
Strangely, Annesley went over Adam Reynolds' attempt to kick a 40/20 on Saturday night. No controversy here: correct decision.
Dane Gagai's twisted effort in the corner was sent up as a no try. Replays showed he did, in fact, get the ball down. A correct decision by the Bunker.
Corey Allan's effort to ground the ball was replayed and confirmed as the correct decision.
On Week 3 of the finals featuring far fewer six-again calls: "Teams are less likely to infringe, I think.
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