Take the Two: Round 19
NRL Round 19 under the microscope
If the beer’s cold and the afternoon’s long enough, we’d be talking footy all day, every day until kickoff on Thursday night. With so much to review each week, let’s break down some of the key plays each week in the NRL.
North Queensland Cowboys vs Penrith Panthers
The Penrith Panthers sealed the Minor Premiership on Friday night with a resounding 31-12 victory over the Cowboys, stretching their winning streak to a frankly absurd 14 straight games and doing it all without the craft and control of Apisai Koroisau from dummy half.
Koroisau’s absence at stages this season has been offset by the continued development of Jarome Luai on the Panthers’ left edge.
While maybe not quite there yet, Luai has had shades of the Rooster’s Luke Keary when darting down short sides at times this season, as his decision making and execution under pressure improves from week to week.
Luai’s 17 try assists so far this season ranks him equal fifth in the NRL, sitting pretty alongside household names like Keary (16), Cameron Smith (also 17) and Daly Cherry-Evans (19), as well as crossing the white line seven times himself.
But perhaps the most exciting prospect of all for Panthers’ fans is the way their five-eighth is combining with fellow left edge players Viliame Kikau, Josh Mansour and boom rookie Stephen Crichton.
This kid could be anything.
While still clearly learning his craft, Crichton’s raw talent and competitive drive should see him become a staple in the NRL for the next decade or more.
Try saving efforts like this will earn Crichton the praises of his coaches and teammates in Penrith’s video session, particularly at a stage in the game where the Panthers held a 26-0 lead:
Crichton’s positioning as Mitch Dunn comes across field is perfect - he keeps his body square so he is ready to turn and chase if Dunn passes to his outside.
As soon as Crichton sees Dunn head for the line himself, he throws himself at the bigger man and shows great strength and awareness to swing his body around and underneath the ball, stopping a certain try.
But it is Crichton’s freakish talents with the ball in hand that continue to feature in Penrith’s highlights packages, as he grows into a genuine game breaker for the Panthers heading into the finals.
One passage of play against the Cowboys on Friday night highlighted for me just how influential Crichton can be for Penrith in the coming weeks.
Seven minutes before halftime, the Cowboys are chasing points and look to apply some pressure when Jake Clifford earns his team a fresh attacking set by forcing a Panthers’ line drop out.
Nathan Cleary and Crichton, however, had other ideas:
Crichton somehow manages to bat the ball back to Luai who is waiting in position, and suddenly the Panthers are on the attack.
North Queensland are slow to react and Penrith march quickly upfield through Isaah Yeo, who digs into the line like he has all year, sucking in the Cowboys’ defence before releasing to Cleary who sends Brent Naden down the right edge:
It’s now fifth tackle, and Cleary looks to be in position for a regulation mid-field bomb.
Instead, he fires a long cut-out ball out to Luai who immediately looks to run against a sliding defensive line.
But whether through good coaching, or simply by his own growth as a player, Luai shows great poise under pressure to look up and see Kyle Feldt alone out the back, and Crichton pushing up on his outside:
This is where I’ve seen the biggest change in Luai this year, and why I believe he can be a big part of Penrith’s premiership push in 2020.
Cowboys’ fullback Valentine Holmes is out of position, still working across field after Cleary shifted right through Naden and then quickly back to Luai.
And Luai sees it.
In a split second, Luai stops on his run, measures the distance and puts up a pin-point kick for Crichton who, just as he had done to begin the set, leaps high to take the ball before finding Luai supporting back on the inside.
Great control from Luai - and some individual brilliance from Crichton - got the Panthers out of their own end and across the try line themselves, all within the space of five tackles.
In a team stacked with offensive talent, Crichton has emerged this year as Penrith’s go-to man, when they need to create something out of nothing.
At just 19-years of age, Crichton is untested on the big stage and some punters believe this may be a problem for the Panthers squad as a whole.
He’s yet to show us anything to suggest he won’t be up for the challenge.
Canberra Raiders vs New Zealand Warriors
It’s not secret that we here at Rugby League Writers are big Elliott Whitehead fans.
I gave him a wrap way back in Round 9, while Jason highlighted his involvements for the Raiders just last week.
Both of us coincidentally touched on similar themes when covering the big Englishman - there are no stats that even come close to indicating Whitehead’s importance and influence for the Canberra Raiders this year:
“There is no stat to claim for what Whitehead does there. That’s his 2020 in a nutshell. Whitehead’s 76 metres and 1.1 tackle breaks on nine runs per game don’t rate anywhere near the back rowers typically considered the best in the game. He has only played one season with fewer than the four tries he’s scored in 2020 and he’s only managed three try assists all season after sending six teammates over the line in 2019.” — Jason Oliver, NRL Repeat Set: Round 18
Whitehead has continued to defy the statisticians this year as his elite hole running and ball playing down Canberra’s left edge is often the difference between a botched attacking raid and a slick four-pointer.
But if you had any lingering doubts over Whitehead’s influence down in the nations capitol, then his stand-in halfback cameo against the Warriors on Sunday afternoon surely put them all to bed.
When George Williams was ruled out with a HIA in just the eighth minute, Whitehead moved over to Canberra’s right edge to play halfback for the remainder of the match and hardly looked out of place.
Once again, the stats sheet doesn’t give it all away - 103 running meters, a try assist and 17 tackles are hardly big numbers - but Whitehead was instrumental in the Raiders’ unlikely comeback win.
Defending out of position and on his try line early in the second half, Whitehead made a crucial defensive play to intercept an offload from Roger Tuivasa-Sheck, saving a possible try before then sending Jordan Rapana 60 meters up field.
Just one tackle later, Semi Valemei crashed over in the corner to put the Raiders up by a converted try.
Or in the closing stages of the match and with the Warriors chasing points, Whitehead showed the soft hands of a halfback to put back rower Corey Harawira-Naeara into a hole and through the line:
Harawira-Naeara pushes through the tackle and offloads to Rapana who sends Nick Cotric over for the match winner, thanks to some subtle ball playing from our man Whitehead.
But the Englishman’s highlight moment came in the final stages before halftime, as the Raiders somehow managed to head into the sheds leading despite their horror start:
I mean, come on.
Seeing that centre Adam Keighran is out of position, Whitehead pushes past Hayze Perham at marker before sizing up the retreating defence down the short side.
In a split second, Whitehead drops a perfectly weighted grubber in behind the line which Tuivasa-Sheck can’t clean up, then somehow collects the loose ball again before softly chip-kicking over two Warriors defenders to find Hudson Young in front of the posts.
Outrageous.
While we can’t expect efforts like this from Whitehead every week, the skilful back rower has continued to stand tall in an injury disrupted season for Canberra and he shapes to be a major player in the approaching finals series - no matter where he lines up.
There’s Always Next Week For…
… the Manly Sea Eagles.
I previewed this one earlier in the week with a focus on the two fullbacks - Manly’s Tom Trbojevic and Gold Coast’s AJ Brimson - as men that have had a telling influence on their team’s success in 2020.
Trbojevic’s early season form was dominant, to say the least.
After six games, ‘Turbo’ had 4 tries and 7 try assists to be directly responsible for over 68% of Manly’s total tries, and the Sea Eagles’ form in his absence has further highlighted Trbojevic’s importance to this squad.
Yet his return from injury on Saturday couldn’t spark to life a Manly outfit that has clearly run its race in 2020, as they capitulated at home against a Titans side led by their own talismanic fullback.
While loathe to dwell on what was clearly a tough night in the office for Trbojevic, there was one passage of play that exposed his fitness - or lack thereof - after a long season in the casualty ward.
Attacking Gold Coast’s line, Lachlan Croker puts up a cross field kick to Trbojevic, who gets between the much shorter Ash Taylor and Young Tonumaipea but doesn’t leap high as we’ve seen him do for Manly and NSW in the past:
Instead, he watches on as Tonumaipea fields the kick, races to the 20 for the quick tap and finds Brimson eagerly pushing up in support:
A pure effort play from Brimson bags him a resounding length of the field try in what was potentially a 12-point-turnaround, had Trbojevic been able to score up the other end.
Trbojevic is a champion player, and there is no doubt he will get back to his best, and quickly. But he was outplayed by his opposite number on Saturday, as Brimson finished with two tries and over 200 running meters in yet another influential, energetic display, combining beautifully with his halves in particular:
On the flip side, Trbojevic got little help from his teammates, who looked out of sync or out of gas for periods throughout the match.
Led by Daly Cherry-Evans, Manly were always a chance to score points and entertain a possible comeback, but too many errors and some ill discipline ruined those chances.
With just seconds on the clock before half time and Gold Coast scrambling on their own goal line, Curtis Sironen takes a strong carry and is cut down just short of the line.
But instead of earning a quick play the ball for his team, Sironen gets up and pushes Ash Taylor over at marker, giving away a penalty and costing Manly one last shot at points before the break.
After their horror start, a try to Manly here would’ve had them down just 18-22 heading into the sheds - a salvageable scoreline. Instead, the Titans maintained their 10-point lead and went on to score another four tries in the second half and claim their eighth win of the season.
Young Tonumaipea had a whale of a game, and will be hopeful of making up a solid backline next year featuring the likes of Brimson, Phillip Sami and Brian Kelly.
For Manly, there is just one week left before their injury hit season finally comes to an end and they begin to look to next year.
The impending departures of Addin Fonua-Blake and Joel Thompson leaves some big holes in the forward pack, while Des Hasler needs to find a contingency plan should Trbojevic come undone through injury again.
That being said, the Sea Eagles are not far off and some of their younger players - Taniela Paseka, Sean Keppie, Tevita Funa - will be better for the run this season.