Take the Two: Round 20
NRL Round 20 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.
South Sydney Rabbitohs vs Sydney Roosters
I’ll be the first to admit I didn’t see this one coming.
Regardless of last week’s no-show against the Bulldogs, South Sydney were up against it with the Roosters in fine form leading up to Friday night's clash.
Luke Keary has been carving up short sides for fun, James Tedesco looked back to his tackle busting best, and Isaac Liu and Sonny Bill Williams have between them filled the void left by injured lock Victor Radley.
But a masterclass from Cody Walker - which has been covered just about everywhere this week - turned the game on its head after an opening period of dominance from the Roosters, as Souths ran in ten tries to two against the defending premiers to clinch a historic 60-8 point win.
The combination of Walker, Adam Reynolds and Damien Cook has been crucial to South Sydney’s improved form over the back half of the season, yet it is their other spine member - fullback Corey Allan - who deserves some credit after a stunning month of football by his standards:
Most thought Souths’ season was over when Latrell Mitchell injured his hamstring against Parramatta in Round 16, but the improvement of Allan since that moment has given the Redfern faithful a sliver of hope.
As one (of many) Souths fan who had their reservations about Allan as a first grader, I’m happy to say that the humble pie he’s served up for us all in the past few weeks has been delicious, to say the least.
In the last four games Allan has silenced any calls for club favourite Alex Johnston to move to his preferred position, with the young fullback growing in confidence and stature each week to the point where he was instrumental in Souths’ flogging of the Roosters on Friday night.
Selected at the back over Johnston primarily because of his stronger passing game, Allan continues to impress with his vision and ball playing when chiming into Rabbitohs’ backline shifts:
Campbell Graham didn’t score off this one, but the flick pass was the right option here with Boyd Cordner slipping over in the defensive line and creating the space back on the inside.
And when Souths ran the same shape not long after, Allan had a little more room to work with and showed good acceleration to get on the outside of Josh Morris before producing an outrageous kick back inside for Graham again, who this time scores:
Special mention to Cameron Murray here, who runs two perfect back rower’s lines in both these shifts - despite not playing on the right edge at all this season - to attract both Luke Keary and Boyd Cordner and create more space for his outside men.
Highlight moments aside though, it is Allan’s safe hands and support play that has been most encouraging for the relatively inexperienced fullback.
His own try in the 49th minute was off the back of some Walker brilliance, but Allan showed good positioning to push up around the ball and be there in support when Walker offloaded close to the line.
And Allan was in position again in the lead up to Johnston’s fourth try, as Souths’ unheralded forward pack bustled up the middle with consecutive offloads from Liam Knight, Junior Tatola and Murray before Allan and Walker did the rest:
Allan shows great hands to collect Murray’s offload just off the turf, before looking wide and summing up the situation perfectly.
He dummies to Bayley Sironen which sucks in Mitch Aubbosson, before seeing the space out the back and throwing a perfect spiral pass - while off balance and falling over - to Walker who finds Johnston in the corner.
Whether or not Allan (and Souths) can put this kind of performance together consistently throughout the finals series is another question entirely, but the emergence of Allan over the last month as a genuine first grader and capable replacement for the injured Latrell Mitchell goes some way to easing those concerns.
Cronulla Sharks vs Canberra Raiders
The Cronulla Sharks are still winless against fellow top eight teams in 2020 as they failed to knock off what was essentially a reserve grade Canberra Raiders outfit on Saturday night.
The loss of experienced playmakers Shaun Johnson, Matt Moylan and Chad Townsend may be taking its toll in the Shire, as a long and injury interrupted season for coach John Morris unfortunately looks to continue into the finals.
For the Raiders, an absence of big names themselves meant Ricky Stuart needed someone to step up, and that man was rookie hooker Tom Starling, who finished what has been an impressive regular season for Canberra following Josh Hodgson’s injury in Round 9.
More than a few put a line through the Raiders when their talismanic hooker’s year came to an end midway through the season, but the way Starling has burst onto the first grade scene means that Canberra are still well and truely in the premiership conversation.
Alongside regular starter Dunamis Lui, Starling ran riot early in the first half; pulling the strings from dummy half to isolate Braydon Trindall close to the line for Lui to barge over:
You can see Starling identify the smaller bodies of Trindall and back rower Briton Nikora at A and B defender, and when Nikora shoots off his line to shut down the Raiders’ backline, Trindall is no hope of stopping a much larger Lui one off the ruck.
Starling gets Nikora with a similar trick not long after, scooting from dummy half before dummying to his outside men to send Nikora shooting out of the defensive line again, then burning Trindall for pace and finding Sam Williams back on the inside:
But the young hooker’s starring moment came midway through the first half, as he shut down an attacking kick from Trindall on his own goal line to race 50 meters upfield and get his team out of trouble and into attacking territory themselves.
A few plays later, Ryan Sutton takes a settling hit up and manages to get in between the big bodies of Aaron Woods and Braden Hamlin-Uele close to the line:
The two props are slow to get to their feet and as Sutton plays the ball, you can see Cronulla fullback Will Kennedy (top left) gesturing for Woods to get to A-defender on the left-hand side of the ruck - but he is too slow:
Hamlin-Uele is in position at marker but can’t match Starling for speed, as the crafty hooker shapes right before diving low back in behind the ruck - right into where Kennedy was telling Woods to go.
This has been a problem area for the Sharks all season - Jason touched on it way back in Round 6 and we looked at it again here in Round 15.
Too many big bodies through the middle third of the field, particularly in a year where ruck speeds have increased dramatically, have left Cronulla far too immobile in the middle - and the numbers are telling.
The Sharks have conceded 17 tries through their middle third this season - the fifth most in the competition behind only the Titans (18), Dragons (20), Tigers (21) and Broncos (24).
In comparison, Cronulla’s fellow top eight teams have only conceded an average 8.2 tries through their middle third in 2020 - less than half what the Sharks have leaked this season.
With a raft of playmaking stars on the sidelines, coach John Morris will be looking for a much improved defensive performance from his team - particularly in the middle of the field - if the Sharks are to make any inroads in this year’s finals series.
There’s Always Next Week For…
… the North Queensland Cowboys.
There mightn’t be any footy for the North Queensland Cowboys next week, but they ended their 2020 season on a winning note by beating rivals Brisbane Broncos 32-16 on Thursday night.
It’s been a hit and miss season for the Cowboys, who have had to juggle injury issues - like most other clubs - but failed to get the changes right at a few points along the way.
The absence of skipper and halfback Michael Morgan no doubt took a toll, although it did give young playmakers Scott Drinkwater and Jake Clifford a chance to build some combinations and establish themselves as the Cowboys’ first choice halves pairing, moving forward.
Instead, a mixture of suspensions and selection question-marks meant that Drinkwater and Clifford only managed eleven games together this season, despite putting up some promising numbers in the opening rounds of the competition.
The pair impressed in their final hit out of the 2020 season, combining for one try and three try assists between them, as well as linking effectively with fullback Valentine Holmes.
While the makeup of North Queensland’s 2021 squad is still somewhat of an unknown, Drinkwater in particular simply has to be there.
In a side struggling for points (fifth worst in the NRL) and lacking a few strike outside backs, Drinkwater’s offensive abilities have been crucial to the Cowboys’ success at times this season - and they were on Thursday night:
Exploring down the right edge, Drinkwater gets the ball wide from Clifford before squaring up on Tom Dearden. He looks out the back to Holmes which sends Herbie Farnworth sliding outwards, before popping a no-look short ball to Justin O’Neill, who is unlucky not to bust his way through.
Note how far Broncos winger Corey Oates jammed in on this play - Kyle Feldt had an acre of space to work with down that right touch line, and his five-eighth saw it.
Not long after, Drinkwater roams down this side again, with Holmes and O’Neill running a double lead line to hold up Dearden and Farnsworth again:
Oates has come in too, and so Drinkwater fires a brilliant double cut-out pass to the chest of Feldt, who strolls over untouched in the corner.
Its not uncommon to see these left-to-right passes miss their mark, and credit must go to Drinkwater not only for his execution here but also the lead up work in identifying Oates’ poor positioning on that edge.
But he wasn’t done there - another right side raid late in the second half sealed the result for the Cowboys, as Feldt collected a neat grubber kick from Drinkwater to bag his third of the evening:
Jordan McLean slotting in at first receiver as a ball playing forward - something we haven’t seen enough of from the Cowboys this year - allows Drinkwater to get on the outside of Jordan Riki and at a sliding Broncos’ left edge.
Oates has dropped back for the fifth tackle kick, meaning North Queensland have a numbers advantage down the short side. Drinkwater has enough speed to beat Riki and create the overlap, drawing out Oates before dropping a perfectly weighted grubber in behind the line for a well worked try.
At his best, Drinkwater is a genuine triple threat playmaker - his running, kicking and passing games are up there with the best in the comp - and he has often looked the Cowboys’ most dangerous player with the ball in hand.
While his defensive reads and handling errors are areas of his game that must improve, Drinkwater’s offensive output is too valuable to leave out of this North Queensland outfit, moving forward.