NRL Repeat Set: Round 5
Round 5 of the 2020 NRL season came later and went for longer than originally expected, but what a round it was.
Round 5 was a thrilling week for the big ‘C’ fans of the alphabet.
The first C comes as no surprise: Covid.
It was never a matter of ‘if’ for the second C, only ‘when’: Consistency!
The third C has been around forever: Some call him Cameron, others call him… something else.
Also, the Warriors won, Latrell Mitchell played well, and Graham Annesley talked about too many incorrect decisions.
Here’s the repeat set for Round 5:
NRL Nail Game Delay
We’ve got 800 players and staff, media, ground staff and hundreds of others involved in the day-to-day running of rugby league. Something Covid related was bound to come up eventually.
In the interest of giving credit where it’s due, Peter V’Landys, the ARLC and NRL should be applauded for their handling of Aidan Tolman’s coronavirus scare.
There was little drama in the end.
V’Landys slept on the news, called an early meeting and bang, Bulldogs v Roosters was pushed out to Monday night. No harm, no foul. There was no room for speculation and negative headlines. The announcement was made and accepted with next to no problems.
With plans also in place to “allow players and officials to venture into the outside world for the first time in almost three months,” rugby league is inching closer to normality and, in turn, making it through an uncertain period that a small group of people had hoped would see the competition go up in flames.
The NRL’s Other ‘C’ Word
It was only a matter of time, really…
The honeymoon period is over and the demands for consistency around the six-again rule have begun to circulate.
The ‘C’ word has popped up more and more over the last fortnight, and will only grow louder if NRL.com ever add the number of six-again penalties to their match pages.
Blaming players and coaches for finding ways to bend the rule has kicked off this week, too.
Like clockwork, the Melbourne Storm have been highlighted as the main instigators of the gamesmanship and manipulation of the rule so many fans — or peanuts as Paul Kent calls them — saw coming a month ago.
“There is a growing trend of teams being willing to give up an early set restart, but the Storm seemed to take it to another level.” — Paul Crawley via The Daily Telegraph
*Shock*
It’s not only the Storm doing it. Teams coming out of their own end are regularly receiving six more tackles on the 1st or 2nd when they’d much prefer the kick down field.
The defending team isn’t only benefiting from the extra time to set their defensive line, but the attacking team ends up kicking on the last, roughly from where they would have kicked the ball to touch.
Next, we will hear more about how it works against teams in good ball sets. We saw it on Sunday night, although, the Sharks had played so poorly that the idea of a comeback was lost on most. Nonetheless, the set restart the Sharks received 30 metres out at midfield with 3:15 left on the clock while down by eight points didn’t help them. The move in that situation is to knock over the penalty goal and play for the try to level things up. Instead, Jesse Ramien threw the ball into touch on the very next tackle.
As somebody initially supportive of at least trialing the six-again rule in the right setting, it’s frustrating to see the teething issues so many predicted playing out in first-grade.
Warriors Win Again!
“Please, Kodi. Force me to eat humble pie on Saturday afternoon.” — Me, before Round 3
I almost died of starvation waiting the extra two weeks, but the humble pie is all over my face and has dribbled down onto the isolation beer belly.
Kodi Nikorima was that good in the Warriors’ 37–26 win over the Cowboys.
He ran the ball nine times for 97 metres and handed out two try assists. This one here is what we want to see somewhat regularly.
Nikorima sees the gaping hole at ‘A’ and puts his head down. There was so little second-guessing of himself that he’s started to step off his left foot before receiving the ball.
The excellent performance comes on the back of some timely advice:
“Stacey Jones was in my ear the whole week just saying, ‘I just want you to be greedy this week and just run the ball’. So I guess that was in the back of my mind.”
Eli Katoa’s rise to potential Rookie of the Year status has helped Nikorima, too. The 20-year-old is averaging 141.7 running metres and 3.4 tackle breaks per game.
It’s only one game and the Warriors are preparing to face an improving Rabbitohs outfit in Round 5. The signs Nikorima displayed while commanding the left edge on Friday night are encouraging, though.
Latrell Is A Fullback?
Well, well, well…
Maybe Wayne Bennett knows what he’s doing after all.
He’s stuck with Latrell Mitchell at fullback despite calls from every angle to put him back into the centres. Guiding him through a turbulent start to the season, Bennett’s faith — others have called it stubbornness — is starting to pay dividends.
Mitchell scored a try and recorded three try assists in a Man of the Match performance in Round 5. But it’s not just the impressive involvements in try-scoring situations that Bennett will be cheery about, it’s Mitchell’s involvement overall.
Mitchell looked eager to get his hands on the ball. His 28 receipts in this one is the most he’s managed since his move to fullback. While he doesn’t pile up a lot of run metres (he’s averaging just 92.9m per game), he’s making sure to use his energy in good ball sets. The key for Mitchell now is to find a good balance game-to-game. He won’t be able to sit back and wait for his teammates to get up the field every week. Sometimes, he’ll have to get his hands a little dirty and help with the hard yards.
Play Of The Round
We witnessed a Cameron Smith special on Saturday night.
Smith pulled the Knights defence into the middle before stretching them out with long passes all night. This set here sums up his 80 minutes.
He makes the most of the six-again call to get the Storm on the front foot through the middle. Note Jacob Saifiti (15) behind the play already and Andrew McCullough (9) making the tackle.
He then splits the markers to feed Ryan Papenhuyzen to the right edge before pulling it back to the middle on the following tackle.
You can see Cameron Munster point out McCullough and Saifiti. Sione Mata’utia is out just enough in front of the line that, rather than hitting Tino Faasuamaleaui on a little unders run, Munster takes the tackle by both McCullough and Saifiti.
Again, Smith engages the marker before Papenhuyzen hits the ball up to the right of the posts.
Here is where it comes together.
Smith takes a few steps out from dummy half. Who does he force into making a move towards him? Jacob Saifiti.
The Storm send it to the opposite side of the field they started this tackle. McCullough is awfully slow to get across the field. So too is Saifiti. As a result, they’ve left a massive gap between themselves and David Klemmer outside him.
Smith doesn’t even need to look as he approaches the ruck.
He can take his pick: Hit Nelson Asofa-Solomona or Faasuamaleaui.
He hits Faasuamaleaui on the chest — try time.
Beautiful rugby league.
Annesley’s Briefing Summary
Graham Annesley had plenty to say this week, so to save you the 25 minutes, I’ll cover off the key points here.
- The decision to award the Sea Eagles with a penalty after Pat Carrigan stripped the ball on Friday night has been deemed the correct decision. The strip quite clearly begins after the “held” call.
- Anthony Milford’s denied 20/40 was the incorrect decision. No surprises there.
- David Klemmer’s shot on Dale Finnucane was “incidental contact”. It shouldn’t have been awarded as a penalty for foul play.
- The referee was wrong to say the Tigers couldn’t challenge the decision to review Michael Chee-Kam’s arm hitting the ground. Not only did his elbow not touch the ground, Wests were within their rights to challenge the call.
- Anthony Don’s hand was facing backwards when he went up to contest a bomb on Saturday afternoon. Bryce Cartwright then fell on the ball. The NRL now say Don didn’t knock the ball on and Cartwright should have been awarded a try. That one might be up for debate…
Jarrod Maxwell made a surprise appearance to add the Bunker’s perspective to the obstruction decisions over the weekend.
Despite the thoughts of the always-contrarian Gus Gould, the decisions Maxwell reviewed are fairly clear cut and it’s worth a watch for those that wish to be informed more than outraged.
