Take the Two: Round 6
Key talking points from Round 6 in the NRL
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, lets break down some of the key plays each week in the NRL.
New Zealand Warriors vs South Sydney Rabbitohs
The Rabbitohs posted back-to-back wins on Friday for the first time this season, dispatching an error ridden Warriors side 40–12 at Bankwest Stadium.
While far from clinical, Souths’ attack in particular has showed improvement over the last few weeks as they’ve begun to adapt to the new rules and style of play. The influence of Damien Cook out of hooker cannot be understated for Souths, and they will need the speedy rake to dominate through the ruck area if they want to play finals footy this year.
Cook is never going to manipulate defenders or put his forwards into holes with deft passes like the Cameron Smith’s and Josh Hodgson’s of our game.
But he is still lightening quick out of dummy half and can earn good meters in yardage sets with clever scoots around tired forwards.
Where he comes undone is once he gets to the line and tries to offload the ball under pressure, instead of looking to pass early or simply take the meters on offer:
In this sequence, Cook gets a quick play the ball from Tevita Tatola, and with Kodi Nikorima still getting back into the defensive line, he knows there will be space down the short side.
He drops Adam Reynolds under, leaving a 4-on-3 overlap against a retreating defence.
Campbell Graham could have been up flatter, but even still the numbers are there and all Cook needs to do is square up Agnatius Pasi (3-defender) and put it through the hands.
Instead, Cook drifts sideways across field and kills the overlap, before throwing a panicked, last-second pass to the ground. Cook’s indecision here is his undoing — unsure whether to run or pass, he makes a poor play under pressure before the line.
Being more selective with his running game will be the key for Cook and the Rabbitohs moving forward.
He bombed an almost certain try in the first half after having a hand in a brilliant short side raid by Souths, where his scoot and pass from hooker in this instance created an opportunity for Latrell Mitchell in space.
Liam Knight does well to push up in support and produce a great offload, and Mitchell puts Braidon Burns down the sideline. With the Warriors still getting onside, Souths are in perfect position to go through the hands and score on the right flank.
But Cook inexplicably tucks the ball under his arm and engages the line, wasting the overlap. By the time he gets the ball wide to Reynolds, the Warriors have rushed up and the space is gone.
He would have wanted this one over again, but the lead up play from Cook and the Rabbitohs was promising. With a smaller, more mobile pack than in recent years, it is more important than ever for Cook to pick his moments to run and help Souths work upfield.
Equally promising has been the continued development of Latrell Mitchell at fullback, as he produced another energetic performance on and off the ball.
His positional work at fullback will continue to be his biggest challenge, but Mitchell’s efforts in these plays show he is doing the little things — the one percenters — that make fullbacks so valuable.
In attack, Mitchell’s passing game has been his greatest asset so far this season, and offsets Cook’s relative lack of ball-playing from hooker. We’ve also seen Cam Murray return to lock and provide another playmaking option in the middle of the field.
Many expected Cook to flourish with the rule changes around the ruck, and he hasn’t quite fired — yet. Its not realistic to expect length of the field solo tries from him every week, nor is he likely to rack up many try assists from dummy half.
But if Cook can use his running game to earn momentum through the middle, Souths’ ball playing threats on the edges should create plenty of try scoring opportunities as a result:
We’ll have another few of these please, ‘Trell.
Canberra Raider vs Manly Sea Eagles
The Manly Sea Eagles came away with a win that had Des Hasler’s mystical fingerprints all over it on Sunday, playing most of the match with one man on the bench to defy a disappointing Canberra Raiders outfit.
Going into the match without Martin Taupau and Moses Suli amoung others, Manly lost Dylan Walker, Brad Parker and Tom Trbojevic as the game went on, and had no right to come away with the two points.
But just as Hasler and the Sea Eagles have done so comfortably in the past, Manly warmly embraced the underdog tag and simply ground Canberra out of the game.
A scintillating first half from Trbojevic gave Manly a lead they could defend, as the superstar fullback threatened with every touch early on.
He burnt Curtis Scott for fun to bag Manly’s first four-pointer, set up Tevita Funa for his maiden NRL try not long after, and would’ve had his eighth try assist for the year in this play, had Jack Gosiewski been pushing up in support:
The way Trbojevic positions himself off the ball is crucial to this play, and is why his running game is so dynamic.
The play begins with Taniela Paseka and Tom running simple support lines for a Jake Trbojevic hit up, and Canberra’s defence tightens up accordingly.
As Jake engages the line, Tom is running an ‘unders’ line between George Williams (just out of frame) and Joseph Tapine:
But just before Jake passes, Tom bounces off his right foot, to Williams’ outside shoulder:
This means by the time Tom gets the ball, he already has Williams beat on the outside, and Curtis Scott is forced to come in.
If Gosiewski (just in the frame below) had been up flatter in support, it’s a simple offload from Tom and Manly score again.
These subtleties off the ball are what has had Tom Trjobevic playing such good footy this year, and are why Manly will miss him so dearly in the coming rounds.
With so many injuries to manage, Manly resorted to a disciplined, patient style of footy, conceding only two penalties and throwing just four offloads across 80 minutes.
Led by Jake Trbojevic and Addin Fonua-Blake, Manly worked calmly upfield through the middle, or shifted to the edges when Canberra tried locking in.
Simple early passes like this earned Manly an easy 20 meters out of their own red zone:
With a completion rate around 90%, Manly got through their sets and rarely gifted Canberra good field position, as Cherry-Evans kicked for an astonishing 643 meters in another display of his excellent game-management skills.
But it was Manly’s defence that earned the result, as the Raiders were repelled again and again by a maroon-and-white wall.
Whether it was individual players making crucial one-on-one tackles, or some desperate sliding defence from the big men in the middle, there was always a Manly jersey in the frame when Canberra came close to the line.
This effort from Curtis Sironen in the 70th minute exemplified Manly’s performance on Friday night:
Playing out of position at centre, with no subs, in the dying minutes of the match, Sironen makes a brilliant cover tackle on a diving Jordan Rapana, sealing the game for the Sea Eagles.
They may be without their superstar fullback for the foreseeable future, but don’t count out this gritty Manly side that seems to thrive under pressure and adversity.
There’s Always Next Week for
…the Melbourne Storm.
Six rounds into the competition, we are yet to see the consistent, methodical Storm outfit that we have come to expect from a Craig Bellamy coached side.
For so long, the Storm have built success on the back of hard working, role-playing footballers who are given a clear role within the team. This laid a consistent platform from which players like Cameron Smith and Cam Munster could execute set plays.
You knew what was coming, but the Storm ran their shapes so well that it was often hard to defend.
The new rule changes lend itself to a more ad-lib style of footy. This is not to say that having shape isn’t necessary, rather players must be ready to run that shape at any moment, from any position on the field.
Melbourne’s two tries against Penrith are a good example of this, and of the Storm’s gradual adaption to the new style of game this year.
A simple hit up towards the posts drags Penrith’s defence inwards, leaving only four defenders outside the right post.
Note how deep Munster positions himself behind the ruck, while Felise Kaufusi and Christian Welch are almost out of frame and seemingly uninvolved in the coming play.
Munster wraps around at the last minute, Kaufusi and Welch run a double-lead line, and Villiame Kikau has to make a 50/50 call on who to hit on the line.
Try time.
Melbourne’s only other points came from a similar shape, but this time off the back of some second phase play, highlighting Melbourne’s growing offence this season.
Some footwork and an offload from Munster scrambles Penrith’s defensive line, and when Smith shifts it wide to Riley Jacks, the Storm know they have the numbers on the right.
Kaufusi and Brenko Lee run the same double-lead shape as from Melbourne’s first try, and Munster throws a brilliant cut out pass for Lee to bag his first meat pie in Storm colours.
The challenge for the Storm will be to execute these attacking shapes and patterns on the run and over the advantage line, rather than off the back of set up plays in perfect field position, as has served them so well in the past.
And with Smith and Munster calling the shots, you’d be a brave punter to bet against the Melbourne Storm for too long this season.
