If the beers are 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, let’s break down some of the key players and actions throughout each week in the NRLW.
Raecene’s Roosters
The Sydney Roosters are 3-and-0 in the 2022 NRLW season following a comprehensive 34-6 smashing of arguably their biggest rivals in this year’s premiership race. The St George-Illawarra Dragons had no answer for Easts in the second half as Roosters halfback Raecene McGregor produced four try assists on Sunday afternoon, taking her tally to an outrageous eight assists from just three games this season.
I highlighted McGregor’s footwork last week in my Play of the Round (and again earlier this week in the NRLW Notepad) and although she was a running threat again in Round 3, it was McGregor’s control and playmaking abilities that stood out against the Dragons on Friday night. She notched 46 receipts in a roaming role across the park and used her game-high touches to manipulate the defence and create scoring opportunities later in the set.
The lead-up to Zehara Temara’s second-half try is a perfect example.
Swinging over to the left-hand side of the field on tackle three here, McGregor takes it upon herself to move the ball where it needs to go with a lovely cut-out pass that almost sneaks Isabelle Kelly through a gap.
On the following tackle, it’s McGregor again in the box seat resetting things towards the posts.
Having fired a shot down the left edge, McGregor then sweeps back to her usual right-hand side position and waits out the back of shape for Jocelyn Kelleher to feed her the pill two-off the ruck.
The subtle variations of where McGregor takes possession in this set make it difficult for the defence to number up and she actually creates an overlap on the right edge here with a long ball to Olivia Kernick who has Sam Bremner in support. Kernick opts to take the tackle though and fights for a quick play-the-ball while St George scrambles into position on their line.
The Dragons have now defended shape on both edges in the last three tackles alone. Fullback Emma Tonegato in particular has been asked to follow the ball from edge to edge while St George Illawarra’s middles have tracked the ball left and right as well as making a tackle on the fourth, too. Fatigue has been introduced across the defensive line and that pressure eventually cracks them when McGregor throws this together on the last:
A perfectly weighted cross-field kick from McGregor finds the grass in between winger and fullback and Tonegato can’t get there in time as the ball takes a blessed bounce for Temara to pounce on and score.
It looks opportunistic in the highlights reel but in reality, this was anything but. It’s exactly the kind of attacking set – and fifth tackle option – that Nathan Cleary has taken the Panthers to consecutive grand finals with in the men’s game. The patience and execution of McGregor here is first class and there was little the Dragons could do to stop it.
The beauty of McGregor as a ballplayer is her ability to not only build towards scoring opportunities for her team like for Temara’s try above, but also to identify and capitalise on errors in the defensive line as they appear before her. Searching down both sides of the field in Round 3, McGregor played eyes up to send Bremner over on the right edge before punching Otesa Pule through a hole on the left.
This will always be one of my favourite scoring actions in rugby league.
The Roosters had a clear plan to target Dragons halfback Rachael Pearson in Round 3. The threat of Temara and Isabelle Kelly on the outside here invites the Dragons defence to slide up and out and when they do, McGregor punishes them. You can see the way McGregor steps off her right foot and pivots her body before passing here – both indicators that the ball is going out the back – but with a subtle change in tempo and by taking the ball right into the line, McGregor buys herself time to read the defence and make the right decision.
On the other edge, it was a wrong move not outward but inward from Taliah Fuimaono that left a space for Bremner to dart through, and again it was McGregor who fashioned an action to expose it.
Kernick runs a superb backrowers line off McGregor’s hip here while Bremner sweeps out the back. Just like with Kelly in Pule’s try above, the threat of Jess Sergis (circled blue) in the centres has Page McGregor (circled red) positioned far too wide to help Fuimaono with two Roosters coming at her. Fuimaono decides to jam in on Kernick and in the split second McGregor has to make a decision, she makes the right one.
It’s not often we see a playmaker look so comfortable ballplaying on both edges, let alone look so comfortable playing short, out the back or running it herself. Throw in two assists from kicks – one a grubber for Temara and the other a pinpoint cross-field bomb for her winger in the corner – and McGregor is proving an extremely well-rounded halfback. She’s in a rare vein of form right now and while I’ll do my best to share the love around in these reviews, it’s hard not to write about McGregor right now.
In saying that, the work of both Roosters centres this season also rates a mention with Kelly (left) and Sergis (right) posing considerable threats outside McGregor whenever and wherever she takes the ball.
Regular readers will know that Kelly sweeping to the right-hand side of the field as a second fullback is my favourite action in both the NRL and NRLW right now. Three games into the regular season and Kelly and McGregor have pulled it off three times for three linebreaks and a try – not a bad return.
In Round 3 though it was Sergis’ turn to fill that roaming role when she popped up on the far left edge to throw the final pass following a halfbeak from Bremner.
The Dragons defence is shot here and Sergis only needs simple hands to get the ball to an unmarked Kelleher, but it’s the awareness and urgency of Sergis more so than the skill that warrants credit here. She probably wasn’t even needed in this action but Sergis wanted to get involved and summed things up nicely to gift Kelleher an easy four-pointer.
The celebration between Kelly and Sergis says it all – this is clearly an action the Roosters have been training for and in the pressure moments in the upcoming 2022 NRLW finals series, it could yet prove to be the winning play.
There’s Always Next Week For…
… the Parramatta Eels
The Eels are back in this segment again following an agonising 18-16 loss to the Newcastle Knights on Sunday afternoon. The NRLW is now very much split in two with a clear divide separating the Knights, Roosters and Dragons at the top and the Titans, Eels and Broncos in the bottom half.
But while Brisbane’s big 22-4 win over the Gold Coast in Round 3 sees them sitting in fourth place at the time of writing, it’s the form of an improving Parramatta Eels outfit that has caught my eye and is perhaps more deserving of a finals appearance in three weeks time.
Despite not boasting household names in the forward pack, the Eels went toe-to-toe with the Knights more fancied pack on Sunday afternoon. They clocked 42.9 metres per set on average (besting Newcastle’s 37.7m/set), made more linebreaks (5 v 4) and made far fewer errors than their opposition (6 v 13) to enjoy the bulk of field position in the first half particularly.
Eels halfback Tayla Preston made the most of Parramatta’s momentum through the middle to help her side to 410 kicking metres (besting Newcastle’s 292m) and constantly asked Tamika Upton to work it off her own line, but the Eels just didn’t have the class or strike to turn that territorial dominance into points. Gayle Broughton had her moments but unlike last week the Eels failed to get her into promising areas on the field and instead often resorted to throwing Broughton the ball on the last and wishing her luck.
In saying that, a double to centre Rikeya Horne and a try from a cross-field Preston kick to Tess Staines threatened to upset the competition heavyweights, only for veteran rake Olivia Higgins to take back the lead for Newcastle with just minutes remaining.
It was another painful finish to another promising performance from the Eels, who have shown genuine signs of improvement over the last two weeks in particular. Parramatta have a winnable game against the Titans next week before a must-win game with the Brisbane Broncos in Round 5 that will likely decide who gets a crack in the 2022 NRLW finals series. If the Eels continue on their current trajectory I’ll be backing them in to get the job done.
NRLW Play of the Round
The Newcastle Knights strength this NRLW season is undoubtedly in their forward pack.
Mille Boyle leads all forwards in the competition for average running metres while her prop-partner Caitlan Johnston is one of the more difficult players to bring down in contact. It’s a one-two punch that gets the Knights upfield smartly in yardage and often creates scoring opportunities a few plays later, and that’s exactly what happened in the lead-up to Tamika Upton’s impressive solo try against the Eels on Sunday afternoon.
Upton’s try began from a set start four tackles earlier with a regulation Boyle hit-up deep within Newcastle’s own half.
Boyle attracts three defenders to the ball here but still manages to spin and find her front to generate some ruck speed. Johnston follows it up with a strong carry on the following tackle and although her legs are chopped out from under her, Johnston too uses her momentum to find her elbows and knees and get another quick play-the-ball.
Happy to play the long game, hooker Olivia Higgins keeps things simple and again looks for Boyle beside the ruck for her second carry in this set.
Again Boyle gets to her feet quickly and while Parramatta’s defensive line retreats, Johnston puts her hand up for another charging run that isolates Christian Pio (11) down the short side to get the Knights rolling downhill.
Newcastle have now gone 50 metres in four tackles through their powerhouse props and as Pio retreats late down the short side on the fourth, Knights fullback Tamika Upton spots something she likes and explodes into gear.
Taking possession on the ad line, Upton puts on a wicked shimmy to hold up the markers before skipping quickly down a narrow right edge. Her footwork brings Simaima Taufa (13) out of the line and into no-mans land when Upton bounces back out off her left foot and sells Tiana Penitani a dummy to slice through the defence. With the fullback still to beat, Upton again steps off that left foot to get around the Gayle Broughton tackle and slam the ball down in the corner.
It’s blink and you’ll miss it stuff from the Knights and a superb individual effort from Upton to cap off a very simple game plan from the Knights that centres around getting their best players into areas to do what they do best.