I always have a particular match, trend, team, or player in mind to focus on heading into each round of the NRL season. This week, I’m highlighting why forwards don’t always move quickly to get back behind the ball.
These are meant to be short and sharp articles to introduce the weekend, but they can sometimes become full features. If you like what you see, pass it on or sign up for a Premium membership for only $5 a month to have The Short Dropout delivered straight to your inbox every week.
Recent:
- Breaking down simple yardage sets
- Why don’t teams compete on a bomb?
- Getting nerdy over scrums
- Breaking down a Bulldogs tap start
- How one tackle can have a big impact
The role of the NRL winger has changed. Once considered blokes who “hang around footballers,” wingers are now key cogs of the team all the way up the field. They’re no longer the speedy finisher close to the line. Coaches – and middle forwards – are looking for players who can take a strong carry in a tough position to start a set well or save one down the line.
In yardage, they want a back five that can make life easier for the middle forwards.
“Get back behind the ball!”
It’s an underrated classic of the NRL stadium experience alongside “get ’em onside” and “doing it all day.”
You don’t really want the forwards hustling back to get onside, though. If they are, the team has bigger problems further down the field.
There are examples in every game every week. As usual, the Penrith Panthers are the benchmark in this area. But here it’s the Dolphins and Sydney Roosters.
The Dolphins are working their way out of yardage, and it’s the Roosters forwards doing the work.
Roosters tacklers this set as Isaiya Katoa kicks the ball:
Connor Watson – 2
Nat Butcher – 3
Nafahu Whyte – 1
Angus Crichton – 2
Taylan May – 2
Victor Radley – 1
That’s Butcher and Whyte applying kick pressure while May runs an escort on the kick chase, too.
Daniel Tupou carries the ball back strongly. He takes the easy metres after the catch and looks for a gap in the defensive line when he reaches it, looking for that extra metre or two.
While Sitili Tupouniua is met with a crunching tackle and is pushed towards his own line, you can see the Roosters forwards have only needed to travel 30 metres back from the Dolphins play-the-ball.
Every metre earned by the back five is saved in the legs and lungs of the middles.
Matt Timoko single-handily saved gas in Josh Papalii’s tank on Sunday as his carry provided the Canberra Raiders with a quick play-the-ball out of yardage.
Papalii makes the last tackle and gets out to the Bulldogs kicker before turning and facing the long walk back behind the ball. It’s a walk that looks a lot longer when Xavier Savage is pushed back to the 20-metre line.
However, when Timoko splits two smaller defenders, he’s able to play the ball quickly for Jordan Rapana to play on the back of it. Just like that, Papalii now only needs to retreat 20 metres back from where he made his tackle to now be behind the ball.
The big prop forward is going to be in a much better position to defend effectively on the following set than he would have hustling back an extra 20 metres to get behind the ball on the 2nd tackle.
Those early tackles are where middle forwards can catch their breath before putting their energy into the defensive side of the ball. The game is too quick these days for middle forwards to get out of the washing machine in defence and be asked to carry the ball in every attacking set.
So, if there is a demand for forwards to get back behind the ball, something has gone wrong elsewhere. If it hasn’t gone wrong yet, it soon will.