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Isaiah Tass Appreciation Post
On a weekend where Alex Johnston climbed to outright fourth on the all-time NRL try scorer leaderboard, I had my eye on a different South Sydney Rabbitoh.
One channel infield from where Johnston scored his 13th career hat-trick in NRL Round 14, Souths left centre Isaiah Tass went quietly about his work – as he does every single week. He took his customary 15-odd runs for 100-and-something metres in yardage and tackled with his usual 90-ish% efficiency in defence.
He’s a no-frills kind of player, which explains the relative lack of hype around a 30-game NRL rookie performing with the consistency and awareness of a 100+ game veteran.
Only the good judges – or the rusted-on Souths fans (g’day) – are truly appreciating Tass’ involvements at this stage of his career.
Oh, and his wing partner Alex Johnston.
With 13 assists from 30 NRL games so far, Tass is proving a wonderful foil for the Rabbitohs greatest ever finisher. Whatever he lacks in top-line speed or agility, Tass makes up for with a clean pair of hands and a wonderful sense of spacial awareness which continues to help Johnston climb up the try scorer rankings.
This simple looking assist action is anything but.
With the winger jamming in at his outside shoulder, Tass has to do a few things right before he even touches the ball here.
His positioning in the backline is perfect. He’s up flat enough to take advantage of the overlap, but just deep enough to give him time to catch and pass.
He’s also not too wide off Cody Walker here, giving him the space required to turn his body in to receive the pass and out to release it. He’s careful not to over-run his line, too. Being sure not to take space off Johnston, Tass instead targets Jojo Fifita’s inside shoulder and forces him to bite.
With all the lead up work done, Tass barely puts a fingerprint on the footy as he shovels it along for Johnston to score his first of the game. Those quick tip-on passes look easy but it’s not an action every NRL centre can execute.
Visually speaking, Tass had a lot more to do for Johnston’s second.
It starts with Damien Cook and Shaq Mitchell getting the attention of Klese Haas defending at four-man on the Titans right edge.
With Haas caught up around the ruck, Walker is able to get at Tannah Boyd’s inside shoulder and bring Jacob Host onto the ball off his hip. Host’s convincing decoy drags Aaron Schoupp infield, and when Tass takes possession out the back of shape he already has Schoupp beat on the outside.
Schoupp turns out and works hard to recover in the line, but he opens up a space on his inside for Tass to exploit. Host does a great job to get through that space without obstructing Boyd, as Tass cranks off his left foot to poke his nose through the line.
The sideline angle shows just how much work Tass had left to do in this action:
Stepping away from Fifita and cutting inside Schoupp’s attempted tackle, Tass keeps his ball carrying arm free as Boyd wraps around his legs. While falling to the ground and having attracted no less than five Titans defenders, Tass gets the offload away for Johnston to dot down without breaking a sweat.
Tass’ timing and positioning in these actions cannot be understated.
Oftentimes, a centre’s role in a backline movement is as simple as catching, drawing and passing to his winger.
Sometimes though, the subtle pre-line movements and timing of that pass can be the difference between a winger diving over in the corner or being bundled into touch.
That difference is something Tass is making a habit of getting right.
Look how Tass holds up the defending winger in this action against the Canberra Raiders in NRL Round 14:
With an acre of space to work with and a sliding defensive line in front of him, Tass nails his involvement here. Holding the ball in two hands out in front, he straightens ever so slightly on his run to engage Nick Cotric’s inside shoulder and keep him interested just long enough to buy Johnston time to go over in the corner.
Like I said, this looks simple but is not an action every centre in the NRL gets right.
Tass has a knack for timing that pass to perfection. He’s got a wonderful spacial awareness and knows how to use his time in possession to create room for Johnston on his outside.
I’ve spoken before about the idea of playing Jack Wighton in the backrow when he arrives at Redfern next year.
Part of that logic is based around Wighton’s qualities in yardage and his efforts on the kick chase.
The other part is based on Tass’ pleasing development as a genuine NRL-quality centre.
He’s only going to get better from here and can play a leading role in Johnston’s pursuit of the all-time NRL try scoring record.
Head Noise – What’s living rent free in my head this week?
Jarrod Croker
Croker will become the 48th player in NRL history to run out for 300+ games this weekend, and just the 16th to do so as a one-club player.
Even the most die-hard Warriors fans will applaud when Croker takes the field on Friday night, but that’s as far as the respect will go.
This is a game the Warriors will expect to win given how they’ve navigated the 2023 NRL season to date. They’re one of the more resilient defensive outfits in the competition and are consistently producing repeatable scoring actions in attack.
While it’s great that Croker gets to celebrate his milestone game in front of a packed home crowd, capping it off with a win won’t be easy given the quality of their opposition.
I’m very surprised to see the Warriors as $2.60 outsiders at time of writing…
Bulldogs switch play shape
Midway through their narrow loss to the Roosters in NRL Round 14, Reed Mahoney and the Bulldogs fell into this shape in good-ball.
Kurtis Morrin is positioned wide one-off the ruck and immediately offers an inside ball option for Mahoney as the hooker skips across-field.
Corey Waddell and Matt Burton are one channel wider, standing in what looks like a block shape until Burton follows Morrin in field and Waddell offers a Mahoney a short-ball option.
Mahoney hits neither teammate and instead misfires a pass over Hayze Perham to Paul Alamoti on the left edge. Judging by Perham’s reaction, he was the target here in what would have been a three-on-three situation out wide.
It isn’t executed cleanly on this occasion, but we should expect to see this one again from Mahoney and the Bulldogs.
Burton flying back against the grain is an appealing action, but it’s the Waddell lead option that could catch defenders napping if they follow Burton in or slide early to cover the space out wide.
John Bateman
Reports are circling that Bateman is preparing to make a move into the No.13 jumper for the Wests Tigers.
On face value, it’s a good move.
He’s a sound ballplayer and will relish a roaming role through the middle of the field. He played there in the last 15 minutes of the Tigers v Titans game on Thursday night and looked right at home distributing at pivot through the middle-third.
With a pass, kick and run option, Bateman can ask more questions of ruck defence than Fonua Pole currently does. Pole is showing great signs in his rookie NRL season but can play a similar role in the Tigers prop-forward rotation.
The bigger question is: Who slots into Bateman’s edge position if the move goes ahead?
Asu Kepaoa and Shawn Blore feel the most likely at time of writing. Both have spent time in the backrow this season, although neither made the position their own. With a host of inexperienced backrowers in the top squad (Apisalome Saukuru, Brandon Mansfield, Brandon Tumeth), perhaps Tim Sheens will look to blood some rookies in the backend of the season.
RLW Percentage Play
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Canberra Raiders v New Zealand Warriors (Friday)