Whether you’re searching for an edge in the workplace tipping comp or just desperate to talk some footy, you’ve found the place. Join Oscar Pannifex as he unpacks the scrum each week in the NRL.
Roosters attacking blueprint
A few weeks ago I talked about the Roosters slowly building their attack around Victor Radley, Luke Keary and Sam Walker. Throw James Tedesco into that mix and you have four creative players who like to play on the ball.
Flushed with ballplaying talents as they are, there is a temptation (or expectation) for the Roosters to play an expansive style in attack. They can move the ball better than most spines in the NRL and the variation they present when interchanging between first, second or third receiver makes the Roosters attack as hard to read as it is to contain.
The quickest way to the try line is straight forward though, and in Brandon Smith the Roosters have a player who can straighten an attack better than most.
Against Parramatta last week, Smith looked to run whenever a defender peeled late from the tackle or was out of position at marker. It’s a basic principle for attacking hookers and Smith applied that principle to cause problems for the Eels ruck defence in Round 5.
With Wiremu Grieg out of play in this action, Smith jumps out from behind the ruck to hold up Reagan Campbell-Gillard before passing to Tedesco.
Smith only takes two steps with the ball here, but its enough. Campbell-Gillard can’t move sideways until the pass is released, meaning Ryan Matterson and Mitchell Moses are stuck in the mud with Tedesco coming at them. The flow-on effect is Tedesco isolating Lindsay Collins onto Moses in the line; a match-up he wins as expected to get the offload away.
As fatigue set in, Smith’s running opportunities increased.
Using the ballplaying of Radley and Keary, the Roosters again isolate a bigger man on a smaller defender with Egan Butcher dragging Moses and Will Penisini into this tackle.
Moses fights to get to marker but Butcher does just enough to get him off balance, leaving him out of position on the following play. The ref spots it and calls Moses offside, and Smith spots it too.
He darts left to drag Penisini one way before exploding back towards the middle of the field. Keary and Walker are waiting with shape either side of the ruck but both get on their bike when Smith darts from dummy-half. They quickly push up in support around the ball and it’s all done at too much speed for the Eels to react.
We are going to see more of this from the Roosters in season 2023.
Playing to their strengths, the Roosters can use their myriad of ballplayers to create positive match-ups in yardage and generate ruck speed. Smith is afforded every chance to run from there, and the ruck recognition and speed of both Keary and Walker gives Smith two wonderful support options whenever he scoots. That’s all without even mentioning Tedesco, too.
Closer to the line, Smith’s running threat is amplified.
It’s Walker this time distributing through the middle to get Collins into a favourable match-up with the smaller J’Maine Hopgood. Again Collins wins that contest to find his front and quickly play the ball as Parramatta reset.
Take note of how the defence reacts when Smith scoops the ball up and scans the line.
He takes just three steps out from dummy-half and gets the attention of no less than four Eels defenders. Smith’s a good chance of going himself here, so Parramatta bunch up around the ruck and force him to play out the back. Unfortunately for the Eels, that’s exactly where Walker and Joseph Sua’ali’i are ready and waiting.
Shifting from coast-to-coast and executing extravagant set pieces in attack is where I thought Radley, Keary and Walker were building towards. The newest evidence suggests otherwise, though.
The Roosters are so hard to contain when playing a short, high-speed style of footy over the advantage line. As with everything, combinations are key and we still haven’t seen the best of the Roosters attack. These passages from Round 5 suggest we’re getting closer, though.
Head Noise – What’s living rent free in my head this week?
Short-side switch plays
It’s looking like the NRL’s latest attacking trend and I’m here for it. Four different clubs (by my count) have tried on a little short-side switch play so far this season and the latest ended in a lovely try to Dom Young in Round 5.
Hitting an edge via your backrower then doubling up down the short side on the following tackle is a fairly common tactic in the NRL. The idea is to target a tired forward who has retreated down the short-side and is out of position on the following play. Good halves will recognise a slower forward defending in an unfamiliar position and immediately send traffic their way.
These switch plays are a different, though. When your centre or winger is playing the ball – presumably after a backline movement on the previous tackle – it doesn’t leave much room to work with down the touchline. It’s also such a narrow channel that you’re unlikely to find a fatiguing forward hiding out there. Instead, the idea is ask edge defenders to make decisions and repeat-efforts under pressure and fatigue.
I first noticed it in the pre-season trials when the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs produced this for Jaydn Okunbor to dot down:
Paul Alomoti wins the tackle to play the ball quickly, triggering this action. Some nice deception from Josh Reynolds disguises the play and Canberra’s edge defence are stuck in the mud when the Bulldogs turn back against the grain.
Since then, we’ve seen the Sharks try something similar in yardage:
And the Rabbitohs tried it on back-to-back tackles in good-ball
But it was the Newcastle Knights in Round 5 who did it best.
Of course Jackson Hastings is in there. He’s one of the more intelligent playmakers in the NRL and disguises things perfectly here by shaping infield before swivelling back to Lachie Miller on the edge. Dane Gagai does well to reload on the play and provide the quick hands required to find Young unmarked on the paint.
We’re going to see a few more NRL teams try this on before season’s end. Nathan Cleary and the Penrith Panthers feel like they might be one of them.
Save Our Scrums – Dylan Brown & Maika Sivo
I’m swinging over to Jase’s side of the field with the latest installment of Save Our Scrums coming from the Eels v Roosters game in Round 5.
From a mid-field scrum, Parramatta split the numbers down the middle which forces the Roosters to post just three defenders on either edge.
Considering Dylan Brown’s threat as a ball-runner, that’s a lot of open space for three Roosters to cover. Drew Hutchison is clearly thinking the same thing, and stays tight with Sam Walker in the line in case Brown runs.
He doesn’t.
Jaxson Paulo is in no-man’s land as Brown and Waqa Blake engage the line. Realising what’s unfolding, he goes for the intercept rather than trying to contain Sivo in that much space. Paulo reads the pass well but can only get a fingertip on what is a beautiful floating ball from Brown that lands in Sivo’s chest – too good.
RLW Percentage Play – NRL Round 5
While RLW content is the kind of gear you’re likely to discuss over a schooner at the pub, our premium subscribers see it for what it can really be – an edge. Not every action we notice eventuates in a winning bet slip, but with enough work we can at the very least take an educated guess – an informed punt, if you will – at where the value is each week in the NRL.
Parramatta Eels v Wests Tigers (Monday)
The Parramatta Eels welcome back Shaun Lane to their left edge this week and his involvements on Monday can pay immediate dividends. Dylan Brown has been building nicely into the season but he’s a different prospect with Lane running off his hip.
Their target against the Tigers in Round 6 will be Adam Doueihi and Starford To’a. Doueihi might be a better defender than Brandon Wakeham but he hasn’t played beside To’a this season and Parramatta can test that unfamiliar combination.
To’a in particular is still finding his feet defending at right centre. He was caught turning in a few times last week against the Broncos, biting on Kurt Capewell’s lead line or worrying about the speed of Reece Walsh.
Clint Gutherson doesn’t have Walsh’s speed, but he can straighten an attack out the back of shape just as effectively. He also loves scheming down that short left edge to link with Brown, often on consecutive tackles:
Swap Jack Murchie out for Lane in this action and there’s a lot for the Tigers edge defence to consider here. Lane can stand in the tackle and get an offload away, or he can find his front and get a quick play-the-ball as Murchie does here. With Brown and Gutherson running downhill at a retreating defensive line on the following tackle, To’a will be asked to make a decision under pressure and fatigue. I like Sean Russell (playing at left centre) to be the beneficiary.
It’s Lane’s offload close to the line that I’m looking out for, though.
There isn’t a better offloader through the tackle than Lane in actions like this.
Capable of popping a pass to his outside or back against the grain, Lane will be looking for Russell or Brown if he can get his arms free close to the line.
RLW Percentage Plays – NRL Round 5
Sean Russel anytime try scorer @ $3 (Neds)
Dylan Brown anytime try scorer @ $3.50 (Bet365)