Oscar has pinched Jason’s pen and paper to bring you the NRL Preview Notepad each week in 2024. Here’s everything you need to know heading into NRL Round 4.
Thursday Night Members Preview
The NRL has delivered some cracking Thursday night matchups to kickoff the 2024 NRL regular season and Round 5 is no exception. Despite their current ladder positions, two of the form teams in the competition will meet at AAMI Park tonight when Melbourne host Brisbane in what bills as the game of the round.
Brandon Smith kicking
For the second time (that I’ve noticed) to begin the 2024 NRL regular season, Brandon Smith last week stepped out from dummy-half and fired an early kick from deep inside his own half.
He doesn’t strike the ball cleanly here and the bounce is even worse, and by the time Penrith work to a kick themselves the Roosters regain possession just centimetres off their own try line:
I’m not interested in the result though, I’m interested in the intent.
Neither of Sam Walker or Luke Keary have a noted big boot, so maybe there’s something in that. Cheese shanks it in this example but is he a genuine long-range option for Easts coming out of yardage?
Putting some disruption into what is the best organised defensive system in the NRL isn’t a bad plan either – we’ve seen a few clubs kick early against Penrith for mixed results in recent seasons.
And while the kick chase ends up a decent one here, it didn’t really look like Joey Manu and Dom Young knew this one was coming.
When and where Smith puts boot to ball next – and what cues he might be reacting to – is what I’m looking out for this weekend.
Jayden Brailey’s influence
All credit to Phoenix Crossland for his Herculean performance in the Knights No.9 jumper last year, but Newcastle need Jayden Brailey back behind the ruck.
Set to role out their third halves pairing in five weeks, the Knights are desperately looking for ways to better involve Kalyn Ponga in attack. On paper, Jackson Hastings and Jack Cogger can both play on the ball to compress the defence before throwing to Ponga in space, but it all starts one pass earlier with the dummy-half.
Brailey’s influence was tangible in 26 minutes against the Warriors in NRL Round 4.
His ability to manipulate markers and pass teammates into positive matchups around the ruck is the main difference between a guy like Crossland and a genuine dummy-half. The nuances of Brailey’s ballplaying come from years playing in the position and simply can’t be replaced by sheer effort, alone.
It won’t be apparent in the highlight reels, but don’t be surprised if the Knights find a few more points out on their edges in the coming weeks thanks to the work Brailey does behind the play-the-ball.
Brad Schneider Watch
I mentioned last week that I was a big Brad Schneider guy and I’m doubling down today. He’s a classic example of a young half getting all the little things right that won’t show up in highlight reels or on the stats sheet.
NRL.com has Schneider down for 11 runs for 47 metres last week to go with no linebreaks, no linebreak assists, no tries, no try assists and 11 kicks for 239 kick metres.
Meh.
In reality though, Schneider played his role perfectly to smartly position his strike attacking players along the backline and kick extremely well on fifth tackle… sound familiar?
With Sydney enjoying a considerable height advantage on both wings in NRL Round 4, Schneider repeatedly brought his attacking kicks down on top of Luke Keary or Sam Walker.
And in yardage he found the 10m x 10m corners to prop up Dom Young on play one and ultimately restrict Easts to just 1,355 total run metres – well shy of their 1,565m season average.
Given a simple role within a consistent system, Schneider was set up for success by Penrith in his NRL return last week. Named there again on Saturday, does Schneider stick to the basics or have a few different involvements in his second game back?
Other clubs might rush to get the best player in the NRL back on the field but Schneider is giving Penrith the luxury of patience while Nathan Cleary is sidelined.
ICYMI: Isaiya Katoa kicking on
On Tuesday I dropped a video breakdown on Isaiya Katoa’s development as an NRL playmaker. He appears safe from the dreaded ‘second year syndrome’ in season 2024 and has been instrumental to The Dolphins attack to begin the year.
The tempo changes and deception he plays with are trademarks of a long-term, veteran NRL halfback. He’s not producing highlight reel plays or polling Dally M votes, but rest assured Katoa is an extremely important cog in this improved Dolphins squad.
An unfortunate suspension for Lachlan Galvin robs us of a clash between two of the brightest young halves in the NRL when The Dolphins meet the Tigers on Saturday night. Given how influential both players are to their teams attacking systems, Katoa could end up the difference in NRL Round 5.
An Eels scrum play
Regular readers will know that Jase and I share a fascination for scrum plays here at RLWriters.
Even when they don’t come off, it’s enlightening to see how a team prepared during the week and what principles they’re trying to play towards in attack.
The Parramatta Eels gave us a new look in NRL Round 4 and although it ended with an error, the potential was there to see:
The first thing to note is the 188cm, 123kg Junior Paulo playing on the ball at first-receiver.
Paulo’s gravity as a ball carrier and a genuine lead decoy from Morgan Harper is more than enough to sit the Tigers defenders on their heels and fold the line in towards the ball.
The second is Dylan Brown feeding the scrum and following the pass to quickly sweep out the back of his front-rower.
From the right wing, Charlie Staines sees Brown coming and is forced to consider him despite the threat of Maika Sivo to his outside. Staines stays tight in the line as long as he can before releasing when Paulo lofts a pass over the top to… no one.
Did Paulo get the pass wrong here or did Sivo miss his assignment and need to bounce out a little earlier? That’s a try if the big Fijiian is hugging the paint.
Against a Canberra side with some inexperience on both edges in NRL Round 5, I’m hoping we might see this one again from Paulo and Parramatta on Sunday.