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 6.
Before we dive in…
It’s not quite the NRL Injury Round we saw a few weeks ago but NRL Round 6 is shaping as a bit of a doozy. Some coaches are staying patient while others are smashing the panic button and tinkering with their rosters in search of a winning combination on the field.
There’s a few interesting watches this weekend which I’ve touched on below but you’ll have to excuse me for the limited content coming next week…
I’ve been lucky enough to lock down a huge contact extension and will be tying the knot with my beautiful partner Gabi this Friday night, meaning footy will (might) have to take a back seat over the next few days.
Thank you for all your support so far to kickoff the 2024 NRL season and rest assured I’ll be jumping back on the rugby league rollercoaster (Mal Meninga, anyone?!) with you all the following week…
~ Oscar
Thursday Night Members Preview
The Sydney Roosters played out one of the worst 40-minute performances in recent memory last week against the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs. Comprehensively beaten across the board for both effort and execution, I’d love to know what Trent Robinson said (or didn’t say) at halftime to get the response he did.
Cool Kevvie
I touched on Brisbane in the Neds NRL Blog this week as one of a few ‘big’ clubs currently sitting outside the Top Eight heading into NRL Round 6. The panic button has well and truly been pressed in Redfern and we’ve already seen Brad Arthur and Trent Robinson make big changes (some of them forced) to their underperforming rosters, five games in.
Not Kevin Walters, though.
Even with Brisbane sitting in 11th place and following Tristan Sailor’s eye-catching form in a starting jersey, Walters has stuck solid with Jock Madden as the first-choice replacement for injured halfback Adam Reynolds.
It’s the right move for now.
Madden allows Brisbane to play a familiar style of footy while their star halfback is sidelined. He’s a systems half who can find certain spots on the field and allow Ezra Mam, Selwyn Cobbo and Pat Carrigan – three of Brisbane’s best while their other ‘Big Three’ have been missing – to continue to play their natural game.
This is a nice example from NRL Round 3. There’s Madden talking and pointing teammates into position before falling into shape down the left edge:
Penrith are forced to consider Mam sweeping late in a promising looking action but Madden plays to a plan and drops Brendan Piakura into a flat-footed defence instead.
Two tackles later and with Mam continuing to demand attention on the left edge, Madden gets the 5/5 split he’s after and puts Cobbo into a positive involvement on the far side of the field:
Brisbane may have a higher ceiling with all three of Mam, Walsh and Sailor on the field but their attack is better balanced – and more familiar – with Madden filling in for Reynolds right now.
I love how Andrew Webster has managed the Roger Tuivasa-Sheck fullback situation at the Warriors and this has a similar feel to it. Walters clearly has an idea of how he wants this Broncos side play and is putting confidence in his roster to do so.
Reece Robson doing the little things
We love the little things here at RLWriters and Reece Robson did a few of them in NRL Round 5.
Usually branded an ‘effort style’ player, Robson’s class from behind the ruck has been a key part of North Queensland’s hot start to the season. He’s keeping things simple and picking the right involvements in the right areas to best complement the players around him.
Clean service from dummy-half is assumed at NRL level but the difference an inch-perfect long pass makes is clear when the hooker gets it right:
Thanks to the Robson pass, the Cowboys entire backline is already sliding overs when Scott Drinkwater takes possession here. David Fifita and AJ Brimson can sense the attack sneaking to their outside and move too laterally off their line as a result, opening up the space for Drinkwater – who comes onto the pass with momentum – to score.
Simple and effective.
Robson was then careful not to overplay his hand in the leadup to Drinkwater’s second try.
We can see Robson spot something he likes to the left here and when the camera pans out, a tiring Mo Fotuaika at A-defender is revealed as the target:
Knowing Fotuaika is under fatigue and unlikely to offer much inside pressure, Robson doesn’t dig deep into the line before passing here. Instead, he does just enough to get the big prop interested before throwing to Chad Townsend in shape on the edge. Look who almost gets at Townsend to shut down the try assist pass; Fotuaika gets there half-a-yard too late thanks to Robson’s work from dummy-half.
Robson’s influence was far more evident in the leadup to Zac Laybutt’s opening try.
With a subtle little shimmy towards the open side, Robson was able to open up a space two passes wider for Laybutt to score:
The wide shot shows Fifita and Klese Haas both make their first movements in towards the ball here when Robson dummys left. It’s only a step or two, but it’s enough for Brian Kelly at left centre to sense a space open up between himself and his inside man.
Kelly repositions himself to close the gap but in doing so opens up another between himself and his winger. Nice pass selection from Townsend puts Laybutt into that space but we can put this down to the half a second Robson spent on the ball from dummy-half.
ICYMI: Wayde Egan’s growing influence
Earlier this week I pointed out the dark arts of dummy-half play that Wayde Egan and the NZ Warriors are terrorising opposition ruck defenders with in NRL season 2024.
The work of Api Koroisau and Harry Grant fairly often (and often fairly) dominates the headlines but it’s time we take notice of what Egan is doing in this NZ Warriors attack.
Make sure to head over to our YouTube (@RLWriters) and subscribe to catch all our NRL video analysis content.
NRL Round 6 Ramble
South Sydney are in a free-fall right now and it’s triggered some big changes for NRL Round 6. Jye Gray has been a weekly highlight reel in the NSW Cup but is he ready for the week-to-week grind of the NRL? And while the creativity and craft of Pete Mamouzelos has long been an appealing alternative to Damien Cook at dummy-half – why now, all of a sudden? Positional changes might trigger a short-term response but until the Rabbitohs improve their key effort areas – kick chase, kick pressure, line speed, push supports – we can’t seriously expect them to climb up the NRL ladder.
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Dylan Brown threw 21 passes last week at halfback and ran the ball just eight times. It’s lazy commentary to suggest a half needs to simply ‘run the ball more’ but in Brown’s case, it’s justified. The Eels have enough skill and go-forward in their pack to generate ruck speed and get Brown over the ad-line at a retreating defence. With Daejarn Asi also offering similar qualities as a runner, Parramatta could do worse than go back to basics and play flat and fast on Saturday night.
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Chevy Stewart will make his NRL debut this week for the Canberra Raiders, covering the injured Jordan Rapana at fullback. You’d do well to find two more different fullbacks in the competition; even at 34 years old, Rapana gets through a mountain of work on the ball while the 18 year old Stewart is all speed and skill.
Ricky Stuart has impressed in 2024 to add some repeatable scoring actions to what has always been a gritty, effort based Raiders outfit. Ethan Strange is doing some nice things on the left edge and Stewart will give Canberra another genuine ballplaying option in the second- or third-layer of a shift.
I’m interested to see how Stewart handles the physicality of first-grade but also if or how he changes this Raiders attack.
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With Blake Taafe sidelined this week, Stephen Crichton will finally wear the No.1 jersey for the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs in NRL Round 6. The move opened up a chance for Toby Sexton to slot into the halves and Matt Burton to partner Viliame Kikau at left centre, but Cameron Ciraldo is sticking solid with Drew Hutchison at halfback for now.
The coach clearly likes something Hutchison is doing in the Bulldogs attack but his defence is a concern. Per Stats Insider, the Bulldogs right edge has conceded 10 of 16 tries to start the year with the spaces around Hutchison in particular becoming a target. Pending how they handle Melbourne’s improving attack on Friday night, Sexton might get his chance sooner rather than later.