If the beers are cold and the afternoon’s long enough we’d be talking NRL all day, every day until kickoff on Thursday night. With so much to review, let’s break down some of the key actions each week.
Foran & Fifita
The latest one-two punch in the NRL had a starring role in the Gold Coast Titans win over the Brisbane Broncos on Sunday afternoon.
In a week where Justin Holbrook (and the entire rugby league community) was blindsided by his immediate termination and the appointment of Des Hasler for 2024, one of Holbrook’s pet projects stole the show and the two points on offer for the Titans.
It’s a credit to Holbrook and his coaching staff that they’ve been able to get the best out of David Fifita this season, although in the same breath it’s worth noting that Holbrook had originally planned to play Beau Fermor next to Kieran Foran on that left edge.
In the minutes either side of halftime in NRL Round 17, Foran and Fifita combined for two lovely scoring actions that would ultimately prove too much for Brisbane to overcome.
The first one was the best one.
A half-break through Alofiana Khan-Pereira on the left wing carried the Gold Coast into attacking field position with barely a minute left before halftime.
Knowing they have limited time to work with, the Titans immediately set things up for a shot through Fifita on the following tackle.
It’s Joe Stimson who’s tasked with laying the foundation in this instance. He heads towards Brendan Piakura on the Broncos left edge but his target here is always Corey Jensen (15).
By dragging Jensen and Kobe Hetherington into the tackle, Stimson creates a 7/4 split in the defensive line on the following play. Piakura maintains his position at four-man on the short side, leaving seven defenders in the front-line (Reece Walsh is there too but will drop out the back) on the open side:
With the defence positioned how they want it, the Titans fall into shape down their left edge.
Tannah Boyd is at first receiver and knows he now needs to get at Jordan Riki (4) and Adam Reynolds (3) near the tram line.
With Iszac Fa’asuamaleaui pushing off his hip, Boyd drags Riki out of the line and isolates Reynolds as the three-in defender:
Foran sweeps around the back but straightens on his run when he takes possession, targetting Reynolds’ inside shoulder to isolate Kotoni Staggs one channel wider. With limited time to make a decision and with attackers coming at either shoulder, Staggs doesn’t follow Reynolds in which opens a space for Fifita on his inside.
That is a perfectly executed rugby league try – something we aren’t used to saying about the Gold Coast Titans.
With limited time to work with, they set up an action designed to get their most dangerous attacking player into a positive involvement close to the line.
Fifita grinning and pointing at Foran after scoring tells us all we need to know about this action – it’s clearly one they practised during the week.
It was also clearly something they talked about at halftime, because just minutes into the second half and Foran and Fifita were at it again.
We’ve talked about conditioning the defence here at RLWriters before, and Foran did just that in the lead up to Brian Kelly’s try.
With Reynolds active in the line pushing up on Fifita here, Foran instead plays out the back to AJ Brimson in some space:
Staggs holds his width with a three-on-two overlap coming towards him, and manages to herd Brimson back infield towards the cover defence.
Two tackles later though and with a subtle variation to the setup shape, Foran and Fifita pull them apart.
Playing from slightly further infield, it’s Iszac Fa’asuamaleaui at first reciever this time instead of Foran:
The presence of Fa’asuamaleaui and Moeaki Fotuaika one-off the ruck compresses Brisbane’s defensive line and forces Reynolds to stay passive in the line. Where he shot up on Fifita in the previous action, Reynolds is forced to sit on his heels when Iszac passes to Foran here.
Staggs isn’t so passive, though.
Identifying the overlap and predicting Foran will again play out the back to Brimson, Staggs shoots on his man.
That decision leaves Reynolds in no-man’s-land back on his inside when Foran instead plays short to Fifita. Because Reynolds is sat on his heels, Fifita has time to bounce overs into the space vacated by Staggs, eventually finding Kelly in support.
Fifita’s development this season has been a joy to watch and while Holbrook has played his part, it’s Foran who we can thank for most of it.
He is helping Fifita work smarter rather than harder in attack, constructing positive actions for his backrower rather than using him as a battering ram close to the line.
For Gold Coast fans, the prospect of Hasler working with these two in particular next year is an appealing one…
There’s Always Next Week For…
… The Dolphins
By halftime on Saturday afternoon, The Dolphins had completed just six sets in 40 minutes of football.
By fulltime they had less completed sets than the Eels had managed in the opening half alone.
Starved of possession and field position, The Dolphins conceded points on both edges to a confident and expansive Eels attack.
Sean O’Sullivan playing in his first game since NRL Round 4 was a target defensively. Parramatta attacked the spaces around him on one edge and Kodi Nikorima on the other. Isaiya Katoa defending in the middle was another the Eels circled as they moved the ball across the park.
To claw things back with three second half tries despite enjoying just 41% of the ball was promising, but Wayne Bennett won’t be happy with the eight tries conceded.
The Dolphins – like the South Sydney Rabbitohs – started the season with a defensive intent that kept them in contests regardless of their form with the ball in hand. That intent has dropped off in recent weeks, but the ability remains.
How they respond defensively in a local derby against Brisbane next weekend will be telling.
NRL Round 17 Shout-Outs
Panthers wrap-around shape
I gave Lindsay Smith a shout-out a few weeks ago when he slotted seamlessly into this movement on Penrith’s right edge:
Given the way Jarome Luai bounced back infield before finding Smith in support, it looked like this was more of an eyes-up play rather than any practised attacking action.
In NRL Round 17 though, the Panthers again played towards a wrap-around action on the edge which resulted in another four points:
It’s great skill from James Fisher-Harris to catch and pass like this, but it’s the principles Penrith play with here that gets Tyrone Peachey over in the corner.
The idea of this wrap-around shape is to compress the defence towards the ball before catching them on the outside.
Mitch Kenny’s run is key to this. Watch how the defence reacts when he darts from dummy half towards the A- and B-defenders:
Newcastle’s right edge comes up and in as Kenny runs, and when Fisher-Harris takes possession on an unders line the defence turns in even further.
They’re in no position to make a tackle when Fisher-Harris swivels and passes out the back, getting the ball around the jamming defence and into space on the edge.
We’ve seen the Wests Tigers employ the wrap-around shape closer to the ruck with mixed results, but this is a little different. There’s some skill required from big men like Fisher-Harris here but it’s mighty hard to defend when it comes off.
I think we’ll see more of this from Penrith as the season progresses.
Melbourne Playing to a Plan (Part 3)
For the third week in a row, the Melbourne Storm identified a weakness in the defence and repeatedly constructed actions to expose it.
In NRL Round 15 it was the spaces around Nicho Hynes and Matt Moylan.
In NRL Round 16 it was Starford To’a and Shawn Blore defending on Wests left edge.
In NRL Round 17 it was Raymond Tuaimalo Vaega on Manly’s right wing.
We’ve only seen Tuaimalo Vaega four times in the NRL but in that limited sample size, he’s shown he loves to jam in from his wing.
Melbourne clearly did their homework on him, because Jonah Pezet caught him out twice by kicking into the spaces in behind Tuaimalo Vaega when the Storm shifted left.
With Xavier Coates an appealing kick target in these actions, the Storm compressed the defence by putting Christian Welch in an on-the-ball role near the ruck before quickly shifting the ball to space on the edge.
Daly Cherry-Evans’ habit of coming off his line lends itself to these actions too.
Pezet was able to get at Cherry-Evans’ inside shoulder and kick through the spaces the Manly halfback left in behind him.
These both look like opportunistic scoring actions, but they’re not.
Melbourne are consistently one of the better coached and better prepared sides in the NRL and for the third week in a row have played to a plan and come away with the two points.
Jarrod Croker
301 games into his NRL career and lining up against one of the best centres in the competition, Jarrod Croker continues to show his class.
This specialist centre move he put on Joey Manu yesterday was mean.
Manu himself had some great moments in NRL Round 17 too, but his defensive movements in this action suggests he might be feeling the strain of being moved around, positionally.
His first movement here is to come up and in – something he would’ve done while playing five-eighth in recent weeks.
Realising he’s made a mistake, Manu quickly drops back in the line to sit in Sandon Smith’s pocket. That respositioning is what gives Croker time and space to swerve in-and-away when he takes possession, ultimately getting Manu around the outside.
The Roosters are working things out on the run but it feels a bit like one step forward, two steps back for Trent Robinson’s men right now.
The more time they can spend on the field together in familiar postiions, the better their combinations will gel and the better they will work as a unit.
This doesn’t feel like a tackle Manu would have missed seven weeks ago…