If the beers are cold and the afternoon’s long enough we’d be talking footy all day, every day until kickoff on Thursday night. With so much to review, let’s break down some of the key plays each week in the NRL.
Silver linings for the South Sydney Rabbitohs
The South Sydney Rabbitohs are 2-and-3 to begin the 2023 NRL season following an 18-10 loss to the Melbourne Storm in Round 5. In a weekend of footy where miracle comebacks and against-the-odds upsets were in trend, Souths just couldn’t find the winning punch as they desperately chased down a 12-point deficit.
It’s not panic stations for the Rabbitohs just yet, though.
Their ability to absorb pressure and swing momentum in their favour impressed, even if they couldn’t ice all the opportunities they created. A combination of poor execution in attack and a superb defensive showing from Melbourne denied the Rabbitohs in Round 5, but there are silver linings for Jason Demetriou to highlight in the review.
For a club that has been happy to outscore their opposition in recent years, there seems to be a genuine defensive focus from the Rabbitohs to begin season 2023.
To concede just three tries against the Storm in Round 5 – one from a deflected kick – is a positive sign. They’ve started previous seasons with a humming attack and developed defensively as the year went on, but in 2023 the Rabbitohs appear to be prioritising their defence.
They also appear to be employing a more patient approach in attack. Instead of looking for that one winning play, Souths embraced the grind and fought for the little wins against Melbourne in Round 5.
The Rabbitohs are already one of the more conservative teams in the NRL when working out of their own end. Four one-off carries is usually followed by a shift to a tram-line, often via Keaon Koloamatangi who can generate an offload or chew up metres post-contact. Against Melbourne, they embraced this conservative tactic to drag the game into a grind and wait for their opportunities to come.
After conceding a Will Warbrick try in the 21st minute, the Rabbitohs stayed patient in yardage, kicked to corners and frontloaded their defence. A regulation exit set after conceding points ended with this kick from Lachlan Ilias:
Cody Walker chases hard to pin Warbrick in the corner and the Rabbitohs lock in from there, limitting Melbourne to just a 30-metre gain for the set. Jonah Pezet manages to get a good kick away on the last but a strong return from Izaac Thompson puts Souths quickly on the front foot with their next possession:
Another conservative yardage set from Souths earns them 50+ metres this time, thanks largely to the work of Thompson on tackle one. Campbell Graham, Jacob Host, Davvy Moale and Koloamatangi all follow suit to carry the ball over the ad-line and on the last its Walker now kicking to the corner and Ilias leading the kick chase.
Again asked to work off their own try line, the Storm manage another 30-odd metres this set as the Rabbitohs muscle up defensively. Their line speed and first contact was strong to limit Melbourne’s post-contact metres and put ball carriers on their back, highlighted by this bone-rattler from Moale as the Storm again kick under pressure on the last:
Thompson returns Souths to their 40m line on tackle one and all of a sudden, after two clean yardage sets and another two in defence, the Rabbitohs have the momentum. Under pressure and fatigue, the Storm concede a penalty on the following tackle and it’s only a lovely jamming effort from Justin Olam on his own try line that denies Souths in the ensuing set.
It was more of the same in the second half. Despite the scoreboard pressure, the Rabbitohs stuck to their plan in yardage and worked to their kicks. Good kick chase and line-speed prevented Melbourne from pulling further ahead, and finally Souths turned field position into points when Latrell Mitchell put Graham over in the corner.
Where the Rabbitohs of old might’ve thrown caution to the wind and chanced their arm to find points, in Round 5 South Sydney stuck to their processes and trusted their gameplan to produce the goods.
From a set start, Tom Burgess and Thompson getSouths rolling with 10+ metre carries in the first two tackles.
Another settler from Koloamatangi opens up the left-hand side of the field for Souths to shift midway through the count
Ilias and Walker engage the line smartly here which creates the space for Tass to break through. An offload through traffic finds Burgess in support and suddenly the Rabbitohs are 55+ metres upfield and on the attack. The territorial pressure again draws a penalty from Melbourne when Murray is hit high, and four tackles later Mitchell double-pumps to send Graham over on the right edge.
The Rabbitohs created three or four similar opportunities for themselves in the final quarter. Their efforts in defence forced Melbourne to kick under pressure and they slowly won the territorial battle from there. Only poor errors or desperate defence denied them in attack; Murray pushing an offload after being tackled or Damien Cook going himself on the last are two moments Souths would like over from Round 5.
There are plenty of positives to take from this performance though.
South Sydney have played out an attacking style of football in recent years. Their spine is one of the best in the NRL and they would happily outscore opponents thanks to the attacking brilliance of Cook, Murray, Walker and Mitchell. That seems to be changing in season 2023.
We’ve heard Demetriou talk this year about not wanting to win games with one miracle play. He’s trying to get his team to play out the full 80 minutes, trust their processes and out-grind opponents to a result. They didn’t get that result in Round 5, but as South Sydney welcome back key players to their forward rotation the foundations of a resilient defensive team will be there to build an attack around.
There’s Always Next Week For…
… the North Queensland Cowboys
It’s a game the Cowboys would’ve won last year but in Round 5, 2023 they just couldn’t come up with the answers. An early try to Tom Dearden highlighted the attacking best of North Queensland; a shift in yardage broke the Bulldogs line to get them scrambling, and some lovely vision and skill from Dearden converted field position into points from there.
The longer the game was dragged into a grind it felt like North Queensland would come out on top.
“Their best footy over the last 12 months has come after getting into the grind early and earning the right to win it late.” – NRL Round 5 Scores & Team Grades
They stayed patient and waited for Canterbury to make an error, but the errors just didn’t come. Instead, the Bulldogs kept the faith in an expansive attacking style of footy regardless of the wet weather, shifting to the edges to find easy metres in yardage and points in good-ball.
I’m still trying to figure out where it’s going wrong for the Cowboys this season. They seem to be playing out a familiar high-effort, high-percentage style of footy in 2023, but it just doesn’t seem to working for them as it did last year. Are they making errors with the ball in crucial moments? Are they not working from the inside or chasing the kick quite as hard as they were in 2022? Is their forward rotation out of balance with impact players like Coen Hess forced to play big minutes on an edge?
It feels like North Queensland aren’t far away from clicking into gear and their inability to field a first-choice 17 hasn’t helped. Another leg injury to Heilum Luki hurts, but with Mitch Dunn successfully returning to first-grade last week and Jeremiah Nanai, Reuben Cotter and Scott Drinkwater not far away, the Cowboys can still build into season 2023
NRL Round 5 Shout-Outs
Lets Gone! – I’ve been higher than most (not Jase, obviously) on the Warriors this year but with Tohu Harris, Te Maire Martin and Mitch Barnett on the sidelines in Round 5, I was worried. They’re a much improved team under Andrew Webster but even I didn’t give their resilience and composure under pressure due credit. To reel in the Sharks from 20-0 down is a monumental effort. Even without Harris’ involvements, the Warriors continued to move the ball smooth in attack and Shaun Johnson’s kicking game was superb to help them win the yardage battle. Shout-outs to Dylan Walker and Jazz Tevaga who were tireless around the ruck, and to Edward Kosi for going toe-to-toe with Ronaldo Mulitalo and coming out on top – a rare feat.
Ben Hunt, Jack Bird & Jacob Liddle – If the St-George Illawarra Dragons do anything this season, it’ll be on the back of Ben Hunt and Jack Bird. Jacob Liddle can add his name to that list after a breakout game in Round 5, scoring himself and threatening around the ruck to be involved in several other scoring actions. We know what Hunt brings every week but Bird’s move to lock is something to get excited about for Dragons fans.
It’s hardly the cleanest example, but Bird is in rare company as a lock-forward who can execute attacking edge movements like this. He’ll never make 45+ tackles or run for boat-loads of metres, but Bird is a gifted attacking player who brings a nice point-of-difference to the Dragons pack. His combination with Hunt and Liddle around the ruck will be crucial to St George’s chances in 2023.
Jackson Hastings – An offseason swap for David Klemmer continues to pay dividends for the Knights, who relied heavily on Hastings’ control and composure in Round 5. Hastings touched the ball 80 times in Newcastle’s 32-32 draw with Manly on Saturday. He doesn’t pile up the try assists or linebreak assists like some NRL halves, but his touches help get the Knights to certain areas on the field for their strike players to have positive involvements. With Kalyn Ponga on the sidelines, Hastings is exactly what Newcastle need right now.
Brave Bulldogs – They lost Viliame Kikau during the Captain’s Run and his replacement Raymond Faitala-Mariner lasted just three minutes before being ruled out with a HIA. Max King and Jacob Preston took each other out in the first half, King with an horrific eye injury and Preston splitting the webbing on his left hand. Bench prop Franklin Pele was next, fracturing his arm midway through the second half and forcing King to re-enter the contest with one eye barely open. Despite all this, the Bulldogs didn’t skip a beat. Preston scored two tries and made 47 tackles with just two misses, King churned out 166 metres through the middle and Jayden Okunbor played 72 minutes straight in the backrow. A brave and inspired peformance from Cameron Ciraldo’s men.