Unpack a scrum of three talking points before every round of the NRL season. This week: Rabbitohs v Cowboys at McDonald Jones Stadium.
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 me as we unpack the scrum that is the NRL each week.
Centre-Field Scrum – What’s centre-frame in the rugby league lens this week?
Cameron Murray is a very good rugby league player. I highlighted his involvement in Souths’ attacking shapes a few weeks back when he had a hand in six of the eight tries South Sydney scored on the Broncos in Round 15. He is the perfect prototype for the modern day ball-playing lock – capable of getting through the dirty work as he is moving the ball across the field.
Not so on Friday night.
With Latrell Mitchell, Dane Gagai, Jai Arrow and Damien Cook all on Origin duty alongside him, Souths are likely to have a few teething issues with their attack and Murray’s absence is the one that will be felt the most. It goes unnoticed by many, but a large majority of Souths’ tries in that left hand corner have come on the back of either a Murray play-the-ball or a backline shift featuring Murray at pivot.
Hame Sele has been named at lock in Murray’s stead and I’ll be watching for how (or if) his role changes in Round 17. Sele does not have the ball-playing ability of Murray and it won’t surprise to see the Rabbitohs adopt a more conventional approach to how they work upfield. Benji Marshall – while not an experienced hooker – is still more than capable of creating space around the ruck and passing teammates into good positions, but it’s Adam Reynolds who I’m expecting to pick up the ball-playing slack through the middle.
We’ve seen Reynolds on both sides of the field at times this season but nothing like how Souths changed their attack late in 2020 with Mitchell on the sidelines. During their run to the prelim, Reynolds played at first receiver either side of the ruck allowing Cody Walker to drift wide and play on the edges. With Murray missing again this week I’ll be looking for something similar.
Jason Taumalolo, Coen Hess and Jordan McLean make up a formidable middle third for North Queensland but their edges are less established. Mitch Dunn and Shane Wright in the backrow defending alongside Scott Drinkwater and Tom Dearden (more on that below) will be targets for South Sydney in attack and without Murray there to get the ball wide I’m looking for Reynolds to distribute from the middle while Walker and rookie Blake Taafe have a crack on the edges.
Right Scrum-Line – Who’s feeling the pressure this week?
It hasn’t been the perfect start for Tom Dearden in North Queensland. He’s had some promising involvements with the ball but in just a few games Dearden has already become a target for attacking teams when the Cowboys are defending their own line.
Against Manly in Round 15 Dearden had 21 tackles for 6 misses. The following week it was 22 tackles for 4 misses against the Sharks. He was a target again last weekend against the Knights and although his defence was markedly improved (30 tackles, 3 misses) there is only so much you can do when you’re a 177cm, 87kg half defending your own line.
The Sharks sent a lovely scrum piece at North Queensland’s right edge two weeks ago designed to expose exactly that – a smaller Dearden on his own try line against a much bigger opponent – and it worked perfectly.
Will Chambers at left centre runs a killer lead line at Dearden in this action leaving Javid Bowen no choice but to check him in the defensive line. Dearden would’ve had to make a miracle tackle on Chambers if Shaun Johnson played short here and Bowen knows it. He positions himself slightly tighter in the line to support Dearden which is what gives Kennedy just enough space to beat him on the outside one pass later.
Last weekend it was Newcastle who exposed Dearden on his try line with a more simplistic approach – a ‘try and stop me’ effort, if you like.
Knights forwards Lachlan Fitzgibbon and Jacob Saifiti run in a tight X-shape we’re more accustomed to seeing run off the hooker when attacking the goal line. It’s designed to isolate a single defender in the line – in this case Dearden – and force him into making a defensive decision. He can turn in and get his body in front of a leading Fitzgibbon or try to stop Saifiti with a full head of steam wrapping round the back – good luck.
Unfortunately for Dearden and the Cowboys, the fun doesn’t stop there. They face a South Sydney Rabbitohs side in Round 17 who score a competition-high 61% of their tries down the left hand side of the field. Cody Walker is going to be sending traffic at Dearden all night and if Keaon Koloamatangi doesn’t barge over himself then Braidon Burns and Alex Johnston are likely to have plenty of room to move on the edge outside him.
Left Scrum-Line – My left-field thought on the NRL this week
I’m being unashamedly bias with this segment this week as I put the blinkers on for Blake Taafe at fullback for the Rabbitohs.
The sample size if very small so far – he’s played just 19 minutes of first grade – but the club has wraps on him and as a supporter, I’m keen to see what they see. A halfback/five-eighth coming through the juniors, Taafe is lightning quick and is a quality ballplayer, and he did enough in his brief cameo against the Broncos in Round 15 to notch his first try assist in the NRL.
We won’t read into this action too much given the balance of the game at this point, but this was nice from Taafe. He had the vision and awareness to quickly catch-and-pass to Taane Milne rather than take the ball into the line first. If the pass had come any later Herbie Farnworth looked likely of barrelling Milne into touch. He mightn’t have the silky touch of Mitchell out the back of shape but this action suggests Taafe will at the very least do a job in attack.
It’s in defence I’ll be watching Taafe particularly closely.
The positional awareness and play will come. Fullback is the busiest and most technical position on the field in defence and no one is expecting Taafe to nail it right away. How Taafe performs in the line and in contact, however, will be the pressure test. At 189cm, 85kg and with speed to burn, Taafe is already drawing plenty of similarities to St George Illawarra’s fullback Matt Dufty. That’s fine in attack – not so much in defence.
The Cowboys will fancy themselves a chance this weekend with so many of Souths’ rep stars missing. They will certainly earn their fair share of attacking field position and when they do I’ll be watching closely for how Taafe positions himself in the defensive line and how effectively he gets his body in front.