Unpack a scrum of three talking points before every round of the NRL season. This week: Johnston’s hattrick-hattrick, Panthers v Roosters and Dragons’ dire defence.
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?
Penrith Panthers v Sydney Roosters on Friday night is shaping up to be an absolute cracker.
The Panthers welcome back their host of representative stars and will be hungry to respond after suffering back-to-back losses while the Roosters get some key players back themselves in what has been an emotional week following the retirement of captain Boyd Cordner.
There are question marks over Sam Walker’s fitness and if he is out expect Joey Manu to seamlessly slot into the halves with Joseph Suaalii called in at centre. But the big in for me this week is Sam Verrills, who is set to return from an eye injury and provide the Roosters with their first established dummy-half since Jake Friend’s retirement. Ben Marshcke has done a remarkable job filling in but Verrills is a genuine first-grader and I’ll be watching him closely in the coming weeks. It’s been a long time since we’ve seen Verrills spend extended minutes at hooker for the Roosters but I won’t be surprised to find myself writing about him here at some point in the near-future.
For the Panthers, it’s all about the return of Nathan Cleary, Jarome Luai and Isaah Yeo this week – and rightly so. This trio in particular are key to most of what Penrith do in attack and it’s no surprise to see the Panthers struggle for points without them in the last two weeks. This weekend, however, I’ve got my eye not on these Origin stars but on Api Koroisau and Dylan Edwards in the spine alongside them.
Koroisau had arguably his best game of the season last weekend, or at least his busiest. He made 51 tackles for no misses against the Sharks in Round 14 – his second highest tally of the season so far and only the second time he has hit his 2020 season average. This is in part due to the sheer amount of possession Penrith are enjoying this year (NRL-high 54% avg) meaning Koroisau hasn’t been required to make hauls of tackles, but given the niggles he carried into this season it’s a sign that Koroisau is perhaps back to full fitness. He made eight runs for 104 metres last week – a season-best effort in attack – and I’ll be looking for him to do more of the same this week if Penrith can win momentum through the ruck.
The return of Yeo, Kurt Capewell and Liam Martin will no doubt help with that, but the other man who is having an impact in the middle third lately is fullback, Dylan Edwards.
I’m a big Edwards guy. Statistically he ranked alongside some of the NRL’s elite last season and although he hasn’t hit his straps yet in 2021, I’ve liked some of Edwards’ involvements this year when he plays on the ball around the ruck.
Usually averaging around 25 receipts per game, we’ve seen Edwards clock 40+ receipts from fullback sporadically this season and it’s in those games that he has looked best. Against the Titans in Round 10 he had a season-high 46 touches as he pushed up through the middle and played out of dummy-half similar to how James Tedesco or more recently Tom Trbojevic have modelled with great success.
Edwards mightn’t be quite on that level but he can still have an impact in this role. With superstar teammates around him demanding attention from the opposition on Friday night, I’ll be looking for Edwards to pick his moments in attack and have some non-traditional fullback involvements on the ball.
Right Scrum-Line – Who’s feeling the pressure this week?
It’s been a tough few weeks on the field for the St. George Illawarra Dragons, and their off-field form isn’t reading much better at the time of writing. Corey Norman and Matt Dufty have both been told they will not be retained at the club beyond the 2021 season, and their form did not respond kindly for Dragons fans.
Norman had an off night with the boot against the Bulldogs last week, but it’s Dufty I’m looking at here (sorry, Matt) after his defensive woes were horribly exposed by Canterbury in Round 14. I’ll echo Jase’s sentiments by first saying that Dufty is a wonderfully exciting attacking fullback and he has had a leading role in most of the Dragons’ wins this season, but he’s also played a leading role in their losses.
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