Recap the Play of the Round every week throughout the 2021 NRL season. This week: The Panthers set up Burton to open the scoring.
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NRL Grand Final
Burton’s Try
It all went to script for the Panthers early. They won the contact on both sides of the ball, pinned the Rabbitohs in their own end, and applied their calculated and patient approach in attack until it produced points.
Matt Burton’s try in the 16th minute came as a reward for the three forced dropouts and overall domination in yardage Penrith had produced to start this one.
It’s Penrith’s patient approach that saw them lay the groundwork for this try five minutes earlier.
The Panthers fired that same shape at the Rabbitohs right edge in the 12th minute. Cleary feeds Luai with early ball and room to move. Notably, it’s 5th tackle and Luai shapes to kick before digging into the line and feeding Burton out the back. Cameron Murray’s inside pressure forces a pass out of Luai slightly earlier than he would have liked and Graham is able to make the right read and jam in on Burton.
While To’o dips under the Reynolds tackle and goes close to the line, he ultimately falls just short as the Rabbitohs scramble to close him down. Importantly, Reynolds was in a position to slide and at least force To’o back infield.
Five minutes later it’s the same shape, again on 5th tackle, with a couple of slight differences.
It starts a little bit wider this time. Unlike the first example, Luai is able to get on the outside of the four-in defender (Murray this time) and a subtle right-foot step towards Reynolds sends the Bunnies #7 onto his heels. With the extra time to make a bee-line for Reynolds, Luai is able to get deeper into the line and play tighter with Martin which forces Graham to make a defensive decision on the lead runner.
Reynolds slides just as he did in the first example, but Graham jams in this time as he considers the prospect of Martin being isolated onto his halfback inside. Luai makes the right pass and Burton is over untouched.
It’s only minor, but Cleary’s run at the line earlier in the set also had an impact.
Off his left foot and to the inside shoulder of the four-in defender, Cleary throws some doubt into the defensive line. He is too strong of a ball-carrier to start sliding before the ball is released.
Three tackles later and from the same position on the field, Cleary’s earlier run holds up Murray just enough to delay his slide. Murray comes off his line straight weary of Cleary’s threat as a runner and doesn’t make his move towards Luai until the ball is gone.
Luai has started to drift towards Reynolds by this stage and that extra step or two he is allowed to take towards the halfback allows the Panthers to run the shape a lot tighter which makes all the difference.
The build-up and patience shown in this try sums up the 2021 Panthers to perfection.
MORE: Breaking down key moments of the 2021 Grand Final
Preliminary Finals
Copycat Panthers
It’s the little things that win finals football games.
The Penrith Panthers only scored two tries all night but it’s all they needed with this one a personal favourite across the whole 2021 NRL season.
Nathan Cleary can chip that ball into the available space nine times out of ten. Stephen Crichton catches it at about the same rate, too. It’s not so much the skill that makes this try impressive, but the awareness and timing.
The Panthers have James Tedesco to thank for this one. He hung one up for Matt Ikuvalu in the same way back in Round 6.
“We stole it off the Roosters. I was actually watching that game so I remembered it.” – Ivan Cleary
Penrith would have gone into the match knowing this was an option. Josh Addo-Carr is one of the fastest players in the game and that allows him to defend a bit tighter than most other wingers. He trusts his speed and instincts to close down the space between himself and the sideline when a team shifts the ball. However, he isn’t quick enough to react to a ball flying over his head.
Spying the opportunity after Api Koroisau tries his luck close to the line, Cleary put himself into dummy half and kicked an inch-perfect ball to produce one of the best tries of the season.
~ JO
Don’t sleep on Cody Walker
There has been criticism around his ability to stand up in big games but Cody Walker’s leading performance on Saturday went some way to silencing those critics – at least for now. His two try haul against the Sea Eagles was made all the more impressive by the fact that he took on the bulk of playmaking and kicking duties with halfback Adam Reynolds carrying a groin strain. Walker had a team-high 52 receipts as well as kicking 11 times for 277 metres – far more than his 111m season average – all while still managing a few key involvements in attack.
You’ll often hear people talk about Walker’s ‘feel’ for the game, and his second try on Saturday encapsulates this perfectly. It started with this shift out to the left edge one tackle earlier.
Walker digs into the line here before throwing out the back to Dane Gagai in space. Walker wears a shot from Morgan Harper for his troubles and stays down as Alex Johnston plays the ball and Reynolds lines up for a fifth tackle kick.
You can see Walker on hands and knees until he disappears out of frame as the ball goes skyward. He isn’t needed for this kick chase and seems to have copped a knock in the previous tackle, but when Souths bat the ball back and regain possession Walker comes to life. The instant Damien Cook collects the loose ball and searches down the short side, Walker suddenly appears back on screen screaming into space in support. Cook drops a mean little grubber into the in-goal, Walker wins the race to the ball, Souths score.
Good footy.
~ OP
NRL Finals – Week 2
This is hands down my favourite trick shot in the NRL right now.
Rugby league romantics will watch this and tell you all about how Tom and Jake Trbojevic spent a childhood practising this together in the backyard against imaginary defenders… seriously, they did. As Manly play the ball near the right scrum line you can see the brothers scheming together in the middle of the field which should have been an indicator for Sydney to commit more defenders to that area. We’ll never know what they say to each other, but it was clearly something to do with isolating Ben Marschke and Sitili Tupouniua in the defensive line.
Jake takes the ball into the line and skips to the outside of his man which engages Marschke’s inside shoulder in the line. At the same time, Taniela Paseka mirrors Jake’s movement and skips his 197cm, 129kg frame to Tupouniua’s outside shoulder which invites the backrower to turn out. With Tupouniua sliding out to contain Paseka and Marschke turning in to contain Jake, a hole opens up ever so slightly in the defensive line and Tommy Turbo pours into it.
The front-on angle shows it best.
One Trbojevic becomes two as Jake straightens at the line and Tom appears out the back, and from this angle it becomes obvious just how difficult this shape is to defend. Even if you and your teammates read it perfectly, at best you’re left to make a one-on-one tackle on either Jake, Tom or Paseka at speed – no thank you. With a lovely pass into space Jake finds his brother Tom who does well to link up with Kieran Foran in the backfield and Manly are in again.
Seeing the Trbojevic brothers scheming in the backfield together or arranging shape around them like this needs to be an indicator for defending teams to commit more players to that area of the field. The Rabbitohs next week will need to be on high alert whenever Jake and Tom are looking to link up and may have to risk conceding an overlap elsewhere in order to contain the best player in the competition right now.
NRL Finals – Week 1
There was plenty to pick from this week so we’re both highlighting our Play of the Round.
Sydney Roosters
James Tedesco, take a bow.
When he’s not busy organising defensive lines, making cover tackles, popping up in backline shifts or taking dirty carries in exit sets, Tedesco still somehow manages to be the primary playmaker in this Sydney Roosters team. He has the vision to count numbers and find spaces in the defensive line and he has the tackle-busting, ballplaying ability to target those spaces more often than not.
His work in the leadup to Josh Morris 59th minute try was elite and showcases not only the quality but quantity of involvements Tedesco is having in this side right now.
From a midfield play-the-ball, the Roosters shift right with a traditional block shape movement ending with Tedesco out the back. As we’ve grown accustomed to seeing from a Trent Robinson coached team, all shapes are done with precision and at speed. Victor Radley and Sitili Tupouniua run their decoy lines perfectly and the passes are all out in front as Sydney’s key playmakers link up before Tedesco digs into the line and creates the overlap. He gets the pass away before getting crunched by a great shot from Brian Kelly, and Josh Morris dives to his front to play the ball quickly.
Guess who’s back at first receiver?
Despite getting buried by Kelly just seconds previously, Tedesco bounces to his feet and demands the ball from Matt Ikuvalu at dummy half. The reason? He knows Philip Sami and Kelly have just made tackles in the previous play and are out of position at left wing and centre respectively, and he knows there’s opportunity down that short side if he can create the extra man. So he does.
The beauty of this try is in not only Tedesco’s own individual brilliance, but also in the way his teammates react.
Morris has just played the ball here and is out of position on the wing while Ikuvalu fills in at dummy-half. Both are flat-footed when Tedesco takes possession but when he bounces back down the short side both Ikuvalu and Morris react and bounce out with him. Tedesco is good enough to beat Sami and an offside Kelly at marker to create the overlap, and from there Ikuvalu fills in at centre to provide the quick hands for Morris who finishes by cutting back on the inside like any good winger.
It’s as good a team try as it is an individual one, and it’s yet another example of the Sydney Roosters elite attacking structures and principles. They’re always in position to ice an opportunity and every player executes their roles with precision. It’s an effort-based philosophy that Tedesco personifies like no other, and it’s a mentality that sees them progress into Week 2 of the finals despite missing an absurd proportion of their salary cap through injury.
As a diehard Souths supporter, it’s getting harder and harder to hate them with every week.
~ Oscar
Newcastle Knights
My word, Kalyn Ponga.
We all know the Newcastle Knights are at their best when attacking down the left edge. The defence knows it is coming and can spend the whole week planning for it. Still, there is only so much you can do to stop Ponga when he is throwing peaches like this.
Ponga’s pass was created through a well-executed set that targeted the Eels right edge. Following a penalty kick to touch, the Knights circled Marata Niukore in the defensive line and put him to work. They asked him to make two consecutive tackles before hitting the right edge scrum line. On the return, Sauaso Sue made a line straight at Niukore.
Sue’s leg drive and Niukore’s fatigue translates into a quick play-the-ball and Ponga is presented with the four-on-four short side scenario he so often dominates.
The quick play-the-ball doesn’t allow the defensive line to move forward. Meanwhile, Niukore has been left on the ground which lets Jayden Brailey engage the lone marker with relative ease.
Ray Stone is late back and a little bit too tight at A. The Eels line doesn’t move forward more than two metres and Ponga is too quick for Stone whose first movement is to the side. The goosestep engages Mitchell Moses and turns the defence in, and now, Ponga has his pick. Blake Ferguson is in no-man’s land and Ponga fires one across his face and into the breadbasket of his winger.
That is the Knights at their very best.
~ Jason
Round 25: Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles
Discussions around where Tom Trbojevic’s individual season ranks all time have been around for weeks. Arguments over whether or not his 2021 campaign is better or worse than Jarryd Hayne in 2009 and Ben Barba in 2012 will be around for years to come.
Trbojevic’s numbers are off the charts but will have an asterisk beside them for many when the NRL inevitably removes the six-again rule (for ten-metre infringement at the very least) at the end of the season. Even without the asterisk, Trbojevic didn’t have that moment to define his season.
Until now…
Eight different Cowboys players had a crack at stopping Trbojevic in this play. He weaved in, out and through traffic before fighting out of a three-man tackle and dragging two players across the line. That is the try people will remember when they talk about Trbojevic’s incredible 2021 NRL season.
Incredibly, Trbojevic’s individual effort isn’t the undisputed best try Manly scored on Saturday afternoon.
With the clock at 00:00 and 110 metres from his own goal line, Reuben Garrick gave us an insight into Manly’s mentality with the ball at the moment. He could have taken the ball dead in goal and ran for the showers. Instead, he tiptoes across the line and sets off up the field.
The Cowboys defence doesn’t react as the majority wait for either a teammate to make the tackle, or for Garrick to concede defeat. Kyle Feldt knows they’re in trouble and keeps up with the play, but as Daly Cherry-Evans beats a desperate Coen Hess down the sideline before rolling one towards the try line, who else but Tom Trbojevic is there to collect the points.
I think we’ve just found our Try of the Season for 2021.
Round 24: South Sydney Rabbitohs
I can’t send 3,000 words out recapping Round 24 without mentioning Mark Nicholls scoring a four-minute double.
While seeing the big man cross the line twice will have brought a smile to every footy fan outside of Bondi, it is the passes that put him over that will be most pleasing to Wayne Bennett with Latrell Mitchell now ruled out for the season.
He is going to need every attacking player to empty their bag of tricks over the next month. Cameron Murray showed us what he can do with a lovely short ball to Nicholls.
Looking long and sending James Tedesco on his bike out the back, Murray hits Nicholls in the breadbasket and he falls over to score. Murray is so often the pivot that sends the pass out to Cody Walker. Playing short a little more often will sow seeds of doubt into the defensive line.
The second is an absolute beauty and one of my favourite try assists of the season.
Damien Cook spies a big gap between Sam Verrills and Drew Hutchison as Thomas Burgess plays the ball. Even if Verrills doesn’t make a poor read here, isolating Nicholls onto him this close to the line is still a high percentage play for Cook.
He ices the opportunity with a delicious pass across the face of Murray – who just set up a try four minutes earlier – and Nicholls crashes over.
The Rabbitohs are still a chance in September with Cook and Murray linking up like this.
Round 23: Sydney Roosters
Sam Walker and the Roosters have been a regular feature in Repeat Set all season and make another appearance here courtesy of a superb short side play to trigger their comeback against the Dragons on Sunday.
They’ve made the Dragons right edge their target for this set with both Jack de Belin and Zac Lomax heavily involved in the three tackles before Tupou goes over in the corner. Walker plays Isaac Liu onto the ball and he brings de Belin and Lomax into the tackle once again. Matthew Dufty sends de Belin to the short side but doesn’t account for Lomax on the ground.
With an extra man on the short side, Sam Verrills finds Walker who somehow manages to juggle a pass (or is he shaping to kick?) and flick the ball onto Tupou in the corner.
Tupou isn’t a small man. The skill it takes to collect the ball around his ankles mid-stride and still be able to finish in the corner under pressure can’t be understated. We’ve been here before with Tupou – he’s grossly underrated.
This is yet another tick for Robinson in the Coach of the Year box. His side had just conceded three tries in 12 minutes to trail the Dragons. Still, they stuck to what works – they’ve found success down the short side all year – and played themselves back into the game.
Round 22: Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles
This try by the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles is a beauty and captures a lot of what makes them so good at the moment.
It’s an excellent example of just how easy the Sea Eagles are doing it at times. They’re a cohesive unit that knows exactly where to be and when. The ballplayers can then pass players onto the ball from there.
In a matter of seconds, a regulation kick return set becomes a try 80 metres down the field as Trbojevic sweeps around to take a pass that Kieran Foran can quickly release, knowing his fullback will be where he needs to be. Trbojevic doesn’t take a step before feeding Brad Parker out wide and the centre knows he just needs to get his speedster flying down the touchline as soon as possible. There is no need to engage the covering defender here.
Manly’s back-three have scored a combined 59 tries this year. Josh Schuster, Dylan Walker and Daly Cherry-Evans know to follow up through the middle in support. Schuster puts his head down and heads towards his try line before Garrick even touches the ball.
This is Try of the Season material.
One more little thing.
We miss so much on the broadcast a lot of the time, but the cameras caught Garrick at the moment he saw the space on the outside and called for the ball. Trbojevic saw it as well and quickly got in a position to expose the Parramatta right edge.
It’s another sign of Manly’s form right now. One look down the touchline is all they needed to get in position and throw a knockout punch from their own end.
Round 21: Gold Coast Titans
The Gold Coast Titans have finally started to play like a Top 8 team in recent weeks. They have changed the way David Fifita is being used, the new-look halves pairing of Ash Taylor and Toby Sexton is linking up very nicely, and their pack is competing in yardage while also asking questions of the defence with subtle ballplaying actions.
We saw most of that come together to produce the Play of the Round this week.
Fifita has just been isolated onto Jake Granville on the right side and broken three tackles on his way up the field leading up to this play-the-ball. Sexton then shifts the ball onto Jarrod Wallace who takes a few steps forward before releasing a pass out the back to Taylor.
With the defence stuck on the left edge and Wallace’s run and Kevin Proctor decoy holding up the three-in defender, Taylor throws a rocket to Corey Thompson on the left wing. He grubbers down the sideline, toes it forward once more ten metres from the line and Taylor is rewarded for following up on the play with a try.
It’s that second kick, though.
Thompson is definitely trying to poke it back in-field. Whether or not the perfectly placed chip over the top of the fullback is deliberate or not, it’s a fantastic try. The sort that can take the Titans into the finals provided they continue to score points through repeatable actions, as they have done in recent weeks.
Round 20: Sydney Roosters
I love seeing a team score from a kick return set and this one from the Sydney Roosters is a beauty.
After working through their first three tackles, the Roosters look to shift the ball. They do this a lot in these sets but don’t force it wide like other teams (*cough* Parramatta *cough*). The Eels do well to close it down, but when Josh Morris cuts in field and drags Isaiah Papali’i and Maika Sivo into the tackle, that is a sign to hit the short side.
You can see Sam Walker motion to Sitili Tupouniua to load up down the right edge with both the four-in defender and winger occupied in the ruck. Nathan Brown is forced to fill in at A on the short side which also plays into Walker’s hands. With Sivo committing at marker and Walker taking possession nice and flat and playing straight and direct, Brown is forced to take action which leaves a huge hole between the A defender and his markers.
Walker executes to perfection. So too, James Tedesco. Try time.
Round 19: South Sydney Rabbitohs
This is obviously outrageous.
Not many players would even think to throw this pass let alone pull it off as Latrell Mitchell has done here.
However, it’s in the lead up to the try that I’m most impressed.
The Rabbitohs looked to complete a typical left shift from the right post but the Warriors managed to defend it relatively well. Mitchell doesn’t have many options but manages to release an offload. As the camera swaps to side-on, you can see Mitchell first setup behind the ruck before he sees Reece Walsh at A defender and installs himself at first receiver.
With Walsh his target, Mitchell runs onto the ball but changes his line just as Cook makes the pass. Matthew Lodge tries to cover his diminutive fullback with a legs tackle, but Walsh can’t wrap up the ball and Mitchell somehow finds Cameron Murray to score.
A lot of people had their doubts about Mitchell as a fullback 12 months ago. His effort and willingness to force himself into a game were questioned. Now almost through a second full season in the #1 jersey, Mitchell has proven himself as one of the best in the position thanks to plays like these.
Round 18: Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles
I had a feeling this try would be tough to beat as the Play of the Round when I saw it on Friday night.
Kieran Foran is one of the best in the business at playing at the line. Oscar hyped him up before the game and the Kiwi came up with the goods.
Manly had sent plenty of traffic down that left side since Josh Schuster pushed out to the edge. Schuster managed to get to the outside of Josh Kerr and Ben Hunt fairly regularly which threw some doubt into the defensive line. Add Brad Parker’s perfect line to Foran’s ball-playing and you’ve got one of the best looking tries of the 2021 NRL season.
Just watch how Foran motions to pass long, double pumps and pops it up to Parker who comes from nowhere to bamboozle Hunt and go over the line untouched.
Gus Gould said he had a tear in his eye seeing this “play from the 1980s” in commentary. It’s a play from “back in the day” he hadn’t seen for ages.
His own Penrith Panthers pulled off something very similar in Round 13 last season, though. It’s about time we saw James Fisher-Harris and Viliame Kikau do this again…
Having seen it first hand in defence, the Canberra Raiders added their own little twist to it for Jack Wighton to score in Round 18 last season as well.
It’s a ripper – one of the best plays we’ve seen in the NRL over the last two years. It’s only a matter of time before more teams try it on themselves.
Round 17: New Zealand Warriors
Penrith tried it on with Stephen Crichton last year and Brisbane have thrown Corey Oates in there at some point too, but this action needs to become synonymous of Tuivasa-Sheck and the Warriors in 2021.
The Warriors have made their intentions clear both through their recruitment and playing style. They want to bash the door down using big bodies through the middle. Big bodies don’t create a lot of points themselves, but they can ask questions of the defence as lead runners close to the line. Melbourne, in particular, are excellent at using the likes of Nelson Asofa-Solomona and Tui Kamikamica around the ruck close to the line. New Zealand, while they have the size, don’t have the playmakers to make those snap decisions at the moment. They can all hit Tuivasa-Sheck out the back of shape, though.
They are flushed with big bodies through the middle who demand attention from the defence and whether it’s Tohu Harris or a half playing at the line, Tuivasa-Sheck is going to slip through this hole more often than not. We need to see this one again a few times between now and September.
Round 16: Brisbane Broncos
It’s all about the game opening up, fast football and whatever other buzzwords they’re using to hype up blowouts and points piling up at the moment. Kalyn Ponga and Tom Trbojevic would have filled this segment three or four times on their own most weeks. However, a defensive effort from Payne Haas on Sunday afternoon sticks out as one of the most impressive of the season.
The man is 117kg and 194cm tall and his side leads 26-18 with 20 seconds remaining. Most players in his position are halfway to the showers at this stage of the game.
Not Haas.
He spots the threat early as the only Broncos right edge defender to track the play down his team’s left edge. He helps to contain Sione Katoa by pointing Tesi Niu into position. The pair force Katoa to change tack which leads to a kick. A kick that Haas wins the race to, 80 metres up the field from where he started this set.
Incredible.
Round 15: South Sydney Rabbitohs
I talked about the Rabbitohs possibly trying a few trick shots or exploring other areas of the field in attack once they built a lead over the Broncos on Thursday night in the Notepad last week. As it turns out, they only waited ten minutes to produce the Play of the Round.
It started where it so often does for the Rabbitohs: Cameron Murray charged at the right post with a quick play-the-ball beginning the action. Adam Reynolds has drifted over to the left side and used a tempo change in his run along with a perfect line from Dane Gagai to get Cody Walker on the outside of his man. The defence will have trained to scramble on that left edge all week only for Walker to throw a brilliant inside pass to Latrell Mitchell.
You can see how Gagai’s line held up both Karmichael Hunt and Jesse Arthars on the reverse angle, triggering the scramble which Walker read to perfection. It opened up a gap on his inside and we all know the Mitchell will score from there more often than not.
It’s not perfect. Mitchell either miss-timed his run or this isn’t by design. Regardless, it’s an excellent shift and one I think we might see more often this season.
Round 14: New Zealand Warriors
We don’t often get the chance to put a defensive play here. I haven’t been provided with many opportunities to get a New Zealand Warriors play in here this season either. But given the conversation around high-shots, sin-bins, send offs and “the game going soft,” this Chanel Harris-Tavita tackle ignores all of that.
It’s perfect.
He leans into the tackle with his shoulder just above the ball and, as Brandon Smith put it himself, “laid out” the Storm hooker.
It’s everything we want in rugby league and proof that we won’t lose the physicality in the game while adjusting technique to limit high-shots. Now for the NRL and ARLC to come to the party and find a way to appropriately rule on accidental brushes across the face…
Round 13: Melbourne Storm
Brandon Smith is a very good NRL hooker.
He’s not Cameron Smith and he didn’t start 2021 in this sort of form, but Cheese is putting together a nice audition tape for his next contract.
As simple as this Trent Loiero try looks, it’s Smith that made it so easy.
Presented with a penalty 20 metres from the Titans line, Smith sends Tui Kamikamica at the line before hitting Nelson Asofa-Solomona on the second tackle. His skip to the left holds up Sam McIntyre at marker which allows big Nelson to run straight at little Jayden Campbell. While Campbell makes a good enough legs tackle to slow him down, six Titans players are forced to consider the tackle as Asofa-Solomona turns with his arms free and threatening to offload.
Ash Taylor is slow out of the tackle before filling in at A defender on the short side. With a slight dummy to the left before a step to the right which engages Taylor, Smith puts Loiero one-on-one with Brian Kelly (George Jennings is also an option on the wing having created the overlap) and the Titans centre isn’t able to complete the tackle.
Simple.
Effective.
Smith.
Round 12: Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles
Daly Cherry-Evans pulled off some of the best halfback play we’ve seen all season here.
With Connor Watson involved in the tackle and slow to peel off down the short side, Cherry-Evans spots a numbers advantage. So too does Tom Trbojevic. They both get around to the left edge and target Watson who is still tracking back as the ball is played. By having Trbojevic trail on his inside, Cherry-Evans is able to engage the B defender and make the right pass out wide.
While Trbojevic dragged the defence in on Cherry-Evans’ inside shoulder, it’s Cherry-Evans’ footwork that is the highlight. Mitch Barnett knows his edge is stripped for numbers and motions towards Karl Lawton in an attempt to number up. Cherry-Evans takes the ball to the line and the big backrower almost trips over himself as he turns back in.
The Sea Eagles disappointed overall on Sunday afternoon, but this play here was one of the best of the weekend.
Round 11: Melbourne Storm
I highlighted the Melbourne Storm’s ability to plug anybody into a position on the field and still play good footy after Round 8. No club manages to deal with injuries and suspensions quite like Craig Bellamy and the Storm. Saturday was more proof of that as not one of their first-choice spine players laced up a boot in their 34-10 win over the Canberra Raiders.
There isn’t anything too special about this try, but it’s a great example of why the Storm are able to plug players into key positions and still dominate games. They’re so well prepared and are the smartest footy side in the competition despite losing Cameron Smith over the offseason.
It starts with Justin Olam’s brutal carry up the field that leaves Tom Starling clutching at his leg on the ground. He manages to limp back into the defensive line to ensure the Raiders have 13 bodies in front of the Storm, but Brandon Smith and Nelson Asofa-Solomona know he is only on one leg.
On 5th tackle and in a position where most sides would look to kick to the corner or force a drop out, the Storm run a simple block shape off the ruck with Starling circled as a target. It’s a shape they use every week but doesn’t usually come on 5th tackle.
Poor Starling is no chance. Asofa-Solomona shrugs him off like a heavy coat after a long day and begins Melbourne’s run of 34 unanswered points.
We so often see teams fail to make the most of these chances. Not the Storm. They saw the opportunity and executed the play to perfection.
Round 10: Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles
Jason Saab is one of the fastest players in the NRL and Manly are taking some notes on how Melbourne uses Josh Addo-Carr in exit sets and looking to do the same.
Play of the Round is part of the Repeat Set. Sign up for a Premium RLW Membership to have it delivered straight to your inbox every Monday.
I really liked this from the Sea Eagles on Friday night.
Speed and smarts. That’s all this shift takes to produce points. While Tom Trbojevic has been excellent since his return from injury, there was always a threat that Manly would become too one-dimensional. This play here, among others over the weekend, suggests they’re still adding to their attack.
Round 9: Penrith Panthers
Regular readers of the Notepad will have seen me talking about this over the last few weeks. It started with this clunky effort in Round 4. You can see that it is something they’ve planned but Nathan Cleary makes the pass too early and doesn’t engage the defence at all.
Three weeks later, Cleary drags Saifiti across the field to open up a massive hole for Jarome Luai to scoot through.
Round 9 is when it all came together. This time Cleary shapes to drop Viliame Kikau off inside while Liam Martin is available short. Having Martin there short is the variation that keeps Briton Nikora from sliding. You can see it in the side-on angle that Nikora only has eyes for what is happening inside him. By the time he realises the ball is gone, Jarome Luai has got on the outside of Shaun Johnson and opened up a massive gap for Matt Burton to run through.
The evolution of this play is the most interesting aspect of it all. It started clunky, improved on the second effort and worked to perfection on the third. The question now is what do we call it?
Round 8: South Sydney Rabbitohs
We’re going back to Thursday night for the Play of the Round but all the way back to Round 7 to see where it started.
Benji Marshall put on a masterclass against the Wests Tigers. He did whatever he wanted to the left edge defence. Much of that came through the elite hole-running of Keaon Koloamatangi and the 22-year-old was back at it in Round 8.
Playing in the middle at this point of the match, Koloamatangi runs a superb overs line to split the gap and send Jaydn Su’A across the stripe.
It starts with Adam Reynolds digging deep into the line. Ryan Sutton only has eyes for Reynolds as he approaches the defence and targets Tom Starling. By the time Reynolds releases the pass and Sutton shifts his focus, Koloamatangi has already taken the step out and into the gap. The Bunnies back rower is gone as Sutton barely manages to lay a hand on him. Like last week, Koloamatangi has no problems with drawing in the fullback and releasing the pass.
B-e-a-utiful rugby league.
Round 7: Brisbane Broncos
The Brisbane Broncos know what it takes to be competitive at the moment. We saw it against the Panthers in Round 6 and for 25 minutes in Round 7 before the Parramatta Eels scored three tries in seven minutes to blow the game open.
Right now, Brisbane don’t have the attack or the creativity to chase down big deficits. If they go down big, it’s game over and they know it. There was one little moment of quality on Friday night, though. It came from Payne Haas, Tevita Pangai Jr and Jake Turpin.
Haas takes a typically strong carry to within inches of the goal line. I like this shape purely for what it can do to the defence with four players forced into the tackle. You can then see Turpin put his hand to his mouth and organise the next play with Pangai Jr as he walks past with another look just before the play-the-ball to confirm. It’s only a small thing, but Hass standing up straight and not moving forward after playing the ball is crucial here. Any step forward and the try is wiped away. Instead, he holds his ground and Turpin sends Pangai Jr straight at Isaiah Papali’i.
Papali’i has been excellent this season. He’s a strong defender, but stopping Pangai Jr that close to the line is close to impossible. At best, you can stop him from moving forward, but he is still going to get far enough to fall down and onto the line.
Walters is going to find it difficult to draw too many positives from this performance. This is one, though. He wants his side playing short and direct through the middle and this backs that up.
It’s not the best play of the round, but that isn’t always what this segment is about. Subtle plays pin-pointing certain areas and executing them well often stick out more for me on a Monday. Am I a sucker for still thinking the Broncos aren’t a wooden spoon team?
Round 6: South Sydney Rabbitohs
Thomas Burgess’ try will be on NRL highlight reels forever. The man himself said he could feel the energy of every rugby league prop (except those playing for Wests Tigers on Saturday night) willing him towards the try line as he streaked downfield. And while seeing the 120kg forward running 35 metres to score is the highlight, the 75 metres his side gained in the build-up, and the consistency at which this club keeps coming up with these plays, is what places them firmly in the premiership conversation.
Shifting it from the kickoff is a risky play, but they all know it is coming. Latrell Mitchell makes the pass without looking anywhere else, Mark Nicholls holds up the defensive line while Cameron Murray takes the ball forward, and Dane Gagai takes the easy metres for Cody Walker:
Nicholls is again involved on 2nd-tackle as he carts the ball one off the ruck. It’s Murray’s carry that will make or break the set. Souths aren’t afraid to offload the ball in these situations. We’ve seen them do it numerous times in field goal setup sets in the past. Still, Wests fail to wrap up Murray’s arm and he releases the ball to Walker who sends Jacob Host down a similar path to what Gagai traveled earlier:
Once again, Nicholls is tasked with taking the ball up, hitting the same group of defenders he had done two tackles prior. Adam Reynolds throws his arms up as though he’s about to receive the ball and have a shot at the posts which brings the A and B defenders off their line. Out the back, the players on the short side are gassed and have checked out of the play which allows Burgess to fly upfield and score the winner:
Frustratingly, no journo in attendance at the post-match press conference asked whether or not feeding Burgess around the ruck was the plan all along. It’s an excellent set from start to finish regardless even if Wayne Bennett was reluctant to believe Burgess’ post-try celebration. The Englishman has tried to sell a few dropped balls in the past.
Round 5: North Queensland Cowboys
Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow pulled off an incredible chip-and-chase at ridiculous speed to score the opener on Sunday afternoon. It’s the sort of try that you’re always on the edge of your seat waiting for when it comes to the 19-year-old.
It’s not, however, the sort of try we’re accustomed to seeing out of the North Queensland Cowboys this season. But against a wanting Tigers right edge defence and with a game plan to expose it, the Cowboys piled up the points in the first half.
This will be something Todd Payten and the backline talked about pre-game. Connelly Lemuelu is always looking to make the pass once he takes possession of the ball. With the defensive line compressed James Roberts and David Nofoaluma are left to defend half of the field. Lemuelu releases the pass to Murray Taulagi who has deliberately come in field off the wing to leave Tabuai-Fidow out wide. Holding up Roberts before releasing the pass, Taulagi sends it to Tabuai-Fidow who has 15 metres to work with on the edge.
Tabuai-Fidow is one of the fastest players in rugby league and 15 metres is plenty for him to get on the outside of 99% of defenders in the NRL. His individual brilliance is the icing on the cake of a well-worked move executed to perfection here. Expect to see North Queensland repeat this a few more times in 2021.
Round 4: Melbourne Storm
Oscar has drilled into this set piece variation already, but it is the first play I thought of when looking back on Round 4.
Tom Eisenhuth and Trent Loiero appear to be running in a fairly common shape with Eisenhuth threatening to jockey out the back. Instead, he keeps heading straight for the defensive line as Ryan Papenhuyzen sweeps around the back. The threat of Eisenhuth skipping to the outside shoulder of Loiero has Herbie Farnworth interested, and by the time the Broncos centre realises Papenhuyzen is the one coming around the back, the space has been created out wide.
It’s two-on-one. Try time.
Round 3: Parramatta Eels
This try is a beauty and has it all.
There is the refining of the game plan, a strong carry for a quick play-the-ball, subtle moves to exploit the short side, and a highlight reel offload to finish it off.
Game plan and quick play-the-ball: The Round 1 Eels would have tried to float this over the top and go around the Sharks in this scenario. Instead, Reagan Campbell-Gillard takes the tackle in the middle before a quick Dylan Brown carry towards a stationary defensive line earns his side a quick play-the-ball.
Subtle moves to exploit the short side: With Wade Graham on Brown’s ankles and unable to fill in at marker, Reed Mahoney engages Matt Moylan while Shaun Lane wraps around to create the overlap.
The highlight reel finish: Eat your heart out, Marata Niukore. He was all power and strength in Round 2. Fast forward a week and he’s throwing a nice little dummy and lovely flick pass out the back.
A ripper try.
Round 2: Canberra Raiders
Regular readers will know I love a subtle play at dummy half and this here from Josh Hodgson is a beauty. The whole set is, really.
When Curtis Scott pounces on a loose ball with 50 seconds remaining, there is no panic. Bailey Simonsson gets the ball to the middle before Hodgson engages the marker and sends Ryan James at Jayden Brailey. Keeping it tight despite the clock ticking down, Ryan Sutton and Sia Soliola link up two off the ruck to get the Raiders ten metres from the Sharks goal line. It’s here where Hodgson earns his spot in the side.
He knows Braden Hamlin-Uele has just had to track back 70 metres while also making two tackles along the way – he’s gassed. Hodgson shapes left and the Sharks prop is thinking halftime. That half a second is all Hodgson needs to scoot down the right side, engage Wade Graham at A and send Hudson Young over the top of Matt Moylan.
It’s one little moment of brilliance late in the first half. In the end, it proved the difference.
Round 1: Melbourne Storm
You can take your pick of any Melbourne Storm try this week, really.
Their jaw-dropping first 30 minutes set the standard for 2021, but it’s this try that kept my jaw on the floor the longest.
Ryan Papenhuyzen’s patience and timing is perfect and matched by Kenny Bromwich’s line. The Storm fullback’s speed is enough to get on the outside of Jaydn Su’A forcing Adam Reynolds to turn in – exactly how they drew it up. Papenhuyzen makes the right pass, follows up in support, and is rewarded with a meat pie for his troubles.
Love them or hate them, Melbourne is a pleasure to watch.