NRL Notepad: Round 11

The Notepad identifies one key player, stat, trend or talking point for every team, every round of the 2021 NRL season.

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Saturday

Titans

I’ve talked a lot about the Titans attack recently. A user on Twitter correctly pointed out that their defence (24.3 points conceded per game) is the bigger issue, and he’s right. He did, however, also mention that the Titans played three games in a row (Souths, Broncos, Tigers) where they scored over 20 points in the first half. He’s also right there, but two of those games also highlight what I’m concerned about.

David Fifita needed to score a first-half hattrick for the Titans to build their lead against the Rabbitohs. They ultimately didn’t have the attack to keep building pressure in the second half once the Rabbitohs stopped a rampaging Fifita. They expertly exposed Jamayne Isaako’s poor defensive positioning to pile up points against the Broncos. But, again, once those points dried up, they didn’t offer much else.

It’s the lack of repeatable actions I’m considering when talking about their attack. Fifita throwing players around on his way to the line and kicking at a poor defensive fullback aren’t repeatable every week.

One set last week shows what the Titans can do through the middle to get up the field while also highlighting their limitations in good ball.

The Titans do really well to get inside the Panthers 20-metre line following a penalty. Tino Fa’asuamaleaui takes a strong carry before Herman Ese’ese tips Beau Fermor into half a gap which earns them a quick play-the-ball. With the defence slow to peel, Jamal Fogarty sends Moeaki Fotuaika back inside to keep the Titans on the front foot.

That’s good footy.

It’s now that it starts to go bad for the Titans as two long and labored shifts do little to trouble the Panthers defensive line.

Their shift to the right comes via two ineffective decoys by Fa’asuamaleaui and Kevin Proctor. Fa’asuamaleaui, in particular, does nothing to stall the defence which allows Matt Eisenhuth to push up on the inside and the Panthers defensive line simply needs to slide across the field until the Titans eventually run out of room.

Nobody engages the line as the ball finds its way back across to the left edge. Ese’ese’s run turns Nathan Cleary, but Tanah Boyd doesn’t take the space and plays out the back – perhaps premeditated. Boyd took the ball outside Cleary. If he had continued at the gap and forced Stephen Crichton into a decision, there’s a two-on-one out wide. Instead, and this is not too dissimilar to throwing the ball to Fifita and hoping for the best, Brian Kelly throws a hopeful offload straight to the opposition.

That’s the good and the bad of the Titans attack at the moment for me. However, they have an excellent opportunity to develop some consistency against the worst team in the NRL this week.

Bulldogs

I could really copy and paste my demands for the Bulldogs in Round 10 back here for Round 11.

They ticked the boxes for one game…

– Effort in defence ✅
– Put their body on the line and in front of attacking players ✅

It was great to see the Bulldogs score a few points last week too. Will Hopoate is still grossly underrated and did his contract negotiations for 2022 and beyond a few favours last week. Jake Averillo and Brandon Wakeham did more than enough to keep their place in the side while Kyle Flanagan sits in the stands. I’m still intrigued by Corey Waddell and what his ball-playing can do for the Bulldogs attack.

It’s nothing without a continuation of their Round 10 defence, though.

Roosters

Two things have popped up in the Roosters portion of the Notepad throughout the season: Sam Walker tearing it up (particularly off his left foot) and Victor Radley floating around the ball at all times.

This try here is a collection of two Notepad classics working in concert to score.

It starts with a play-the-ball 10m from the Roosters own goal line. You will see the Roosters hit Coen Hess and Jordan McLean in back-to-back tackles with two hit ups around the right post area of the field.

Jared Waerea-Hargreaves continues down a similar path before Sam Walker uses some footwork to get past a rushing defender. Walker’s carry triggers a six-again restart from the referee and the Roosters respond by taking another strong carry – once again it’s Hess making the tackle.

As Waerea-Hargreaves takes another carry at roughly the right post mark, he draws Hess into yet another tackle. The Cowboys left edge defensive line has defended six consecutive tackles at this point. They’re struggling to get off their line and have cramped themselves down the short side after Waerea-Hargreaves’ carry. Five Cowboys are defending two Roosters…

Hess is gassed and slow on the inside from marker while McLean is trying to anticipate a long Roosters shift against a stripped defensive line by getting off the line at an angle. A gaping hole presents itself through the middle and Walker and Radley made the most of it.

Radley gives Walker ‘the look’ as Waerea-Hargreaves plays the ball. From there, Walker’s eyes are fixed on what his happening in and around the ruck.

It only took 10 passes across seven tackles for the Roosters to work their way 90 metres up the field to score.

Excellent footy.

I’m on the lookout for more of this against a dodgy Broncos middle this week.

Broncos

Albert Kelly for Souths Logan Magpies in 2021:

6 games
4 Tries
12 Try Assists
6 Line Break Assists
2 Forced Drop Outs
90 Running Metres per game

Kevin Walters is getting desperate and has named the 30-year-old to make his first appearance in the NRL since he played for the Gold Coast Titans in 2014. He has spent time with Hull Kingston Rovers and Hull FC in the Super League over the last six years and has dominated at Cup level to start 2021, but this is a different challenge.

Danny Levi tore Queensland Cup to shreds and struggled to make an impact at NRL level. Will Kelly be the same?

Raiders

I really thought the Raiders were back when they scored this try:

A rampaging Josh Papalii carry into an offload leads to a big George Williams step. Caleb Aekins backs up in support and Corey Harawira-Naera finishes the job. Ricky Stuart couldn’t have asked for much more. It’s exactly what he would have wanted to see.

The 60 minutes that followed weren’t quite so pleasing…

Papalii isn’t available this week and Williams loses his halves partner in Jack Wighton too. If the Raiders are to be any chance of upsetting the Storm, the Englishman is going to lead the charge and do so with his footwork. I hate the “he needs to run more” trope but a few early carries of the ball might be enough to throw some doubt in the Storm defensive line.

Storm

Nicho Hynes is being given another opportunity to bump up his price tag for 2022 this week. He played a leading role in Melbourne’s Round 10 win and will again be asked to fill in for both Cameron Munster and Ryan Papenhuyzen.

It’s otherwise fairly difficult to read too much into what the Storm did in Round 10 and carry it through to Round 11 given they played almost 70 minutes against 12 men. If there is one team that can spy a weakness and repeatedly expose it, it’s the Storm.

Up against a depleted Raiders side that looks nothing like the list many thought would cruise into the Top 5 this season, I’m simply going to sit back and watch the Storm get to work. Craig Bellamy will have spent all week scheming against areas of the field he thinks the Raiders have taken a hit thanks to injury and suspension. I just want to see how they do it.

And, of course, how Chris Lewis goes in the halves if that’s where he ends up on Saturday night.

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Sunday

Rabbitohs

The Rabbitohs left edge is back, baby!

Latrell Mitchell returns to the side and we’re finally going to see one of the best attacking avenues in the NRL get back to its best. Mitchell may need a week or two to get back into it so we won’t read too much into it if he struggles on Sunday. We will, however, start reading into the Rabbitohs defence if they can’t at least make it difficult for the Panthers in attack.