NRL Notepad: Round 14

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

---

Saturday

Titans

The Titans had about three chances to beat the Storm last week but none were blown quite like this one…

Brian Kelly isn’t known for his willingness as a passer. He has a bit of the Euan Aitken’s about him with the run-first style he applies to the centre position. However, I was surprised to see how high he sits in the General Play Passes column at Fox Sports Lab. We need to remove a lot of the players at the top of the list given the fact they have played in more pass-heavy positions at different points throughout the year. Still, Dane Gagai is the only full-time centre with more passes to his name than Kelly at 43.

His dummy to Phillip Sami on Saturday night was a shocker. Although, Sami countered with an equally poor effort when the Titans had a chance to win the game on the final play. The pair will be back out there next to each other again this week. We need to see them start working better together if there is any hope for this decidedly average Titans attack to improve in the future.

Roosters

The Roosters keep finding ways to win games without their best players available.

Sam Walker has been excellent this season and is the current favourite for Rookie of the Year. When he missed the match against the Raiders in Round 12, Joey Manu stepped straight into the halves to play a leading role in their 44-16 win.

This week, I’m looking at how Walker links up with Lachlan Lam in the halves. They have played together twice already this season, but are presented with an opportunity to combine as the #6 and #7 for the remainder of the season from here. How they combine, and whether or not they can steer the team around the park well enough given their inexperience, will determine how far the Roosters go in 2021.

The Roosters are an elite attacking team and it comes down to their structure. It’s all about working to areas of the field and adjusting to what the defence does in front of you, all while your teammates make the same adjustments with little to no time or communication.

It has what made the Roosters so good in recent years and how well Walker and Lam work them to those areas of the field will determine how relevant they’re going to be in September.

Rabbitohs

Thomas Burgess looked back to his best to start the season. The big Englishman collected 159 running metres per game up to Round 7, but in the five games since, he has managed just 108.6 running metres per game and now finds himself starting on the bench.

Yardage is a bit of an issue for the Rabbitohs at the moment. While conceding 50+ points twice in a season is the most obvious concern, their 11th-ranked 1,615 running metres per game is another that needs to be addressed. Since 2009, no premiership winning team has finished lower than 10th in running metres and only one lower than 7th.

Souths have an electric attack that is capable of making up for their struggling defence. However, they need to start earning more opportunities in good ball areas. Their 23.3 tackles inside the opposition 20-metre line is currently 15th in the NRL.

A resurgent Burgess can help the Bunnies get back on track.

#RandomStats

Tackles inside opposition 20m per game:

1st – Eels (33.9)
2nd – Tigers (32.7)
3rd – Panthers (32.6)
.
.
.
14th – Broncos (23.6)
15th – Rabbitohs (23.3)
16th – Dragons (22.8)

— Jason Oliver (@JasonNRL) June 10, 2021

Knights

You knew it was going to be a long day for the Knights when Ryan Matterson went over this easy last week.

Regular readers know how much I like to pick out little fullbacks being caught in the line and trampled. Reed Mahoney’s subtle movement out of dummy half pulled Lachlan Fizgibbon in and allowed Matterson to head straight at Tex Hoy. It’s an excellent play from the Eels hooker, but the Knights need to do better at protecting their little #1 when he’s out there.

That try covers the general sentiment of Newcastle’s defence right now, though. They’re being beaten too easily too often and it’s a far cry from their impressive defensive performances of last season. Excuses for a poor attack are justified given the absence of Mitchell Pearce and Kalyn Ponga, but their return won’t improve the defence. It’s without the ball where the Knights need to improve if they’re to save their season.

Raiders

I was a bit of a Caleb Aekins guy.

Was being the operative word there.

Given six weeks to make a name for himself in first-grade while filling in for Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad, Aekins struggled. Really struggled. He looked out of place in first-grade and has finally lost his place in the side to Bailey Simonsson.

The Raiders aren’t an easy watch at the moment but Simonsson is a quality footballer and I’m excited to see how he goes at the back. He has talked about wanting the #1 jersey and this is his chance to take it given the recent discussion around Nicoll-Klokstad possibly moving into the centres.

Simonsson has started one game in the #1 jersey back in Round 25, 2019. Although, he has filled in there for short periods since then. With Nicoll-Klokstad expected to miss the remainder of the season, Simonsson has a great chance to secure the spot here. It’s also another wrinkle to add to The Dufty Conundrum.

Broncos

Karmichael Hunt’s return to the NRL is the big draw for this game. He hasn’t played in first grade since 2009 and only has seven games at Queensland Cup level to his name this year.

Hunt has shown flashes in his time with Souths Logan Magpies, but this is a massive step for the 34-year-old. It is incredible to think that he is going to pair up with Albert Kelly in the halves to headline Saturday nights blockbuster time slot – in 2021…

Hunt and Kelly did combine for this Magpies try earlier in the year:

I’m not entirely convinced about Hunt’s inclusion this week, though. He has definitely lost some speed and isn’t the individual attacking threat he once was. Unlike other aging players that can work on different parts of their game as their speed and footwork slows down, Hunt hasn’t been in the game to develop those intricacies.

Hunt will offer some experience to this Broncos outfit and is absolutely worth tuning in for on Saturday night. However, I don’t think he is the missing piece for Kevin Walters right now.

---

Sunday

Warriors

I’ve not been a big fan of playing Roger Tuivasa-Sheck on the wing but would have liked to see what the Warriors took out of Tom Trbojevic’s performance in State of Origin Game 1. The Blues showed the Warriors what is possible if they’re going to continue with Reece Walsh at fullback and Tuivasa-Sheck on the wing. Up to this point, Nathan Brown has implemented almost nothing new as the captain and best #1 the club has ever seen goes wasted out wide.