Recap the latest round of NRL action with the Repeat Set: Talking points, highlights, lowlights and the Play of the Round.
Here’s your Repeat Set for Round 12 of the 2021 NRL season:
- What Clifford is bringing to the Knights
- Joseph Manu on the move
- A round to remember for…Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks
- A round to forget for…Peter V’landys
- Play of the Round: Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles
- Player Appreciation Post: Morgan Harper
What Clifford is bringing to the Knights
I’m glad I held onto my Jake Clifford stocks when he was dropped earlier in the season. The kid is a very handy #7 and the Newcastle Knights will be a lot better with him in the side. He’s arriving right when they need him, too.
While the Knights did take the chocolates in Round 12, the 18-10 result was more of a bad loss for the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles than a good win for the Knights. Adam O’Brien will be happy with Newcastle’s defence. It’s the first thing that needed fixing and limiting the Sea Eagles to ten points is an excellent start. However, their attack is in dire need of a boost.
It needs a lot more than simply installing Kalyn Ponga into the backline and Clifford can make an instant impact.
First and foremost, the 23-year-old possesses an elite kicking game. He can hang it in the air for his wingers, or find space on the ground in behind the defensive line. If there is one area the Knights have really struggled in this year, it’s their fifth tackle options and sub-par kicking game.
Clifford gave the Knights faithful a glimpse of what he can offer against the Warriors on Friday night. He made Reece Walsh a target given his inexperience at the back and tested him early with this grubber in behind the line on 4th tackle.
With Walsh tied up in the tackle and left on the ground as the ball is played later in the game, Clifford looked for the same play also on 4th tackle. It doesn’t look as though his intention is to grubber to himself, but such is the bounce of a rugby league ball, it falls in favour of the erstwhile Cowboy and he scores a crucial try just before halftime.
Clifford has forced seven dropouts so far this season which is good for =4th in the NRL. However, every other player around him on the list has featured in at least ten games to Clifford’s seven. He’s going to need some time to learn the structures of the Knights attack and develop some cohesion with those around him, but Clifford will improve their 5th tackle play from day one.
He’s not going to be afraid to take the line on as he works his way into the side, either. He straightens well, and his willingness to engage the line and shape to play inside is an exciting prospect given how much time Connor Watson and Ponga spend sniffing around the ball.
Clifford is just one domino to fall in all of this. Tom Dearden has also made his move to the Cowboys ahead of time and will be presented with a chance to lock down a position in the halves alongside Scott Drinkwater. The Cowboys signing Chad Townsend was always a bit of a head-scratcher, but even more so with Dearden announced shortly after.
If Dearden and Drinkwater form the exciting partnership I think they might this season, Townsend may yet be starting the 2022 season as an expensive bench option or reserve grader.
Joseph Manu on the move
Joseph Manu is too good to be spending all his time out in the centres. With Luke Keary and Sam Walker in his way in the halves and James Tedesco signed through to the end of 2024, Manu needs to leave the Sydney Roosters if he is to reach his potential.
The suggestions that he is a target for the New Zealand Warriors in 2023 will only grow louder around the water cooler after what he produced against the Canberra Raiders this week.
“I’ve heard a bit around [the Warriors’ interest], but I can’t meet with them or negotiate with them. I guess I’ll see how I go this year and see what happens. I have seen there’s been a bit of talk there. Roger is a big loss for the Warriors.”
‘Tough position but it’s exciting’: Manu eyes future as fullback amid Warriors link
“Holy shit” were the words that came out of my mouth as Manu put this try on for Sitili Tupouniua. Manu’s strength’s are in his ball-running but the way he applied it here from first receiver and the speed at which he executed the play is incredible.
He later caught his fellow Kiwi in Jordan Rapana out in the second half. Stripping the ball free and managing to keep it off the ground until he planted it over the goal line, Manu took a decidedly average Lachlan Lam kick and turned it into points.
Manu was back at it with another strip six minutes later to give the Roosters a full set in the Raiders half. Now, we won’t pretend that his kick is anything other than a miss-kick off the inside of his foot. That’s an area he desperately needs to improve if he’s to become a full-time five-eighth of fullback. However, his leaping effort to regather the ball and fall over the line is another example of the freakish plays Manu is capable of executing.
He’s not going to be the perfect five-eighth. He’s very much a player that needs the right players around him to positively influence a game every week. The Kiwi international is the icing on the cake of a top tier attack.
While Manu isn’t a polished creator for others by any means, his ability to create something out of nothing for himself is exactly what the Warriors are looking for at the moment whether it be from fullback or five-eighth. They have Chanel Harris-Tavita in the traditional #7 role and Reece Walsh is an electric ball-player regardless of if it’s a #6 or #1 on his back. Likewise, Manu can pop up and add a moment of brilliance from either position.
Nothing can happen until November this year. It’s unlikely that the Roosters allow him to leave before his contract is up at the end of next season either. But Manu added a few more dollars to his next contract over the weekend. He’s going to be on the recruitment list for many NRL clubs but a return home to New Zealand looks like the perfect fit.
A round to remember for…Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks
I’m prepared to increase the volume of my belief in the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks after Sunday afternoon’s dismantling of the Gold Coast Titans.
I whispered it quietly before Round 12, wanting to see what Shaun Johnson and Matt Moylan could do together in the halves before putting a line through them as a Top 8 team.
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