With Round 1 just around the corner, we’re taking notes on what to keep an eye on throughout the early rounds of the 2021 NRL season.
✍️: Can Connor Watson continue to be effective as Newcastle’s first-choice lock?
Newcastle Knights insider Barry Toohey has named his predicted team for Round 1 of the upcoming NRL season. It’s mostly as expected, but one name did jump out as somewhat of a surprise:
13. Connor Watson
Mitch Barnett put together an impressive 2020 season at lock for the Knights. His hard-hitting defence, strong carries and developing passing game started to have him mentioned among State of Origin bolters. But with preseason well underway and a key figure in Connor Watson healthy, it sounds as though Barnett will be moving out to the edge.
We’re hearing Watson’s move is definitely a goer and it will likely come at the expense of backrower Lachlan Fitzgibbon.
Newcastle Herald
Watson’s move into lock, Barnett’s form in 2020 and the arrival of Tyson Frizell is expected to push Lachlan Fitzgibbon to the bench in a major reshuffle of the Knights back row.
Moving Watson to lock has its potential issues. At 89 kg and 177 cm tall, he will be one of the smaller middle forwards in the NRL. With Jayden Brailey who is a similar size to Watson at hooker, the Knights will provide opposing teams with two small targets in the defensive line. The duo aren’t weak defenders by any means. However, they’re not going to stop many middles from dominating the tackle if they’re isolated in the line.
It’s what Watson can offer with the ball in-hand that will appeal to Adam O’Brien.
He’s more than capable of playing in the halves. O’Brien tried to make the most of Watson’s skillset early last season when throwing him into the middle of the field off the bench. Newcastle set up in the middle of the field and split their ballplayers (Watson/Ponga & Pearce/Mann). An injury to Watson in Round 3 and just 50 more minutes of football in 2020 put an end to that experiment, though.
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With Ponga spending most of his time in attack in shape on the edges, Watson can fill some of the fullback role. Mitchell Pearce looked for him inside a handful of times in Round 1 to varying levels of success.
The Warriors read the first with relative ease:
But Watson broke the line running a similar play later in the match:
Watson also made sure to hang off David Klemmer’s shoulder as the big prop looked to release his new and improved offload.
The lock position is changing. Unless you’re Jason Taumalolo and ticking up over 200 running metres per game, ball-playing is a must. Teams are looking wider in attack under the new rules. Middle forwards have become key players in moving the ball from one side of the field to the other. It’s one area Watson will definitely be able to add value to the team. How he holds up to the physicality is the concern.
With question marks around how effective Watson can be at lock at his size, he’s a player to watch early into the 2021 NRL season.