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.
✍️: Will fewer minutes in 2021 give us more Jason Taumalolo?
The North Queensland Cowboys are ushering in a new era in 2021. Long-serving coach Paul Green is gone and Todd Payten is in to replace him with a rise up the NRL ladder the bare minimum of expectations in his first season.
A woeful defence ended up as the main contributing factor to North Queensland’s 14th-place finish in 2020. Only the wooden spoon holding Brisbane Broncos conceded more points than the Cowboys’ 26 points per game. Payten has a lot of work to do if he’s to fix the holes in the defensive line and he’s starting with his best player, Jason Taumalolo.
It has been a long time since anybody has said a bad word about Taumalolo. Outside of the semi-regular desperation some have to appoint the new best forward in the NRL and a mind-numbing list assigning him as the 13th best player in the game after leading all forwards in yardage with a career-high 207.5 running metres last season, Taumalolo is widely considered the competitions best middle forward.
However, Payten never fails to offer an honest assessment of his players. Not even Taumalolo could escape his refreshing critique.
“We all see what he can do from an attacking point of view. Sometimes under fatigue he puts some guys around him under pressure with some of his movements.”
via NRL.com
Payten talked about playing Taumalolo for fewer minutes in 2021. Shorter stints of 25-30 minutes “tops”. He spoke with a focus on defence, but with more energy on both sides of the ball, we may see Taumalolo used a little bit differently on attack this year too.
The lock position is evolving more than any other on the field.
Connor Watson is 14cm shorter and 28kg lighter than Taumalolo, but he is expected to wear the #13 jersey for the Newcastle Knights in Round 1. Teams are no longer using their lock as a third prop. Instead, they are becoming a key part in how a team shifts the ball in attack with able props also being asked to add a pass to their game.
Taumalolo is still an elite player despite the typical role of his position changing – he’s just that good. But he is threatening to improve further if he can pick up some of the skills that make the likes of Victor Radley and Cameron Murray such dangerous players despite their smaller stature. It didn’t often happen last season, but we caught a glimpse of Taumalolo’s level as a ball-player in Round 20 against the Broncos.
It doesn’t happen close enough to the defensive line, and Josh McGuire’s run is slightly early, but you can see the defence keeping a keen eye on Taumalolo until he releases the ball to Jake Clifford.
“We didn’t see it a lot, but where Taumalolo threatens to get better is in his ball-playing. If he digs into the line a little more and plays late enough to attract the outside defence, space will open up for the Cowboys out wide in 2021.” pic.twitter.com/jvEDrE4ntI
— Jason Oliver (@JasonNRL) October 8, 2020
Expect to see the Cowboys manufacture a try from a similar position on the field early into 2021 should they execute this shape a little better with Taumalolo digging further into the line.
If North Queensland can open up space out wide more often this season, opportunities will present themselves in the middle.
Taumalolo is fast and can find his way through a gap should one big enough be on offer. Isolating him on defenders or putting him into positions on the field that reduce the likelihood of a three-man tackle is one area that hasn’t always been a focus. One-on-one and the defender will more than likely be left in his wake as a chalk outline. If the defence can only get two in the tackle, Taumalolo can generate a quicker play-the-ball than most.
Defences have come to assume that Taumalolo won’t receive the ball if it goes past him. Working him further from the ruck or back inside might be one way the Cowboys look to use some of that extra energy. Again, we caught a glimpse of what that could look like moving forward last season:
With Taumalolo now expected to play fewer minutes, Jordan McLean, Josh McGuire, Francis Molo and Lachlan Burr will need to pick up the slack. Allow Taumalolo to be put into better attacking positions by taking some of the yardage load. He can’t do both.
The Tongan international is 27-years old and four NRL games short of 200. He’s entering the prime of his career and still has room to improve. While he will be on the field less in 2021, we still may see more Taumalolo with the extra fuel he has in the tank.