Take the Repeat Set: Finals Week 3 Review

Jason and Oscar are linking up to combine Repeat Set and Take the Two to recap an exciting Week 3 of the NRL Finals.

Here’s your Repeat Set for Week 3 of the 2021 NRL season:

• Murray Masterclass
• Panthers – Sticking to the plan
• There’s always next season for…
  • 3rd – Melbourne Storm
  • 4th – Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles
• Play of the Round
  • Nathan Cleary
  • Cody Walker

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Murray Masterclass

Cameron Murray’s best work on a footy field isn’t always the most noticeable. He completes the small tasks for Wayne Bennett and the South Sydney Rabbitohs. His motor allows him to dominate on both sides of the ball, get through the one-percenters and also produce the sort of play that features on a highlights reel across the following week.

It all came together as the complete package for Murray to play a starring role in South Sydney’s 36-16 trampling of Manly in the first Preliminary Final.

Murray set the tone for South Sydney’s defence all night. He stood out as the player setting their line speed in the very first set of the match with his chopping down of Josh Aloiai stalling any go-forward Manly hoped to achieve working out of their own end. He got Souths off their line and they won the contact through the middle more often than not throughout the early stages. They never gave up that advantage.

But it’s with the ball that the smaller parts of Murray’s game helped Souths get out to a 22-0 halftime lead. Their 64% possession translated into almost 13 of the first 40 minutes being played inside Manly’s 20-metre line as they won the yardage battle by a whopping 584 metres.

Murray does a lot of his most effective work on 4th tackle, regardless of where on the field the Rabbitohs have possession.

Especially important this week with Adam Reynolds relieved of the kicking early on as he worked his way through an injury niggle, Murray provided his kickers with all of the time in the world to get boot to ball. Containing Tom Trbojevic was always going to be the key to victory, and that was made easier by the amount of time Murray provided his kickers.

This is one of a handful of examples: Murray takes a flat pass from Damien Cook and angles in behind the ruck. His late footwork at the line splits the two props and forces Marty Taupau around the legs. That allows Murray to get a quick play-the-ball away and Cody Walker is under no pressure when he sends the ball into the air. Trbojevic barely takes a step forward before the South Sydney defence swallows him up and forces Manly to travel 85 metres up the field.

When the Rabbitohs were looking to play a little bit more expansive to end their sets, Murray provided Walker with the width to get wide and find space on the edges.

He takes the ball to the line and uses Jai Arrow to hold Daly Cherry-Evans here. The defence need to respect Murray’s ability as a ball carrier and consider the likelihood that he plays short to Arrow. He had played this ball short to the lead runner more than he had fired it out the back at this point in the match. This time, though, he gets deep and plays Walker to the outside of Cherry-Evans.

Jason Saab is quick enough to start tracking back to buy his inside defenders time to scramble. Morgan Harper does a good job to take Walker out of the play and get back to finish the tackle on Alex Johnston. Or so he thought…

With Saab up in the line further than he usually would and Harper involved in the tackle, Trbojevic is left on an island at the back. He doesn’t have teammates creating traffic and running Rabbitohs players off the ball while Reynolds’ kick hangs in the air. And there’s Murray, first to the ball and batting it back to Cook who puts in a ripper of a kick for Walker to come from nowhere to score.

Murray doesn’t always need to touch the ball to help the Rabbitohs up the field. He did plenty with it, obviously. The 23-year-old ran for 195 metres and touched the ball 30 times throughout his 63 minutes. Surprisingly, his 220 metres and 40 touches against the Broncos in Round 15 is the only match he recorded bigger numbers this season.

Still, he found the energy to influence South’s Sydney’s attack without the Steeden.

He is typically active around the ball so it isn’t a surprise to see him in these actions. His six supports per game are 25th in the NRL as it is. However, he took his support play to another level on Friday. Hanging off Reynolds’ inside shoulder all night, Murray made himself an option on almost every 4th tackle. Importantly, he ran with the intention of receiving the ball. We so often see players make unconvincing runs and do nothing to influence the defence, but with Murray, he holds the A defender and marker tight around the ruck and gives his attack just a little bit more time to move the ball wide.

The Rabbitohs ran for 1,897 metres on Friday night. Whether he had the ball or not, Murray was a huge part of their dominance in the yardage game. He then got himself involved in good ball.

His offload was the catalyst to Walker’s first try of the night. Again it’s his late footwork and threat as a passer that allows him to get his body through the contact with his arms free. He uses Mark Nicholls to put Taupau on his heels before stepping off his right foot, once again splitting the two props. Unlike further down the field where he is trying to promote a quick play-the-ball for Walker to kick, Murray releases an offload out the back and Cook is allowed to scamper.

Murray is lethal in this position on the field. So much of South Sydney’s best attacking actions start with him. Their shifts down the left edge are the best in the business and they are often triggered by a Murray run and quick play-the-ball around the right post. If he isn’t starting the play with a scheming run and quick play-the-ball, he’s at first receiver completing his role as a pivot to compress the defence, just as he was for Johnston’s first try of the night.

Cameron Murray can do it all on a footy field. On Friday, he did just that. Hard-hitting in defence and always a threat in attack with or without the ball, he played out a genuine 10/10 performance to be the Bunnies best.

He might not score like Johnston or pile up try assists like Walker, but neither of the two threats out wide are as effective without Murray’s work in the middle. With the Rabbitohs on top and not asked to do too much work in defence, Murray hit his average of 35 tackles per game in the Preliminary Final. Expect the Panthers to send a lot of traffic his way early in the match on Sunday, though. He’s going to be a marked man with Penrith sure to search for ways to negate the catalyst to so many of South Sydney’s potent attacking actions.

~ Jason

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Panthers – Sticking to the plan

Two weeks ago I wrote about how South Sydney beat Penrith at their own game. On Saturday night the Panthers did the same to the Melbourne Storm. 

Penrith’s ability to defend their own line and soak up pressure before marching upfield and converting their own few opportunities in attack was reminiscent of the Storm and their current era of dominance. Penrith’s trademark defensive resilience was on full display while their ability to find points in new ways impressed, particularly in a game where points were at a premium.

It’s no surprise that we’ve seen some of the best goal line defence this season in the last few weeks. 

Penrith opened up more than once down their right edge – usually whenever Justin Olam got himself involved – but desperate cover defence from their outside backs denied Melbourne on this occasion and a few others. 

Dylan Edwards continues to go about his business as one of the most underappreciated and underrated players in the competition. His ability to count numbers and organise Penrith’s defensive line – particularly on their own try line – is elite, and he made a number of crucial one-on-one stops himself. This tackle on a runaway Ryan Papenhuyzen was a beauty and although he didn’t wrap up the ball, Edwards did enough to slow Papenhuyzen down before his teammates arrived to finish the job. 

On the other side of the field, Matt Burton’s impressive season in the centres continued with a number of big defensive plays. His effort on Jahrome Hughes and Reimis Smith on the stroke of halftime was particularly impressive. 

With a little deception and a lovely face ball from dummy-half, Harry Grant manages to create an overlap down the short side. The long pass gets Hughes on the outside of Villiame Kikau with Smith and George Jennings in support, but somehow, Burton shuts things down.

The key here is Burton’s early movements in the defensive line. 

He is positioned nice and tight and comes off his line quickly, but most importantly he doesn’t turn his hips in on Hughes or out on Smith. By keeping himself ‘square’ in the line, Burton is able to check Hughes with his right shoulder before turning to Smith when the pass is thrown. Because his hips are square Burton is able to get his body in front of Smith and because of his early line speed, Smith has very little time to take possession and gets jammed for his troubles. 

Pretty good defensive technique for a makeshift centre…

By scoring early in both halves the Panthers had the luxury of defending a lead from start to finish. It’s how they’ve played almost every game in the last two years and it’s where Nathan Cleary’s kicking and game management – his greatest strengths – come to the fore. Against Storm in the 2020 grand final and against Souths in week one of this finals series however, Penrith didn’t have that luxury. Their inability to find points when behind on the scoreboard in those games left us wondering whether Penrith had a Plan B in attack, but on Saturday they responded. 

I’ll leave Cleary’s dummy-half kick to Stephen Crichton for Jase’s Play of the Round (below), but for me the variation Penrith threatened with on their left edge was the deciding factor. 

To’o scored a beauty in the left corner just after halftime but it was the result of some clever playmaking from Jarome Luai in the lead up that conditioned Melbourne’s defence and created the space for To’o out wide. 

It started 20 minutes earlier, midway through the first half. 

Getting Kikau wide of the ruck in yardage sets is always a positive action, and this is one Penrith have used often this season. Luai squares things up with Burton running a decoy line off his hip to attract the two- and three- defenders (usually the centre and half) around the ball, before throwing out the back to Kikau in a one-on-one situation with the winger. In yardage sets, Kikau wins this tackle and generates some ruck speed for his team but in good ball, this suddenly becomes a try-scoring situation. 

In their first attacking set of the second half, it did. 

A Melbourne knock-on gifted Penrith some attacking field position and they immediately swung it to the left. 

Luai takes the ball in space and skips to the outside but with Melbourne sliding effectively he drops Burton back underneath. Hughes makes a good legs tackle to wrap Burton up but the big centre plays the ball quickly and with one quick settler towards the posts the Panthers go straight back to that left edge. 

Luai gets the ball out the back of shape and again starts drifting sideways. Burton is still there on his outside but instead of dropping him under, Luai digs right into the line this time and brings Burton onto the ball to prevent Melbourne from sliding like they did two tackles earlier. Instead, both Smith and Hughes bite on Burton’s lead line – just as they did in the first half when Penrith first tried this shape on – and Luai promptly throws out the back. Jennings hasn’t jammed on Kikau like he did earlier in the game and that indecision gives Kikau just enough time to shovel a pass onto To’o in the corner. Slick. 

Penrith’s left edge hasn’t been in the same vein of form this season as they were in 2020, but this was a throwback to some of their best. The Panthers are a different team when Luai is having involvements like this in attack and it’s an ominous sign for the Rabbitohs and their premiership hopes on Sunday.

~ Oscar

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There’s Always Next Year For…

3rd – Melbourne Storm

Rugby league is a cruel, cruel sport. 

Just ask the Melbourne Storm, who broke records for points scored throughout the 2021 season only to fumble their way to just one try in the biggest game of the year. Handling errors and poor decisions in attack summed up an uncharacteristic night in the office for Craig Bellamy’s team, who were their own worst enemy on Saturday.