Take the Two: Round 4 Review

If the beer’s cold and the afternoon’s long enough, we’d be talking footy all day, every day until kickoff on Thursday night. With so much to review, let’s break down some of the key plays each week in the NRL.

• Set piece variations
• Gold Coast Titans v Canberra Raiders
• There’s always next week for…Newcastle Knights

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Set Piece Variations

Four rounds in and last year’s grand finalists are showing no signs of slowing down, with both the Melbourne Storm and Penrith Panthers enjoying big wins over the weekend. The timing and precision with which they execute traditional set plays is what sets them apart from other clubs in the competition, in an era where most teams play more-or-less with the same attacking shapes. 

But it was two clever little variations to those classic attacking shapes that caught my eye in Round 4, as Penrith and Melbourne expertly played to their strengths and found new ways to the tryline. 

For the Panthers, Brian To’o’s second try on Thursday night came on the back of a simple block shape variation. 

It starts with Mitch Kenny taking the ball infield to get Manly moving left before dropping Isaah Yeo back under. Yeo passes to Jarome Luai who takes the ball into the line with Nathan Cleary lurking on his inside. The Sea Eagles’ defensive line is now on its heels – sent the wrong way by Kenny before being forced to hold on Luai with Cleary threatening on his inside. They know the threat is out wide but the shape Penrith set up with gives Manly no chance to slide in defence. 

Matt Burton and Viliame Kikau are in a classic block shape outside Luai. Burton runs the lead line while Kikau jockeys out the back. It’s simple enough – if the defence turns in, play to Kikau out wide. If they slide out, hit Burton short. The beauty of this variation is that it plays on the fact that Manly think they know what’s coming. Luai hits Burton short so Moses Suli and Jason Saab jam in leaving space out wide – and Penrith know it. 

As he catches the ball, Burton bounces off his right foot to turn outwards and throw a cut out to an unmarked To’o on the paint. Even though the pass hits the deck, Penrith’s shape on the inside did enough to leave To’o with plenty of space to finish in the corner. 

I talked about Ivan Cleary’s coaching credentials last weekend in regards to Luai’s impressive development over the past 18 months, and this passage here is further proof. With Burton playing at left centre while Stephen Crichton fills in at fullback, the Panthers now have a genuine ball-playing option on that edge. It took them just 23 minutes (albeit against a struggling Manly side) to use that new weapon to full effect. The Panthers left edge should be fantastic viewing over the next few weeks. 

On Friday night, the Melbourne Storm also found joy when playing to their strengths – in this case the blistering speed of Ryan Papenhuyzen. 

The Storm fullback’s pace and positioning is the key to this variation of a hit-and-spin sweep play – Papenhuyzen gave the Broncos no clue as to what was coming when he wrapped around to put George Jennings over in the corner. 

A beauty of a pass from Nicho Hynes at dummy-half gets Cameron Munster wide of the ruck and allows him to square up Alex Glenn at 4-defender. Munster has Tom Eisenhuth and Trent Loiero running hard in a pair right at Anthony Milford which holds up the five-eighth in the defensive line and forces Herbie Farnworth (left centre) to come in. 

Munster throws the face ball to Loiero who is turned in-field and looks every chance of passing to Eisenhuth back on his inside for a settler – it is only second tackle after all. The Broncos defence compresses as a result, at which point Papenhuyzen hits the accelerator and sweeps around the back to create the extra man.

This whole set piece centres around Papenhuyzen’s positioning, timing and speed – arguably his greatest attributes. Papenhuyzen is actually on the inside of Munster when the ball goes to Loiero on the edge. The Broncos’ can be excused for thinking Melbourne were taking the hit-up – Eisenhuth sitting on Loeiro’s inside made it look like a regulation forwards’ carry, and there were no support players in sight to link with Reimis Smith and Jennings out wide. But thanks to Papenhuyzen’s ability to skip to the outside so quickly – and a nice pass from the debutant Loeiro – the Storm found space right where they expected it to be and Jennings crossed for a double. 

I’m loving what I’m seeing from Melbourne and Penrith at the moment. One small positive to come from the growing divide forming in the NRL is getting to watch the premiership contenders pull off trick shots like this against the weaker teams. Not only is it thrilling to watch as fans, it’s also real-time practise for the players with an eye to the future. I’ll be saving these two plays in the memory bank and waiting for them to pop up again later in the year when there’s a little more on the line. 

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