Unpack a scrum of three talking points before every round of the NRL season. In his feature this week, Oscar previews his pick for match of the round: Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks v Sydney Roosters.
Centre-Field Scrum – What’s centre frame in the Rugby League lens this week?
Sharks v Roosters
There are narratives galore everywhere you look in this one.
Craig Fitzgibbon up against his old club for the first time, two teams we expect to finish somewhere similar on the premiership ladder and two teams probably not playing with the kind of form we know they can right now.
The Sharks were flying to begin the season but have gone win-loss-win-loss since Round 6 – around about the time Braden Hamlin-Uele was ruled out. While I’m not attributing Cronulla’s recent form solely to a prop forward, it’s worth noting given Hamlin-Uele’s impact on both sides of the ball to begin the year. Both Hamlin-Uele and Dale Finucane are still missing from Cronulla’s middle in Round 12 which I’m sure showed up on Trent Robinson’s whiteboard this week, but they do welcome back one of the most underrated players – let alone fullbacks – in the game this week in Will Kennedy.
Lachie Miller was outstanding on debut last weekend but Kennedy’s combination with Matt Moylan and Nicho Hynes, in particular, is a huge boost for the Sharks coming up against a questionable Roosters’ edge defence on Saturday.
Kennedy’s positioning and timing is his greatest asset and is a key component of Cronulla’s expansive attacking structures this year. He’s got good acceleration and uses his speed to chime into backline movements with subtlety and precision.
Look where Kennedy positions himself for this block shape down Cronulla’s right edge. He’s on Hynes’ inside shoulder as the ball comes his way and Shaun Lane has no clue what’s coming until it comes. Kennedy slides sideways with the ball as Hynes passes out the back to take possession with Lane already beat on the outside and the Sharks go close to scoring in the corner. Kennedy currently ranks equal fifth for linebreak assists this season and he’s been out for two weeks – I like his chances of adding to that tally on Saturday.
Where I think Cronulla might have the advantage in this one however, is around the ruck.
Blayke Brailey had a day out against the Titans’ middle last week. His service is one of the best in the comp but it’s Brailey’s playmaking and feel for the game that we’re starting to see more of. Take this passage midway through the first half and with Gold Coast up by six points.
From a midfield scrum, Brailey feeds it to Moylan straight off the ground as the Sharks search left. The speed of the pass allows Moylan to get outside Jayden Campbell who makes a legs tackle that generates some ruck speed for Cronulla. On the next tackle, Brailey again passes it off the deck to a charging Siosifa Talakai. Brailey knows Campbell will retreat from first-marker and so he wastes no time giving Talakai early ball and letting him wind up.
The penetration of Talakai’s run invites Gold Coast to compress and on the next tackle Brailey punishes them for coming up too laterally with Cronulla fanned out to the right.
A lovely no-look pass punches Cameron McInnes in behind the ruck and Jarrod Wallace can’t wrap up the ball when McInnes gets an offload away. Brailey is there to receive it and calmly passes Royce Hunt into Beau Fermor and AJ Brimson on the Titans’ left edge which leaves them short on the blind side.
Brailey disguises his intentions as he scans the field from behind the ruck, but he was only ever going one way here. With space and teammates out to his right the temptation would have been to throw long but Brailey instead plays short to Briton Nikora one-on-one with Brimson on the line. Brimson makes a great stop but like Wallace he can’t wrap up the ball and again it’s Brailey in the frame to capitalise on the second-phase play with a lovely dummy-and-pass for Connor Tracey to finish in the corner. I thought 2022 could be a breakout year for Brailey and he’s making a fist of it so far.
For the Roosters, I’m not reading too heavily into a big loss against Penrith last weekend. Jase and I are fairly bullish on it being a matter of when – not if – the Roosters will click in 2022 and I remain confident (albeit slightly less so) 12 weeks in.
They spent the first 10 weeks finding the balance between Sam Walker, Luke Keary and Victor Radley in attack and now they’re doing it all over again with Radley on the sidelines. Keary seems to have fallen into the lead playmaker role while Walker has picked up some of the ballplaying slack in Radley’s absence.
While we can expect some growing pains here, the Roosters didn’t look bad in attack last week – they just came up against an elite defensive side in the Panthers. There were a few things to like from that game though, including the involvements of Egan Butcher off the bench.
Butcher came on after about 30 minutes at lock last week and the stats suggest he’s been given a ballplaying role through the middle – 11 receipts for 8 passes and 53 run metres.
The video backs this up:
With just his second touch of the footy last week, Butcher looked very comfortable in a distributing role from first receiver. The pass here is premeditated and probably the wrong option with Jarome Luai flying out of the line, but the execution was spot on and gave Keary just enough time to beat the rushing defence and move the ball along.
On the other side of halftime and on both sides of the field, Butcher continued to impress.
This is exactly how the Roosters use Radley in attack. Butcher calmly tips Lindsay Collins into Apisai Koroisau and it’s only a textbook defensive effort from Penrith that wins the tackle here. On the next play, he’s at first receiver again, this time doing a little more with his possession to dig into the line and shape to Fletcher Baker before firing it out the back to Keary. Again Butcher’s service is crisp and again he helps the Roosters move the ball into space on the edge.
Saving the best for last, Butcher’s third involvement is the best evidence yet that he can do a job at pivot until Radley returns.
Taking possession one pass wide of the ruck in good ball, Butcher carries the ball nice and direct to engage the defence before turning smoothly and playing short this time to a charging Terrell May. It’s impossible to know for sure, but I’m betting this one wasn’t premeditated. Having played out the back consistently throughout his 26-minute stint, Butcher showed good awareness to vary things up and punch a forward runner into half a hole. Tedesco would almost score on the very next tackle.
In what’s forecast to be another wet and windy night at Shark Park on Saturday, Butcher’s ability to create space for his teammates through the middle could be the catalyst for points a few tackles later. I won’t be surprised to see him spend a little more time out there this week, too.
Between Egan Butcher and Connor Watson – another player the Roosters are still figuring out how best to use in attack – Easts have two players capable of generating ruck speed and putting pressure into the defence. With Hamlin-Uele and Dale Finucane still missing from the Sharks’ middle, it’s an area I think Easts might target this week given how effective Keary and Tedesco in particular are off quick play-the-balls.
On the back of a half-break by Watson, Keary plays ultra-direct to take the inside shoulder of Liam Martin and isolate Nathan Cleary in the line. The broadcast doesn’t give us a front-on angle of Keary’s efforts here to dummy at the line before passing through it to Tedesco in support. The markers are too slow to cover back on the inside which leaves space for Tedesco to slide through and score beside the posts.
As much as we’d like to see a shoot-out between two of the more exciting attacking teams in the competition on Saturday, I think it’s more likely this result is decided by a clever little opportunistic passage around the ruck.
Head Noise – What’s living rent free in my head this week?
Nothing rattles footy fans (and players) more than when the head noise kicks in. To avoid this as best we can, I’m writing down anything ringing around my head each week and hopefully we can figure a few things out along the way.
Nat Butcher making 53 tackles on an edge – Playing 80 minutes on the edge against the best team in the competition last week, Butcher made 53 tackles for the Roosters and missed just three, while contributing 12 runs for a tick under 100 running metres too. He’s not the flashiest forward going around but he’s rock solid and proving reliable across a few positions so far this season.
Isaah Yeo’s fast feet – If you haven’t got the Matty Johns Podcast on your weekly rotation yet, sort that out now. This week they highlighted the little shimmy Isaah Yeo does every time he takes possession. Those three or four short, fast footsteps makes defenders pause to consider Yeo as a runner and also gives Yeo time to read what the defence is doing. Take note of Yeo’s footwork when he takes possession this week.
Damien Cook running down Jack Wighton – As someone more critical than most of Damien Cook, the first thing I thought of when he chased down a runaway Jack Wighton last week was ‘Origin jersey secured’. Api Koroisau is the better dummy-half – his pass selection, his service and his sleight-of-hand are all better than Cook’s and he’s a fair runner of the ball, too. But where Cook edges him out for NSW in my opinion is in his consistency and competitiveness on both sides of the ball. You know what you’re going to get from Cookie, you know he’ll go the 80 and his try saving effort on Wighton typifies just that.
