Unpack a scrum of three talking points before every round of the NRL season. In his feature this week, Oscar highlights the inner workings of North Queensland’s fourth-ranked attack in 2022.
Centre-Field Scrum – What’s centre frame in the Rugby League lens this week?
Appreciating North Queensland’s attacking systems
Three weeks ago I broke down a few defensive moments from North Queensland’s win over Parramatta in Round 8. Defence isn’t something we usually focus on here at RLW but it was worth highlighting all the little efforts the Cowboys are making this year to turn around their woeful defensive record of 2021.
This week, it’s the Cowboys’ attack I want to focus on. They’ve piled on 13 tries in their last two games and while the rhetoric around a soft draw is still hanging around, with every 80-minute performance the Cowboys produce the doubters are being forced to reconsider.
Jase wrote a great piece last week about some of the key contributors in Todd Payten’s squad right now but the truth is, both individually and collectively the North Queensland Cowboys are looking like a very, very well coached football side in 2022.
Two moments in particular from their Magic Round win over the Tigers stood out for me as evidence of this so let’s take a look at both, RLW style.
1. Murray Taulagi’s opening try
Taulagi might’ve thrown the pass of the season ten minutes earlier but this was the most impressive try the Cowboys scored in Round 10. It finished with Taulagi diving over in the far left corner but it started 10 passes earlier, involved multiple players in multiple positions and stretched from sideline to sideline.
Tom Gilbert lays the platform on the left tram line and hurries to play the ball on tackle three as North Queensland fan out to the right. Jason Taumalolo does a superb job from pivot on the next play to engage the defence before shifting it to Townsend out the back. Townsend then sums things up with a lovely face ball to Peta Hiku who shovels it along to Kyle Feldt before Junior Pauga can shut things down. All three players here – Gilbert, Taumalolo and Townsend – all know their jobs and execute them with precision. Even the pass from Reece Robson is a good one and gives Taumalolo plenty of time to straighten on his run before passing the ball along.
Wests’ defence here is pretty good. They manage to check the ball carriers in North Queensland’s backline before sliding quickly to shepherd Feldt back infield. There are plenty of Tigers in the frame when Feldt gets the offload away and Scott Drinkwater is comfortably wrapped up when he dives on the loose ball.
It’s now tackle four and the Cowboys are in a tricky area of the field. Most teams would look to take a settler towards the posts from here before hoisting it skyward on the last. Better teams might have had another shift set and ready to go on the next tackle, but with the fullback playing the ball that shift is now missing key personnel and most likely goes out the window.
Other teams – like Todd Payten’s Cowboys – find a way to make it work.
With Scott Drinkwater unavailable for a movement to the left, the Cowboys adjust. In the time it takes for Drinkwater to play the ball – about six seconds – North Queensland get themselves in position for a shift to the far touchline. Hiku has reloaded despite just being jammed by Pauga on the previous tackle and fills in for Drinkwater at fullback on the left edge. It’s Hiku that creates the extra man and it’s Hiku who puts on a lovely bit of footwork to hold up Luke Garner and Junior Tupou and put Taulagi over in the corner.
Wow.
We’ve joked about the Sydney Roosters being the best drilled team in the competition before but this is something else. For the Cowboys to execute this on the run and with different personnel filling different roles in the attack requires a collective understanding of the attacking shapes – and the principles behind those shapes – North Queensland are playing with in 2022.
This only became more evident in the second passage I noticed from Round 10.
2. The response to Luke Garner’s try
A try to Luke Garner in the 27th minute helped Wests to a four point lead with halftime approaching and immediately put the pressure back on the Cowboys.
This is how they reacted.
Heilum Luki, Coen Hess and Murray Taulagi lead the chase from the kick-off and meet Stefano Utoikamanu on Wests’ 10 metre line with a textbook three-man tackle. Utoikamanu gets buried into the Suncorp turf and is painfully slow to his feet for tackle one while the Cowboys’ defence gets set. The Tigers make just 15 more metres in their next three tackles and it’s only a 10+ metre carry from Alex Twal on the last that gets Wests to the 40m line for a half-decent kick.
Taulagi returns that kick to his own 30m line and two tackles later, the Cowboys are in a position to do this:
With Reuben Cotter giving North Queensland a handy ballplaying option through the middle, the Cowboys shift it smoothly from left to right. Wests are bunched up on the left edge having made three tackles in that corridor following Taulagi’s kick return, and the Cowboys find a few easy metres down the right touch line while also making Wests work across-field in defence. There’s one player in particular I think they’re looking to target here, but we’ll get to that…
One settler towards the posts later and Chad Townsend is in perfect position for a fifth tackle kick. Again the Tigers are asked to start the set from inside their own 10 metre line and again the Cowboys lock in to leave Wests with about 40 running metres and a pressure kick on the last:
Shoutout to Robson for his kick pressure efforts here which promotes a bludger from Luke Brooks. Another shoutout to Scott Drinkwater for this clever kick return; using his skills as a ballplayer to shape a pass to the left before bouncing back infield and stealing an extra 10 metres. From the middle of the field now, the Cowboys again shift it right and appear to be targeting one player in particular: Kelma Tuilagi.
Three quick jabs at the exact same spot in Wests’ defensive line has the Tigers scrambling. Tuilagi barely makes it onside during this passage and when Hiku gets a lightning quick play-the-ball on the last, Townsend immediately looks to play on the back of it:
He takes the easy metres around the ruck but with little support Townsend starts crabbing sideways. It looks and feels like he might’ve just wasted an opportunity around some fatigued defence on the right edge but Townsend stays within the systems and calmly lays Luki down the left tram line.
It’s now tackle five and for the second set in a row after conceding points the Cowboys are in perfect position for a kick on the last. The only difference between this set and the previous one is that North Queensland are an extra 15 metres upfield and suddenly in range for an attacking kick.
Townsend sends it skywards and five Cowboys players – including both front rowers – chase hard in support. The ball comes right down on – guess who – Tuilagi, but the backrower doesn’t make a play at the ball. Instead it’s prop-forward Zane Musgrove who is tasked with fielding the kick and it’s the Cowboys’ own two props who make the winning plays. Hess swipes at the ball to prevent Musgrove from taking a clean catch and Cotter is there to clean up the scraps. Some lovely vision and pass execution sees Feldt dive over two passes later and suddenly the Cowboys are back in front.
Take a bow, Todd Payten. In the back end of the half and under some scoreboard pressure, North Queensland responded with a perfectly executed passage of football that we normally associate with the top-coached NRL sides. Every player from 1-17 knew their role (and even the roles of others in Hiku’s case) and how they fit into the game plan Payten has provided them.
The Cowboys are playing a mature, composed and calculated brand of footy right now – qualities we’ve used to describe the very team they face this weekend – and I give them every chance against the Melbourne Storm in this one.
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.
Reimis Smith > Marion Seve – I said last week that Reimis Smith’s extended layoff might be the most difficult injury for Melbourne to overcome. Seve is a fine player in his own right but most first-grade centres pale in comparison to Reimis’ defensive qualities, let alone QLD Cup-grade centres. The Panthers clearly identified Reimis’ absence as a weakness last week, having forced Seve into making 19 tackles over Magic Round. They also scored four tries down Seve’s edge. Expect the Cowboys to throw the kitchen sink at Seve this weekend.
Tevita Tatola – Against the Broncos in Round 9, Tatola played 36 minutes for 101 running metres, 20 tackles, two errors and a penalty. One week later against the Warriors and Tatola managed 64 minutes for 200 running metres (93 in post-contact), six tackle busts and 42 tackles with one error. He’s never been a world beater but the ultra consistent Tatola bounced back in a big way after a disappointing outing two weeks ago. He’s still just 25 years of age and although it’s definitely the Souths fan in me, I think Tatola can kick on to another level in the next 12 months or so.
Lachie Miller to make NRL debut at fullback – I’m surprised Craig Fitzgibbon didn’t pull the pin on Nicho Hynes at fullback during halftime on Sunday. It’s not that Hynes can’t be effective out the back – he earned his current contract thanks to his efforts at fullback – it’s just that he has been so integral to Cronulla’s success in 2022 from the halves. The direction and control he has over this side isn’t quite at Jackson Hastings at the Tigers levels yet, but it’s close. He doesn’t have to be the guy throwing the final pass or making the final play but the Sharks need him setting things up two or three tackles prior. I thought Luke Metcalf might get the call up this week but I’m excited to see how Miller makes the transition to the 13-man game. He should get a few chances to show his wares against a leaky Gold Coast defensive unit on Sunday.
