The Notepad identifies one key player, stat, trend or talking point for every team, every round of the 2022 NRL season.
Thursday & Friday
– Mahoney wrapping
– Broncos hooker
– Lomax in attack
– Sea Eagles without Jake
– Anthony Milford’s Dolphins preview
– Keary #6/Walker #7
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Saturday
Raiders
Having highlighted the good and the bad of Tesi Niu last week, it became a focus for young fullbacks across the NRL in general.
Xavier Savage is an exciting prospect. His speed adds a dimension to his game few can emulate while his tackle breaking ability is better than you would expect from somebody his size. He pushes up well in support and is always active around the ball.
Where he isn’t so active is in defence and the Storm took notice.
Whatever your opinion on Shaun Johnson’s form, he’s an elite kicker close to the opposition line. He can roll it into the in-goal with the best of them. If Savage isn’t on his bike and getting across the field in the times that he should be, the Raiders will leak a few points.
Warriors
What’s doing, Stacey?
The changes to the squad are strange. Daejarn Asi deserves a crack but Ronald Volkman didn’t deserve to lose his place in the side – that one is tough. Pushing Reece Walsh to the bench with Chanel Harris-Tavita at fullback makes little sense, though. Perhaps it has its defensive reasons. Still, Walsh at the back and Harris-Tavita at five-eighth would give the Warriors the best chance of winning this one. Are they trying to win footy games in 2022 or planning for 2023?
Neither change to the spine will matter if the Warriors can’t start to get up the field, though. They’re last in the NRL in yardage and have been for much of the season.
Awful under Nathan Brown, the Warriors have tightened things up since Jones took over. I’d still like to see them play to match-ups a bit more in yardage, though.
This diamond shape is one the Warriors use a lot with either Tohu Harris, Addin Fonua-Blake or Jazz Tevaga out the front. All three can cart the ball up or make the pass. On this occasion, the tight diamond has engaged the middle defence and created a bit of a gap between the defenders wider.
Fonua-Blake makes the pass to Johnson here and it’s the right one based on what the defence has given them.
However, it is becoming a touch predictable at times. The Warriors ran a similar shape in the tackle before this play which the defence also solved with relative ease.
Instead of taking the favourable matchup against Reed Mahoney with the ball himself, Harris sends it wide. Sending it wide again on the following tackle, the Warriors have taken the hard route for 20 metres. Those are 20 metres the Warriors should be able to generate directly through the middle while shifting the defence and promoting fatigue.
The Warriors are playing with a smaller pack but still boast some very strong runners of the football. It’s about time they started using them. If they want to move the ball, shorter passes to big bodies isolated onto single defenders would move them up the field more effectively.
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Panthers
The Panthers are back to full-strength so I’m eager to see how the State of Origin reps return from their break. This proved to be a difficult part of the NRL season for Ivan Cleary’s side last year so that is something to consider in the coming weeks.
I’m expecting to see Viliame Kikau take the ball early in yardage this week.
Nicho Hynes has made more one-on-one tackles (45) than any other halfback in the competition this season. Teams are picking him out to a) promote fatigue in Cronulla’s most important attacking piece and, b) expose the one area of Hynes’ game you can say he struggles at times.
The way Penrith have been able to use Kikau in recent seasons has had an impact on the rest of the competition as they try to catch up and implement the variation themselves. However, I think we will see some more old-school battering ram Kikau in this one.
“No team in the NRL era has been 10 points ahead on the competition ladder. The last team to do so was the Roosters in 1975, who finished the season 10 clear of Manly. The all-time biggest lead on the ladder is 11 points set by the Rabbitohs in 1951. In an 18-game season they had five wins and a draw ahead of second placed Manly.” – Panthers close in on 47-year record as staggering dominance sinks in: NRL Stat Attack
Sharks
It’s all about getting a measure of the Sharks this week.
They’re a much-improved football side. Craig Fitzgibbon has done a wonderful job with the playing group with the attack particularly dangerous when at its best. However, we’re not quite sure how much the Sharks have improved.
The draw has been kind this season to say the least. While they can only play what is in front of them, it has to be said that the Sharks have been blessed. They still have a relatively comfortable draw through to Round 25, too.
This is the biggest game of their season so far, though.
We’re going to learn a lot about where they stand in the middle of the field. The yardage battle is crucial to premiership contention and their 1,603 running metres per game ranks 5th in the NRL. Only one team has won the premiership with a defence that ranks outside the Top 3 since 2005. The Sharks are currently 3rd.
Both are encouraging numbers but, again, that draw…
If they can put in a strong performance and at least push the Panthers in this one, their draw will rate less of a mention moving forward.
Rabbitohs
I thought I saw a little bit more footwork from Latrell Mitchell in his two games back.
He seems a bit lighter on his feet and more nimble. I didn’t take a note at the time, but there was something about the way he shuffled his feet and changed his direction that seemed different. Having just watched the documentary on his recovery – Latrell Mitchell Pushing Boundaries – my eyes may not have deceived me.
The documentary provided great insight into his recovery and a glimpse of the finer details behind how the body moves. I think we’re seeing that all come together on the field now.
It’s not an area of expertise and the changes may not be so obvious to the naked eye watching from the couch at home. Still, I’m looking into this a little bit more on Saturday.
Storm
Nick Meaney at fullback is the obvious focus here.
The Storm need to find some consistency at the position with Ryan Papenhuyzen now ruled out for the rest of the 2022 season.
Meaney has played at the back 38 times throughout his NRL career. He’s familiar enough with the role and Craig Bellamy will know his strengths and weaknesses well. Where the Storm may have tried to simply fill the gap in Papenhuyzen’s absence in recent weeks, they now need to implement a consistent and longer-term plan.
He’s not going to spread himself across the field like Papenhuyzen. It’s Papenhuyzen’s speed that allows him to do that more than anything else. Instead, expect Meaney to play more of the support role; pushing up around the ball, filling the middle when the Storm break down the edge, starting the second phase after an offload.
Cameron Munster, Jahrome Hughes and Harry Grant are good enough to keep the Storm in the premiership race if Meaney can offer the odd positive action from fullback.
Sunday
Bulldogs
This is the Bulldogs under Mick Potter, and boy it’s good to see.
They’re playing expansive footy but it doesn’t appear to be forced. Here, Declan Casey shows us exactly why Potter had faith in selecting the youngster to make his debut and then putting him back in the side following a horror start to his career.
The awareness to start, the step past the big man, holding up his run while waiting for support and the final pass. What was Trent Barrett looking at when selecting his teams on a Tuesday? Casey isn’t the only player to trigger that question.
