Recap the latest round of NRL action with the Repeat Set: Talking points, highlights, lowlights and the Play of the Round.
Here’s your Repeat Set for Round 23 of the 2022 NRL season:
- Blowouts blown out of proportion
- More ‘good Eels’
- A round to remember for… NRLW
- A round to forget for… Brisbane Broncos
- Rugby League World Cup Hype: Joseph Sua’ali’i
- Play of the Round: Rabbitohs counter
Blowouts blown out of proportion
Well, that was the worst round of the 2022 NRL season…
The blowouts of 2021 returned as six teams scored 40 points, winning teams won by an average of 32.2 points, and interest in almost every game waned by halftime.
To quote a classic from Blocker Roach, some of the teams out of finals contention thought that “defence is something that goes around the ground.”
Unfortunately, many finals-bound teams found themselves playing against those already planning Mad Monday costumes and the results reflected where the two halves of the NRL ladder are at with their seasons.
It’s not ideal, but not unexpected. There are always stinkers at this time of the year. While every player goes into the match with every intention to give it 100% and make a game of it, it’s not difficult to imagine how easy it is to switch off when the going starts to get tough. Brett Kimmorley also mentioned the fact that as the poorer teams wind down, those with visions of lifting the Provan-Summons trophy are just getting started.
“If you get to this point of the year and you’re trying to win a comp, it’s the best time of your career. Most of the good sides are fine-tuning how they can win a premiership. That’s the difference.”
Thankfully, it’s taken us 23 rounds to get to this conversation following 20-odd rounds of it in 2021. We don’t need to rehash old ground and revisit that predictably one-sided and bland season.
Adam Pengilly published an unfortunately timed article for the Sydney Morning Herald before Round 23 highlighting how much closer the competition is this season compared with the last. Despite what we’ve just seen over the weekend, it’s worth remembering that the game is in a better place than it was 12 months ago and the upcoming finals series shapes up as a thriller.
“Champion Data findings show an extra 10 per cent of matches have had a margin of 12 points or less heading into the final quarter during this season (70.83 per cent) as opposed to last (60.42 per cent).
The average winning margin has also significantly decreased, with games decided by an average of 15.27 this season before the start of round 23 as opposed to the whopping 18.29 during the 2021 regular season when a number of try and point-scoring records were shattered.
The 2022 average winning margin has even dipped below 2020 (15.45) when the NRL introduced the set re-start rule during the COVID-19 shutdown of the competition.”
As bad and boring Round 23 was in the end, it’s a detour away from what has been a fantastic season overall.
The overreactions to one bad round have boggled the mind, though.
To think that a rookie draft is an answer to the Wests Tigers conceding 72 points or the Gold Coast Titans not having any idea how to attack a defensive line of only 12 men is silly. Those championing the idea haven’t considered the total restructure of rugby league as we know it required, the impact it would have on the regularly referenced community and tribal aspects of the game, or the fact that poorly run teams would still need to make the right decisions when it came to this draft. New Zealand? How do they fit into it?
There is an argument for a rookie draft being good for the game but it’s not one I’m particularly interested in.
Round 24 looks better on paper already.
– Broncos v Eels has Top 8 and home finals at stake.
– Panthers v Warriors is the only match that can be circled as likely to be one-sided at this point.
– Storm v Roosters is a blockbuster.
– Raiders v Sea Eagles could be anything given the form of the two sides but we can be confident in chaos regardless.
– Sharks v Bulldogs has the potential to go one way but the Doggies are an improving side capable of a close one.
– Rabbitohs v Cowboys – need I say more?
– Tigers v Dragons and Titans v Knights – neither of which present as one-sided matches but not particularly entertaining either – are appropriately scheduled for Sunday.
Rugby league is the greatest game of all, but even the greatest have bad days, rounds, and as we saw last year, seasons. With two weeks to slog through before the NRL Finals, I’m not concerned about the results of this past weekend.
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A ‘good Eels’ mention
We’re back for the latest installment of ‘good Eels’ following their 42-6 win over the Bulldogs on Saturday afternoon.
Elliott saw it coming…
I hadn’t seen the game before this tweet, but a look over the numbers quickly suggested an on-brand ‘good Eels’ performance.
It starts with the yardage numbers on the edge.
Shaun Lane – 170 metres
Isaiah Papali’i – 156 metres
Shaun Lane led the match in yardage with 170 running metres. So many of his most notable actions come in good ball where he runs a hard decoy or gets his arms through contact to release an offload. However, it’s his work further back down the field that is the best indicator of which version of the Eels have turned up.
Here, Dylan Brown brings the back rower and half into the tackle with an eye on the short side. Tevita Pangai Jr. makes it easier by getting involved in the tackle late and being slow to peel out to the short side A spot. With the markers engaged and Pangai Jr. not back quick enough to get off his line, Lane is able to pick up an easy 15 metres.
On the other side of the field, Mitchell Moses regularly dropped Isaiah Papali’i off underneath to carry the ball. We’ve covered how Papali’i impacts the Eels attack and acts as the trigger before. Those triggering runs often come when he’s cutting back on the inside and charging at sliding defenders.
Offloads – 16
The Eels lead the NRL in offloads with 12.8 per game and finished up with 16 in this one. Marata Niukore’s offload 15 minutes into the game created the space for Moses to work his magic down the right edge for their second try of the afternoon.
Rather than just flinging the ball from one side of the field to the other as the bad Eels would do, Niukore straightens the attack. He spots Paul Vaughan offside and takes the space before releasing an offload to Reagan Campbell-Gillard who continues on the path forward. The second phase has pulled the defensive line apart leaving only three Bulldogs down the left edge and Waqa Blake goes over in the corner.
Moses does an excellent job of summing up the situation and executing. With Clint Gutherson an option inside, Matt Burton can’t slide across the field to close down the space. As Josh Addo-Carr tracks back to cover a possible kick, Aaron Schoupp is left with acres of space to defend out wide.
The reverse angle shows Moses’ brilliance. He gets forward to engage Burton, double-pumps to bring Schoupp onto Papali’i, fires the ball to Will Penisini, and the centre sends his winger over in the corner.
That’s the Eels at their best.
When at the rest of the team is contributing like this, Moses and Brown are able to link up across the field.
Mitchell Moses – 2 try assists
Dylan Brown – 2 try assists
Both Brown and Moses float across the field when the Eels are on the front foot. Their threat as ball runners opens up opportunities for their ball playing, and Brown produced a beauty early in the second half.
Sweeping around to the right side with Moses deep and out the back of shape, Brown passes Ryan Matterson into a huge hole to score.
Burton is up and out in front of his line with an eye on Moses, but with Brown sweeping to throw some doubt into the defenders around the ruck, Raymond Faitala-Mariner is caught slightly flat-footed as Matterson runs a perfect slip line.
The Eels are one of the most well-rounded teams in the NRL. Their pack can match it with the best of them and the yardage game laid the platform for points in this one. While there has been some rotation through the outside backs during the year, the Moses/Brown halves pairing can set anybody up to succeed out wide on their day. This is a team that should be pushing to make the NRL Grand Final. However, the same issues of past years remain. The inconsistency of this side boggles the mind and it’s difficult to imagine them putting together three good games in September to reach the big one.
Round 24 poses as a tough test for the Eels. Playing at Suncorp with a home final in Week 1 on the line, they can’t afford to slip back into bad habits. As has been the case for the Eels across the last three seasons, we need to see them back one good game up with another. With a third good one against the Storm in Round 25, we might just be able to talk ourselves into Parramatta as premiership smokies.
A round to remember for…
Welcome back, NRLW.
Rugby league’s saviour this weekend.
Oscar put together a great preview of the 2022 NRLW season and highlighted a few players to keep an eye on. Emma Tonegato was towards the top of my list already and it didn’t take long to confirm that she would, in fact, start this season in the same way she finished the last.
A Dally M Medal winner last season, Tonegato is the best player in the women’s game right now.
We might be talking about the Knights halfback as the best in the not-too-distant future, though.
Jesse Southwell became the youngest debutant in NRLW history on Sunday night. If you’ve not seen her work before, the 17-year-old didn’t waste any time in starting what is going to be a long, long highlights reel when it’s all said and done. With an early touch in good ball and following a strong Millie Boyle carry to compress the middle defence, Southwell whacked a huge step off her right foot to skip through the line and score on debut.
Note the four-in defender and her movement with Caitlin Johnston running as the decoy around the ruck.
If the Knights pack continues to roll up the field as they did on Sunday night, Southwell is going to have plenty of opportunities to whack defenders with that right-foot step this season.
A round to forget for…
There are a few candidates for this one but if any team needs to wipe their memory of Round 23 and move on to the next, it’s the Brisbane Broncos.
The Broncos found themselves on the end of an ambush in Round 23. While the Melbourne Storm have an excellent record at Suncorp Stadium and played themselves into form in the rounds leading up, nobody saw 60-12 coming.
Craig Bellamy picked a few holes in the Broncos defensive line and exposed them throughout the 80 minutes.
It became clear early that Bellamy had a plan to use Nelson Asofa-Solomona to attract multiple defenders on the edge. He ran for a game-high 192 running metres, breaking 12 tackles and throwing two offloads along the way.
On the other side, the Storm asked Jordan Riki to make 39 tackles – the second-most he’s made in a game this year. They repeatedly targeted the space around Riki to good effect. He’s not been able to consistently produce in defence this year and while it has gone relatively unmentioned, Bellamy and the Storm staff had noticed.
The scoreboard is one for the Broncos to forget. They were on the end of a hammering and it doesn’t reflect their improvements this season or the impact they can have on the finals should they make it. However, the result did expose a few areas the Broncos need to focus on over the next fortnight if they’re to be anything more than Week 1 fodder.
Rugby League World Cup Hype: Joseph Sua’ali’i
There had been some talk around Joseph Sua’ali’i possibly heading to the Rugby League World Cup with the Kangaroos at the end of the year. I dismissed the idea to start. It’s fairly typical in rugby league for promising young rookies to be overhyped. However, the 19-year-old looks every bit like an international winger.
