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 14 of the 2022 NRL season:
- Kimmorley’s Wests Tigers
- Jones’ New Zealand Warriors
- It was a round to remember for… Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs
- It was a round to forget for… Newcastle Knights
- Rugby League World Cup Hype
- Play of the Round: DWZ in the corner
The Wests Tigers and New Zealand Warriors both entered Round 14 of the 2022 NRL season with new head coaches. Following turbulent careers at their respective clubs, Michael Maguire and Nathan Brown were shown the door early in the week.
Brett Kimmorley and Stacey Jones took over but little changed on the scoreboard on Sunday.
The Tigers couldn’t make the most of an unconvincing Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles start to the match before losing 30-4. Meanwhile, the Warriors gave up an early 12-0 lead to fall to the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 38-16.
If we simply look at the scoreboard, it’s much of the same for the embattled clubs. However, we know better than to base everything on the final result. The Warriors have won four games this season but there is a strong argument for the performance in their Round 14 loss being better than two of those W’s. There are some positives to take out for both clubs while also conceding the significant negative that needs addressing, so let’s see what we can find.
Kimmorley’s Tigers
The Good
The Tigers dominated possession early on in this one. Manly provided them with enough opportunities with the ball, and while Wests couldn’t turn them into points, they produced a handful of repeatable actions that could end up across the line in the coming weeks.
Threatening early, the Tigers created space out wide but couldn’t use it.
Ken Maumalo found himself with room to move following a well-worked play from the scrum. Tolutau Koula’s blistering speed closed down the big Tigers winger on this occasion but Joe Ofahengaue crashes the middle with Zane Tetevano off his hip before a right-side raid.
Again, the space is there, but with what looks to be a focus on keeping it relatively tight early before playing some more expansive footy, Hastings plays short to Luciano Leilua and the three-v-two goes begging.
Notably, Leilua’s line could well have caused some issues for the Bunker to investigate had Hastings fed Daine Laurie instead.
Not long after and following a strong Ofahengaue carry into Jacob Liddle dart out of dummy half, the Tigers have the Sea Eagles on the back foot. That allows Hastings to get over the advantage line and link up with Luke Brooks in a spot the pair have looked dangerous in recent weeks.
Ofahengaue again does a good job to trigger the action and leaves Andrew Davey on the ground behind the ruck. A clear sign for any switched-on hooker to run the ball, Liddle makes the most of the lone marker to get up the field.
Importantly for Hastings who has swept around from the right side into first receiver on the short side, Liddle has engaged the Manly middles in the tackle. Wests now have the numbers advantage. On the front foot and with the defence only just getting back in the line, Hastings gets over the advantage line and uses his backrower to engage the A and B defenders to open up the space on the edge.
Maumalo ends up streaking down the sideline and responds to the call to kick it back in-field. In hindsight, taking on the much smaller Koula and holding the ball on 3rd tackle may have been the better option. Still, that’s the sort of action the Tigers can build on.
We’ve seen teams look wide too early and often. Brown’s Warriors provided a clear example early in the season as to why that is a poor approach. However, when the Tigers first did the work through the middle and allowed their halves to run at back-tracking defensive lines, they found success out wide. Wests only try of the afternoon came through an Ofahengaue offload and quick shift to the edge where the space was to score.
Hastings is a smart footy player. He does exceptionally well in reading a defensive line and at least creating opportunities in attack. A turnover of players in the outside backs, in the coach’s box and poor performances through the centre-third have put a low ceiling on what the halfback can do with the ball, though. With what looks to be a refocus to keeping it tight but not being limited to one-out footy, the Tigers look likely to improve on their 14.1 points per game.
The Bad
The first Manly try is all we really need to look at to see where it’s going wrong defensively. A lack of communication and understanding presented Josh Aloiai with a huge gap to stroll through on the line.
Regardless of the positive actions in attack above, they’re for nothing without significant improvement in defence.
Josh Schuster takes a Davey offload and pinches the extra metres while bringing Hastings, Leilua and Laurie into the tackle. You can see the big gap between Wests’ A and B defenders. As Laurie peels off the tackle, Hastings appears to expect him to lengthen the defensive line by slotting in at A and pushing James Tamou further out.
However, Laurie gets back to the line and keeps moving in anticipation of a Sea Eagles long-side shift. Jake Trbojevic knew what he was looking for, saw it play out in front of him and responded accordingly.
Whether Laurie not lengthening the line around the ruck is the plan or not, there is a clear miscommunication and lack of understanding. The best defensive teams in the NRL work as a unit. When one player moves, that acts as a trigger for those around them.
Kimmorley has already said he wants to turn this caretaker gig into a career. Something he wants to do “forever.”
It appears as though he has made a handful of adjustments with the ball which can have a positive impact on the Tigers moving forward. However, if he can’t inspire an improvement without the ball, his first role as a head coach won’t last any longer than 12 weeks.
Jones’ Warriors
The Good
The scoreboard doesn’t make for great reading in Round 14.
Thumped 38-16 by the Sharks, the Warriors continued to play with the worst defence in the NRL conceding eight tries across the 80 minutes. However, there are some teeny tiny positives to take out of this one which is more than we’ve been able to say about most games this season – including a couple of wins.
First of all it’s the work in the middle, playing to the strengths of a strong but skilful pack. Where the Warriors had previously tried to pass their way around the opposition by “playing footy”, the pack used those skills to compress the defence.
Keep in mind that this is Jazz Tevaga and Ben Murdoch-Masila and not Matt Lodge and Addin Fonua-Blake who should have been taking a similar approach earlier in the year.
Tohu Harris carts the ball up before Tevaga takes the ball at first receiver with Murdoch-Masila hanging off his hip. Given Tevaga is a decent carrier of the ball and Murdoch-Masila is a mountain of a man, watch what those two working together does to Cameron McInnes and Wade Graham in the defensive line.
They’re forced to hold on Tevaga and Murdoch-Masila for just a touch which allows Johnson to skip to Graham’s outside. Straightening and forcing Moylan to turn in, Johnson plays short to Jack Murchie who is now through half a gap. His offload gets the Warriors up the field for Wayde Egan to score two tackles later.
This is exactly the sort of action the Warriors should have been using all the way up the field all year. While Harris missed the start of the season, it’s this sequence that should have been the bread and butter for Harris, Lodge and Fonua-Blake when the side is at full strength.
In fairness to Brown, he did start to concede towards the end of his time with the Warriors. They’d started to play more direct and looked slightly better for it. When they’re using carries or decoys through the middle to compress the defence and allowing Johnson, Harris-Tavita and Walsh to link up, the Warriors look capable of points. Both Johnson and Harris-Tavita straighten when engaging the line which is crucial to the impact Walsh can have out wide. On the rare occasions the Warriors were able to hold onto the ball for long enough to build some pressure, we caught a few glimpses of how they can move the ball when the middle does its job in the buildup.
Getting Johnson working out of the middle of the field is where he’s best. His crabbing run before straightening at the line provides Harris-Tavita with half a gap here. Harris-Tavita takes the space and challenges the line, but you can see the opportunities further out wide as a result of both halves playing straight.
However, like the Tigers, any improvements the Warriors did make with the ball in Round 14 and those to come in the future are for nothing if the defence doesn’t improve with it.
The Bad
While the Warriors have conceded seven and eight tries in their last two games, the manner in which they conceded them are very different.
The unwillingness to absorb contact was painfully evident in Round 13. The Sea Eagles strolled through the middle of the field to the point Toafofoa Sipley managed to push his way over the line from dummy half. A depleted Manly outfit weren’t asked to do a lot more than complete a training run to pile up points.
In Round 14, however, the Warriors offered up a little more fight. They held more firm through the middle and a lot of the Sharks points came through the Warriors centres – a position of huge concern for Jones right now. Reece Walsh fumbled one leading to points while Ronaldo Mulitalo’s second still has question marks around it. Far from a good defensive performance, somewhat closing up the middle is a start.
Next for the Warriors is fixing the edges. Left and right, they’re struggling on both sides.
Moving Euan Aitken – the club’s best centre – back out wide is one option. Rocco Berry really struggled to contain Siosifa Talakai on Sunday with his attempted arms tackles doing little to bring down the big Tongan. Aitken at the very least is a physical defender that will get in front of Izack Tago and Viliame Kikau when the Warriors take on the Panthers in Round 15.
Josh Curran is back and a possibility of starting this week. Pinning Johnson in between Aitken and Curran is one way to protect the Warriors half who has become a bit of a target in the line in recent weeks. The turnover of players on either side of Johnson hasn’t helped there either.
Johnson is being circled as the problem at the Warriors. While expectedly lazy analysis, there is no doubt he’s part of it. However, if the Warriors are to achieve anything positive this season, Johnson is likely to be part of the answer.
A round to remember for…
What a difference a month makes in rugby league.
Mick Potter has made the required changes to the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs and they’ve started to see the results following an emphatic 34-4 win over the Parramatta Eels.
They’re changes many thought appropriate early on in the season but Trent Barrett refused to move away from his initial plan.
Max King has been far superior to Josh Jackson in the middle of the field. King carries the ball well and provides a more reliable option as a ballplayer through the middle.
Jake Averillo is an active fullback and improving every week. Unlike Matt Dufty, he provides some variation to the Bulldogs attack and isn’t afraid to put his body on the line when they look to shift the ball wide.
Tevita Pangai Jr. has been put into the middle and told to simply run riot. He completed an excellent late offload, put in some huge shots in defence, conceded a cheap penalty and started a stink all inside ten minutes. You take the good with the bad when it comes to Pangai Jr. and with 172 running metres, two offloads and 20 tackles, it was mostly good for him in this one.
Josh Addo-Carr and Matt Burton were both fantastic again. They linked up for the first try which still had me thinking “that’s nice, but the Bulldogs need to offer more than the Fox and Burton linking up like that if they’re to beat many teams.”
However, by the end of the game the improvements were clear.
Unlike earlier in the year when the Bulldogs spent a full set setting up for a predictable and laboured shift wide, Potter has the side playing more expansive football. He’s putting his best-attacking players in positions to do what they do best. The Dogs are shifting out of yardage and sent Addo-Carr on the outside of his man. This is a beauty, though.
Following a set of strong carries in the middle and a Jeremy Marshall-King dart out of dummy half, the Bulldogs moved the ball through King, Jackson and Flanagan to get a fleet-footed Jacob Kiraz in space. It’s not always going to end in points like this, but it’s a reliable 4th tackle action that can generate yardage at worst.
The Bulldogs still have a tough job ahead of them to avoid the spoon. As high up the NRL ladder the Eels are, they have these sort of games in them where they make it terribly easy for the opposition, regardless of who that opposition is on the day. This week against the Tigers is a huge game in relation to the spoon battle and their improvements overall.
Remarkably, Bulldogs (15th) v Tigers (13th) will be must-watch tv on Sunday afternoon as we continue to build on the improvements and ideas outlined above.
A round to forget for…
The Newcastle Knights never looked likely against the Penrith Panthers on Sunday afternoon. The Penrith juggernaut turned up to Newcastle and ripped through the Knights with relative ease which led Adam O’Brien to speak enviously of their success.
“We want to put in performances that we can be proud of, but unfortunately the reality of where we need to get to, or if you look at the opposition — we were envious of them. That’s the organisation we want to get to and it’s going to take time.”
A club towards the bottom of the NRL ladder wanting to be more like the one at the top is hardly noteworthy. Every club in the competition wants to be the Panthers in some way or another right now. What O’Brien followed up with may concern some of the Knights faithful, though.
