Round 18 Repeat Set: Breaking down the Sea Eagles attack without Tom Trbojevic & the 5-man Tigers spine

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 18 of the 2022 NRL season:

  • How the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles are attacking without Tom Trbojevic
  • Wests Tigers’ new 5-man spine
  • A round to remember for… Gold Coast Titans
  • A round to forget for… St. George-Illawarra Dragons
  • Rugby League World Cup Hype: Cherry-Evans v Cleary
  • Play of the Round: Dylan Edwards & the Penrith Panthers

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How Manly are attacking without Tom Trbojevic

The Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles are flying at the moment.

With four wins in their last five games, Des Hasler’s side has jumped to 8th on the NRL ladder and look good to stay there with only two of their remaining seven games against teams currently in possession of a finals spot.

Plenty began to ignore the Sea Eagles following Tom Trbojevic’s season-ending injury in Round 11. They relied on him too much last season and appeared to be doing the same to start this one. However, Daly Cherry-Evans talked about needing to change their style from last year in response to Trbojevic’s latest injury.

The Sea Eagles caused havoc with the way they shifted the ball all the way up the field last year. They set up on a tram line and worked the ball through the middle where it was often Tom Trbojevic taking possession out wide where he would trouble the defence himself or send a winger streaking down the sideline. They found regular of success throughout the year for Trbojevic to score 28 tries, Reuben Garrick 23 tries and Jason Saab 26 tries.

The better defences in the competition were able to solve Manly’s long-side shifts by the end of the year, though. The Storm provided the blueprint in Round 21 with their willingness to concede metres to stop points out of yardage and by jamming in and scrambling in when defending their own line.

How Melbourne handled Trbojevic

But as Cherry-Evans alluded to on Saturday night, the Sea Eagles have changed things up.

Playing a little bit more central in 2022, Manly regularly play two tackles down the edge when returning the ball out of yardage before finding the middle of the field and looking to strike from there. One of the bigger differences to last season is in the willingness to hold the ball and reset to the middle if that first look to shift isn’t on. Playing out of the middle opens up both sides of the field and puts pressure on the defence to number up, too.

The variation they’re playing with on both edges has developed over the last two months for the Sea Eagles to average 35.6 points per game across their last five matches.

Manly’s improvement down the right edge has been evident all year. Cherry-Evans has struck a lethal partnership with Haumole Olakau’atu. If the halfback isn’t setting up his backrower to score in a variety of ways, the pair are engaging the defence to create space out wide.

NRL 2022: Round 9 Notepad

It’s Kieran Foran and the left edge that has produced the goods more recently, though.

I picked this try out for the Round 18 Notepad last week. Foran’s work is the key but it’s the shape that Manly repeated on Saturday. Morgan Harper runs a hard line to the inside shoulder of the two-in defender as Andrew Davey sweeps around the back.

NRL 2022: Round 18 Notepad

Manly ran the same shape out of yardage against the Knights. Harper again runs the lead line and splits Dane Gagai and Mitch Barnett here. Gagai does well to reel Davey in on this occasion.

Later in the game, following what has become a typically tight set start out of yardage, the Sea Eagles look to it again. Gagai is defending with Anthony Milford inside him this time. He’s forced to hold his slide for just a little longer, allowing Davey to get on the outside.

With only the fullback to beat and one of the fastest players in the NRL outside him, Davey finishes the shift with a simple pass for Saab to score.

Saab’s second try will be remembered for Cherry-Evans’ eyes-up play on 5th tackle and flash pass over his shoulder. However, if we roll back the tape to the previous tackle…

There it is again; Harpers lead with Davey out the back.

Only this time as Gagai jams in on Davey in response to the previous shifts, Foran floats the pass wide for Saab to fly down the sideline. The Knights defence is a mess and on the backfoot. Only one defender applies pressure to Cherry-Evans and he takes the space in behind. The Sea Eagles navigate through the scrambled Knights defence to score another one.

The Sea Eagles slipped out of the premiership conversation when Trbojevic went down. He was the best player in the game last season and the reason they were able to climb so high up the NRL ladder. They’re making the most of his absence, though. Forced into changing up the way they use the ball and reducing their reliance on Trbojevic will put the Sea Eagles in a better position to compete next season if they don’t pull off a Cinderella run to the Grand Final in 2022.

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Tigers’ new 5-man spine

Jackson Hastings touched the ball 66 times on Sunday afternoon.

Luke Brooks has hit that number only once this season but spent time at hooker throughout the match to get there.

Adam Doueihi hasn’t been close to hitting that number once in his 74-game NRL career with the 49 touches he managed in Round 20 last year his top mark.

It’s the first game the Tigers have sent out their new-look spine. Depending on who is wearing the #13 jersey these days, the spine of a team can include the lock forward. It certainly does in this case given the work Hastings is doing on the ball in attack.

Hastings led the Tigers in touches (66), runs (24) and tackles (41) and finished behind only Joe Ofahengaue in running metres (161m). He was involved in everything in a new role which may end up as yet another variation of the constantly evolving lock position.

There were no doubt some teething issues. Doueihi went without a touch until his 5th tackle kick a little bit too often. Brooks kicked a little bit too much given what he dished up with the boot early and considering the fact Hastings averages more forced dropouts and attacking kicks per game.

But among the teething issues were some positives. There appeared to be a clear intent to shift the ball early out of yardage which proved dangerous at times. In good ball, Hastings, Doueihi and Daine Laurie linked up on a long-side shift which put Laurie one-on-one with Sean O’Sullivan – a good result.

Hastings, Doueihi and Brooks link up this time back the other way with the defence stretched and scrambling following the half-break. The speed they move the ball keeps the defence sliding and a lovely shimmy to attract three (!!) defenders by Asu Kepaoa set up the opening try of the afternoon.

Unfortunately, the Tigers faced the best defence in the NRL this week. It’s not the ideal opposition to run at with a new spine regardless of Penrith’s lack of stars. Still, there were enough positives to stick with it for a few more weeks before changing things up again.


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A round to remember for…

Now, Justin Holbrook. Will you stick with what looked like an improved side despite the result?

The Gold Coast Titans fell just short of the Brisbane Broncos on Saturday night but looked better than they have done for much of the season.

Tanah Boyd played well in his first game in the #6 jersey. He’s a tough half that isn’t afraid to take the line on or dig in before releasing a pass. With David Fifita outside him, that’s all the Titans really need from their five-eighth. It’s why they’ve signed Kieran Foran to join the club for 2023.

Erin Clark has spent most of the 2022 NRL season at hooker but looks better suited to a Siliva Havili-like dual-position role. Clark is a big body with handy ball skills that are serviceable at hooker but particularly dangerous as a lock forward. Aaron Booth played well in his first game for the club, too. He’s not going to put the team on his back and pile up points in attack, but his service is crisp and his effort in defence can’t be questioned.

JoJo Fifita impressed in his NRL debut as expected. With the Titans appearing to have one eye on the future and developing young players, it makes sense to keep him in the side for the remainder of the year. On the other wing, Corey Thompson isn’t – and shouldn’t be – so safe.

While the result is much like most of the others this year, Holbrook can take some positives away from that 80 minutes. It’s the best the Titans have looked for a long time.

Their season is over from a finals perspective. It’s all about 2023 from now. The club needs to make a call on Holbrook so he can confidently pick a team for the future without worrying that one more bad result will cost him his job.

He has a habit of changing up the list for no other reason that hoping something different solves all of his problems. It will be interesting to see how he responds to a good loss on Tuesday afternoon.


A round to forget for…

The St. George-Illawarra Dragons hung with the Sydney Roosters for 50 minutes on Saturday afternoon. Ben Hunt did everything he could to keep his side in the fight while some individual moments of brilliance kept the scoreboard ticking over.

However, the wheels fell off from there.

With 34 points in 30 minutes, the Roosters ran away with it. The margin ended up about as many expected by the end. Now Anthony Griffin is said to be under pressure with the Dragons board meeting to discuss his future on Tuesday.

We’ve been here before with the Dragons. There’s a good chance this meeting and review of Griffin and the Dragons has been planned for a while.

“Pressure is mounting on Griffin with the Dragons now falling out of the top eight following back-to-back losses over the past fortnight, conceding 86 points against the Broncos and Roosters.” Michael Chammas, Sydney Morning Herald

When hearing about the meeting and the pressure on Griffin, my first thought was, what did the board expect?

They put together a decidedly average squad with a middling ceiling, and despite the Dally M-quality form of their halfback that has managed to drag them into the Top 8 for periods this season, the Dragons are performing roughly as expected.

Anthony Griffin is coaching roughly as expected.

He’s known for leaving the finer details on the cutting room floor which won’t please many of the senior players. He’s known for making strange selection decisions, backing his guys and showing little patience with younger players.

The board signed an average team and a coach with obvious flaws despite the brief periods of success scattered throughout his career.

None of this should be a surprise, really.

With the in-form Sea Eagles, Cowboys and Sharks to come over the next three weeks, this might not be the last time the Dragons turn up in this segment.


Rugby League World Cup Hype

The arguments around whether or not State of Origin acts as a trial for the Kangaroos started with Brian To’o announcing he would play for Toa Samoa at the Rugby League World Cup. Those arguments, for the most part, are mind-numbing. The game has moved beyond Origin = Kangaroos and is better for it.

However, there is a conversation around Daly Cherry-Evans and Nathan Cleary battling it out for the Kangaroos #7 jersey based on Origin form.

NRL Analysis
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