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 4 of the 2022 NRL season:
- How the Titans can get the most out of David Fifita
- The difference of two halves
- It was a round to remember for…Sunday’s Superstars
- It was round to forget for…Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs
- I can’t stop thinking about…
- Play of the Round: Storm #9, #7 & #1
Getting the most out of David Fifita
The Gold Coast Titans played poorly in Round 4 and David Fifita is in the firing line.
It’s not uncommon or unexpected. He’s a highly-paid highlight reel player who many expect to see bump off defenders and score freakish tries in order to play up to his pay cheque. That hasn’t happened as frequently to start the 2022 NRL season.
| Games | Tries | Tackle Breaks per game | Running Metres per game | Offloads per game | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 22 | 17 | 7.1 | 125 | 2 |
| 2022 | 4 | 0 | 3.5 | 123 | 0.5 |
Fifita’s numbers are down on last season and a lot of it comes down to the changes to the Titans spine. AJ Brimson playing on the left side and being a prolific ball-runner himself can take space away from Fifita. It can reduce his opportunities with the ball given Brimson is more likely to make a play himself than halves that have previously played inside the backrower. Jayden Campbell being more of a feature in attack when he has played this season may also be a factor.
His reduction in numbers has led to discussions around how the Titans use Fifita and whether or not they’ve forgotten what they did in 2021. However, despite what the numbers say, the Titans didn’t use Fifita particularly well last season. Not in a way that is sustainable, at least. He played out one of the best try-scoring seasons for a backrower in NRL history and to expect a repeat is setting him and the team up to fail.
Rather than forgetting, the reality is quite likely to be the opposite. Justin Holbrook knows exactly how they used Fifita last year, and while they found success at times, just giving him the ball and hoping for the best isn’t a sustainable game plan.
Instead, the Titans are trying to use him differently. It’s clunky at the moment and doesn’t always look effective. They may have even gone too far the other way while making the adjustment. But they appear to be searching for a more sustainable and repeatable plan for him which will benefit the team in the future.
There is some merit in the ‘just give it to Fifita’ approach. It worked well enough for the Titans to feature in the NRL Finals last year. However, the limitations and the reliance on Fifita to create something out of nothing was clear.
Fifita can put the team on his back and score enough points for the Titans to win a few games, but the good teams are better prepared to shut him down. Like the Melbourne Storm put all of their defensive focus into Tom Trbojevic in Round 21 last year and forced the Sea Eagles to create points elsewhere (which they didn’t), the Titans haven’t been able to consistently produce points when Fifita isn’t at the forefront.
The extreme end of ‘just give it to Fifita’ looks like this…
Sure, he might bump off the defender and barge his way over the line every so often, but when the game is on the line and you’re looking for a late play to win it, you want more in the bag than just handing it to the big guy and hoping for the best.
So, what does using Fifita properly look like?
We caught a few glimpses of how to use him on Thursday and hints at a handful of other near-things throughout the match.
Paul Vautin talked about getting Fifita “more involved” directly after this play as though he wasn’t the reason for the space being created out wide. He’s the focus of the defence and Brimson adjusts accordingly.
Fifita doesn’t need to touch the ball to be involved. Much like Tom Trbojevic and Latrell Mitchell out the back of shape for the Sea Eagles and Rabbitohs, they don’t need to break the tackle or throw the pass to have an influence on a dangerous attacking action.
Setting him up for a short side raid is at the top of my list, though. It happened by accident in this case, but you can see the potential.
Brian Kelly scoots from dummy half and when Erin Clark spots Luciano Leilua join the tackle late and slowly retreat back into the defensive line, it’s on. Clark engages the markers and AJ Brimson’s speed off the mark quickly gets the Titans downhill. Brimson takes Leilua out of the play and hands Fifita the ball against a single defender on the back foot.
Just like that, the Titans move 40 metres up the field on 4th tackle and give themselves a chance to make a play. They went too wide too early and didn’t make the most of it. Still, the more often they’re in this spot, the more often they will get something out of it.
There are a variety of ways the Titans can set this up. Their big ball-players through the middle linking up is one. Think: Jarrod Wallace tipping onto Sam Lisone (who is particularly good at dropping short and generating a quick play-the-ball), engaging the back rower in the tackle before getting downhill on the short side. Brimson’s speed off the mark can be lethal in this spot as we saw in the example above.
The Titans have plenty of options close to the line. Just throwing him the ball can work. So too will isolating him onto the opposition half. I’d still like to see him take a few notes on Viliame Kikau and run this play, though.
Twice Kikau used his size to create space out wide and it ends up as a fairly simple shift given the speed the Panthers move the ball.
The Titans needed to change up how they used Fifita in 2022. While they managed to sneak into the NRL Finals with only ten wins, it was clear that a repeat of the same plan wouldn’t work quite as well moving forward. Holbrook has changed things up in response. It may not look like it now and it could take the whole season before this new-look Titans spine and game plan around Fifita starts to produce consistently. But this step back will more than likely translate into two steps forward and closer to regular finals appearances.
The difference of two halves
Shaun Johnson and Chanel Harris-Tavita finally played a game together in the halves and the New Zealand Warriors looked a lot better for it. Johnson didn’t miss a beat as he put Jesse Arthars over early. Later, Harris-Tavita setup Marcelo Montoya to score in the corner.
Both tries highlight the role each half plays in the side and where they can be at their most dominant.
Let’s start with Johnson.
The setup to this try is the difference between a good half and an elite half. He’s playing what is in front of him, but ahead of time.
Awarded a penalty and kicking up the field, Johnson settled Addin Fonua-Blake into the middle before the Warriors hit Matt Lodge on the left – a standard setup for this side. Notably, you can see Johnson surveying the defensive line and putting Fonua-Blake back outside him in preparation for the returning shift.
It’s this pass that is a beauty and the reason for points.
Johnson misses Fonua-Blake and hits Josh Curran who engages the two and three-in defenders. As Johnson sweeps around to the short side and takes Fonua-Blake with him, Pat Carrigan and Keenan Palasia are forced to fill in on the short side. Curran’s excellent play-the-ball and the extra distance the Broncos defenders need to cover means they have no line speed which allows Johnson to get downhill. The tape from previous games suggests Tesi Niu isn’t going to get up off the line at A defender either. That results in Carrigan turning in onto Johnson, Palasia taking Fonua-Blake, and Corey Oates caught between a rock (Jesse Arthars) and a hard place (Ed Kosi). Johnson completes a perfect pass and the Warriors score a simple but brilliant try.
The Warriors haven’t played with that level of planning and control in recent weeks and Johnson showed exactly what they’d been missing in all of five minutes.
Later, it was Harris-Tavita’s turn.
He won’t be credited with anything in the stats pages which is where many have measured the impact of Harris-Tavita in the halves. It’s clear how he influenced this try, though.
It’s the deception to hold up the line and the straightening off the left foot that puts Walsh in a position to make that big play. Harris-Tavita and Walsh being able to influence this shift between the tramlines, straightening at the line and getting through the inside shoulder is what gives Adam Pompey and Marcelo Montoya the space and speed to finish the play out wide.
Check the reverse angle slowed down and you can see Harris-Tavita holds up Adam Reynolds just enough before straightening to trigger the overlap.
Without adding to the Kodi Nikorima pile on, he more than likely continues to move across the field and takes away the space on this shift. Harris-Tavita, on the other hand, puts his body on the line and gets deep before releasing the ball, holding up the slide of the defence and providing space for the highlight plays – and those that show on the stats pages – out wider.
This is what Harris-Tavita does to the Warriors attack.
It has taken a month for Nathan Brown to land on his best halves pairing for a variety of reasons, but now that Johnson and Harris-Tavita are together, the Warriors can begin building their attack in 2022.
A round to remember for…
Ryan Papenhuyzen and Mitchell Moses put on a show to finish Round 4.
Sure, the contests weren’t as close as we’d have liked, but when blowouts aren’t the theme of every round, we can sit back and appreciate a dominant performance in an easy win.
