If the beers are cold and the afternoon’s long enough, we’d be talking footy all day, every day until kickoff on Thursday night. With so much to review, let’s break down some of the key players and actions throughout each week in the NRL.
– Apisai Koroisau’s State of Origin Audition
– There’s always next week for… Brisbane Broncos
– SuperCoach Shout-outs
– Play of the Round: A Storm classic
Apisai Koroisau’s Origin Audition
With news breaking after the Panthers v Warriors game on Saturday that he had been named to play for the Blues in State of Origin Game II, it felt right to do an Api Koroisau appreciation piece this week.
He’s one of my favourite players to watch (and a former South Sydney premiership winner to boot) and Koroisau had a day out against the Warriors in Round 15 with all his subtle, scheming skills from dummy-half causing havoc around the ruck.
Koroisau is a hooker who will beat you before you know you’ve been beaten.
Unlike a Damien Cook who can just run right around you, Koroisau will manipulate your position in the defensive line and then orchestrate an action to expose it. He’s nippy enough to burn a lone marker and strong enough to push through contact, but Koroisau’s greatest strength is his ability to isolate defenders in the line and bring his forwards onto the ball.
It mightn’t seem like much, but the tiny motion Koroisau makes to his left before passing right to Liam Martin here is significant.
Koroisau sends the first marker (Wayne Egan) the wrong way and also invites the second marker (Addin Fonua-Blake) to sit on his heels and catch a breath. That half a step Fonua-Blake misses is the difference between him pressuring Martin from his inside or allowing Martin to get one-on-one with Jazz Tevaga – which he does here. Martin gets a quick play-the-ball as a result, and Koroisau again darts from half to get Penrith on the attack.
That same little swerve from half was almost the catalyst for a Panthers try soon after.
Again Egan is sent infield as Koroisau feigns one way, but watch Tohu Harris’ movements in the line from A defender on the open side.
Instead of numbering up on Isaah Yeo, Harris is drawn slightly infield and only has eyes for Koroisau as he scoots from half. That allows Yeo to get outside his man – just like Martin did with Fonua-Blake earlier – and dig further into the line before passing, which engages Tevaga and Josh Curran in the line. With Ronald Volkman now isolated against Martin, the Panthers’ backrower busts the tackle and probably should’ve got the offload away instead of fumbling it in the tackle.
Sure enough, after 15 minutes of scheming and probing Koroisau eventually found what he was looking for.
Koroisau looks left and runs left, but he was only ever going right here. That same dart infield takes the lone marker out of play and creates some space behind the ruck. Koroisau pours into that space to engage Curran in the line, and the Warriors’ backrower is literally stuck in the mud with Koroisau and Moses Leota coming at him. At the last second, a little swerve from Koroisau invites Curran to turn in and with a soft pass Leota strolls through untouched.
Only the best hookers in the NRL get this right.
Cameron Smith made a career of it and Harry Grant has started one in similar fashion, but we can put Koroisau in that group too. It’s certainly the reason Brad Fittler has called Koroisau into Game II, as it’s not a skill that comes naturally to the incumbent hooker Damien Cook. Those subtle little movements, the feigns of the eye, the positioning of the ball, the timing of the pass – those are all areas Grant punished New South Wales with around the ruck in Game I and it looks like Koroisau will be tasked with a similar role.
Given the ensemble of Penrith teammates that will line up in the sky blue with him on Sunday, Koroisau will likely be given a licence to run. Not just scooting for the easy metres, but looking to isolate tired defenders and bring teammates onto the ball like he did for Leota and then Isaah Yeo in Round 15.
This time there’s no feign to the left. Consecutive quick play-the-balls has put fatigue into the defence and Koroisau knows he has the markers for speed. He takes off before straightening up to engage Harris in the line, and from there a double pump forces Harris to turn in which leaves the space for Yeo to burst through and score under the posts.
That is such a well worked rugby league try.
We’ll see more replays of the scrum shot Penrith produced in this game (see below) but the sleight-of-hand from Koroisau at dummy-half was most impressive for mine. He’s constantly on high alert for a weakness around the ruck and he’s got a whole range of subtle little tricks and shows to expose those weaknesses.
We couldn’t talk about the Panthers without talking about that try from Dylan Edwards, though.
We saw a few teams try on this inside ball shape (or something similar) over the weekend. Harris found Reece Walsh back on the inside in this same game, Nick Meaney sliced through for my Play of the Round (below) on Friday and the Roosters left about three chances out there with James Tedesco finding space multiple times against the Eels but never receiving the pass.
In reality, that pass is much, much harder than it looks.
The ballplayer – Nathan Cleary in this instance – has all his momentum travelling to the left corner post but must turn his body almost 45 degrees at speed to ensure the inside pass doesn’t travel forward. Even a flat pass in this action will look forward due to the inertia of the ball carrier, so Cleary has a job to do here and he nails it. He’s got Luai sweeping out the back and teammates in support out wide, but an early break from the scrum by Jack Murchie (circled) cuts down Cleary’s time with the ball and forces him to react on the run.
What happens next is a wonderful example of why combinations are important in rugby league.
Luai sees Murchie has shot out at his halfback and immediately lets him know. The front-on angle shows Luai screaming and pointing at Murchie – and the space left by Murchie back on the inside – and in a fraction of a second Cleary reacts. Without hesitation, Cleary pops the ball back inside to Edwards who has come flying around from the back of the scrum to pour into the space on Murchie’s inside shoulder.
Try time.
If the Panthers are a well-oiled machine right now then Apisai Koroisau is the linch pin. His decision making and service from the ruck is as good as any in the NRL and he plays tough despite his clever, scheming skillset. Freddy has made another few possible howlers in selecting his Game II squad but Koroisau’s inclusion is not one of them.
There’s Always Next Week For…
… the Brisbane Broncos
The Broncos exceeded all expectations in Round 15.
With Adam Reynolds and Herbie Farnworth on the sidelines and Payne Haas carrying an injury to both shoulders, the Storm were heavy favourites playing at home on Friday night.
They started like it – a 65 metre gain in their first set got Jahrome Hughes into position for an attacking kick which Selwyn Cobbo fumbled under the pressure. Melbourne would go right back on the attack, going close twice near the posts but being denied by a desperate Broncos’ defence. A linebreak from Harry Grant in Melbourne’s next set had the alarm bells ringing, but again Brisbane defended the error and dragged the game into the grind.
That in itself was impressive enough.
Melbourne are famously fast-starters but the way they shot out of the cannon on Friday was something else. They very easily could have had two tries in the opening six minutes but Brisbane muscled up and turned them away on both occasions, until an Ezra Mam grubber in the 8th minute went dead and a ruck infringement from Haas gifted Melbourne too much cheap field position.
Grant found Tui Kamikamica close to the line on the back of that double-error, and it looked like the Storm would run away with it from there. Instead, the Broncos continued to soak up pressure before striking three times inside ten minutes to take an unlikely 16-6 lead midway through the first half.
Corey Oates finished off one well worked try in the left corner before icing another thanks to an unconventional but highly effective pass from Kurt Capewell. The best of all though was Selwyn Cobbo’s in the 26th minute. A great shot from Billy Walters and Haas forced an error from Dean Ieremia on the kick return and Brisbane collected the loose ball to attack Melbourne’s line. With the Storm scrambling to get onside, Walters threw a brilliant long-ball from hooker to get Tyrone Roberts into space on the right edge. Another slick pass found Cobbo in the corner who produced yet another aerial effort to dot down in the in goal.
With a ten point lead and halftime approaching, the Broncos were in a superb position to win this game. Brisbane fans will feel that a guy like Adam Reynolds might’ve been able to get them home from there, but in saying that the kicking game of Mam and Roberts was pretty good on Friday night. They forced four drop-outs from the Storm as they tried to build pressure but the brilliance of Grant, Hughes, Munster (and Nick Meaney – see below) was enough to get Melbourne out of trouble.
Against almost any other team in the competition, you’d like Brisbane to have won on Friday night. They aren’t quite at Cowboys-levels just yet but the Broncos have improved out of sight in 2022 to give themselves every chance against Melbourne in Melbourne – one of the NRL’s toughest assignments – in Round 15, and they’ll need a similar performance against North Queensland in Townsville in the next one.
SuperCoach Shout-outs
We’re keeping an eye on a few players in our rolling SC watchlist as part of my ‘Heads In!’ weekly review, but this segment is reserved for any special mentions from the round that was. You’re clever enough to find the top scorers yourself, so this is for anything I liked, noticed or want to see again.
Billy Smith – CTW – $303,700 – Was one of Sydney’s best in their loss to Parramatta. Busy in yardage and a constant threat in attack, Smith has earned a few more games in the starting side on the back of that performance.
Damien Cook – HOK – $658,500 – A brave performance from Cookie in a horror night for Souths. Made 50 tackles in defence and still found the energy to score one try and set up another for his skipper. An ultra reliable player.
