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.
Round 6 NRL Review:
– How Hastings made his mark
– There’s always next week for… Brisbane Broncos
– SuperCoach Shout-outs
– NRL Play of the Round
How Hastings made his mark
Countless multis around Australia came to an unfortunate end yesterday with the Wests Tigers knocking over one of the competition heavyweights in an Easter Monday doozy.
It was far from perfect but the performance from the Tigers – led by halfback Jackson Hastings – made for one of the games of the long weekend. Wests looked a completely different outfit with Hastings in the #7 jersey, while Hastings himself looked comfortable in all the areas Luke Brooks hasn’t in the opening month of the season.
Let me be clear – this is not a Brooks bashing piece.
He contributed to the Tigers’ 21-20 victory in a myriad of ways across the 80 minutes, including the two superb assists he threw for Luciano Leilua and David Nofoaluma on Wests’ right edge. Those are passes Brooks has always had in his repertoire, but the challenge for Brooks has been knowing when to pull what trigger in attack and in constructing actions for those shots to be effective.
Hastings, on the other hand, excelled in this regard. He registered an outrageous 90 receipts on Monday as he took it upon himself to direct Wests upfield in yardage and pull the strings in good field position. I want to highlight two moments in particular from this game as examples of the difference Hastings made to the Tigers in Round 6.
The first is the lead up to Nofoaluma’s try in the 22nd minute.
An excellent carry from Starford To’a out his own end got Wests into attacking field position and had Parramatta scrambling. Multiple Eels are still retreating onside as the Tigers play the ball and it’s Brooks who takes possession on the open side.
Brooks has two forwards in support on his outside but instead he bounces off the left foot and takes on the line himself. Running it at a retreating defensive line isn’t the worst option but it isn’t the best either. Brooks does nothing to improve the Tigers’ position here and if anything he buys the Eels a little more time to get set as Nathan Brown and Oregon Kaufusi put him on his back and slow the play-the-ball.
Hastings’ involvement on the following tackle is a little more promising.
Hastings sweeps over to the left edge and links with one of the forward runners Brooks disregarded on the previous play. He brings big James Tamou onto the ball on the tram line and opens up the right hand side of the field for a simple yet effective backline shift on fourth tackle. Hastings engages the defence through the middle from pivot before linking with Brooks out the back who throws a perfect left-to-right cut-out pass to Nofoaluma on the paint.
When you hear commentators or coaches talking about giving Hastings control of the side, this is why. He plays his natural game on the ball and he’s one play ahead with his decision making in attack. A little tip-on to Tamou on the left is what creates the space for Nofoaluma to score on the right, and while Brooks is the one throwing the final pass you can put these four points down to Hastings in the lead up.
The second moment I want to highlight is a Tigers’ set midway through the second half.
Four points never felt like it was enough against the Eels and I can’t have been the only bloke expecting Parramatta to steal the lead with the clock winding down.
Enter Hastings.
Touching the ball no less than nine times in this set, Hastings demanded control for the Tigers and ensured Wests got the result they needed given the context of the game.
From a set start, Hastings fills the role of pivot as he brings his forward onto the ball. Under Hastings’ direction, Wests hit once to the left through Joe Ofahengaue before going back to the right through Zane Musgrove:
Musgrove turns in the tackle and gets the offload away to Hastings who immediately swings it back out to the left where Parramatta had just made the tackle on Ofahengaue. Kelma Tuilagi takes possession with some room to move and gets another offload away to – you guessed it – Hastings, who has wrapped around into the space on the left edge.
Parramatta scramble well to bring down Nofoaluma but there is pressure and fatigue in the defensive line as Hastings continues to ask questions in this set:
Hastings pushes himself into dummy-half and sends Ofahengaue straight at Reed Mahoney in the line. Mahoney makes a good stop on a bigger man but is slow to work from marker which allows Alex Twal to find his front when Hastings finds him back on the inside on the following tackle.
Parramatta have now made seven defensive efforts in this set and there is minimal line speed or pressure as Hastings positions himself for a kick on the last:
The kick comes down right on the try line and the Tigers have enough numbers around the ball to drive Bailey Simonsson back into the in-goal. There’s Brooks again on the end of a well constructed set by Hastings; this time making a great tackle to help earn his side a fresh attacking set with the game in the balance.
That forced drop out is a result the Tigers couldn’t produce a few weeks ago in a painful loss to the Gold Coast Titans. There’s a few differences between that game and this one but the key difference is Hastings. It mightn’t have had the precision or polish of a Nathan Cleary masterclass but Hastings’ game in Round 6 was the most significant individual performance of the season so far and paved the way for Wests’ first win of 2022.
The image of Hastings pointing up at Michael Maguire in the coaches box after sending Nofoaluma over for his second is fairytale stuff and the way he defended both Madge and Brooks in the post-match would’ve had the Tigers faithful baying for more. Here’s to hoping Hastings and the Tigers can keep things trending in the right direction.
There’s Always Next Week For…
… the Brisbane Broncos
Just as they did with the Sydney Roosters last week, Brisbane started fast in Round 6 to get the jump on Penrith when Tesi Niu crossed in the 10th minute.
The Broncos’ pack stood up in the absence of Payne Haas and looked very good in the opening quarter of the match. They completed well and were working smoothly upfield thanks largely to the work of starting props Keenan Palasia (18 runs, 186 metres, 71 post-contact) and Corey Jensen (15 runs, 164 metres, 68 post-contact). On the back of this, Adam Reynolds, Niu and Kotoni Staggs capitalised. Niu in particular was everywhere, threatening in good ball and getting more involved in how Brisbane moved the ball across the park.
Unfortunately – just as they did with the Roosters last week – the Broncos couldn’t keep it up for 80 minutes.
Two soft tries to Jarome Luai and Scott Sorensen before halftime – both cutting back in against the grain down their left edge – highlighted the inconsistencies plaguing Brisbane right now. The Broncos’ right edge chased hard in both actions and looked like containing Penrith’s backline shift only for some lazy defenders to get found out through the middle when the Panthers turned back in towards the post.
Three tries in eight minutes to Charlie Staines, Taylan May and Liam Martin in the second half wiped out any chance the Broncos gave themselves with their efforts to begin the match. Martin’s try was particularly worrying; taking advantage of the space left by Kobe Hetherington who was too busy bickering with Luai at the ruck to position himself in the line.
The Broncos completed at 86% on Saturday. That’s good. They made two linebreaks and scored two tries, and they earned four repeat sets in good-ball – that’s good too. There’s plenty of positives there for Kevvie Walters to highlight in the review session this week, but there’s some glaring issues too. Missing 48 tackles (with 17 ineffective) is a problem. So are the five penalties and seven ruck infringements they conceded.
The Brisbane Broncos have the squad to win yardage battles and score points in good-ball. Their ill-discipline and inconsistencies in defence, however, are putting a low ceiling on how successful this squad can be in 2022.
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.
Tesi Niu – CTW & FLB – $471,100 – I’ve been high on Niu this year despite critics calling for him and Selwyn Cobbo to switch places. We haven’t seen Niu passed into enough positive involvements to really judge his value just yet but he had a few nice touches in Round 6. There’s attacking opportunities galore around Adam Reynolds and Kotoni Staggs right now and I like how Niu’s involving himself on that edge. It’s a shame he’ll be watching from the sidelines for the next few months.
Jeremy Marshall-King – HOK – $477,600 – JMK has been one of Canterbury’s best over the last fortnight. He’s getting a chance to showcase his running game thanks to the work of Luke Thompson and Paul Vaughan through the middle and his consolation try against Souths on Saturday was just rewards for his efforts off the ball.
