The NRL Preview Notepad helps you get ready for Round 4 with talking points, players to watch and trends to follow every week.
Thursday Night Footy Members Memo
Tesi Niu’s New Home
Winger play is more than just standing on the paint and falling over the line these days. Their role in yardage seems to be increasing every year and being able to start a set well for your team is now a regular metric to measure impact and performance.
I can’t have been the only person to raise their eyebrow at Tesi Niu being named on the wing to start the 2023 NRL season. He’s not particularly tall, there wasn’t a lot of confidence in his hands under a high ball, and his defensive performances in the centres left a lot to be desired. However, now three weeks into the year, Niu seems to have found himself a home on the wing.
After averaging just short of an error per game in 2022, Niu’s one error in three matches to start 2023 is also notable.
What stands out though are his carries out of yardage.
He doesn’t fly onto the ball. Instead, he makes sure of the catch and uses his ridiculous acceleration to charge into the defensive line. Standing tall, he uses his strength to pump off and defenders tackling above the ball. With his leg drive, he’s able to push through the tackle and make things difficult for the third man attacking a leg.
Niu dominated out of yardage for the Dolphins in Round 3 to finish up with 230 running metres on 19 runs. His 69 post-contact metres is a new career high.
The Dolphins are playing a simple brand of football. They’re embracing the grind and are currently second in the NRL in possession (53%). A lot of that starts with the yardage and territory gain the back five generates. Niu has become a surprisingly crucial element. Wayne Bennett has a lot of outside backs to choose from when everybody is healthy but right now, Niu’s spot on the wing is locked in.
Nanai’s Response
It’s not uncommon for an edge backrower to have a quiet night when it comes to running metres. Sometimes, depending on the plan and where the North Queensland Cowboys want to attack, the ball doesn’t get out to Jeremiah Nanai’s edge quite like it would in other matches.
However, three quiet games in a row is a little bit concerning.
Nanai’s numbers are way, way down on last season. He’s touching the ball only seven times per game compared with 14.4 per game the season prior. Perhaps that is because he is taking on more of a defensive workload?
Nope.
2022: 30.6 tackles per game
2023: 29.6 tackles per game
A lot of North Queensland’s issues right now can be put down to injuries. They’re not able to put their best team out of the field right now. But, if anything, that’s when we want to see more from Nanai. Origin Nanai. The guy that got his hands on the ball and made things happen through his five offloads. He touched the ball 16 times in State of Origin Game 3 last year but has only 21 touches across three games to start the NRL season.
Nanai is in a position that isn’t always measured best with numbers. He doesn’t need to pile up running metres to have a good game. I’ll be keeping a close eye on him this week and looking at how he tries to involve himself throughout the 80 minutes.
Another Trbojevic Passing
I touched on Jake Trbojevic’s lack of passing in the Notepad last week. He released only four passes in Round 1, and after averaging 15 passes per game in 2022, it’s interesting to see he only threw another five in Round 3.
It looks as though Jake is being used as a ball carrier a lot more this season. Could Tom’s involvement have something to do with that?
I didn’t catch many instances on the night, but Tom Trbojevic taking the ball one off the ruck as a ball player in this part of the field isn’t something we’ve seen much.
That would typically be Jake playing to Daly Cherry-Evans with Tom either out the back or taking some attention on the long side. Instead, he gets deep into the line one-off the ruck using Jake as a lead, compresses the defence, and allows Cherry-Evans to play Haumole Olakau’atu into a legs tackle and a quick play-the-ball.
Maybe it’s something. Maybe it’s nothing. Still, where Trbojevic takes the ball in yardage is something to look out for in Round 4.
Four plays in three minutes: How the Titans are using Fifita
David Fifita is a polarizing figure in rugby league. He’s a big money player and a Supercoach favourite. For better or worse, that means he comes under a lot more scrutiny than most players in the NRL. So much so that he can play well, but if that stats don’t back it up, he’s said to have been “quiet” or “not doing enough.”
The Gold Coast Titans haven’t used him particularly well over the years. He was a massive beneficiary of the 2021 fatigue season which papered over the lack of variation he played with. If you can just feed him the ball and run him at tired defenders, why wouldn’t you?
But as the rules revert back to what they were and the games become more of a contest, Justin Holbrook is finding different ways to use Fifita.
We’ve been here before a couple of times over the last 18 months. This isn’t the first time I’ve thought that this is the moment we start to see him used well and in different ways consistently across multiple weeks. But I’m back thanks to three minutes of play in Round 3.
This is what Kieran Foran is at the Gold Coast to do. Straighten the attack, get deep in the line using a lead runner to compress the defence, and create space out wide.
This is where Fifita can be used more often. He doesn’t release the pass this time, but you’ve got a giant man running downhill at a single defender with a teammate in support. Very, very encouraging.
It took Viliame Kikau and the Penrith Panthers a couple of seasons to nail this shot consistently. Kikau, like Fifita, was used primarily as a battering ram before developing a nice touch out wide and adding another dimension to his game. Fifita is on a similar path and it won’t be long before we can package a few of these clips together ending in tries for him and his winger.
Minutes later and Fifita is in the middle of the field. His presence holds up Eli Katoa’s slide and creates a big gap between Storm defenders. A younger Foran may have taken the space back in the day, but in 2023, he provides early ball to his edges where Alofiana Khan-Pereira can get to the outside and up the field.
Fifita isn’t done, though. He continues moving forward to take the next carry. I’d say the idea here is to always have the Titans edge create a fast play-the-ball for Fifita to barge onto 2021-style.
Katoa and Harry Grant do a good enough job of tightening the tackle and slowing the play down which gives the defence enough time to get back. Still, you can see the makings of a plan that will pay dividends sooner or later.
Following a right shift on the following play, Foran and the Titans start working back towards Fifita’s edge. Again, this is what Foran is there to do. He plays Isaac Liu to a point and directs his left edge as he wraps around the ruck. Having already fired a variety of shapes down this edge and with AJ Brimson now out the back of a block, Foran plays straight and deep before passing Fifita onto Jahrome Hughes.
Fifita looks to hit and spin out of the tackle when a bit of footwork before the line and a fade to Hughes’ outside shoulder may have been the better option. Nonetheless, it’s a fourth play in which Fifita is heavily involved, and a fourth different question the Titans have asked of the defence.
The important thing this week is to do it all again in Round 4.
Paul Alamoti
2 Try assists
1 Linebreak
2 Tackle breaks
1 Offload
10 Tackles
191 Running metres
19 Years old
Paul Alamoti has been talked about for years and is living up to the hype early into his NRL career. If you didn’t know the name before Round 3, you should do now following an impressive performance against the Wests Tigers.
He has the numbers to impress on the stats sheet, but it’s the composure and execution of this run and pass that sets him up well for a stellar rookie season and long career in the NRL.
Alamoti may have released the pass to Josh Addo-Carr a little bit early but the way he held his run to assess things is good to see. So too is how he held the ball and shaped to throw the second pass, not releasing it until he’d committed Doueihi to the tackle.
We’ve seen plenty of rookies make a name for themselves early through size and speed, but Alamoti is already displaying the smarts of an experienced centre.
Addo-Carr heaped more praise on the 19-year-old during the week:
“I believe he is a first-grade football player and for him it’s just about playing consistent footy and that’s what a first-grade player does, plays his best every week, trains his best every day.
“He’s got a bright future in the Bulldogs jersey and he’s got the potential to be one of the best centres in the world.
“He’s a wonderful talent and we love having him in the team.”
With Matt Burton and Viliame Kikau also starting to form a good partnership, the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs are on their way to producing one of the most lethal left edges in the competition.
Other Quick NRL Notes
– Ryan Matterson’s return is huge. Most of the conversation is about why he has missed the last three games, but I think we will really see what the Eels have been missing on Thursday night. Brad Arthur is desperate for another big body he can trust in the middle for a start. Matterson’s ball playing will help the spine get to their points on the field, too.
– Connelly Lemuelu is looking like a great buy for The Dolphins. Named to start on the edge this week, he really impressed for his 123 running metres in Round 3. He carries the ball well and pushes through contact. It’s early days, but he could be a sneaky value Buy of the Season candidate by the end of it.
– The Wests Tigers 17 is a strange one. I never expected to see Luke Brooks dropped, but for Adam Doueihi to be named and fullback and Daine Laurie on the bench is still surprising. Can Brandon Wakeham steady things in the halves? Where will Doueihi pop up? How does Tim Sheens use Laurie, if at all?
– Are the Sea Eagles for real? The South Sydney Rabbitohs might not have the results, but we know they’re one of the best teams in the NRL. This will give us a good idea of where Anthony Seibold’s side is at three games in.
– Tohu Harris is a beast. That’s all.
– Dom Young being dropped for one bad game is jaw-dropping. There could be things happening behind the scenes around a move to the Sydney Roosters. Still, it was surprising to not see his name on the list for Round 4.
– Nicho Hynes returns and as reward for his impressive three rounds standing in at halfback, Braydon Trindall has been named on the bench. Just how that works remains to be seen.