Check-in with the Repeat Set for your Round 2 NRL recap. This week we break down Reece Walsh’s role in Brisbane, the Dolphins winner, a possible offload trend, and more.
Breaking Down Walsh’s Role in Brisbane
It has been a roller coaster two years in the NRL for Reece Walsh.
He accelerated his leap into first grade by signing with the New Zealand Warriors in 2021. Arriving with all the hype and the forgiving level of expectation typically afforded to a young player in a spine position, he impressed to stand out in an otherwise disappointing Warriors side. However, the 2022 season didn’t play out the same way. Unsurprisingly, he wasn’t able to regularly produce with the ball behind a pack that finished last in the NRL in yardage. Walsh scored only two tries in 22 games throughout 2022 having scored nine in 16 games the season prior. His defensive frailties were put under the spotlight more regularly, too. Playing at the back of the worst defence in the competition, his lack of size and strength in one-on-one tackles on the line came under scrutiny.
It’s all looking a lot different at the Broncos, though.
*Insert all of the “it’s early/one game” prefaces here. I know.*
Despite only having 80 minutes to go on, the signs of a much-improved Walsh were clear and become so fairly early on in the game on Friday night.
This doesn’t look like much in isolation. Walsh takes the ball on the short side picks up some easy metres and takes a tackle. Walsh of last season may have looked to throw a speculator here, too.
However, the vision and setup were most encouraging and something we’re going to see a lot more of throughout the NRL season.
The Broncos have worked the Cowboys line to leave Jordan McLean on his haunches at the short side A spot. That’s a gift for somebody with Walsh’s acceleration. The kicker is having Payne Haas in his pocket on the inside to hold up the second marker. Haas is a little bit behind the play and the Broncos left edge trips over itself a little bit as Herbie Farnworth doesn’t know whether or not to run a hard lead inside for Kurt Capewell. At the same time, Capewell is motioning towards being dropped off back underneath.
Walsh appears to already be developing a better understanding of the space around him. Knowing when to hold the space on the outside by straightening the attack before passing or using his speed to get to the outside of his man will be crucial to Walsh’s improvement in the coming years. We saw more good signs of both in Round 1.
The young fullback ripped through what is a slow Cowboys right edge. Chad Townsend, Peta Hiku and Kyle Feldt are all representative players and makeup one of the better edges in the NRL. However, none are known for their speed and Walsh exploited that one deficiency multiple times.
With Townsend dragged in by the Capewell decoy, Walsh puts on the afterburners to get to the outside of Hiku here. As Feldt turns in to help his beaten centre, Walsh releases Corey Oates down the sideline for the Broncos to score a ripper on the stroke of halftime.
You can see how Walsh starts with the ball in two hands ready to pass before tucking it under, drawing Feldt, and releasing a pass just before contact.
Walsh and Oates combined later as Walsh once again measures the space well and uses his speed to exploit the Cowboys right edge defence.
Jeremiah Nanai doesn’t do his right edge any favours by jamming in on Haas. That puts Townsend on his heels and allows Walsh to skip to his outside shoulder. From there, Walsh makes a line for Hiku who holds as Townsend tries to close down the gap. At the same time, Farnworth holds his line on Feldt. Walsh’s cutout pass sends Oates back down the sideline and only a shoulder to the face stopped the Broncos winger from dotting down.
It’s the time of year for overreactions. However, instead of hailing Walsh as the new Queensland fullback and one of the best at the position in the NRL, I’m rolling back my doubts born from a disappointing 2022 season. He’s never going to be a physical presence in the game, but that isn’t so much of a problem if the team is defending well in front of him. Out of yardage, Walsh isn’t tasked with getting the team up the field while Oates, Farnworth, Kotoni Staggs and Selwyn Coobo are around him.
Walsh is a dangerous player in the right environment and seems to have found it back in Brisbane. We’ve not even seen what he can do on the right edge with Staggs and Cobbo yet. Engaging defenders and isolating Staggs one-on-one is the next area of attack I’m looking towards for Walsh and the Broncos.
The Broncos have their organiser in Adam Reynolds and an active and exciting halves partner in Ezra Mam. Right now, it looks as though Walsh could be the perfect compliment.
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The Dolphins Did It Again
As a passionate believer in the Church of Wayne Bennett, not even I saw 2-0 coming to start the 2023 NRL season.
I expected The Dolphins to win enough games to finish above 17th. If nothing else, Bennett would have this team believing they can win often enough to generate enough competition points to slowly climb the ladder. Perhaps he would time his most responsive speeches for the easier games of the season. It doesn’t look as though that will be necessary for a while, though.
The Dolphins, as they did last week against the Sydney Roosters, employed a simple plan. One designed to wear the opposition down and put themselves in a position to win late.
Redcliffe (yeah, I’m speaking it into existence with many others) finished behind the Canberra Raiders in running metres, line breaks, tackle breaks, average set distance and offloads. Defensively, they attempted more tackles, missed more, and defended more tackles on their own line. However, as the Raiders failed to ice the game in the moments Ricky Stuart said they should have, the Dolphins took their chance.
How many times in this situation, with the opposition down a man, do you see teams fling the ball wide and hope to get down the outside? Even down a man themselves, the Dolphins knew the path to victory started in the middle of the field by compressing the Raiders defensive line and creating the chance out wide later.
Following Albert Hopoate’s error, the Dolphins hit the middle of the field. First Felise Kaufusi, then Jesse Bromwich.
The key for Bromwich is not getting too wide of the posts because it’s now, with Mark Nicholls running a tight line off the ruck that the space is created. The Raiders all of a sudden have three players defending almost half of the field.
He’s only 19 years old and in his second NRL match, but Isaiya Katoa showed superb composure and veteran skill to ice the play in a key moment. He knows to get at the three-in defender. The double pump to help turn the two-in defender is the icing on the cake.
Katoa showed glimpses of his ability to pick and engage the right defender last year in the Under 19’s competition. Still, his development across a Rugby League World Cup and NRL preseason is incredible. It’s easy to see why Anthony Milford – who scored a try and kicked a game-winning field goal for the Central Queensland Capras over the weekend – can’t find a place in the team. Nor can Kodi Nikorima who dominated with the ball for the Capras in the same game.
The Dolphins are exceeding expectations. Although, we should have seen this coming. Perhaps not the development of Katoa and Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow, but the control, the fight, and the determination to not give up that Bennett mentioned repeatedly in the post-match press conference.
While they’re not expected to challenge for the premiership any time soon – even making the Top 8 this year is still unlikely – the opening two rounds of the 2023 NRL season have been the best results for rugby league.
Panthers Purring
It was more hopeful than expected for most, I’m sure. Still, the Penrith Panthers provided everybody with a reminder that they aren’t done as premiership contenders just yet. Losing Api Koroisau and Viliame Kikau will take some adjusting. They’re not as threatening around the ruck without Koroisau and the left edge certainly isn’t the same force without Kikau. However, the hallmarks of the back-to-back premiership-winning Panthers remain.
Penrith again, just as they have done in each of the last three seasons, lead the NRL in yardage with 2,001 metres per game. Their NRL-high 39.5 tackle breaks per game contribute to that as well.
They dominate possession to have played with 54% of the ball across their first two games.
Rarely flustered, the Panthers stick to the script. They stay patient and trust the game model.
More than anything else, they trust their defence to have conceded only 23 points in 160 minutes.
Sure, they might not replicate the quality of the last two seasons given the talent they lost over the summer. Their game model remains intact, though. Ivan Cleary can plug any of his Top 30 into the run-on side and trust that they know the system and will play within it. There are still plenty of match-winners in this side if the platform is set before them.
So long as the Panthers are dominating in yardage and defence, regardless of the star power in attack, they will be towards the top of the NRL ladder.
NRL Offload Numbers
Offload numbers across the NRL are something I’ll be keeping an eye on in the coming weeks.
The New Zealand Warriors finished the 2022 season averaging an NRL-low 6.2 offloads per game. Only one team in the last ten seasons has finished a season throwing fewer than six offloads per game.
Through two rounds in 2023:
Sea Eagles – 6
Warriors – 6
Titans – 5.5
Roosters – 5
Knights – 3.5
Cowboys – 3.5
Perhaps it’s early-season caution. We often hear of the best coaches talking about possessions and completions at this time of the year. It may only be a coincidence, but the Wests Tigers – the worst team across the opening two rounds – lead the competition with 17 offloads per game.
Perhaps it’s the start of a trend as maintaining possession becomes more of a focus across the competition.
Six teams averaging fewer offloads than the lowest average of the season prior is notable.
We will be checking back in on this one in a few weeks.
Hastings Time
If you were here last season you’ll have seen Jackson Hastings become one of my favourite players in the NRL. We’re only two weeks in but his receiving a mention feels long overdue already.
He does the little things so well and his willingness to complete the actions that don’t often get a mention was crucial to how the Knights handled the early chaos of their match against the Wests Tigers.
Hastings played a key part in setting up the numbers for Newcastle to score their first try of the afternoon. His involvement in the second is more clear, though.
By taking the steps forward and using Leo Thompson as a tight lead, Hastings engages three Wests Tigers middle defenders. Just like that, the Tigers are short out wide. Adam Doueihi is sat in his seat waiting for Asu Kepaoa to recover from the inside. On the outside, Tommy Talau desperately jams in to close down the shift. But with Lachlan Fitzgibbon running a perfect slip line and Tyson Gamble releasing the right pass, the Knights backrower slipped over to score their second.
Hastings provided the Knights with a lot of what the Tigers lacked on the day. Give him enough opportunities to attack in good ball, along with some better luck in the injury department, and the Knights will be a tough side all season.
MORE ON TIGERS v KNIGHTS: “17 errors, 44 tackles inside the opposition 20-metre line, 25 minutes against 12 men, 6 points. Tim Sheens will be struggling to take any positives out of that one.”
This Season, Man…
Are we in for a beauty?
Nobody expects the highest quality football at this time of the year. Heck, Tigers v Knights was one of the worst games of football I have ever seen, but boy was it entertaining.
It has become more clear over the last three years that the contest is most important. We can cop the odd poor game or the 80 minutes of chaos we saw on Sunday afternoon if the contest is exciting. The two teams combined for only 26 points while making 29 errors. Nobody was turning that game off, though.
Ask most people what their favourite season in recent years has been and the most common answer will be 2018. Two points separated 1st from 8th in a season that threw up a number of potential winners heading into September.
It’s early days and we’re already seeing the impact of a few key players going down with injuries. However, given the closeness of the first 16 games and the lack of Panthers-like dominance, this is shaping up as the best season since 2018.