Check-in with the Repeat Set every week to recap the latest round of NRL action. This week, we’re highlighting Tom Trbojevic’s new role in the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles attack.
How Tom Trbojevic’s touches have changed this season
Tom Trbojevic is one of the best players in the world when he’s healthy. It’s a constant battle to get him on the field and keep him there, but string a few games together and the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles have a match-winner capable of upsetting any opposition.
The 26-year-old made the most of the 2021 fatigue season, using his 194cm and 102kg rig to roll over tired defenders on his way to an outrageous 28 tries. With his pack getting up the field through the centre-third, Trbojevic found plenty of space on the edges to hand out 33 try assists.
Limited to only seven games in 2022 and entering 2023 under a new coach and adjusted rules, we weren’t quite sure what Trbojevic would look like. As it turns out, this version is quite a lot different.
We’ve seen Trbojevic touch the ball more than ever before to start this season. Once fairly limited to the numbers on the edges and popping up out the back of shape, the fullback is now playing on the ball. He’s playing one-off the ruck, filling five-eighth-like positions, and asking more questions of the defence in different areas of the field.
Trbojevic is averaging 43 touches and 22.75 passes per game – significantly more than in prior seasons. He’s thrown more passes in four games this year (91) than he did throughout the seven he played last year (90).
Anthony Seibold has installed Trbojevic into different spots, and four games into the 2023 NRL season, it all appears to be working well.
Playing closer to the ruck has translated into more hitups. If there is nothing else on, Trbojevic is doing his bit to drag the Sea Eagles up the field for 1.75 hitups per game. However, it’s when he’s able to move the ball that you start to see the big difference in Manly’s approach.
Rather than being the focus out the back on the edges, Trbojevic is creating space from further in field. He will often use a lead line from his brother to compress the defence before finding Daly Cherry-Evans out the back.
Dylan Brown does a great job of releasing from the lead and applying pressure to Cherry-Evans here, but you can see the stress in the line and the opportunities that come from Trbojevic playing closer to the ruck.
One of those opportunities comes down the short side.
There seems to be a bit more of a method to Trbojevic’s involvement now, too. He’s not simply the cherry on top of a shift. In this phase, his tip-on to Ethan Bullemor ended up with Brad Parker scoring on the following tackle.
Taking the ball one off the ruck, Trbojevic plays Bullemor onto Jackson Hastings. It’s a big man on little man which forces those around Hastings into the tackle. Notably, Dane Gagai and Dom Young.
It’s 5th tackle but the Knights short side is on the back foot and Trbojevic has Tyson Frizell in front of him. Frizell is a strong defender, but doesn’t have the speed to keep up with Trbojevic running downhill. Getting to Frizell’s outside and forcing Young to turn in, Trbojevic sends Parker down the sideline to score a beauty.
These double-up efforts from Trbojevic are something I expect we will see time and time again throughout the NRL season.
Likewise, the wide block shape with Kelma Tuilagi out the back.
It’s one the Sea Eagles have tried on a few times already, and it was clearly part of the scouting report against the Knights.
Manly ran with it twice before finding success, training the defence to react one way before the variation turned into points.
First Trbojevic gets to Hastings’ outside shoulder and hits Parker short. Gagai’s hips are turned to the sideline but he pulls off a remarkable effort to stop the centre from scoring. Of note, Young has eyes for Tuilagi who is fanning out behind Parkers lead.
When running it again in the second half, Trbojevic throws the cutout pass. Again, Gagai is turned out but weary of Parker while Young turns in on Tuilagi before throwing a desperate hand out to intercept the pass.
The third time is the charm.
As we can see on the reverse angle, Gagai again bites on Parker’s lead and Young is caught in no man’s land knowing Trbojevic had thrown a cutout ball on the last attempt. Young holds in hope that Gagai can recover, and when he realises help isn’t coming, Tuilagi is hitting the hole and is far too strong for an arms tackle.
It’s a different look for Trboejevic who’d often be one pass wider than where he’s throwing these ones in the past. He has more passing options in this spot and the ability to take the line on himself when the defence gives him the chance.
The game is constantly evolving and the best players evolve with it. It’s early days and the numbers will never be able to compete with his 2021 production, but Trbojevic is taking his game to another level this season.
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Salmon’s Spray
Jaemon Salmon scoring to put 50 on Ricky Stuart’s Canberra Raiders made headlines for obvious reasons. However, the simplicity of it and Nathan Cleary’s identification of the opportunity in front of him stands out more for me.
With the diminutive Tom Starling standing in front of him, Cleary circled him as a target.
Taking possession on the advantage line and reducing the impact Elliott Whitehead could have as cover, Cleary sent Salmon straight through Starling. Corey Harawira-Naera needed to do a better job of helping his inside man, but he had other things to consider out the back of Salmon’s line, too.
It capped off an impressive Cleary performance. The sort that should concern the rest of the NRL. Slow to start, the idea of the Panthers missing Api Koroisau more than expected started to creep in. But a month into the season and having made some adjustments, the Panthers are looking back to their best. Cleary, in particular, played out his best game of the 2023 season so far in Round 5.
Payne Haas: Freak
Painfully for Wests Tigers fans, they’re at prefacing any opposition brilliance with “it’s only the Wests Tigers” levels of bad at the moment. As the NRL produces incredible games, upsets and surprise packets, it has been more of the same for the Tigers in 2023.
Payne Haas heaped more misery on the Tigers in Round 5, but it’s a reflection of his start to the 2023 NRL season as a whole. He’s averaging a career-high 196 running metres per game and often making it look easy as he does it.
It’s something to look into further in the coming weeks, but his combination with Pat Carrigan in the middle is lethal. Haas doesn’t even need to touch the ball to have an impact on the defence. Jake Trbojevic is the only prop with more supports than Haas’ 29 as the 23-year-old hangs off Carrigan’s hipm to hold up the slide of the inside defence.
And then there is the freakish stuff.
Is there a prop, or has there ever been a prop, that can catch an offload around his shins, beat an opposing hooker with footwork, throw an offload with another defender hanging off him, get back to his feet, and scoot out of dummy half through three defenders to score, all in the space of 15 seconds?
I don’t think so…
Some numbers…
It’s too early to read into the numbers too heavily, but they’re worth keeping an eye on as we start to evaluate and reassess expectations.
Points Scored:
1 – Broncos: 29
2 – Sharks: 27.6
3 – Sea Eagles: 27.25
Points Conceded:
1 – Panthers: 13
2 – Broncos: 14
3 – Rabbitohs: 16.8
The Brisbane Broncos are where you’d expect sitting at the top of the NRL ladder while the Penrith Panthers have been the best defensive team in the competition over the last four years. Again, no surprises there. The Sharks are lethal with the ball and the Sea Eagles have looked likely themselves.
What is a little bit surprising, and at least encouraging, is the South Sydney Rabbitohs conceding only 16.8 points per game. They’ve played out a brutal opening five rounds of the season including games against two of the best three attacking teams in the competition, but have held up well defensively. For a change, it’s their attack we’re waiting on to fire.
Defence wins premierships, so if there is one side of the field the Rabbitohs want to get right early, it’s in defence.
A lovely Cowboys try
It ended in defeat for the North Queensland Cowboys and the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs produced the highlights that will circulate in the coming days, but this ended up being one of my favourite tries of the weekend.
First of all, it’s great to see Heilum Luki back out there. To be looking so smooth in his line-running while coming off an ACL injury is very encouraging for the Cowboys moving forward.
Here, he hits Kyle Flanagan’s outside shoulder after Tom Dearden does a good job to jump outside Jayden Okunbor. Flanagan is a decent defender but not particularly strong in the tackle. He will take the legs out which leaves the attacking player’s arms free to offload. As Jake Averilo jumps out of the line at Tom Chester, the space opens up for Luki to bounce off his right foot to the outside of Flanagan before releasing an offload to Chester in support.
Tom Dearden has started the season slowly. I don’t know what NRL.com are doing to measure line break involvements, but it looks as though this might be Dearden’s first of the season.
Struggling for form while dealing with a few injuries and suspensions, the way Dearden and Luki linked up for this one give hope for a quick improvement when the Cowboys are back to full strength.
Best season ever?
Sure, it’s only Round 5 of the NRL season, but “best season ever” is already something we’re starting to hear. It feels like we’ve had more good games in the last five rounds than we’d had in the three seasons prior.
While Saturday produced a couple of blowouts, you’re going to get that when 1st plays 17th and the new expansion team sufferers a few injuries. However, the round overall was ridiculous.
The 32-all draw is one that Sea Eagles and Knights fans will remember for years to come. Defence will be a focus for both teams at training this week, but the 80 minutes on Saturday had viewers on the edge of their seat throughout.
Sunday was just outrageous…
The new-look Warriors continued to reinvent themselves under Andrew Webster to pull off a miraculous comeback from 20-0 down.
“Andrew Voss made repeated comments about the old Warriors not being able to come back from 20 points down. In recent years, the floodgates open and the idea of a comeback is short lived if it ever lives at all. This team is different.” – NRL 2023: Round 5 Scores & Team Grades
Another former Penrith Panthers coach in Cameron Ciraldo saw his game plan work to perfection for his Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs to beat the North Queensland Cowboys in Golden Point.
The Dogs threw caution to the wind and made best use of their most dangerous weapons despite the wet conditions. They’ll have a few injuries to deal with as a result, but right now, they sit inside the NRL’s Top 8.
It’s too early to be having ‘best season ever debates’ but the fact it is even being mentioned means we’re in for a cracker.