Check-in with the Repeat Set every week to recap the latest round of NRL action. This week, we’re welcoming back Nicho Hynes.
Welcome back, Nicho Hynes
He won the Dally M Medal with the most points ever last season. Nicho Hynes having a positive impact on the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks in his first game of the 2023 NRL season isn’t a huge surprise.
However, he managed to exceed expectations and reignite the idea that the Sharks are among the premiership contenders for this season.
Hynes was fantastic. Dominant. He finished up with 148 running metres, five linebreak assists and three try assists in a performance he made look easy at times. Hynes simply being on the field and taking the attention of the defence improved those around him. He reads the defence exceptionally well and is meticulous in his passes. Rarely does he throw one just for the sake of it. He’s working to points, looking at the numbers, and taking opportunities as they come up.
The two tries he laid on shortly after halftime help to capture exactly that.
The first is a throwback to last season: Teig Wilton runs a hard line to the inside shoulder of the three-in defender as Hynes moves across the field engaging the defender four-in.
It starts with Hynes spotting the split, though.
In this first try the Dragons sent seven players outside their left post – one marker, Tyrell Sloan filling the line at A, and five more outside him. You can see Ben Hunt spot the error and point to his right edge to get wider. At the same time, Blayke Brailey and Royce Hunt tie up defenders in the middle.
Hunt is always unlikely to take the ball from Brailey off the ruck, but his run holds up the middle and provides Hynes with the time to skip to the outside. Inside pressure is so important when dealing with guys like Hynes, and with Blake Lawrie tied up around the ruck, Jaydn Su’A only has one option when Hynes takes possession.
Wilton’s line turns Jayden Sullivan in forcing Moses Suli into a tough decision. Suli makes the right one but the slightest hesitation gives Matt Moylan enough time to shovel the ball onto the two-v-one situation on his outside.
Teams move around the field in different ways. Some rely on their halfback to point the forwards around. Others, like Hynes, play on the ball and pass their teammates to spots on the field to fire a shot from.
In this case, Hynes drops Royce Hunt back at the right post and scans the numbers. It looks as though it’s something the Sharks have been planning for from this spot as Hynes flips from the left to right side.
The Dragons have a very tight A defender almost behind the play-the-ball leaving only four defenders outside the post this time. Hynes wants to attack Hunt in the line and play to the space between Hunt and Zac Lomax.
Lomax gets up off the line well but Briton Nikora wants to rip his shoulder off on the inside as Will Kennedy adds some uncertainty out the back. In the end, Lomax is caught out in the middle and Hynes simply passes the ball into space for Nikora to fly onto it.
Braydon Trindall impressed across the first three rounds of the NRL season. He is arguably the best backup halfback in the competition right now and the Sharks are well-placed should Hynes miss time to State of Origin or injury. However, Trindall doesn’t control the side like Hynes.
There is some incredible attacking power in this Sharks squad if they can be put in positions to fire. With the pack getting up the field and Hynes pointing them in the right direction before providing the touches out wide, the Sharks are in a good position to improve on their 2022 NRL campaign.
Like what you’re seeing here? Consider signing up for a Premium Membership to have all of our content conveniently delivered straight to your inbox. Use RLW2023 at checkout for three months free!
Dolphins Developing
We’re starting this Dolphins segment off with a quote from Warriors coach, Andrew Webster.
“Everyone is going to improve fast. This is the period, after four games, everybody sort of works out their style of play, works out what they’re doing right and wrong and start working things out.”
For teams like the Warriors who are building after a poor season and the Dolphins playing out their very first, now is the time it gets difficult following promising starts. Opposition coaches have four weeks’ worth of vision to work with now. The element of the unknown, or in the Warriors’ case, surprise, is no longer. Their summers have paid dividends, but the work they put in throughout the preseason isn’t a secret any more.
The Dolphins attack ranks fourth in the NRL scoring 24 points per game. Ask most people how they think Wayne Bennett’s side plays and they’ll mention things like toughness, the grind, and being patient. They’re piling up points but don’t seem to be regarded as a particularly strong attacking team.
There is still a lot of clunkiness to the attack, but within it are some very promising signs around Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow, in particular.
We all knew of his speed and had confidence in his ability to play through the middle and back up around the ruck. His influence on the edges has been a surprise, though. He scored the winner out the back of a block in Round 3:
In Round 4, the Dolphins ran a similar play on both sides of the field only minutes apart but skipped Tabuai-Fidow as the Brocnos centres jammed.
They look left this time with Sean O’Sullivan throwing a lovely tunnel ball to Euan Aitken to put a hobbled Tesi Niu on the outside.
Minutes later and O’Sullivan has drifted over to the right side and thrown the same pass. Again the centre jams in on Tabuai-Fidow and again the Broncos defence scrambles to save the try.
They may not have produced points but these are the sort of things the Dolphins are doing well and still figuring out. It’s important that the attack continues to develop and doesn’t become stale behind toughness and grit. I, for one, am surprised at how quickly Tabuai-Fidow has taken to being the main attacking threat at the Dolphins. His ball-playing has impressed and his work rate is among the best in the NRL already. But, as Webster mentions, this is when it becomes difficult. Opposition teams will scheme for Tabuai-Fidow in the coming weeks, especially with O’Sullivan set to miss time.
Bennett and the Dolphins have laid the platform for a fairy tale run towards the NRL finals. How they adjust and develop in the coming weeks will go a long way to determining whether or not that fairy tale becomes a reality in September.
There it is, David Fifita!
Ask and you shall receive.
“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.” – Round 4 Notepad
The Gold Coast Titans ended up on the wrong side of the scoreboard and lost Kieran Foran and AJ Brimson to injuries. However, this try here is a big, big positive.
This time, he did pass it.
David Fifita has the potential to be lethal in this spot. He’s a brutal ball carrier that would be backed to win a one-on-one contest with any player in the NRL. It’s far from a perfect pass, arguably forward, but the fact he threw it is encouraging. Having spent the summer training on the right edge before Beau Fermor’s injury, perhaps he hasn’t spent a lot of time practising his right-to-left passing. This one wasn’t clean.
Still, if the Titans keep putting him in these spots and allow him to get in-game reps under pressure, the pass will develop and it’s difficult to see opposition defences containing this shape consistently.
On those injuries to AJ Brimson and Kieran Foran: Toby Sexton is a chance of returning to the NRL following a top-shelf performance for the Tweed Seagulls on Saturday evening. He had a hand in three tries and scored one himself in the first half. He changed the tempo of his runs to sit the defence down through the middle before sending the ball wide for his backline to produce points. If he can bring that form – the line engagement, in particular – to first grade, he will make for a competent replacement for Foran until the veteran is fit.
The Gutherson Situation
Michael Chammas of the Sydney Morning Herald reported that “the Parramatta Eels have held a conversation with skipper Clint Gutherson to inform him they will hit the market for a potential fullback option for this season.”
Strange…
They’re said to be looking for a “game breaker” to either start or bring off the bench.
Good luck finding one of those on the market four weeks into the NRL season…
Gutherson is one of the better fullbacks in the competition. He’s consistent, reliable, and his effort can never be questioned. He doesn’t have the physical presence of a Tom Trbojevic or the footwork and skill of a Kalyn Ponga, but Gutherson’s fitness allows him to provide the Eels with an option on the edge more often than not and his hands have produced 56 try assists since the start of the 2020 NRL season.
We constantly need to read between the lines when sifting through the NRL media, so there is a good chance that the Eels are simply looking for a backup fullback given the lack of options they have currently should Gutherson go down. Still, it’s an eye-brow-raising report following an impressive win over the Penrith Panthers in Round 4.
In some positive Eels news…
I loved the calmness and composure Mitchell Moses brought to the Eels in their field goal set. Even when it went awry just a touch, he organised for the ball to be played on the left post for him to swing his right foot through the ball and through the posts.
J’maine Hopgood’s carry is a beauty. It’s the sort of play-the-ball you can take a field goal behind, and perhaps showing some of his inexperience, Brendan Hands fires the ball to Moses who wants one more down the left tram line.
Still, with a tackle up their sleeve, Gutherson and Moses send Reagan Campbell-Gillard back to the left post to set up the shot.
Gutherson is in Moses’ pocket but the halfback is always kicking it. You can see in the broadcast after the match that he demanded the ball and looked more than comfortable with the game on the line.
You can tell a lot about a side in the way they go about their field goal set, even if the kick doesn’t go over. It’s a test of their structures under pressure and their ability to all be on the same page under fatigue with the game on the line.
While the Eels are 1-3 and not where they want to be on the ladder, the signs on the field remain positive. They still look like a Top 8 team.
Shock:
Originally prepared to consider the six again rule while holding huge concerns over how it would be implemented, it’s bittersweet to finally be at a point where the game is good again.
The path the NRL has taken to this point took us through predictably poor periods – a full season in 2021 – but here we are.
Per Footy Industry AU, Round 4 of this season saw 162,690 people through the gates taking the total across the opening four rounds up to 612,093. That marks the best season start since Super League – 11,000 clear of second.
From Reddit, the average winning margin so far this season is just 9.1 points per game.
This is the fourth week in a row I’ve been able to talk about how good the footy is here. Contests are quite clearly what brings people to games. The chance of causing an upset no doubt translates into more people travelling. Have we finally found the right balance?
The game is in a good spot. Long may it last.