Check-in with the Repeat Set every week to recap the latest round of NRL action. This week we’re digging into Ryan Matterson’s role, the Rabbitohs right edge, and a perfect Panthers field goal set.
Matterson making his mark
The Parramatta Eels played out a horror opening five rounds of the 2023 NRL season. Not only did they face tough opposition, but rested opposition. With only one win in the opening five rounds, panic started to set in. The 2022 Grand Finalist sat above only the lowly Wests Tigers.
Mitchell Moses has been on fire and has led the Parramatta attack. Somewhat encouragingly, they’ve scored points without Dylan Brown really firing, and the Josh Hodgson experiment has produced the up-and-down results you’d expect. Ryan Matterson frustratingly missed the start of the season, too.
But as players return the draw levels out, the Eels are looking dangerous. Some of their actions in Round 7 are particularly encouraging as they approach a four weeks of football that should end with them at least flirting with the Top 8, if not inside it.
Draw: Broncos, Knights, @ Titans, @ Raiders
Matterson is a big part of the Eels attack. Bigger than he’s often given credit, especially when the jokes flew as he sat on the sideline to start the season.
On the edge he’s an elite offloader and strong ball-runner. He’s a big body that can stand in the tackle. When the Eels are looking to shift the ball as they so often do, Matterson is one of the best passing big men in the NRL. We saw Moses play exactly to his offload ability for Parramatta to score their first on Sunday.
Moses starts on the left side of the tackle prior but as he sees the #8 of Max King turn to fill the short side A spot, the halfback springs into action.
Tevita Pangai Jr. isn’t a concern at marker given how wide Moses takes the ball and how quickly he gets downhill. Taking a couple of steps forward to square up King, Moses then steps off his left to bring Matt Burton into the tackle. The Bulldogs are scrambling now, and Jackson Topine can only attempt a desperate legs tackle as he tries to cover for his inside man.
Perfect.
Matterson doesn’t even try to push through the tackle. He knows what Moses is playing for, and so does Will Penisini – the offload.
Matterson hits the gap with his arms free, twists to find Penisini pushing up in support, and releases an offload for Parramatta to score their first of the afternoon.
The Eels are dangerous down the short side but have lacked the potency to start this season. However, with Matterson back to act as a tripe threat outside Moses on these raids, expect to see them spend more time down the short side in the coming weeks.
Targeting short sides isn’t only reserved for the minutes Matterson plays on the either. He played Shaun Lane into half a gap for an offload which translated into a short side raid on the following tackle.
It doesn’t eventuate into anything too dangerous on this occasion, but you can see the potential.
Having two big rigs in Matterson (194cm/107kg) and Lane (198cm/110kg) linking up in close quarters is a nightmare for the defence. They attract three defenders on their own, and if Lane can release an offload on the back of it, another one or two defenders can be brought in. Teams typically look to fill the short side first, but that can come at a cost if a middle forward is forced to fill an edge position.
It’s taken a few weeks for Matterson to really stand out for the Eels but he was a constant threat throughout his 61 minutes in Round 7. Interestingly, it’s the fewest minutes he’s played in the four games he’s featured this season. Brad Arthur loves to play his best players big minutes, but perhaps this is a sign that Matterson can be more effective in shorter stints?
The Eels have earned the right to start slow and assume improvement given their recent history. There are concerns defensively, but their attack is of a Top 8 quality and still getting better. Up against the best-attacking team in the NRL in the Brisbane Broncos in Round 8, we should start to get a good idea of where the Eels are at two months into the season. I don’t think they’re too far off the pace despite their ladder position.
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Rabbitohs rising NRL ladder
In a round the Melbourne Storm and Sydney Roosters lost before the Penrith Panthers played out what Nathan Cleary called their worst game of the NRL season so far, the South Sydney Rabbitohs produced an impressive victory on the road.
It’s the sort of win you want to see from the Rabbitohs. In previous years where they have run the opposition off the field early and weren’t always tested in yardage and defence, Souths absorbed a tough first half before turning the screws and pulling away in the second.
Souths are playing both sides of the field with their right edge proving to be a fruitful avenue for points. Where Latrell Mitchell’s office was typically out the back of shape on the left edge, he’s getting his hands on the ball down the right side in flatter run shapes more often this season. He’s tormenting the opposition defence with Campbell Graham and Keaon Koloamatangi around him and it feels like they’re only just starting to harness the attacking potential of this trio.
This Koloamatangi try is already one of my favourites this season.
He still isn’t receiving the credit he deserves, but like Graham, it will come…
Those tries and the impact scheming for them during the week no doubt has on the defence then creates further opportunities.
Kodi Nikorima is zeroed in on Koloamatangi here. He recognises the same shape with Mitchell out the back and plays for Lachlan Ilias playing short. This time, however, he plays out to Mitchell who holds up the ball for long enough to draw Euan Aitken into the tackle before Graham crashes over.
We’re going to see this a lot throughout the season. Especially when the Bunnies run up against halves that aren’t strong individual tacklers. Conscious of their inside man needing help, the centre struggles to jam in on Mitchell in these shapes. Even if they do, his hands are the best in the competition regardless of which side of the field he’s shovelling the ball onto his outside.
It feels as though the Rabbitohs are flying under the radar a little bit at the moment. Is it the expectation, not only to be up with the contenders but to end up falling short given their recent history?
Is it the 4-3 record that doesn’t reflect how well they’ve played across the opening seven rounds?
Dominating with the ball left and right and playing with the second-best defence in the NRL, the Bunnies are presenting everything you want in a premiership winner.
Strange Storm
“We played dumb tonight.”
Craig Bellamy said he doesn’t like using the word, but as he stumbled for an answer to the Melbourne Storm’s 18-8 loss to the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles on Friday night, he produced the word I somewhat expected.
The post-game press conference suggests Justin Olam and Tui Kamikamica will be in for an awkward review. Their sin-bins were unnecessary and took away an opportunity for the Storm to mount a comeback.
“We never gave ourselves a chance to win the game.”
Christian Welch referenced the Round 2 and Round 3 losses to the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs and Gold Coast Titans as similar to this one. That’s three of their seven games the Storm have been un-Storm-like. How many more before it is Storm-like?
There is an uncharacteristic lack of control and direction in the team. You could sit there with the score at 12-8 as it was on Friday night and be confident that the Storm would grind out the final 25 minutes and find the try to win it. Patient up the field, strong in defence, and calm. That hasn’t been the case with this group to start the 2023 NRL season.
Melbourne averaged only 7.9 handling errors last year. They’re up at 9.2 per game through seven games in this one. Cameron Munster, Jahrome Hughes and Harry Grant can pile up points on any defence in the competition if they’re given the chance. Simple errors kept the Storm to only 14 tackles inside the opposition’s 20-metre line in Round 7. While they might have one of the best spines in the NRL, the Storm aren’t putting them in a position to produce often enough at the moment.
There isn’t a stand-out premiership favourite right now so there is no writing the Storm off. However, there is a lot more to their required improvement than Ryan Papenhuyzen returning. I’m expecting to see a much-improved Storm on ANZAC Day with Bellamy sure to use the extra time he has between games to iron out a few of these issues.
Penrith Panthers: Field goal set perfection
Lost among the debate around whether or not the Newcastle Knights should have been given the right of reply* is the fact the Penrith Panthers completed about as good of a field goal set as you’re ever going to see.
I covered their ability to set and execute a game plan across 80 minutes last week. On Saturday night, they needed only one set in Golden Point to seal the result.
Cleary is the headline and the players jump all over him in the end, but he isn’t in such a good spot to take the shot without Spencer Leniu’s carry to start. Leinu’s monster carry on the kick return sets up Isaah Yeo to get on the front foot, pick out two smaller defenders in the line, and take more easy meters.
Mitch Kenny puts his hands up for a carry. Importantly, he’s quick to his elbows and knees and is able to get another quick play-the-ball away for Yeo to play on. The lock forward then tips Jaemon Salmon into the space between Tyson Frizell and Jackson Hastings.
It wasn’t on here, but it wouldn’t have been s surprise to see Salmon trigger a second phase.
Dylan Edwards is always going to get his hands on the ball at some stage in a set like this and he does an excellent job of pushing through the tackle and sending the defensive line backwards. He somehow spins to his front to beat the markers by just enough that they can’t get to Cleary after the ball has cleared the ruck.
With Yeo forcing Phoenix Crossland to travel that tiny bit further and seemingly all of the time in the world to kick it, Cleary splits the post to complete a superb set.
It’s these moments that separate the good from the great teams. They’d not played particularly well throughout the game, but with two competition points on the line and one set to claim them, the Panthers put everything they’d worked on at training into practice. They made it look easy in the end, too.
*They’ve tried it both ways in the NFL and nobody is ever happy
A beauty
As ABC’s Nick Campton said, “things happen when it’s your year.”
Shaun Johnson continued his impressive 2023 NRL season by laying on an absolute beauty for Josh Curran.
The double-pump…
Go back and watch the full set here. You won’t regret it.
No farce here
I’ve not spent a lot of time reading or writing about anything off the field to start the NRL season. You run out of ways to say the same thing in different ways…
However, I took exception to one angle thrown out by the usuals this week.
While the on-field product is better than it has been in years (Raiders v Dragons was horrendous this week, but a contest) and fans turn up to stadiums in record numbers, there is still a desperation in traditional media to find the negative.
Worse still this week, manufacture a negative.
Sure, there have been a lot of sin bins so far this year. More than in previous NRL seasons. Have there been many complaints, though? There will always be some, but it hasn’t felt like a massive talking point overall. The outrage doesn’t even stem from the loud minority this time…
I didn’t read the article – why bother? Matt Bungard may not have read it either, but he provided the best response to this apparent “farce”: “There’s no ‘farce’ and there’s certainly nothing that needs fixing. The first seven rounds of 2023 have been the most entertaining in recent history by a mile, only challenged by the start of the 2018 season – which was then spoiled by a different bout of manufactured outrage.”
Others have said all there is to say on a third-consecutive year of outrage-baiting Jack de Belin State of Origin stories, too.
Again, it’s another reminder to support and subscribe to independent rugby league media whether it be with your wallet or email address. It all helps.