NRL Repeat Set: Panic in Parradise, Reynolds wizardry & the Rabbitohs right edge

Check in with the Repeat Set for your Round 3 NRL recap. This week we check in on Parramatta’s rough start, break down a moment of Reynolds magic, and pick out the next trend that might be adopted league-wide.

– Panic In Parradise?
– Reynolds Is A Wizard
– Breaking down Koloamatangi’s ripper
– Trendy Tap Restarts
– Titans Rotation
– Yep, It’s A Beauty


Panic In Parradise?

The Parramatta Eels are 0-3 and the takes around them are searing hot.

For the most part, they’re calling an end to Parra’s season already. There is no coming back from this…

While being winless through three rounds with the Penrith Panthers and Sydney Roosters to come is far from ideal, there is more to consider at this time of the NRL season than wins and losses. The scoreboard only tells us so much. For Parramatta, 12, 26 and 30 points scored tell us that the attack isn’t so much of a problem.

Josh Hodgson is a strangely divisive figure within Eels and general NRL fan circles. He has performed well and put together some nice moments. In Round 3, he played a key part in attacking the space around Daly Cherry-Evans. The Manly Warringah Sea Eagles captain consistently turns in the lead runner down the right edge. He tends to bite and scramble across the field, putting pressure on his centre and winger to make quick decisions. Christian Tuipulotu is going to be criticised a lot for jamming in and conceding tries on his outside, but there will be plenty of times where those decisions are made for him further inside.

With that in mind, Hodgson, Dylan Brown and the Eels found success in that area on Thursday night.

The pair combined to set up Clint Gutherson’s 32nd-minute try.

They created a handful of encouraging moments throughout the match. The sort that will translate into points more often when Shaun Lane returns from injury.

On the right side, Mitchell Moses looked long and played short to expose another area of weakness in the Sea Eagles defensive line. Kelma Tulagi is a regular target in the line while Josh Schuster isn’t regarded as a particularly strong defender. As a new combination, Parramatta circled the pair and worked to a spot where they could execute a play directed straight at them.

I say all of that to say this: In Gutherson, Brown, Moses and Hodgson, the Eels have one of the best spines in the NRL and have proven – even in defeat – that scoring points isn’t an issue. They have Lane to return from injury and Ryan Matterson will make his season debut in Round 4.

Defensively, on the other hand, it’s difficult not to panic.

They’re a team that defends rather passively. They don’t work from the inside quite like the best defensive teams in the NRL and that puts their edges under regular pressure. Without Junior Paulo pushing up off the line at Josh Aloiai here, the Eels are effectively defending over half of the field with five players while Gutherson covers out the back as a late sixth.

The Eels middles are big bodies playing big minutes. It has its benefits for the Eels to be among the top teams in the NRL in yardage despite the results, but mobility in the middle in defence is part of the trade-off. So too is kick pressure. Another area of concern without the ball.

In a way that tends to happen on social media “not panic stations” translated to some as “the Eels are perfectly fine.”

They’re not – obviously. They’ve started the season on the back foot and face a tough task already if they’re to recover well enough to threaten another Grand Final. But it’s too early to write them off entirely. This is still a Top 8 calibre team. If they can clean up a few things defensively and start to have their best team out on the field from this week, the results will turn.


Reynolds Is A Wizard

Adam Reynolds is the most complete kicker in the NRL. Out of yardage or in good ball, he puts it on the spot more often than not, and his ability with the boot is no doubt a focus for the opposition every week.

Sometimes it just doesn’t matter how much you prepare for an opposition player, they’ll still get you on the day. Reynolds did just that to the St George-Illawarra Dragons on Saturday night as he absolutely bamboozled their left edge defence in the build-up to Selwyn Cobbo scoring.

Just watch Zac Lomax here as Reynolds engages the four-in defender while shaping to kick.

Lomax is up on his line and square to start – good. He is in a position to bite on the lead line or slide onto Walsh out the back of the block depending on what trigger Reynolds pulls.

Weary of Reynolds’ boot, he turns at the first sign of a kick. But as Reynolds pulls the ball back in and fires it out the back to Reece Walsh, Lomax has his back turned. He does a great job of recovering as well as he did, but as we saw in Round 2, Walsh’s electric speed is enough to skip to the outside and pull the defence out of shape.

Rugby League is often belittled as a “simple” game. It is to a point. However, it’s the minor details that allow a few players to truly dominate. Reynolds shaping to kick is a split-second action that has a massive impact on the decisions of the defensive line. In this case, it secured the Broncos the win.

As Walsh and Ezra Mam become household names over the next few years, just keep an eye on Reynolds and the impact he has on getting them there.


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Breaking Down Keaon Koloamatangi’s Ripper

This South Sydney Rabbitohs right edge, man…

We know the left edge can create when required, but with how this right edge is performing, it’s only a matter of time before the Bunnies start piling up wins.

They fell to their arch rival Sydney Roosters in Round 3 but scored one of my favourite tries of the weekend.

As Tevita Tatola settles to split the right post and the sideline, keep an eye on Latrell Mitchell out the back. He sees something he likes and after appearing to be heading left, swings around to the short side.

Without being able to read Mitchell’s mind, I’m guessing he knows the Roosters tend to defend fairly tight to leave space on the outside. He also spots his big back rower in Keaon Koloamatangi lined on the much smaller Luke Keary. Mitchell adds the extra number to the short side before Koloamatangi and Lachlan Ilias link up to score a beauty.

The reverse angle shows two things:

a) Koloamatangi’s perfect slip line to Keary’s outside shoulder

b) Mitchell pulling the centre out of the line creating the space for Koloamatangi to slip through

It looks as though Koloamatangi is going to hit the gap between Keary and Egan Butcher. With that in mind, Joseph Sua’ali’i has a decision to make on Mitchell – hold or jam. However, with Butcher a little timid on Ilias (likely looking to leave early having seen Mitchell swing), Koloamatangi can step off his left foot at the last moment as Sua’ali’i decides to jam.

Perfection.

Koloamatangi is one of the best back rowers in the NRL and can spot up in the middle when required. As the Rabbitohs look right with the ball more and more, the 24-year-old is starting to receive the recognition he deserves as an elite player in the competition.


Trendy Tap Restarts

It has been something I’ve been keeping an eye on for a while, and it looks as though some teams are starting to look for a pass on these 20-metre restarts more often.

We saw a few towards the back end of last season. In Round 3, Bradman Best collected a kick, raced to the tap, and released a pass straight away which led to Lachie Miller racing away to score.

It looks planned…

Tyson Gamble knew where to be as soon as Best caught the ball and got on his bike. Like most defences, the Dolphins reloaded from the middle out. The kick chase is always going to struggle to get back into the defensive line from this spot, so racing to the tap and passing into the space the kick chase should be defending is a smart play.

It is done at speed but isn’t particularly high risk. It generates good yardage and puts the attacking team on the front foot to start a seven-tackle set at the very least.

I expect we will see a few more instances in the coming weeks and for the approach to become fairly common NRL-wide in the end.


Titans Rotation

A lot of people have spent a lot of time trying to figure out how Justin Holbrook and the Gold Coast Titans will juggle their playmaker rotations. Not many saw Kieran Foran being given a spell coming…

Justin Holbrook talked about needing Foran’s experience at the back end of the game and seeing Tanah Boyd’s successful return from an HIA as an opportunity to give his veteran half a rest.

It makes sense in the end. It isn’t something he expects to happen all that often either.

“If it’s an eight o’clock game and it’s 28 degrees he [Foran] stays on there.”

Where Campbell pops up remains a mystery week-to-week.

“It’s always hrad when you’ve got Jayden Campbell on the bench. Where does he play and how long?”

Holbrook had the “luxury” of putting Campbell in the centres to replace Brian Kelly who was playing in his first game of the NRL season. While Campbell came up with some big plays late in this one, it’s not difficult to imagine opposition teams scheming for him out there if this becomes a regular occurrence. He plays above his weight but there are some massive centres out there that he will struggle to stay in front of if he’s isolated in the line.

The Titans will certainly take 2-1 after three rounds. However, they still seem some way off from knowing their best 17 and how to roll it out on the day.

MORE ON TITANS v STORM: “They made the most of their luck to meet a Storm side far from their best in Round 3 but will need to improve significantly to beat the Cowboys next week.”


Yep, It’s A Beauty

I’ve been reluctant to lean all the way into this being the season rugby league returns to its best following three years of relative struggle. The quality of the games for this time of the season and the numbers behind the contests are appealing, though.

From Shane on Twitter: The first three rounds of the 2023 NRL season were decided by an average margin of 8.6 points per game – the lowest of any season in the opening three rounds since 1975 (7.4 pts).

Those in charge of the NRL thought it was all about tries and points. They thought wrong. Contests are what the people want, and contests are what the people are getting.

Upsets, too.

From Reddit: The Top 8 teams from last season have only won 34.9% of their games to start this one. That is by far the lowest mark at this point across the last ten years. Top 8 teams won over 50% of their games in seven of those seasons. Narrow it down to the Top 4, and they’ve won only 27.3%. The 2018 NRL season, which I regularly mention as the best in recent years, registers the next lowest mark at 50%.

Not every game of rugby league is going to be of the highest quality, but it doesn’t need to be. We wouldn’t watch cup or club footy if we only ever wanted to watch the best games. Instead, we’re getting close contests and plenty of games going down to the wire. With it, we’re seeing more game plans in action for longer and less the ‘just keep punching the middle until the opposition is tired and we can fall over the line through tired defenders’ approach of recent seasons past.

Welcome back, rugby league.

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