Recap the latest round of the 2023 NRL season with the Repeat Set as we break down some of the best plays from the weekend.
– The art of kick defence
– Reynolds the Hypnotist
– Blowout Round
– Hastings ran it
– Roosters reeling
Storm v Panthers: A kick defence masterclass
The Melbourne Storm have been the most consistent club in the competition for roughly 20 years. Of late, the Penrith Panthers have set the bar across three consecutive NRL Grand Finals with a fourth on the horizon.
We could go through all of the elite players, big wins and clutch performances to paint a picture of their dominance. However, it’s the little things that make these two teams so good for so long. The things that don’t show up on the stats pages and in SuperCoach scores.
Every NRL team knows about the little things. Every NRL team puts them into action at some point. No two teams are as consistent with them as the Storm and Panthers, though.
Here we’re going to focus on the often ignored art of kick defence, take a look at a couple of big units completing the little tasks, and how little movements can have a big impact on a set start and finish.
Fisher-Harris applying pressure
His numbers are down on last year but James Fisher-Harris remains as one of the most underrated props in the NRL thanks to the finer details. His effort areas are incredible and were once again on full display in Round 18. Despite defending in the middle and plying his trade as one of the strongest defenders in the NRL, Fisher-Harris finds more fuel in the tank to end a set.
With one big effort to apply pressure on Cameron Munster, he forced an error and allowed the Panthers to travel into the Storm 20-metre zone on the following set.
Munster is one of the best kickers in the NRL from this spot on the field but when you’ve got Fisher-Harris barreling down at you, even the best can get it wrong. The big Kiwi’s effort here is the difference between conceding a try or having 99 metres to travel and falling behind in the territory battle, or earning free passage to the 20-metre line and an extra tackle.
Big Nelson’s little burst
When you think of Nelson Asofa-Solomna you think of a massive unit doing massive unit things. Running hard, skittling defenders, getting his arms free to offload the ball and putting on big shots in defence.
He leveled Isaah Yeo in a highlight-reel moment only two minutes after Fisher-Harris’ big play, but his surge a Jarome Luai on the last tackle proved to be the most important action of the set.
Working hard from the inside, Asofa-Solomona flies at Luai just as he’s setting himself up to kick the ball. It’s only a small effort but by speeding up on his run and attacking Luai rather than taking the easy option and allowing him to get the kick away with an extra half-second, Asofa-Solomona forces the error and a seven-tackle set.
Fittingly, the Storm used that set to move up the field and Asofa-Solomona is rewarded for his effort a minute earlier with a try.
Kick pressure is all about effort and often goes unnoticed and without reward. Sometimes, it’s there for all to see…
The dark arts
Defending teams still have the opportunity to make a play if the kick pressure isn’t effective. No team is better at planting hurdles in the road of the kick chase than the Storm.
Just look at the work Munster and Justin Olam do off the ball here, how it impacts the kick chase, and how far up the field Xavier Coates can travel as a result. Shoutout to Yeo’s block on Tariq Sims’ attempted kick pressure, too.
Both Munster and Olam pull up short and impact the defence. Munster sends Liam Martin off track which allows Coates to wrong-foot him. Olam’s work on Stephen Crichton stops the Panthers centre from moving forward and closing the space Coates ultimately runs through.
Just like that, the Storm have moved the ball almost 20 metres up the field on tackle one.
Plenty will debate the legality of it all, but it’s a masterclass in the dark arts.
Starting a set before taking possession
The Panthers find ways to help their back five generate their NRL-best yardage and effectively start their next set before even taking possession.
While Brian To’o (202m per game), Sunia Turuva (168m) and Dylan Edwards (218m) are all excellent kick returners in their own right and Izack Tago (161m) and Stephen Crichton (120m) are no strangers to a yardage carry, the platform they’re given to do so deserves more attention.
Where some defensive edges will turn, trackback behind the ball and hope for the best from their winger, the Panthers continue to work for each other. Here, Luai, Izack Tago and Jack Cogger provide Turuva with a clean catch to kickstart the set.
He takes the ball cleanly and isn’t wrapped up and pushed back in a dominant tackle to slow the play-the-ball. Instead, he can quickly jump to his feet for Tago to begin Penrith’s response in a relatively quick fashion.
If the kick chase gets it wrong just as Olam did here thanks to Cogger’s work off the ball, the Panthers soon take control of the territory battle.
All of the numbers make for good reading but it’s the actions that happen in the build-up that make them possible.
Regardless of the final score on Friday night and whether or not one of these two teams ends up winning the NRL Grand Final, we can confidently say that their respective dynasties are built on the little things.
Reynolds the Hypnotist
Adam Reynolds performed his hypnosis on the Dolphins right edge defence to set up two tries in six minutes on Saturday night.
Holding the ball out in front to turn Isaiya Katoa and Valynce Te Whare into statues for a split second, the Broncos halfback put Ezra Mam onto the outside of the two-in defender for Herbie Farnworth to crash over the line.
Six minutes later and it’s more of the same. This time he has more room to move and adds a tempo change to his run. Once again Katoa and Te Whare are mesmerized by the subtleties of Reynolds’ movement and stop in their tracks. Simple early ball puts Farnworth on the outside at speed and the Dolphins defence can’t wake up quick enough to scramble.
Reynolds turns 33 years old next week but shows no signs of slowing down. If anything the game is slowing down around him and he’s doing whatever he likes to the defence when his forwards lay a platform.
Reece Walsh has occupied most of the headlines in Brisbane this year but Reynolds is the key component to a premiership push. If the Broncos reach the NRL Grand Final, it will be on the back of plays like these.
Blowout Round
North Queensland Cowboys 74 def. Wests Tigers 0
Newcastle Knights 66 def. Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs 0
Cowboys and Knights fans will have loved the results from the weekend but both games bring back bad memories of recent years past in which every other game was over by halftime. Blowout results will happen, but it’s not often we get two this big in a single round:
While it’s a nightmare from an analysis perspective, I’m not too worried at the moment. A result like this has been coming for both the Tigers and Bulldogs given the recent form of the two. Wests are figuring things out and dealing with injuries in key positions. Meanwhile, Cameron Ciraldo hasn’t been able to name anything close to his best 17 for most of the 2023 NRL season.
There isn’t a lot to learn from games like these. Although, this try is a masterpiece:
Hastings ran it, too
Jackson Hastings said he would be looking to run the ball more often to finish the NRL season and it took him only 12 minutes to break through the line to score on Sunday.
The space around Jayden Okunbor and Khaled Rajab always felt like a good source of points for the Knights and Hastings exposed them to perfection early.
Using a set piece from the scrum, an Enari Tuala lead line turned Okubor in as a Hastings dummy and the threat of Kalyn Ponga turned Rajab out to present a gaping hole.
Another big tick from scrum lovers.
Roosters Reeling
13th – 7 wins, 9 losses, 2 byes, -92 PD
I can’t quite believe the Sydney Roosters haven’t put it all together yet.
You could see on Sunday night that effort isn’t in question. Playing with only 43% possession, the Chooks did remarkably well to stay in it until the last set of the game while also winning the yardage battle. However, you could also see where it is going wrong in that final set.
James Tedesco went close in the first play from the scrum but from there, Joseph Manu – their most dangerous player on the night – touched the ball only once; a standing start with the defence set and ready to pounce.
Two shifts across the field looked terribly clunky as Jared Waerea-Hargreaves and Victor Radley struggled to move the ball around mistimed lead lines. Drew Hutchison’s decision to play short from dummy half as Tedesco chased for a kick that never came is one he might want back. With one final play to win it, the ball ended up in the hands of the 20-year-old Sandon Smith playing in only his fifth NRL game.
Brandon Smith is due back soon. So too is Sam Walker. The Roosters weren’t playing particularly well when the pair were healthy, though. With a Round 19 bye to get healthy and iron out the issues that have plagued their attack all season, their Round 20 battle with the Melbourne Storm will be their biggest game of the NRL season so far. Win, and there is hope. Lose and the hill up and into the Top 8 might be too high to climb with only seven games to play.