If the beers are cold and the afternoon’s long enough we’d be talking footy all day, every day until kickoff on Thursday night. With so much to review, let’s break down some of the key plays each week in the NRL.
Warriors: Finding the positives
Despite a colossal injury toll, the Sydney Roosters played out a gritty 20-12 win over the New Zealand Warriors in Round 2 of the NRL regular season. They’re still not looking like second-line premiership favourites ($6 at time of writing) but there were signs of improvement for the tri-colours in Round 2.
With Victor Radley on the sidelines, Luke Keary and Sam Walker shared the first-receiver role and combined effectively in attack. They worked to the edges before searching down short sides or playing with space on the open side of the field. Thank you to Paddy for sending in a question about the Roosters attack in 2023 – I’ll do a deep dive this week in my Round 3 Heads In! NRL preview.
For now though, I want to focus on the Warriors.
We’re 160 minutes into Andrew Webster’s tenure as an NRL head coach and the early signs are good. The Warriors are employing an effective offence that gets the most out of their key players in both the pack and outside backs. They’re also defending their try line with a resilience and cohesion that wasn’t there in season’s past. Both qualities saw the Warriors almost upset a desperate Roosters side in Round 2 so instead of focussing on the result, lets have a look at the positives we can take from their performance.
Instead of tasking his forwards with tucking the ball under the arm and marching downfield, Webster has his pack playing to their strengths. Addin Fonua-Blake, Tohu Harris and Mitch Barnett are fair yardage merchants but all three have a ballplaying skillset that belies their big bodies. Throw in Dylan Walker off the bench and you’ve got a pack that can move the ball smartly across the park.
That’s exactly what they did in Round 2.
Harris is in his element in actions like this. He’s got a good feel of when to pass or when to carry the ball himself and he disguises his selection expertly. Harris’ involvements in these two tackles helps the Warriors to a 25+ metre gain as they test a fresh Roosters defence on both edges. Josh Curran gets at an isolated Sam Walker in the first tackle and then Adam Pompey puts some footwork on a sliding defensive line on the second – both positive outcomes.
The Warriors are all of a sudden in attacking field position and with tackles up their sleeve. Rather than settle for a fifth tackle kick, they again fall into shape with Shaun Johnson chiming in at pivot this time and Harris adopting the second-receiver role.
Despite the positional switch, the Warriors ball movement is seamless.
Johnson compresses the defence perfectly here to strip Easts for numbers on the edge before throwing out the back. The Warriors now have a four-on-three situation out wide with the winger back waiting for a kick, and Harris knows it. He doesn’t overplay his hand and instead shuffles the ball quickly on to Te Maire Martin outside him. A looping cut-out pass from Martin beats the jamming defence to hit Marcelo Montoya on the chest and you’d be forgiven for going off early here. Instead, some good cover defence from Easts brings the big winger down short of the line.
The positives; the Warriors have now gone coast-to-coast-to-coast all in the space of five tackles and looked likely throughout. The negative; Martin choosing to bring a fifth-tackle kick down on top of Joseph Suaali’i and Daniel Tupou on the right edge to close out the set.
It’s not all perfect for the Warriors but the positives were there to see, and it wasn’t long before they created another ‘almost moment’ on the other side of the field.
From a set start near halfway, the Warriors again let the ball do the work as they search across-field.
Walker’s involvements were noticable in Round 2 as another distributing option through the middle third. He runs the decoy for Harris in this action before using some footwork to get between Lindsay Collins and Naufahu Whyte on the following play.
Fonua-Blake is the next cab off the rank, slotting in at pivot and stretching Easts defence as the Warriors work from edge to edge.
He doesn’t disguise things quite as well as Harris or Walker, but Fonua-Blake’s threat as a ball runner prevents the defence from sliding off too quickly – no matter how premeditated the pass. He helps get Barnett one-on-one with Luke Keary before Josh Curran lays down the left edge and opens up the field for a fourth-tackle shift.
Walker is the guy in the box seat this time.
He engages the line with a crabbing, cross-field run before straightening and passing to his halfback. Johnson then throws a peach across the face of Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad to beat the rushing defence, getting Pompey and Edward Kosi into space. Again its only the effort of the game’s best fullback that denies the Warriors on this occasion.
Eventually though, the Warriors fluidity through the middle of the field turned into points.
Harris’ presence at pivot and the effect it has on the defence here cannot be understated.
The Roosters all work sideways off their line as he takes possession, expecting another shift to the open side or at the very least a settler towards the posts. Instead, Harris swivels and passes back towards what is a disjointed mess around the ruck. The markers are stuck in the mud as the ball goes right, then left, then right into the hands of a flying Johnson back on the inside….
That’s as good a set play as we’ll see in the NRL this season.
Having found some joy around the ruck, the Warriors continued moving the ball to create space on the edges.
They tested the decision making and positioning of Egan Butcher and Suaali’i a few times early in the game, drawing a penalty when Suaali’i hit Nicoll-Klokstad after passing.
Both Butcher and Suaali’i only had eyes for the ball carrier in this action, and when Marata Niukore poured through a hole midway through the second half it became clear what the Warriors were working towards.
Harris and Johnson fall into familiar shape here as the Warriors swing it right.
Harris and Fonua-Blake running in pairs attracts no less than five Roosters towards the ball. By the time Harris throws out the back to Johnson the overlap has already been created, and Butcher knows it. Harris’ work in engaging the line forces Butcher to break from his defensive systems and chase down his man when the pass goes outside him, leaving a yawning hole back on the inside for Niukore to run through.
A lovely pass to Fonua-Blake in support does the rest.
Having impressed with their ball movement in attack and resilience in defence, it was disappointing to see the Warriors waste multiple chances to clinch the result as the clock wound down. An Egan linebreak eventuated in nothing when Walker put a poor grubber kick in on the following tackle, and soft handling errors on both edges cruelled otherwise promising backline movements.
I’m happy to focus on the positives for now, though.
Execution and composure under pressure are attributes we afford to the best teams in the NRL. We need to give the Warriors time to get comfortable in the big moments, but we can still credit their intent in the meantime.
Having Harris, Fonua-Blake and Walker work interchangably as distributors through the middle spells danger for opposing defensive systems. The variety with which the Warriors can move the ball this NRL season should make for an attack that is as hard to predict as it is to defend. It’s a perfect blueprint for how this roster should use the footy in 2023 and its a tactic that will only improve as cohesion and combinations develop.
I had another three or four gifs cut highlighting the Warriors resolute goal-line defence in this game, but for the sake of the word count I’ll leave it for another day. If they can continue defending their own try line as effectively as they did in Round 2, the Warriors will guarantee an improvement on their 15th placed finish in 2022.
There’s Always Next Week For…
… the Wests Tigers
The Newcastle Knights lost Kalyn Ponga in the opening sets and Jayden Brailey didn’t make it to halftime. Tyson Frizell spent the best part of the second half on the sidelines and the Knights also navigated a Dom Young sinbinning and a send off for Jacob Saifiti.
Despite all this, the Wests Tigers scored just 12 rugby league points and conceded three to start their 2023 NRL season 0-and-2.
The pass-happy brand of football Wests are playing with is not working, two games in.
They had almost 50 tackles inside the Knights 20m line in Round 2 but couldn’t find points as poor handling and decision making crippled any opportunities they earned for themselves. They look rudderless and disorganised in attack and there didn’t seem to be a plan with the ball, both within sets and throughout the game as a whole.
“Tim Sheens will be struggling to take any positives out of that one.”
– NRL Round 2 Scores & Team Grades
The Tigers inability to work to certain on the field and set up for scoring opportunities later in the set is frustrating given the potential around Adam Doueihi and the Tigers right edge in good ball. It’s also preventing Api Koroisau from manipulating the ruck over the course of multiple tackles and employing his craft and deception to isolate defenders in the line.
I’m not prepared to do away with what is clearly an offensive system Tim Sheens worked hard on over the summer. Another performance like their Round 2 loss to an embattled Knights outfit though and it might be back to the drawing board for the Tigers.
NRL Round 2 Shout Outs
J’Maine Hopgood – The fantasy football world is already head over heels in love with this guy, but for those not playing along at home – it’s time you take note. Hopgood put in a performance Isaah Yeo or Cameron Murray would be proud of in Round 2. Tipping or offloading to teammates around the ruck, tackling anything that moves and pushing up in support of the ball carrier from the first to the 79th minute. A special talent and a joy to watch – he will play Origin football sooner rather than later.
Jake Averillo & Jacob Kiraz – I really could’ve put Canterbury’s entire backline in this graphic, but I’m happy to shout-out Averillo and Kiraz for now.
The Bulldogs caught Melbourne (and the rest of the NRL) by surprise in Round 2 with some enterprising football all the way up the park. Shifting from edge to edge put fatigue into the Storm’s defensive line and they couldn’t contain Averillo or Kiraz when they slid to the edges. We won’t see these kinds of numbers every week but it’s a sign of good coaching and great on-field execution. Love to see it.
Ezra Mam – Doing a superb job as Adam Reynold’s partner-in-crime so far this season. He’s an active contributor to the Broncos attack with a pass, kick or run and is more than holding his own in defence, too. The Reynolds / Mam / Walsh combination is one to keep an eye on as the year progresses. They’re still a relatively unfamiliar trio but could be one of the NRL’s best by season’s end.
Jahrome Hughes & Eli Katoa – They were running around my head all last week and they did not disappoint in Round 2. Katoa finished the game with three linebreaks to his name and a try that was called back for an obstruction. Melbourne mightn’t have got the win over Canterbury but they’ve got a winning combination in Hughes and Katoa on the right edge.