There is a lot to cover after every round in the NRL. Throughout the 2024 season, this is a place where I’ll cover what is most important, a few little things I liked from the round, something to keep an eye on in the next one, and a try I particularly enjoyed.
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What you’ll get in this NRL Round 11 Review:
- How Harry Grant dominated the Eels
- “How did the Wilson try happen?”
- Wounded Warriors
- Heads poking through the line
- Sam Walker’s footwork
The Tough Carry: How Grant dominated the Eels
Tackle 1 is often the toughest carry of the set. It can make or break it. Here, it’s my biggest talking point from the round that was.
An out-of-form Harry Grant is still one of the best hookers in the NRL. But with a struggling Parramatta Eels team in front of him in Round 11, the 26-year-old took the opportunities in front of him to recapture his best. Fittingly, it comes at a time when the Melbourne Storm, and probably the Queensland Maroons, just lost Munster.
Grant will need to shoulder more of the attacking load for both teams, and we saw on Sunday how he’s likely to do it.
It became clear early that Grant would have plenty of opportunities to scoot out of dummy half. The Eels defence noticeably struggled, falling off tackles, being left on the ground and getting late back into the line.
With Shawn Blore able to poke his head through and stand in the tackle, he left Dylan Brown behind to earn a quick play-the-ball which allows Grant to scoot and pick up easy metres on the first set of the game.
Grant and the Storm did a good job of picking out the right defenders all night, generating ruck speed and the opportunities to pounce.
Here, they roll from one edge to the other via one through the middle. Will Warbrick’s carry is the key for not only building momentum, but he engages the four-man, leaves one on the ground (arrow), and forces Reagan Campbell-Gillard (circled) to travel to the short side.
Grant uses the speed of the play-the-ball to jump out and engage the marker. With Campbell-Gillard not the quiest laterally, he makes the decision to press press on Tyran Wishart, leaving Sua Fa’alogo to fly past his inside shoulder.
Grant later benefited from a similar play where he started the move down the short side before being rewarded for pushing up through the middle.
It starts from a kickoff where the Storm roll to the far side. Grant’s wide pass puts Alec MacDonald onto Dylan Brown for a quick play-the-ball. With it, Bryce Cartwright is slow to marker and Grant is able to jump out and send Josh King straight at Joey Lussick.
Again it’s Cartwright late into the line. That creates the numerical advantage on the short side, and Grant spots it.
In what is a worrying sign for where Parramatta is at right now, Grant is the only player in the frame after Xavier Coates flies down the sideline and sends a grubber back inside for his hooker.
Sorry, Parra fans. There is one more and it’s all too familiar.
Again it comes from a kick off. The Storm roll to the same part of the field as they have done previously, first through Lussick, and next through Brown and Cartwright.
With Trent Loiero able to bump out of Brown’s tackle up high while leaving Cartwright on the ground, Grant jumps. He dives in behind the ruck to engage the A defenders on both sides to send his teammates into the backfield to score.
It won’t always come this easily for Grant. Parramatta weren’t up to the contact on Sunday night, and the ruck speed that produces is the perfect scenario for him to dominate.
But with his halfback already in the stands and his five-eighth unable to make it to halftime, Grant took control of the game to lead his team to victory.
Round 11 was Grant at his very best, and it’s come at the right time for Melbourne and Queensland.
Quick play-the-ball: Wilton going over untouched & the wounded Warriors
We’re generating momentum through the middle of the article with a couple of quick carries.
“How did the Wilton try happen?”
That’s what I left in my notes after half-seeing the try scored on my phone while boarding a flight.
It looked too easy, but it’s a nicely-constructed try that plays to the Sharks’ principles and captures how good they are this season.
It comes from a Briton Nikora half-break. He charges through the middle, going close to the line and stressing the defence in the process. The Roosters are tight around the ruck which can see teams look to go too wide too soon. The Sharks, however, reload quickly through the middle to place a lead either side of the four-in defender.
It keeps the space on the edges where Nicho Hynes is able to capitalise on the four-v-three for Wilton to dive over untouched.
Like last year, the Sharks are still a team that play to cues really well. They shape up better across the field now, though. They’re ready to play both sides, and that allowed them to make this look so easy.
Wounded Warriors
No Rocco Berry, Kurt Capewell, Tohu Harris, Chanel Harris-Tavita, Shaun Johnson, Freddy Lussick, Luke Metcalf, Marata Niukore or Roger Tuivasa-Sheck.
The New Zealand Warriors beating the Penrith Panthers, even without Nathan Cleary, must be the upset of the NRL season through 11 rounds.
“We beat a really good side and I was happy the way we went about it. Just so tough and resilient and they just cared so much about making sure we did what we wanted to do.” – Andrew Webster
Setting up for a shot: Heads poking through
Teams play to points with the following tackle in mind. Here, I’m touching on something to watch next week as we try to keep ahead of things happening on the field.
“This could get ugly.”
It was only 6-0 to the Storm after 10 minutes at the time, but the game had a feeling to it already. Parramatta struggled to control the ruck from the outset. While making their tackles, they weren’t always effective. Melbourne pushed through contact too easy and left too many players on the ground.
The Eels only missed 35 tackles for the match. That might sound like a big number to some, but it’s roughly average. You could see they weren’t effective enough though.
Missed tackles aren’t a great reflection of individual defence. You need to be in position to make a tackle to miss it. Simple raw tackle numbers don’t paint an accurate picture of effectiveness either.
With the speed of the game getting back to normal following the six-again disaster, there is more detail in generating quick play-the-balls and momentum. The Storm made it look easy by constantly picking on the same players in Round 11 and poking their head through the line. I’m looking to see whether the Rabbitohs do similar to them in Round 12, and keeping a closer eye on who teams target across the NRL overall.
Try Time: Walker’s footwork
Sometimes, it’s a piece of magic. Other times, it’s a basic move made to look easy. Whatever it is, all great sets end in points, so we’re doing the same here.
There was some silly commentary around Sam Walker last season.
He burst onto the NRL scene in 2021 and slowed down a touch in 2022. Unsurprisingly, playing close to two full seasons as an 18 and 19 year-old took its toll and saw him dropped for a period in 2023.
But Walker is playing exceptionally well to start the 2024 NRL season and the build up to this Dom Young try shows his development.
He’s always had the step. Teams know to expected the big right foot back inside now. This takes his game to another level, though.
The in and away stands up Daniel Atkinson at three-man. Watch his footwork and how he ends up on his heels which causes Kayal Iro to do the same outside him. A quick bounce off his left and early pass to Joseph Sua’ali’i is enough to scramble the edge defence and for Young to go over untouched.
It’s another halfback play that doesn’t feature in the stats pages, but this try is all about Walker. He’s maturing as a footy player and learning how to make best use of his strongest attributes.
The Roosters are getting better every week, and a lot of it is on the back of their improving young half.