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.
What you’ll get in this NRL Round 26 Review:
- How the Dolphins broke the Broncos down
- Wishart selling a dummy
- Missed tackle statistics
- Kalyn Ponga’s possessions
- Shaun Johnson’s last pass
The Tough Carry: How the Dolphins broke the Broncos down
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.
Consider this wiping the cake off my face after, relatively confidently, tipping the Brisbane Broncos to beat the Dolphins on Saturday night.
Where I’d liked the look of the Broncos through the middle of the field, the Dolphins dominated the edges. They circled the space around the three- and four-in defenders, particularly on their right edge, and executed inside and out to score four tries.
The first came following a long shift to the edge but follows the same principles we will see shortly on the right edge. They’re a team blessed with incredible speed out wide and look to utilise it by engaging the three-man to put their speed on the outside of the two-in defender.
I’m not sure whether or not it’s something the Dolphins played towards specifically, but the Broncos having two markers and a defender down the shortside here is noteworthy. It ultimately sees them with four defenders inside the tap line.
It’s simple hands to the edges where the Dolphins run the same shape again. However, with so many Broncos players camped on one side of the field, the Dolphins are presented with acres of space.
Jake Averillo makes a line for the three-man while Felise Kaufusi runs a lead inside two. With it, Herbie Farnworth is able to catch the ball on the outside of Selwyn Cobbo, and his speed is too much for the Broncos edge to handle with that much space.
The Dolphins threw similar looks at the Broncos. There is another example of the two markers and shortside defender ahead of a long shift to the right, which the Broncos defended.
They didn’t move away from the game plan while down a man. In fact, they somewhat used it to their advantage by attacking that space when the defending teams might assume they would stay away.
Channelling down the left edge from a tap start, the Dolphins have again bunched the Broncos line. They’ve overloaded their right edge, and you can see Pat Carrigan pointing, but it’s all too late. Tevita Pangai Jr is able to stand in the tackle, which further limits the Broncos from filling their line, and they’re again left with five defending a large area of the field.
It’s slightly different; the lead is inside four and Brendan Piakura bites. With Josh Rogers left on an island, he makes a desperate tackle but isn’t able to wrap up Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow before he offloads the ball to a trailing Averillo.
The Dolphins have made good use of the time and space afforded to them at this point. The Broncos haven’t been aggressive enough from the inside and it has cost them.
So, as the Broncos adjusted, so too did the Dolphins.
The Broncos are down a man late in the first half. It’s more important than ever that they work hard from the inside to make up for the man. Again the Dolphins look to target the three-man, but as Piakura looks to surge hard from the inside, Averillo drops Herbie Farnworth back underneath.
Blake Mozer had made three tackles and been left on the ground once already in the set. He’s gassed and can’t secure the speedy Farnworth around the legs.
With Brisbane back to their full compliment of players, the Dolphins went back to the well. Sean O’Sullivan creates the look they want by dropping Kenny Bromwich to the middle.
He does a great job of poking his head through the line and generating a quick play-the-ball. Brisbane are again struggling around the ruck to effectively be left with three markers. With it comes the five-man longside the Dolphins have already beaten earlier.
O’Sullivan shovels the ball onto Averillo who is able to quickly engage the three-man. Piakura again tries to cover the inside while Payne Haas has an eye on the far corner. As Kaufusi fades out, Farnworth drops under to take the space and all but seal the game.
I raised an eyebrow at Wayne Bennett dropping Isaiya Katoa to the bench. However, the Dolphins came up with the goods. They identified areas of the field they wanted to play around and found points in a variety of different ways.
Their attack hasn’t been particularly dominant throughout the NRL season. But if they’re to produce the same against the Newcastle Knights in Round 27 and advance to the Finals, they can cause a few problems in September.
Quick play-the-ball: Wishart selling it & missed tackle numbers
We’re generating momentum through the middle of the article with a couple of quick carries.
Wishart selling a dummy
I covered both the North Queensland Cowboys and Melbourne Storm using the wraparound scrum a fortnight ago. Fittingly, we got another example of subtleties at scrum time when the two went head-to-head on Thursday night.
As a user of the wrap scrum themselves, the Cowboys wanted to warn the Storm off it by putting three either side of the scrum despite it leaving them short a number on one side. Instead, they would task their half and backrower to break quickly and create that fourth man as soon as the ball is picked up from the back of the scrum.
However, Tyran Wishart played for it and scored a beauty.
You can see Jeremiah Nanai only has eyes for Cameron Munster at first receiver. He breaks hard but doesn’t check the lock at the back of the scrum before putting pressure on Munster.
It looks so simple, but it’s not. Melbourne would have picked it up earlier in the week and game-planned for it if the opportunity presented itself.
Missed Tackles
We don’t have a lot of great statistics publicly available in the NRL. We’re left with limited numbers and numbers that don’t always tell us a lot.
Missed tackles are the most miss-used stats we’ve got. They aren’t a reliable representation of how good or bad a player is defensively.
The Canberra Raiders win over the Sydney Roosters is another great example. For those who watched it, you saw a resilient and hard-working Raiders defence. The Roosters lost key players. Their attack wasn’t at its very best. Still, the Raiders consistently answered tough questions – with only 12 men at times – and kept turning up. On their own line, in particular.
The missed tackle numbers:
Roosters – 30 missed tackles
Raiders – 57 missed tackles
Per League Eye Test: “The Roosters completed 22/25 sets and had 35 tackles inside 20 metres during the second half, compared to 12/13 sets completed and ZERO tackles inside 20 metres for Canberra. This produced one of the most bizarre expected points charts I’ve seen in seasons.”
You’ve got to be in a position to miss a tackle, and the Raiders consistently put themselves in the frame to defend.
In contrast, the Eels and Dragons gave up 84 points between them and combined to miss only 62 tackles…
Setting up for a shot: Ponga’s possessions in the middle
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.
Kalyn Ponga seemed more involved in the Newcastle Knights attack on Sunday afternoon.
By the numbers, he touched the ball 46 times.
It’s the second-highest tally of the season after the 54 touches he managed against the Warriors in Round 4, and nine more than his season average to date.
Not only did Ponga touch the ball more, he found himself playing a little bit closer to the ruck than we’re accustomed to seeing. Rather than setting himself up on the left edge running at four defenders down a short side or on the second layer of a shift, Ponga took possession in the middle of the field. He found himself one off the ruck or dropped back under off an edge.
The Knights have played with the worst attack in the NRL for much of the season but have cleared 30 points in three of their last four games.
This win-and-in match against the Dolphins is going to be a banger.
Try Time: Shaun Johnson’s last pass
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.
Shaun Johnson really finished his NRL career with a touch highlight…
It wasn’t a fluke, though.
“I think that feeling of being in the zone where you know why you’re doing something and the look you want to create, for me to be able to finish on that moment is probably why I’m so content.” – Shaun Johnson
You can see Johnson barking orders and motioning the play he wants to those outside him.
His ball to Mitch Barnett is the “know why you’re doing something” of his breakdown.
“The look you want to create” comes on the back of it.
He’s seen how the edge reacts and “doubled up on it” to produce a moment that will be replayed for years to come.
If you’ve not seen the full post-match press conference, do yourself a favour.