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 4 Review:
- How the Bulldogs are building up their left edge attack
- A Jordan McLean shoutout
- How one Flegler carry over halfway turned into points
- A good ol’ fashioned wraparound
- Jordan Rapana in the line
- Burgess breaking down the Bulldogs defence
The Tough Carry: How the Bulldogs are building up their left edge attack
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.
We’ve been rather Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs heavy here over the last few weeks. For one of the worst attacking teams in the NRL, they’re taking up a lot of column inches.
But figuring out what is going on, what’s working, and what else might, is what makes them interesting at this point of the season. We will have plenty of time to dive into how Nathan Cleary squares defenders, what the Brisbane Broncos do around the ruck, and how the Melbourne Storm move the defensive line as the season develops.
I touched on the early ball going down the left edge after Round 2. In contrast to Round 1, the Bulldogs provided Matt Burton, Stephen Crichton and Viliame Kikau with clean ball – it didn’t translate into points on that occasion. Even in Round 4, what I’d consider a new-and-improved Bulldogs attack looked better at times but only scored three tries.
Oscar looked into how the Bulldogs are using Viliame Kikau ahead of Round 3. While the result against the South Sydney Rabbitohs didn’t go their way, we saw a continuation of how they’re building the attack down the left edge.
Unsurprisingly, the Bulldogs are trying to kickstart their attack down the left edge. It’s where their most dangerous weapons are, and as Oscar pointed out, the left edge doesn’t always need to score to be productive. They can generate the momentum needed for the right edge to chime in with points.
It looks as though Cameron Ciraldo has taken on a block shape the Penrith Panthers used fairly often in Kikau’s last year with the club. The Bulldogs ran it a couple of times last year. The Gold Coast Titans put David Fifta in a similar position, too.
But it’s a little bit different in 2024. Rather than playing at a 6-4 split, the Bulldogs set up in the middle of the field and use a quick pass to put Burton outside the four-man.
On this occasion, the shovel pass put Burton on the outside of Keaon Koloamatagi. Crichton doesn’t nail his lead, but it doesn’t matter. He invites the three-man to bite and forces the centre and winger into difficult decisions.
Kikau is quick enough and has the ball skills to feed the winger outside, as he did for the Dogs to score their first try on Friday afternoon.
He also acts as a decoy without the ball. Having already been beaten once only six minutes earlier, all three defenders bite on the shape here. Dean Hawkins slides off Burton while both Isaiah Taas and Taane Milne seek out Kikau. Meanwhile, Josh Addo-Car is left unmarked down the sideline.
It was a questionable decision to pass up the gift of two points just before halftime, but perhaps the Bulldogs were that confident in the play paying off because we saw the same picture again as the siren sounded nine minutes after the last crack.
The pass is wider this time. From a wider field position, Burton catches the ball on the three-man. As he straightens, Tass does a good job this time, but Milne is gone. He’s made his decision and provided Burton with the cue. Only a desperate Tass tackle, and perhaps the slightly wider pass cutting down the space, stopped the Bulldogs from adding to their lead.
They’re at risk of becoming one-dimensional with it, but the Bulldogs have to start somewhere as the 16th-ranked attacking team in the 2023 NRL season.
“I like what I’ve seen from the Bulldogs” has become a bit of a meme recently. There’s not always been a lot to like, but people have said it anyway. However, with their full complement of strike weapons down the left edge, we caught a glimpse of how things could look in time.
“There’s so much they’re doing well. There are so many winning behaviours around during the week. The effort is there on game day—you can all see that. Whether it’s moments or cohesion, we’re just missing those little things.”
Cameron Ciraldo – NRL
Getting up the field and into positions to fire a shot appears to be the more prominent issue. Averaging only 1,554 running metres per game, the Bulldogs rank 15th in the NRL in yardage.
Addo-Carr is set to miss more time, but the pieces inside him can continue to develop cohesion and combinations. One reliable attacking avenue can help breed another.
It may be too late by 2024 when it all clicks. Still, I like what I’ve seen from the Bulldogs…
Quick play-the-ball: McLean passing, Dolphins pushing up & a wraparound
We’re generating momentum through the middle of the article with a couple of quick carries.
McLean’s Moment
A few lean years put Jordan McLean on the outer with the general NRL fan. He never really lived up to expectations, and with three years averaging 104, 113 and 111 running metres per game, his spot in the North Queensland Cowboys side often came under question.
However, he’s averaging a career-high 141 running metres per game to start the 2024 NRL season. He produced a nice little moment to set up North Queensland’s first try, too.
Not many 196cm and 118kg props can engage the A and B defenders down the short side, use a lead to engage C, and throw a pass into the breadbasket of their half out the back as he did here.
Beating the third man
Rugby league can be a simple game, and the Dolphins, as so many Wayne Bennett teams tend to do, thrive on doing the simple things well.
Their third try of the game is the sort of long-range effort that will dominate highlight packages throughout the week, but it’s the play before that is most important.
Tom Flegler’s strong carry is enough to poke his head through the line. In getting a quick play-the-ball away, the third man can’t fill up the line fast enough and the Gold Coast Titans are left with a 5/4 split in the middle of the field.
Jesse Bromwich isn’t who you want to see at first reciever with four players defending half of the field. Still the big forward does well to skip out to the B defender before getting an offload away.
Knowing exactly the situation in front of him, Kodi Nikorima doesn’t hesitate in getting the ball to the speedsters out wide.
Jamayne Isaako and Herbie Farnworth finish the job, interlinking at speed down the sideline. But it’s the big carry in the middle 50 metres behind them that is the catalyst.
An old fashioned wraparound
The Jahream Bula try thanks to some Lachlan Galvin magic was great and all, but I’m a sucker for a good ol’ fashioned wraparound.
Backing into the four man and introducing young Blaize Talagi into the play, the space opens up on the egde for the Tigers to execute it to perfection.
They ran it a handful of times last year for varying degrees of success. This is a beauty, though.
Setting up for a shot: Finding Rapana
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.
The Cronulla Sutherland Sharks asked Jordan Rapana to make 13 tackles in Round 4.
That doesn’t seem like a lot in general rugby league terms, but it is for a fullback. Only William Kennedy (14 tackles) in Round 1 and James Tedesco (14) in Round 2 have needed to attempt more as fullbacks in a game this season. Most notably, in those games, Kennedy and Tedesco played behind teams that were dominated in the possession stats.
Rapana’s Canberra Raiders finished with 49% on Sunday – roughly their fair share.
I’m looking to see whether or not the Parramatta Eels, and others moving forward, will take a similar approach. The Sharks found success by bringing Rapana into the tackle and keeping him tight on the goal line, using Nicho Hynes to take him one way before a long pass from dummy half the other put Braydon Trindall outside the four-man with big spaces in front of him.
Rapana is one of the hardest-working players I’ve ever seen in the NRL. He’s going to fight for everything. But at 34-years-old an in a position that seems to get asked to do more and more physically every year, there are opportunities for the attacking team if they can find them.
Try Time: Burgess playing what is in front of him
Sometimes, it will be a piece of magic. Others, 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.
The South Sydney Rabbitohs scored what seemed like such a simple try to open the scoring on Saturday.
Thomas Burgess skipped through the line to score with ease, but not before he picked up on a cue a couple of sets earlier.
The Bulldogs made an effort to get high on the edges and make shifting the ball difficult for the Rabbitohs. You can see how high the half, centre and winger get here. While that cuts down the time and space for attacking players out the back of shape, a gap opens up outside the four-man who can’t get up quite as high as those outside him.
It’s further up the field and on the right edge this time, but the play-the-ball is from a similar spot.
You can see Burgess point to the spot as he runs towards the line.
As the left edge did earlier, the right edge gets up high leaving the four-in defender behind, and allowing Burgess to slip through to score.
Lovely footy.