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 8 Review:
- That’s the Penrith Panthers
- Max Plath is an Origin player
- Giving out more older debut’s
- Katoa’s ballplaying
- Sharks making it look easy
The Tough Carry: That’s the Penrith Panthers
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.
With four consecutive Grand Finals, three consecutive premierships and another on offer if they maintain their current form, the Penrith Panthers are the best team in NRL history.
There is little debate around that these days. Despite losing players to other clubs every year, they remain the benchmark of the competition.
The talent pool is vast and the Panthers do an excellent job of producing first graders. As one leaves, another youngster is waiting in the wings. What makes that transition so seamless is the style footy and how it’s implemented throughout the club.
No player is left wondering as they make their way through the grades. The formula is simple, and it’s one every player is across.
We saw exactly the formula in two particular sets against the North Queensland Cowboys on Friday night. It’s a set that left me saying “that’s the Panthers” to myself while sitting on the couch at home.
Penrith has just defended an Cowboys onslaught. In what is likely a planned move, Chad Townsend shapes to kick before firing the ball wide. The Panthers defence responds to perfection and earns a play-the-ball 90 metres from their own line.
It’s a simple set to start. It’s a set that follows an error, so I’d imagine the message is get to the kick at all costs.
One one-out carry becomes two which becomes three, and the Panthers are slowly marching up the field.
A fourth carry one off the ruck sends Matt Eisenhuth into the line where he’s able to stand in the tackle and generate a relatively quick play-the-ball.
With the winger up, defensive line in retreat and desperate to turn the opposition, Nathan Cleary takes his chance to kick early. He rolls the ball into the 10×10 metre box all of the best kickers in the NRL aim for, and Semi Valemei is caught three metres from his own line.
The kick-chase is excellent. The three edge players present a line while those inside close off the middle as Valemei attempts to scoot across the field.
Cleary ends up near the tackle and backs up his kick chase with a strong tackle shortly after.
Teams will look for easy metres down a short side in yardage. It’s where some players might switch off given most teams will continue to roll the same way. Not Cleary and the Panthers. He retreats into the line and gets forward as as Izack Tago works hard from marker, and just like that, the Cowboys are into their 3rd tackle with 90 metres still to go.
Kyle Feldt manages a quick play-the-ball prompting the Cowboys to look to the edges for cheap metres. Again, the Panthers defence responds. They get high on the edge and close down the play before it has had a chance to begin.
Following one more carry ahead of the kick, you can see what makes the Panthers so good.
Just look at where the Panthers forwards are when the ball is kicked and how far they have to track back following the kick return from Dylan Edwards and Brian To’o.
As opposed to the Cowboys forwards who needed to track back 40 metres to get back behind the ball to at least present as a run option if they wouldn’t take a carry, the Panthers middle can rest and wait for the ball to pass them. To’o plays the ball only ten metres behind where the Panthers applied kick pressure.
Having absorbed pressure and defended their line for multiple sets, the Panthers flipped momentum in a matter of minutes. They scored only two sets later and managed another before the break to take a commanding lead into halftime.
That’s the Penrith Panthers.
Quick play-the-ball: Max Plath & David Armstrong making waves
We’re generating momentum through the middle of the article with a couple of quick carries.
Max Plath
I really don’t like every conversation in the NRL ending up as a State of Origin conversation, but Max Plath has Origin written all over him.
He’s tough, a strong ball carrier and offers plenty as a ball player through the middle. The 22-year-old has taken on the starting lock role with his ball playing a major feature. Still, he could adopt a more direct approach as a prop and not look out of place despite his smaller stature if needed.
Only seven games into his NRL career, he has massive potential. He has the skilset of what most teams look for in a lock forward these days and is starting from an impressive baseline.
There are Reuben Cotter vibes to his skilset and workrate. My guess is he takes a similar path to his career and ends up in Maroon at some stage in the not-too-distant future.
David Armstrong
More clubs should be playing 23-24 year olds.
As somebody that watches a lot of New South Wales Cup footy, I can confidently say there is a lot of first grade talent in the competition. Like David Armstrong, they don’t all profile as future superstars, but they can spot up for a few games in the NRL and do a job.
The likes of Jye Gray, Chevy Stuart and Ethan Sanders are exciting prospects. They’re names people recognise and want to see in the team. However, when it comes to naming a reliable player to fill in as an injury replacement for a couple of weeks, I think we could see more teams name NSW Cup ‘veterans’. Blooding youngsters and giving them a taste of first grade can be appealing when faced with the decision, but winning games today is more important, and older reserve grade players that know the system are more likely to slot in seamlessly.
Armstrong’s opposite, Trai Fuller, is another example. He has his flaws which have limited his rise to regular first grade, but if you need somebody to take the place of Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow for a few weeks, he’s a great option.
No player can replace Kalyn Ponga, but in a game that required some reliability at the back against an opposition Newcastle will have backed themselves against, Armstrong did a great job.
Setting up for a shot: Katoa is different
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.
Now to contradict myself in a matter of sentences…
Isaiya Katoa is different. He’s a young player that demanded he make his NRL debut ahead of time, and is an exception.
The subtltey of his ball-playing is at a veteran level already. As halves progress in their careers they will often say the game slows down for them the longer the play.
Cues in the line become more obvious. Playing out a set in their mind ahead of time becomes clearer. The game is already slow for Katoa.
These two moments don’t end in much, but forced me to hit rewind on the remote both times. The double-pump here does Bradman Best in the centres twice.
Collecting an offload here, he looks long to play short for Fuller who almost barges over the line to score.
Footy fans are catching up on how good this kid is playing. He’s somewhat in the Adam Reynolds at South Sydney mould in that his deception and pass often comes before the pass credited with a try assist, so he’s not seen as an elite creator.
Against a Cowboys defence that is leaking a few points at the moment, keep an eye on the work Katoa does in the build up to a try.
Try Time: Simple Sharks footy
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.
I had Briton Nikora’s try here originally, but the simplicity and execution of this one jumped ahead by fulltime. It follows a similar theme where they identified Chevy Stuart down the short side, directed a player straight at him and put Nikora through a gap.
Nicho Hynes has just kicked a 40/20 and quickly proceeds to ordering his side. It’s clear where he wants to get from the tap, and becomes clear who he wants to get at on the following play.
With a carry to the middle, Jack Williams makes a line for Tom Starling.
The diminutive hooker is brought into the tackle and ends up at A on the Raiders right side. You can see on the wider angle that Hynes is positioned in behind the ruck, ready to flip either side depending on the look the defence gives him.
With Starling positioned around the ruck and the massive Tuku Hau Tapuha running a line for him, Hynes is able to skip out behind the lead to get at the four-in defender. The numbers matchup, but Braden Hamlin-Uele runs a nice slip line to drag Kaeo Weekes and open up the space for Hynes to score.
Simple footy. Lovely footy.