I always have a particular match, trend, team, or player in mind to focus on heading into each round of the NRL season. This week, I’m digging into the head-to-head battle between two of the best halfbacks in the competition.
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Measuring the success of halfback play can so often be reduced to try assists and running metres. They’re easy to consume, measured for you, and a quick comparison to make when deciding who is playing better.
However, the best halfbacks in the NRL become the best with deception, subtlety, tempo and smarts. They send forwards at one defender to scramble the line before engaging another themselves on the next tackle, creating the opportunity for others to score. They identify the big middle who has made back-to-back efforts and might be slow to tie in from marker.
The very best halves in the competition will generate their try-assist numbers, but their involvement in try-scoring actions is never truly reflected on the stats pages for punters to see at home.
In Nathan Cleary and Isaiya Katoa, we’ve got my two favourite halves in the NRL to watch going head-to-head on Sunday afternoon.
Cleary is a ball-playing master
Cleary is the master. While he’s struggled to stay on the field this year, we can rely on him having a big influence in his first game back. He might need a few games to get his legs under him to dominate through his running game. Still, his smarts will be enough to carry his performance from the first minute.
He will have his targets in the line. From one point, he knows the goal is to skip across a slow A defender off the line to B defender, and engage C with a lead runner to create space out wide.
There are countless examples of him doing just that, including his dismantling of the Melbourne Storm’s right edge in the 2023 Preliminary Final.
Other times, it’s a simple setup play to force a middle to flip, leaving a favourable matchup for his outside backs down the short side.
If a middle is struggling for breath or he sees an edge player trying to get home out wide, Cleary doesn’t miss him.
Penrith’s attack hasn’t looked all that great this season. They’re taking the same approach; dominate yardage and possession, be patient inside the opposition’s 20-metre line, and waiting for the defence to crack. But Cleary is so often the guy striking the blows to promote those cracks and pry them open.
I’m curious to see how and where the Panthers attack improves most with him back in the side.
Katoa coming of age
Katoa is like nothing I’ve ever seen for his age. He plays far, far beyond his years.
Young halves have done this in spurts. I was impressed with Lachlan Galvin on debut, but he’s not been able to manage that form all season. Jamie Humphries produced similar in his first NRL game last week. However, the simple things impressed me with those two. They made the right decisions, played within their role, and looked comfortable doing so.
Katoa, on the other hand, is the leader of the attack. He steers the ship and has done so for most of his 37 NRL games without playing a bad one.
NRL.com has Katoa down for seven try assists this season. The others with 7: Joseph Sua’ali’i, Ronaldo Mulitalo, Jesse Ramien, Jayden Sullivan and Connor Tracey. Ben Hunt leads the way with 21 this season. Try assists are bit like judging a defender purely on missed tackles. It’s a poor measure of creativity and defensive ability.
Fox Sports Lab records Total Try Involvements and puts Katoa’s 33 alongside Daly Cherry-Evans, one behind Jahrome Hughes and three behind leaders Sam Waker and Hunt. I don’t totally trust how these numbers are generated either, but they offer a more accurate reflection of Katoa’s standing in the NRL.
But it’s what we see that backs it all up most. It’s what everybody should be looking out for on Sunday afternoon.
I loved this one back in Round 15:
He holds the ball out in front with runners on either side of him, his tempo is perfect, and he digs far enough into the line to take two defenders with him.
I had Katoa marked down for Rookie of the Year for a lot of 2023, but locked him in after this play in Round 23:
He changes his speed and steps off his right foot to occupy the marker. In doing so, he keeps their overlap and preserves the space for Kodi Nikorima and Jamayne Isaako to capitalise.
We’d so often see young halves – and plenty of experienced ones – get too excited and run their teammates out of space in this situation.
The game will be circled as Cleary’s return. Everybody will be eager to see how he looks and start to make more serious assessments about Penrith’s standings in the premiership race. But don’t forget about Katoa. And don’t be surprised if he takes his game to another gear while watching Cleary work his magic in front of him.