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, it’s short dropouts and how to defend them.
Any Sydney Roosters v South Sydney Rabbitohs match is worth circling on the calendar. Their position on the NRL ladder doesn’t matter—there’s a good chance it’s a banger.
Add the storylines on both sides to this one on Friday night, and we might have a Game of the Season contender.
We will start with Jared Waerea-Hargreaves and the Roosters. As much as the occasion of Warea-Hargreaves playing his 300th game will lift the squad, there will be a conversation or two about not letting it get out of hand. For Warea-Hargreaves, in particular, we’ve seen the red mist get him in trouble a few times before. By all accounts, off the field, he’s one of the greats. But on it, he’s a different person. One that isn’t always on the side with referees and members of the Match Review Committee.
The Chooks have lost Luke Keary but there is an argument for this 17 being stronger than the last.
Angus Crichton is back and onto the bench, while Nat Butcher earns a start on the edge. I’m excited to see Sandon Smith starting in the halves with Connor Watson to add a spark off the bench. He hasn’t produced the highlight reel moment yet this season, but I’ve been impressed with Sam Walker’s start to the season, too.
Most of all, though, I’m eager to see how the Roosters build on last week. They’re 20 errors deep after what they produced against the Sea Eagles, but that is what is most encouraging. If this was Round 20 it’s a concern. But to play with only 42% possession while losing to a strong Manly side by only seven points is encouraging.
I like what the Roosters have been doing down short sides. They didn’t come off last week, but you could see them working towards something with their backrowers.
This is classic Roosters: Earn a quick play-the-ball on the edge and look to play on the back of it down the short side.
Defenders on the open side don’t have a lot of time to flip, and those already down the short side are slow off their line as they wait for the lone marker to backtrack and close the space between them.
I think the Roosters will look to test what has been a dodgy Rabbitohs edge defence in this area.
Meanwhile, it’s all on with the Rabbitohs.
As somewhat of a Lachlan Ilias believer, I think he has been hard done by in losing his spot. The pieces around him haven’t been inconsistent in both who it is and how they’ve played. Far from perfect himself, he’s not the reason for South Sydney’s slow start to the season.
The return of Jack Wighton will help. Again, it’s not on the side that would have helped Ilias or his replacement, Dean Hawkins. It’s all about the Rabbitohs left edge and Wighton doesn’t have any time to ease into his relatively new position in a new team.
Wighton will add plenty to South Sydney’s attack. He will undoubtedly be effective in yardage, and if the attack isn’t fluid in good ball, just giving it to Wighton and hoping for the best isn’t the worst option. Defensively, however, there could be some teething issues.
Centre is a difficult spot to defend in. Defending in a new system is hard enough, but doing so as somebody who always likes to jam in and solve things yourself adds another element of uncertainty to that side of the ball for the Rabbitohs. Teams that thrive by attacking down shortsides lick their lips at a jamming defence…
The Rabbitohs attack hasn’t clicked, while the Roosters have shown enough glimpses to be hopeful.
If we assume the Rabbitohs start to fire and play to their potential, the Roosters pack looks like it could be the difference. Waerea-Hargreaves, alongside Brandon Smith and Lindsay Collins, will get things going before Terrell May causes havoc along the bench. Naufahu Whyte carried the ball well last week, too.
I’m expecting fireworks early. If the Roosters come out of those early exchanges on top through the middle, the Rabbitohs will struggle to wrestle it back.
Dive into the rest of the weekend with the NRL Round 3 Notepad: A Perfect Storm + Ilias, May & Galvin