NRL Round 5 Review: Brisbane's Set Piece Brilliance, Tino's Width, Surrender Tackles & Garlick's Try

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We still have an undefeated team in the NRL but the competition feels closer than ever right now. Any team can and has proven capable of beating any other on their day across the opening five rounds, and this one was no different.

While the scores blew out a little towards the end of the weekend, the first four games cause havoc for tipping competitions once again.

What's to come this week:

• Brisbane’s Brilliance From A Set Start

• Quick Play-the-Balls

  • 3 Takeaways From Raiders v Sharks

  • Tino’s Width

  • “Surrender!”

• Sloan Filling The Lomax Roaming Role

• Try Time: My Pick Of The Storm Tries

Big Takeaway From the Week: Brisbane’s Brilliance From A Set Start

Tackle one can make or break a set of six. First up here, we’re breaking down what makes for the biggest talking point of the week.

The Wests Tigers are 2-3 to be 11th on the NRL ladder. They’ve often impressed across the opening five rounds but left a lot to be desired at other moments.

“What I learned tonight is that we’ve got a team that, when we get it right, we can do some good things.” - Benji Marhsall

Wests get plenty right with the ball. They play without fear in attack, running when they perhaps shouldn’t, seeking offloads that aren’t always there or kicking early in the set from their own half. There is some Marshall flair evident in their playing style already.

But five weeks is a long time in rugby league.

Opposition coaches aren’t running off unreliable footage from 2024 or 2025 trials trying to guess what is real and what isn’t as they put together the preview. We’ve got at least 320 minutes of video on every team in the NRL now, and teams are starting to use it to their advantage.

One area the Broncos used it to their advantge is in the Tigers edge defence.

Luai has brought his fast and high approach to the edges from Penrith. He shoots out of the line, looking to spoil a shift. Depending on what happens inside him, he will jam out onto the ball player or sit on his heels and wait for the backrower to release from the lead.

It’s effective in limiting how often teams shift the ball. Whether he makes a tackle or not, Luai getting so high so early can spook a ballplayer. He fills passing lanes and closes space to force the ball back inside.

The approach isn’t without potential problems, though.

It can leave a large space between the three and four-in defenders should the four-man get caught on a lead close to the ruck. We’ve seen a few examples throughout the year already of that space being available but going unused.

Michael Maguire and the Brisbane Broncos drew up a beauty to exploit it on Saturday night.

Scripted from a tap start following Ben Hunt’s 40/20, the Broncos went to work to get to their spot. Corey Jensen made his way to the right post, compressing the defence in the process.

It puts the Broncos in a relatively familiar shape with Adam Reynolds positioned behind two middles on the longside with Ben Hunt outside him, while Reece Walsh holds the shortside with a lead runner in front of him.

It looks as though they’re playing towards Walsh on the shortside against three, but Xavier Willison pops up out of nowhere to hit the space we’ve seen in games earlier in the year.

Watch Walsh’s movements. He’s selling the pass from Corey Paix at dummy half and even overplaying his run wide to drag Latu Fainu further across the field. Brendan Piakura’s lead holds up the defence around the ruck, and Willison times his run to hit the space they expected to see and pushes through half a tackle to score.

This try has everything for the footy nerd: Detail, follows a script from a set start and is executed to perfection¹ .

Paix has been brilliant to start the NRL season. The Broncos have added a lot to their attack by adding his craft and guile around the ruck. With the smarts of Ben Hunt and Adam Reynolds around him and the detail Maguire adds from the coaches’ box, it feels like the Broncos are only just scratching the surface of what they can do in attack.

For the Tigers, I’ll be interested to see how they repond to this try and whether or not they make any adjustments moving forward.

Quick Play-the-Balls

We’re generating momentum through the middle of the article with a couple of quick carries.

3 Takeaways From Raiders v Sharks

1. The Watchlist

   • Nicho’s touches

   • Kaeo’s hands

   • Addin’s footwork

2. The Organised Chaos of the Green Machine

   “They consistently score outrageous tries, often at the end of games, but it’s not an accident or fluke. It’s a product of their style. Constant movement and pushing up through the middle in support is the chassis to the chaos engine of the Green Machine.”

   

3. Sharks Last-Tackle Options

   “We’re only four games into the new-look halves influence. It will take time to iron out. Last plays are where I’ll be looking for that improvement first.”

Tino’s Width

You wouldn’t know Tino Fa’asuamaleaui missed the majority of last season due to injury. He’s started this one as a top-tier middle forward in the game and has added more of a threat to his already dangerous running game.

We can become obsessed with ballplaying forwards² . This pass, though…

That looks like a 197cm and 107kg halfback firing a pass across his body to his five-eighth. The width of the pass is excellent and something we don’t often see from a forward. It’s ultimately where the try is created as the pass puts Jayden Campbell outside the three-man with room to move and players outside him.

“Tino is elite” isn’t groundbreaking analysis, but if he’s adding this pass to his game, the big forward might still have another level to reach.

“Surrender!”

It doesn’t always come through in the broadcast, and I don’t have any facts or figures to support it, only vibes. But it feels like referees are calling more surrender tackles this season.

It’s not necessarily bad. In fact, I’d have argued for them to be called more before the season started. However, it will only add to the lack of consistency and put more pressure on referees to interpret the game beyond the scope of an official.

The example inspiring this segment came on Sunday night when Marcelo Montoya returned the ball from a kick. Montoya has made a career out of running hard and generating a quick play-the-ball for his team. Often, that involves bumping the defender off up top and dropping to get up and down quickly. Only on Sunday, the defence - who had been bumped off and needed teammates to rescue the tackle - were rewarded with a surrender call…

Maybe it’s something. Perhaps it’s not. I’ll be listening out for the call in the coming weeks to see if the feeling is right, though.

Setting Up For A Shot: Sloan Filling The Lomax Role

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.

Last week it was Zac Lomax roaming…

Now we’re looking to see how Tyrell Sloan is taking on the roaming winger role at the Dragons.

We saw him move across the field a couple of times in Round 5. The Parramatta Eels must have seen it during the week, and Josh Addo-Carr certainly saw it here - he’s screaming to his right edge defence that Sloan has left his typical position.

The Dragons have relied on a three-spine long-side attack to complete their best actions to start the season, and added a fourth player to the shift in this one.

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