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 12 Review:
- The importance of line organisation
- Panthers in defence
- Quick State of Origin thoughts
- Goal-line marker systems
- Bulldogs unleashed
The Tough Carry: The importance of line organisation
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.
Determining the best and worst defensive fullbacks in the NRL is particularly difficult. Broadcasters zoom in on the play to focus all of the attention on the ruck, and often, we don’t even see players retreat into the line.
We rarely see how a fullback points and calls his players into positions on either side of the ruck as he looks to match up the numbers. Fullbacks might only make three or four tackles in defence, but they’re involved in every play.
They’re crucial to the defensive structures or employing the game plan for particular matchups. Still, their role isn’t often spoken about because it’s difficult to do so given the lack of vision and numbers we can point towards.
But I’ve picked out a couple of tries from Round 12 that highlight the importance of line organisation and how quickly it can all go wrong because, let’s face it, even a niche as small as what we have here isn’t reading about or watching clips of perfectly set numbers and well-defended shape.
Tyrell Sloan is having a great season with the ball, but the Canterbury Bankstown-Bulldogs picked him out this week. They’re not the first team to do so, either. They brought him into tackles and attacked the space around him. In this example, a cheeky grab of his shorts keeps Sloan in the tackle for longer than he needs to be, and it shows in the numbers.
Sam Hughes is dropped back at the posts through Sloan. You can see Bailey Hayward in #14 barking instructions as soon as Sloan is in the tackle. He knows where the space will be.
We might see these holds policed a little bit more one day as it’s not the first time I’ve seen contribute to points recently. However, on this occasion, Hughes holds onto Sloan who isn’t able to get a decent look at the attack. He parks himself on the post to have eight on the long side.
With the numbers, Hughes demanded the ball and reacted perfectly to the cue the defence gave him.
The Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles did something similar to Sua Fa’alogo on Friday night. Gordon Chan Kum Tong points out the fullback behind the ruck. He motions for Daly Cherry-Evans to get at him, and the halfback responds by dropping Taniela Paseka back underneath.
At the very least, it’s a good play for the Storm to generate momentum.
However, Cherry-Evans turns it into a scoring play by holding his edge before flipping. He sets the defence by fixing himself down the right edge for a moment. Cherry-Evans is an indicator. The defence will load up on his side as they’ve done here with five defenders against what ends up as three Sea Eagles attackers. But with Fa’alogo involved in the tackle and late to get back, Cherry-Evans spots the opportunity to flip to the long side and creates the number for the Sea Eagles to score.
It wasn’t long before the Storm took advantage of the Sea Eagles’ own inexperienced fullback.
Paseka’s movements from the marker are a contributing factor. He’s gassed. His line speed is poor. He plants his feet and falls into a low tackle. But the numbers aren’t great either. Like Cherry-Evans is an indicator, Melbourne having three spine players on one side of the ruck is the ultimate cue.
Harry Grant and the Storm are quick enough to expose the poor marker play, but a thicker line from their fullback may have been enough to stop them.
The last example might divide opinion. There will be different approaches to a short side so small.
Following a long shift to the right edge, Beau Fermor found space down the short side.
I think, if given his time again, Reece Walsh may have pushed Brendan Piakura into the short side with Corey Oates and put himself at A on the openside. You can see him in the background anticipating the long shift back, leaving the Broncos short.
Whatever Brisbane’s approach is to narrow short sides, this try still shows how the smallest detail can turn into points.
We’re always going to be limited in our ability to dig into how fullbacks shape team defence (Kayo, please bring back the Eagle cam option). Still, there are some hints when the camera angle hits right. I’m going to spend the season looking for the best examples to end up on our YouTube channel.
Quick play-the-ball: That’s also Panthers & State of Origin thoughts
We’re generating momentum through the middle of the article with a couple of quick carries.
That’s Panthers defence
I broke down how the Penrith Panthers go about their work after Round 8.
Two sets had me saying, “That’s Panthers footy” by the end of it.
Round 12 produced the same late in their big win over the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks.
The Panthers are 42-0 in front with a minute left to play. The pass is a poor one from the base of the scrum, but the Sharks end up nine metres back from where it was set.
Penrith could have been forgiven for taking the play off. The result was in the bag. Still, they pounced on the opportunity to make the scrum play a losing one for the Sharks and finished the game without conceding a point.
Quick State of Origin thoughts
These teams are wild…
The New South Wales dropped their best player of the last decade and current captain. While there may have been justification for it last year when he was a touch out of form, James Tedesco should be in there. Dylan Edwards plays with all of the effort you could want in a player, but Teddy can, and has been, a matchwinner for the Blues. They’re going to miss him in attack. It will be interesting to see how the Blues attack the edges with Edwards’ relative limitations as a ball player.
Api Koroisau is another head-scratcher, and even more so with Tedesco not there. His deception around the ruck would help bring a forward pack light on genuine props onto the ball while creating space for what is likely to be a run-heavy approach on the edge.
Strangely, it’s the Queensland Maroons who have made the most confusing change: Dropping David Fifita.
Fifita has been excellent this season. In Round 12 alone, he finished up with 230 running metres, two try assists, two line-break assists, and six tackle breaks. Ironically, the ‘he’s lazy/doesn’t always impact games’ narrative is lazy commentary around him. He hasn’t been that player for a little while now.
Billy Slater’s comments don’t make a lot of sense.
“Dave created a really high standard for his footy last year. He just hasn’t quite got to that standard this year.” – Billy Slater
Fifita is averaging more running metres, tackling at a better clip, and is more involved in games all the way up the field this year. I’ve not been able to figure out where the standard has dropped this year. I can only assume it comes somewhere defensively, so it’s something to look out for in the coming weeks.
Meanwhile, Jeremiah Nanai will start in the back row…
Setting up for a shot: Goal-line Marker Systems
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.
Every team has their own marker systems which change depending on where the play-the-ball occurs. There will be different movements for one marker, a short side that is facing an overlap, etc. Perhaps most importantly is the system on the line.
The Wests Tigers defend with two markers on the line here – not every club employs the two-marker system this close.
Following shift back through the middle, the Cowboys settle one into the posts where the Tigers again fix two markers to the play-the-ball.
David Klemmer splits. Perhaps that is what the Tigers want to do in these spots, but it happens late. The spacing on the edge is too wide, and the Cowboys make it look easy.
Two passes put Scott Drinkwater outside the three-man, and with leads on either side of the two-man, he’s able to sum up the situation to make the right pass for points.
Wests have the bye in Round 13, but how teams set their markers on the line is a big part of goal-line defence. It’s something I want to pay a little more attention to over the next few weeks.
Try Time: Bulldogs Unleashed
Sometimes, it’s a piece of magic. Other times, 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 Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs seemed to make Tyrell Sloan a target on Thursday night. They brought him into tackles on the line and tested his line organisation. He got his numbers wrong too often and was made to pay.
There wasn’t much he could do here as he tried to thicken the line with his team defending with 12 men. It’s just a well-executed opportunistic play and one that highlights how the Bulldogs are improving.
Too systemic with the ball in recent seasons, the Bulldogs are finding ways to use their best-attacking weapons under Cameron Ciraldo.
They used repeatable actions with the ball to pile up points in the second half.
