The Easter long weekend is upon us and scattered throughout the cold beers and half-melted chocolate eggs, there are eight NRL games to gorge ourselves on.
Squads and playing styles are well and truly taking shape with five games under the belt, leaving me with a wish-list of treasures to hunt for in NRL Round 6 this weekend.
Roosters Attack vs. Storm Defence
Two of the NRL premiership heavyweights flexed their muscles in Round 5 with compelling performances, albeit on opposite sides of the ball.
The Sydney Roosters clocked up 28 points against the Parramatta Eels last week, showcasing their attacking brilliance and giving us a possible glimpse into the future of their offensive systems.
The Roosters play with more moving parts than any other team in the NRL. Sam Walker, Luke Keary and Victor Radley all share ballplaying duties and they’ll be the first to admit it’s still a work in progress, particularly with Brandon Smith a new face at dummy-half. They combined beautifully for Keary to score a beauty last week though, and I think it’s a sign of things to come.
Smith jumping out from behind a quick play-the-ball and passing to Walker, Radley or Keary at the line will be a key feature of the Roosters attack, moving forward. They are flushed with ballplaying talent which sometimes disguises how dangerous a running outfit they can be, particularly with Smith scooting around the ruck.
It makes Thursday night’s game against the Melbourne Storm must-watch television.
The Storm are still building into their season from an attacking standpoint, but they produced a throwback defensive performance against the South Sydney Rabbitohs in Round 5.
Getting out to an early lead, the Storm defended their way to fulltime which included some miracle try-saving efforts from Harry Grant, Tui Kamikamica and Nick Meaney, to name a few. How their defence measures up against a growing Roosters attack is the match-up of the round.
Short-side Switch Plays
I first noticed it in the pre-season trials when Josh Reynolds and Kyle Flanagan put together this short-side switch play for Jayden Okunbor to score in the corner.
The @NRL_Bulldogs put together this short-side switch play in the preseason trials for Jayden Okunbor to score in the corner.
A few clubs (Dogs, Sharks, Souths) have tried something similar since, with varying success. It won't be long before one leads to a try… #NRL pic.twitter.com/KN0bbXojx8
— Oscar Pannifex (@OscarPannifex) April 4, 2023
Since then, we’ve seen the Bulldogs, Rabbitohs and Sharks try out similar trick shots down narrow short sides to begin the NRL regular season.
While none of them have led to points yet, it feels like it is only a matter of time before we see some dividends.
It’s clearly something Canterbury have worked on over the offseason, but I won’t be surprised to see Nathan Cleary and the Penrith Panthers try this on at some stage, either.
It’s at the top of my Easter weekend wish-list.
Turbo Playing on the Ball
The Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles have started their 2023 NRL campaign with mixed results.
While there are still some defensive deficiencies to iron out, their attack is up there with the best in the business to score 30+ points in three of their four games, thanks largely to the on-the-ball involvements of Josh Schuster and Tom Trbojevic.
Anthony Siebold has done some tinkering over the offseason and the early signs are good, he’s identified new areas on the field where Schuster and Trbojevic’s natural strengths can create scoring opportunities for the players around them.
Schuster – having played primarily on the left edge in 2022 – is now popping up in the middle of the field at first-receiver.
He demands attention from the defence when taking possession around the ruck, and his little goose-step and no-look pass is allowing Trbojevic or Daly Cherry-Evans to play at a sliding or retreating defensive line on the edges.
Trbojevic is also getting his hands on the ball in different areas this season.
Trbojevic is averaging 43 touches and 22.75 passes per game – significantly more than in prior seasons. He’s thrown more passes in four games this year (91) than he did throughout the seven he played last year (90). pic.twitter.com/FE2lG1t4l7
— Rugby League Writers (@rlwriters) April 3, 2023
Almost exclusively playing out the back of shape in 2022, this year Trbojevic is having his involvements closer to the middle of the field. Like Schuster, he has a gravitational effect on the defence when playing on the ball.
Defenders are forced to consider Trbojevic’s running threat when he slots into pivot, and as he develops his passing game Trbojevic is taking advantage of the spaces he invariably creates out wide.
Trbojevic set-up a lovely try for Brad Parker in Round 5 doing exactly that. He filled a distributing role from the middle of the field to isolate Ethan Bullemor onto Jackson Hastings in yardage, then doubled up down the short side on the following tackle to pass Parker into a hole on the edge.
I’m looking out for more of the same this weekend, he’s always been able to throw the last pass in a three-on-two situation out wide, but creating those three-on-two situations is new to Trbojevic’s tool-kit in 2023.
If he can develop into a genuine ballplayer this season the Sea Eagles will be a daunting prospect when October rolls around.
Jack Bird, Ben Hunt & Jacob Liddle
A breakout game from Jacob Liddle in Round 5 has me watching the St George-Illawarra Dragons a little more closely this weekend.
So much of their attack runs through Ben Hunt which can become predictable and easy to defend for opposing teams, but with Liddle threatening around the ruck last week the Dragons piled up the points against The Dolphins.
Jack Bird’s involvements is the other thing I’ve got my eye on. I’ve been waiting for Bird to make the #13 jumper his own for a while now and 2023 might be the year it all comes together.
Jack Bird, Ben Hunt & Jacob Liddle
"It’s hardly the cleanest example, but Bird is in rare company as a lock-forward who can execute attacking edge movements like this."https://t.co/rh8HYO5uPF pic.twitter.com/MvF7tDHOeZ
— Rugby League Writers (@rlwriters) April 4, 2023
It’s one of those throwaway lines we hear from commentators, but Bird is quite literally a natural footballer. He’s not going to top the tackle count or put a team on his back in yardage, but Bird can ask more questions of the defence than most lock-forwards in the game.
If he, Hunt and Liddle can strike up a combination in attack we are going to see St George put a few more points on the board this season.