With six rounds remaining in the 2024 NRL regular season, most of our attention has been focused on the logjam of clubs fighting for a spot in the bottom half of the eight.
A little higher up on the premiership ladder however, finals-bound rosters are tinkering with their attack as they prepare for the postseason.
A Storm warning
Jahrome Hughes carried Melbourne through the representative period to have the Storm sitting comfortably atop the NRL ladder heading into Round 22.
They are five from five this year when starting with their first choice spine and are now back to full strength and in a wonderful position to build combinations or rest players between now and September.
We saw some new looks from Melbourne’s attack last week as they pulled the trigger midway through yardage sets using the speed of Ryan Papenhuyzen on the edges.
Despite enjoying just one play-the-ball inside the red-zone compared to Parramatta’s 43, the Storm repeatedly broke down the Eels edges with some nice variety through Hughes, Papenhuyzen and Eli Katoa.
With another six weeks to fine-tune what is already one of the better attacking systems in the NRL, Melbourne are in poll position in the 2024 premiership race.
Easts breaking down or breaking through?
Brandon Smith made mention recently of a breakthrough in how the Roosters “wanted to play” in attack.
Since making those comments, Smith and the Chooks savaged a Manly defence to the tune of 28 points before almost handing them back the game in the second half.
A week earlier and their NRL-best attack was completely shut-out by the Melbourne Storm:
Easts appeared to have somewhat of a breakthrough way back in ANZAC Round when Sam Walker took over as primary playmaker.
They’ve been the best attacking team in the NRL since but the past fortnight has been anything but encouraging for Roosters fans.
In an era where possession and field position is king, the Roosters are simply spending too much time defending their errors right now.
If we’re to see any changes or breakthroughs in their systems over the next six weeks, perhaps we see Easts adopt a more high-percentage, patient approach to their attack.
Panthers going for the kill
It’s no secret that Penrith’s era of dominance has been built around their defence.
Statistically speaking, they’ve produced some of the best defensive numbers we’ve ever seen in the NRL.
Their attack, by comparison, is fairly middling.
They’re no stranger to wracking up a cricket score, but those points often come late in the game as a product of fatigue and weight of possession.
Their relative inefficiency is good-ball is offset by the sheer amount of time they spend on their opponents line each week.
In NRL Round 21, Nathan Cleary changed that.
With 32 runs for 242 metres, Cleary spearheaded a very different looking Panthers attack against St George.
His willingness to challenge or engage the line either created half chances for himself (one linebreak, one offload, three tries) or teammates around him (two try assists).
Penrith have evolved consistently over the past three seasons to always stay ahead of the curve.
We’ve got another six weeks to see what tricks or changes they’ve got planned for the 2024 NRL finals series.
Canterbury clicking into gear
The Bulldogs have played themselves into sixth position on the ladder on the back of their defence.
They work hard from the inside to release edges that stay high and cut down the time and space of their opponents.
Effort and grit have been the theme of Canterbury’s revival this season but in NRL Round 21 we saw their attack finally click into gear.
A sudden willingness to shift the ball out of yardage saw the Bulldogs make 11 linebreaks against Brisbane last week.
It wasn’t a fluke either; the Dogs created or waited for cues in the defence to swing the ball early in the count and beat a compressed Broncos defence on the edges.
They currently play with the worst offence in the Top Eight but the Bulldogs have another six weeks to find a few more gears in their attack.
Sharks sharing the load
The Nicho Hynes-less Cronulla Sharks are holding their nerve despite snagging just one win from their last five games.
It doesn’t read well on paper, but most of those results have ended as narrow losses to finals bound teams.
North Queensland were too good in NRL Round 21 but there were some encouraging looks through Blayke Brailey and Braydon Trindall in attack while Hynes and Will Kennedy watched from the sidelines.
We said at the beginning of the year that Cronulla’s attack looked better when sharing the load between Hynes, Brailey and Trindall.
There’s no doubt that Hynes is still heavily involved in the best version of this Sharks attack, but the increased involvements of Trindall and Brailey over the next month could end up being the difference once Hynes returns for the finals.
Cowboys introducing variation
North Queensland have a few repeatable actions around Jeremiah Nanai in their attacking playbook.
He’s one of the most prolific try scoring backrowers we’ve ever seen in the NRL and the Cowboys have a variety of shapes or plays designed to get Nanai on the ball in positive areas on the field.
Usually Nanai is the pass target in the Cowboys attack but this action from NRL Round 21 stood out to me as North Queensland fell into a new shape on their right edge.
Chad Townsend takes possession with three teammates in a diamond formation around him; Griffin Neame on his inside, Sam McIntyre off his hip and Scott Drinkwater in his pocket.
The @nthqldcowboys are fine tuning their attack as they look to consolidate a Top Eight finish.
This double-fullback shape featuring Griffin Naeme of all people was a nice new look for the Cowboys attack in @NRL Round 21.
We're going to see this action again from the Cows… pic.twitter.com/BpVA9UyFdX
— Oscar Pannifex (@OscarPannifex) July 29, 2024
Nanai is one channel wider out on the right edge, lurking in the backline to stretch Cronulla’s defence and isolate Braydon Trindall in the line.
Trindall sees what we see in the vision – it appears Drinkwater and McIntyre are running a regulation block-shape here – and flies in to jam the jockey (Drinkwater) and shutdown the overlap threat (Nanai) to his outside.
At the last moment though, Drinkwater drifts sideways and Neame thunders into position as a ‘double-fullback’, collecting the lofted Townsend pass and nearly slicing through untouched (shout-out to Trindall for his reaction under pressure here).
Nanai is minimally involved as a decoy in this action while Neame was perhaps an unlikely candidate for that second-fullback role.
I’m expecting we’ll see this one again from the Cowboys, perhaps a little wider with Nanai as the fullback decoy or the second jockey.
Written by Oscar Pannifex | rugbyleaguewriters.com