(A Late) NRL Round 6 Review & Round 7 Team Notes

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First of all, appologies for the lateness of the review. An emergency took me away from the keyboard over the weekend and I’m chasing my tail on looking back on Round 6 and ahead to Round 7.

More to come on Round 7 later in the week, but here is what I caught over the weekend with a quick look at the team lists to finish.

NRL Film Room - Round 6 Highlights

Quick Hits

The Feature Reel: Try of the Week

After covering how Kieran Foran and the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles made the most of the Dolphins’ tight defence on their own line last week, he’s gone and capitalised on another subtely in this one.

Clint Gutherson typically takes the kickoff for the St George Illawarra Dragons. He can take the kick and basically watch the first few tackles from the spot as his defensive line gets up the field and looks to contain the opposition. However, with Gutherson not available, Valentine Holmes stepped up to kick. He’s the next best option off the tee, but when kicking left, leaves the Dragons short on his edge as he makes his way across.

Tyrell Sloan trailed down the right side which left the Dragons thin. With Jason Saab already the nominated catcher on that side of the field, the Dragons are kicking straight to one of the quickest players in the NRL.

If the kick is straight enough, as it was here, Saab simply needs to straighten up and bring the winger into the tackle. It provides Reuben Garrick - a speedster in his own right - with too much space down the edge and the Sea Eagles have suddenly scored two tries in two minutes.

Round 6 NRL Notes

Bulldgos v Panthers

• Bulldogs Stretching The Defence: The Penrith Panthers have started to play a more expansive style than we’re accustomed to seeing. Cameron Ciraldo mentioned they are “attacking different to everybody else” when speaking before the game. Perhaps that became the inspiration behind the Canterbury-Bankston Bulldogs moving the ball more often. They made extra passes in yardage to stretch what is typically a tight Panthers defence to get Viliame Kikau on the front foot, running him at spots to generate momentum which, eventually, they used to generate points.

• Panthers Attack Lacks Balance: The Penrith Panthers came into this game as the best attacking team in the NRL. Unlike previous years when they built pressure though patience and repeat sets, they’ve flipped the script in 2026. Applying pressure remains the focus, but it comes in a more expansive style that constantly asks questions of the defensive line. However, with more expansion comes more room for error, and the passes didn’t stick quite so well in this one. Working out of yardage, in particular, Nathan Cleary pushed a few passes that had been coming off, but this time went to ground or ended up in touch. The Bulldogs made the most of those opportunities early to build a lead, and as the Panthers chased the game, the errors piled up further.

• Dogs Find Success Through Talagi: Ivan Cleary made a couple of comments post-game that suggested Penrith’s young and impressive left edge may have been talked up a little bit more than they should have been. He wasn’t insinuating that the players themselves were feeding into the hype. More that he wasn’t quite so surprised to see the Bulldogs find some success by attacking the Panthers left edge.
  
  Lachan Galvin is still working things out as a halfback. There are a few plays (again on last play as has been the case fairly often throughout his 50 games) that he’d like back, but when in doubt, he’s going short to Jacob Preston.

Tigers v Eels

• Tigers Laying The Foundations For Api: Adam Doueihi is playing the best football of his career while Jock Madden has at least forced Benji Marshall into a meeting with his coaches about Jarome Luai’s return from injury. The halves pairing are piling up the numbers, but the Wests Tigers will go as far in attack as Api Koroisau takes them. His work from dummy half in goodball and inside ten is instrumental to how the Tigers create cues for the halves on the edges. He’s Cameron Smith-like in his ability to see the game a tackle or two ahead of time at the moment. His deception has always been lethal and puts markers under pressure every week, but behind a pack that is consistently getting up the field for him, Koroisau is having an even bigger impact with the ball.

• Knights Left Edge Presenting Cues: Sunia Turuva ended up scoring three tries on his own down the Tigers right edge. Patrick Herbert and Jahream Bula crossed the line through that channel, too. And while the Tigers put on some nice plays to produce points, the Knights left edge provided plenty of cues in defence.
  
  With a new-look left edge changing again halfway through, everybody was singing from a different sheet out wide. Turuva’s try before halftime is a prime example of a lack of cohesion. They’d defended some Koroisau deception relatively well up to this point with Thomas Cant and Fletcher Sharpe moving across the field well to make it man-on.

  

  However, with Greg Marzhew likely back behind the line ready to field a kick, he slingshots up on the run and doesn’t stop, presenting Doueihi with an easy look at a floating pass to his winger to score.
  

  

• A Culture Change: While the quotes can come across as a little bit performative, Benji Marshall is doing his best to make significant changes at Wests Tigers. If they’re to end the finals drought to finally feature in September, it will be through their improvments in defence on seasons past.

Player Spotlight - Adam Doueihi

Adam Douehi is playing the best football of his 123-game NRL career at the moment. Having chopped and change different positions depending on the club, the coach, or the other players in the squad at the time, he’s finally found a home in the #7 jersey.

Per Rugby League Project, Douehi has still only played 20 games at halfback after periods at fullback (35 games), wing (1), centre (38), five-eighth (53), lock (2) and off the bench (12).

He’s an ideal fit for a Marshall-inspired attack with his ability to pounce on cues in a variety of ways.

Doueihi has a powerful carry; powerful enough to have a future as a lock forward if he wants one day. He’s quick, strong, and can get his arms free to offload. Presented with a passing option, the 27-year-old has the skills to execute on the pass.

Who knows what happens when Jarome Luai gets back. Douehi has benefited from playing alongside Jock Madden where he can swing to the second layer and be more of a run-threat in space. Regardless of Marshall’s decision, Douehi is the long-term #7 for the Tigers and can get better still with more time spent at the position.

Round 7 Team List Notes

I typically put a few notes together for Premium Subscribers in the preview article, but given the disrupted week, I’ll add a few here now.

• Matt Timoko has been patiently waiting for his next crack at first grade, and following Savelio Tamale’s five-error performance in Round 6, comes into the centres for this one. Ricky Stuart will be looking for consistency and reliability at this stage. If Timoko can provide him with that, his game-breaking ability is a bonus.

• Manaia Waitere is the only change for the Storm this week. Fittingly, he’s in to face his former club. He’s a great runner of the ball in shape, but I’ll be looking for how effective he can be in yardage.

• “While it’s unlikely that he make it back into the NRL in any sort of long term capacity, he can dominate reserve grade for a few more years if he wants.”
  
  A week is a long time in rugby league. All of a sudden, Matthew Dufty is preparing to make his Rabbitohs debut against his former club - perfect. The reasons why he couldn’t find a gig in the NRL remains, but if the Bunnies can play on the front foot, he has plenty to offer in good ball attack.

  

• The Wests Tigers are on fire, and much of it sparked without Jarome Luai. He was always going to walk straight back into the starting side, but in what capacity? Does he look to do more of what Jock Madden did in fixing defenders and straightening the attack, or stick to what he knows and look to beat defenders with footwork and guile?

• In contrast to Luai, Dylan Brown makes a timely return for the Knights. Humbled by the Tigers last week, we can finally start to get an idea of Newcastle’s future and set expecations for the rest of their season.

• I’m really looking forward to seeing what Leo Thompson brings to the Bulldogs. He’s a different middle to what they’re playing with at the moment and can be the leader of the pack in terms of the tough carries if he’s at his best. Their smaller middles are more effective when playing on the back of momentum, and Thomson can be the one to provide it when the going gets tough.

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