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NRL Film Room - Round 17 Highlights
Quick Hits
Just Give Him The Ball
Sometimes footy is as simple as giving it to the big kid near the line. Haumole Olakau’atu provides the game-breaking ability a team could use in the toughest series in the sport…
Best For The Win
This is a good time to revisit the importance of a consistent kick chase. It only took the Tigers left edge to be a second behind where they needed to be for the Knights to score the winner.
The Feature Reel: Try of the Week
Welcome back, Jeremiah Nanai.
He’s had a disrupted 2026 NRL season, but you know Nanai is back to his best in attack when he’s scoring tries like this:
The kick is pin-point-perfect for a start. That allows Nanai to time his run and do so without taking his eyes off the ball for a second. He’s the bigger body and wins the contest in the air. Still, to be able to land with the ball off the ground before reaching out to score is a lot more difficult than it looks.
Round 17 NRL Notes
Eels v Rabbitohs
Classic Bunnies: The South Sydney Rabbitohs have struggled for consistency in every regard to start the season. In their performance, ability to get the best team on the field, and in results. But when they start doing this…
…you can start to get excited.
A shift for a shift. Cameron Murray playing through the middle. Cody Walker taking the ball and making decisions at speed.
If the Rabbitohs are to reach their full potential in 2026, that is how it will look.
Titans v Bulldogs
Galvin In Control: Lachlan Galvin is touching the ball more than any non-hooker in the NRL at the moment. For better or worse, he is the indicator. Everything in the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs attack runs through him.
Stephen Crichton finished the match with three try assists as the five-eighth, but Galvin deserves credit for how those tries came about.
Zane Harrison was the star for the Titans in Round 16, but the Bulldogs made him a target in defence in Round 17. Crichton consistently found himself either using a lead inside Harrison or burning into the half himself. Those opportunities don’t come by accident.
If we look into the set up and execution of the last try, we can see how Galvin played the Bulldogs to their points, and their best attacking players in positions to succeed.
It starts with Galvin dropping his backrower back under. It looks like a nothing play, but there is likely to be more behind it. My guess is he’s dropping back at Sam Verrils to generate momentum. But when Jaemon Salmon bounces across and into the Titans four-man, Galvin flips.
The target has become the middle now defending at four-man with the inexperienced half outside him.
With Moeaki Fotuaika struggling to get back to the line and back off it, Galvin is able to bounce straight across him and into the four-man with a lead inside three.
Again, Crichton is credited with the try assist and it’s a magnificent pass, but he’s not in a three-on-two situation with space to play without Galvin setting things up through the middle.
This new-look halves pairing will again be a major focus of the round when the Bulldogs return after the bye.
Broncos v Roosters
Scrum Watch: This Sydney Roosters scrum went straight into the notebook. Especially after we got two looks at it following a false start on the first.
The Roosters set up with a 5-and-1 split, but Mark Nawaqanitawase swings as the ball is feed into the scrum. While the Broncos try to mirror Nawaqanitawase’s movements, there is only so much ground they can cover.
Nawaqanitawase is able to get straight into the defender off the scrum which, effectively, gives the Roosters five to the Broncos’ four out wide.
It’s always difficult for that mirroring defender to keep up with the attacking player well enough to get into a position early enough for the defensive line to adjust their position and spacings.
Kotoni Staggs does a great job to read the overlap and shut it down, but it’s a scrum setup to watch in the coming weeks.
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The Pipeline - Gabriel Satrick, Melbourne Storm
Looking beyond the bright lights of the NRL to the lower grades, one player caught my eye this week.
He played 10 matches for the North Sydney Bears in 2025, but in 2026, Gabriel Satrick led the Melbourne Storm reserve grade side to a shock win over his former club.
You’d think if any team was going to have ‘shortsides and burrows over on the line’ on the tip sheet, it would be the Bears.
Satrick is a weapon down shortsides. There isn’t a channel too narrow for him to take. He’s dangerous behind momentum to have the most try assists (8) of any dummy half in the NSW Cup.
With just one NRL appearance to his name, we might see him again soon with Harry Grant on State of Origin duty.
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