NRL Notepad: Round 2 Preview

What's on the watchlist this week?

• Balancing Tricky & Nicho

• Isolating Kini In The Air

• Six-Man Bench: How Are Coaches Using It?

• Content Offloads

Panthers v Sharks

Balancing Tricky & Nicho

The Cronulla Sutherland Sharks ripped through the Gold Coast Titans last week. Regardless of the “It’s Round 1” and “It’s only the Titans” prefaces required when analysing the performance, the Sharks halves, in particular, impressed with how they balanced the field and executed on the cues in front of them.

Asked about whether or not he liked Braydon Trindall “taking charge” while Nicho Hynes was “floating out the back,” Craig Fitzgibbon offered a glimpse into what the Sharks are trying to do with the ball.

“It's actually not any different of what we've always done.

“If there's six agains and there's a lot of ball in midfield, then yeah, Hynes is on the ball. Hynes is a runner.

“If we get the opportunity to set things up we get Tricky on the ball.”

Despite the numbers on their back, Hynes and Trindall have fairly defined roles and are getting better at picking their respective moments.

Even when the Sharks have been at their best in recent years, they’ve struggled to break down good defences. Hynes can play over the advantage line and to cues as well as any half in the NRL, but the games the Sharks have lost came when they needed a more traditional approach in attack.

That’s where Trindall and his ability to “set things up” come into play.

The Titans didn’t give us a great look at how Hynes and Trindall might interplay, given the ease with which they scored. However, their third try offered a glimpse.

From a relatively slow start, Trindall gets the Sharks to the spot on the field they want to attack from. He plays a giant Tom Hazelton onto the smaller Sam Verrills to generate a quick play-the-ball.

With it, Hynes steps in:

Taking possession on the second layer of the shift, Hynes is in position to run and react. He reads the jam, steps inside, and fires the pass wide. While it goes to ground on the way, it gets to where he wants it in the end.

Having stepped inside one jam and passed across the next defender, he knows the Sharks have the numbers on the edge, and it’s simply a case of getting the ball there one way or another.

Up against the Penrith Panthers in Round 2, we should get a much better idea of how Trindall and Hynes will play together. This is the sort of defence they’ve struggled to score against in the past, and the Panthers just kept the defending premiers to nil last week…

Dolphins v Titans

Isolating Kini In The Air

Keano Kini is one of the most dangerous and unpredictable attacking players in rugby league. He breaks tackles like nobody his size should be able to, and has learned how to make the most of his diminutive stature in a game full of giants.

However, there is one place he can’t hide from the height he gives up to most opposition players, and the Sharks scored a try last week that might make up part of the Dolphins’ game plan on Sunday.

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