NRL Round 11 Review: What Is Foz Ball? How The Dolphins Used Their Speed & Croker's Passing On The Up

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NRL Film Room - Round 11 Highlights

Quick Hits

The Feature Reel: Try of the Week

A few journalists are throwing around “Foz Ball” as though it’s a unique style of play. If it is, I’m not seeing it yet. Instead, he’s making excellent use of the tools at his disposal. He’s finding something in the opposition every week, and drawing up a play to expose it.

We’ve been here before when he drew up backrower block plays to the edge on the last tackle against a deep Dolphins winger. A week later, the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles took advantage of Valentine Holmes taking the kickoff to score a long-range try.

This one is a little bit more subtle, but almost certainly something they had planned for against this Wests Tigers defence, in particular.

The first play out of the scrum looks like nothing, but it’s all by design. That’s Tigers fullback Heath Mason in the white head gear defending in the line, and the Sea Eagles make him a target.

Bringing Mason into the tackle with Latu Fainu does a few things. It generates momentum for a start - neither are dominant defenders. Both are smaller bodies who don't make a lot of tackles in the front line. From there, it throws the line organisation. Terrell May, in particular, is all over the place. He ends up at the ruck, heads to on the long side and, eventually find himself at A on the shortside - late.

With May not able to get up and apply pressure on Luke Brooks, the Sea Eagles five-eighth is able to quickly skip into the three-man with a lead inside two. Ben Trbojevic’s fade helps to bring Patrick Herbert out of the line, too.

A scrum doesn’t need to be inside the opposition 20-metre line to be an attacking opportunity and the Sea Eagles proved, once again, how valuable they are to the smartest teams in the NRL.

Round 1 NRL Notes

Sharks v Bulldogs

Bulldogs Attack Notes: Once again, there aren’t a lot of positive notes. In fact, one note on a missed opportunity just about sums up the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs attack at the moment.

Hayward nice dart out of dummy half in yardage down the right edge. Left edge nowhere to be seen.

The dart wasn’t about to lead to points, but what could have been a strong momentum play up the field leading to at least an attacking kick, ended with an error which soon turned to a Sharks try.

Without trotting out “they need to play eyes up” and bemoaning systems in attack as though a system - flow, whatever you want to call it - isn’t crucial to becoming a consistent and successful attacking team, the Bulldogs seem to be playing within theirs too much.

Every team plays to points on the field. They all have shapes and cues they’re looking for at those points. However, the best attacking teams are those that can pounce on opportunities regardless of when they present themselves within the flow of a set. Right now, it looks like the Bulldogs are playing a tackle ahead, and missing chances in the meantime.

Bulldogs Defence: It’s in defence that the Bulldogs have fallen short of expectations most, and this try captures their shortcomings:

They first lose the tackle. It’s too quick and they aren’t able to set their line with Jacob Preston late back. Even then, Connor Tracey sends him to the long side as Will Kennedy swings to the short side. The Cronulla Sutherland Sharks will have previewed Tracey in these spots to know he’s not a completely genuine A defender. That allows Braydon Trindall to get into the three-man all too easily, and it’s a three-v-one for Kennedy on the edge in the end.

Rabbitohs v Dolphins

How The Dolphins Used Their Speed: The Dolphins’ attack stalled to start the NRL season, but with Jeremy Marshall-King and Kodi Nikorima back together alongside Isaiya Katoa, they’ve started to click into gear. Their dismantling of the South Sydney Rabbitohs on Friday night captures the Dolphins attack at its best.

Marshall-King’s service from dummy half is a key factor. He’s excellent in firing the long pass from dummy half to hit his halfback on the advantage line. From there, Katoa and his spine can play on the front foot.

To the left, Nikorima’s feet and hands offer quick service to the outside backs. Knowing Ashton Ward is on the smaller size and likely to shrink in on leads to protect his inside shoulder, the Dolphins threw Nikorima out wider.

By taking the ball wide in behind the lead, Nikorima is able to get into the two-man with ease.

On the right side, it’s more about Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow’s speed. Swinging wide and fast, he’s able to burn past Cody Walker to put his outside men on the outside of their defenders - a defensive edge not known for its lateral quickness.

Teams have had success in jamming on the Dolphins this season. Katoa has adjusted along the way by not always digging so deep into the line, giving time for the edge to get up. But when the defensive edge stays tight and flat as the Bunnies did in Round 11, the Dolphins look unstoppable with the ball in hand.

Player Spotlight - Matt Croker, Newcastle Knights

I covered Alex Twal’s rise two weeks ago, and if not for Twal, I think Matt Croker would be spoken about a lot more as a Most Improved candidate.

He doesn’t have the traditional counting stats a lot of people look for in a player over the years, but his passes per game has nearly doubled in each of the last three seasons. It’s been a massive part of the Newcastle Knights attack to start 2026.

He threw two in an excellent sequence for Fletcher Sharpe to score on Sunday afternoon.

Tipping Trey Mooney into the middle of the field, Croker backs it up down the short side. He has another middle outside him, and with the back rower sinking the two man, Sharpe is too quick and finishes in the corner.

To see the late man back, get into the four-man without going too deep and taking time and space away for Sandon Smith and, eventualy, Sharpe, is elite-level ball-playing from a middle forward I’ve not ever had in that conversation before.

The Pipeline - Hugo Hart, Manly Warringah Sea Eagles

Looking beyond the bright lights of the NRL to the lower grades, one player caught my eye this week.

It might not be this season, or even the next, but Hugo Hart is a first-grader in the making.

He doesn’t boast big numbers in the NSW Cup, but the eye test provides a clear indication of his skillset and likely future in the NRL.

Hart has spent most of his time in the backrow, but lined up in the centres against the South Sydney Rabbitohs in Round 11. He jammed well in on ball-players, showing smarts and speed to make the right read. Up against arguably the most destructive centre in reserve grade over the last three years in Moala Graham-Taufa, Hart made strong one-on-one tackles to keep him relatively quiet near the line.

At only 19-years old, having navigated a unique path to rugby league, and in only his second season of rugby league, Hart is one to keep an eye on.

Member Mailbag

“A few months ago the concept of a Walsh/Munster/Ponga spine was inconceivable, now it's being tossed up as a genuine (albeit still less likely) option for the Maroons. Is there merit to the idea and how do you think it would look in practice?”

Billy Slater has since left Reece Walsh out entirely, which surprises me more than a Walsh/Munster/Ponga combination would have if selected.

The concern around Kalyn Ponga in the halves comes in defence, but any more than Sam Walker? I don’t think so. Both would be targets for the Blues to generate momentum and, in the case of Ponga, take some juice out of him.

In practice, I think the Maroons would lack direction which is probably how Slater landed on Walker. There has been some chat around Ponga “playing like a halfback” this season, and while I don’t think that’s entirely accurate, he is popping up in some more unique spots than traditional fullbacks. There wouldn’t be any fullbacks in the competition slotting into middle service roles in good ball at quite the rate Ponga is this season.

In the minority with Daly Cherry-Evans at halfback in my team once Tom Dearden went down, the Munster/Walker/Ponga spine is the next best bet. Although, I’d find room for Walsh in the side given the flexibility afforded to coaches with the six-man bench.