NRL Round 14 Review: Panthers Scrum Try, How Ponga Beat The Storm Slide & Roaming Ronaldo

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NRL Film Room - Round 14 Highlights

Quick Hits

The Feature Reel: Try of the Week

The Try of the Week was bound to come from the Penrith Panthers on volume alone. When they produced one from a scrum, it shot towards the top of the list¹ .

So many of these scrums can look so simple and often the same as most others. However, it’s in the subtlety that the best teams make the most of these opportunities.

Penrith have a plan: Get Nathan Cleary into the three-man with a lead inside two to create a two-on-one for Casey McLean and Tom Jenkins on the edge.

It’s how they get Cleary into the three-man that is the difficult part.

Typically, the defensive line will try to get high and take the time away from Cleary to get into his man. He needs the grass in front of him to make his move, and by getting up eight, nine or ten metres out wide, the Panthers halfback wouldn’t have the time and space to get there.

The key is in the drop play which holds up Api Koroisau and allows Dylan Edwards to skip across him.

You can see Koroisau change his speed once he identifies the ball is still in Edwards’ hands. He wants to apply pressure on the fullback to stop him from getting into Kai Pearce-Paul but is too late. Instead, Edwards is able to turn Pearce-Paul enough for Cleary to sit Jock Madden, it’s through the hands for another Jenkins try.

*I’d love a full eagle shot of the scrum but, for some reason, broadcasters are obsessed with the end-on or corner close up shots in which you can’t actually anything at the moment.

Round 14 NRL Notes

Storm v Knights

How Ponga Used The Storm Slide Against Them: The Melbourne Storm have been fairly consistent in how the defend over the years. They slide across the field, using the sideline as an extra defender, ushering attackers towards it until they’re forced to cut back in.

It’s proven successful. They’re happy to concede a few extra metres, but trust that the space will run out on the edge before those metres are an issue. However, when you have somebody with the speed and footwork of Kalyn Ponga, that approach is put to the test.

There are a lot of players who possess a notable step. Few can do so off both feet in the various ways Ponga can, though.

Knowing the Storm edge will turn out, Ponga used his footwork to square them up.

As Manaia Waitere identifies the danger of Ponga getting to the outside of Jahrome Hughes, he straightens his hips. In doing so, he loses his momentum to slide out onto Fletcher Hunt who is given free passage through the Storm line. Even if Waitere could make an attempt on Hunt, it’s unlikely he has the power through his legs to solve the shift on his own.

Ponga did similar on the other side of the field shortly after halftime, too. Again, he bounces, squares up Cameron Munster and, at the same time, turns Joe Chan back in. As the defender turns, Ponga makes his pass and the centre and winger - on the right edge this time - are presented with a two-on-one.

Bulldogs v Eels

A Lack Of Cohesion: The Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs attack is really struggling. Everybody can see that. But why?

Despite playing a lot of football together, there seems to be a lack of cohesion between the spine and the rest of the team.

Whether it’s Bailey Hayward darting out of dummy half with no support because the cue is out wide, Matt Burton running it on the last with nobody ready to do the same outside him, Connor Tracey running into a dead end before putting in a grubber for nobody, or Lachlan Galvin running into teammates pushing up around the ruck, it doesn’t look like the Bulldogs are reading from the same tip sheet.

One positive: The forwards did a great job of getting the Bulldogs spine players up the field. Other teams have had success by putting the Parramatta Eels middle under pressure. The Bulldogs, for the most part, did that through their own pack. However, unlike others who have turned this Eels defence into one of the worst in NRL history right now, the Dogs couldn’t find the points on the back of it.

The Final Moments: Where the halves did go wrong came at the end of the match and it can again be attributed to a lack of cohesion. With the game on the line and in position to at least attempt a field goal, Lachlan Galvin and Matt Burton failed to get themselves in position before being bailed out with a late penalty.

Cameron Ciraldo was fairly clear in his post match press conference when asked if he’d like to have seen Galvin step up and manufacture an opportunity to kick the winner.

“Yes".

Player Spotlight - Mitchell Moses, New South Wales Blues

It’s a bit strange to have a bloke here who hasn’t played since Round 11, but Mitchell Moses is a big talking point this week. He’s expected to take back his spot in the New South Wales Blues halves despite Ethan Strange playing a leading role in their Game 1 win.

The general consensus I’ve seen is that it’s the wrong decision by Laurie Daley.

The Blues won, so Strange should stay.

However, there is more to winning than the scoreboard. It’s important to consider how the Blues won, and you can’t do that without conceding the fact they did so on the back of Kalyn Ponga being sent from the field.

What I imagine Daley and the Blues staff have factored into their decision is how they found themselves 20-0 down in the first place, and how best they can avoid doing the same in Game 2.

Strange is a super attacking five-eighth. He’s lethal behind a quick play-the-ball and thrives behind a dominant middle. But with the Blues on the backfoot as they were in Game 1, they could have used Moses’ experience and kicking game to stop the bleeding. Give Moses an extra man in attack and the front foot football you get on the back of it, and he can produce plenty in attack too.

Daley is taking a risk by changing things. Regardless of how the Blues won, there is a benefit in the 80 minutes they played together as a squad. Nonetheless, promoting Moses back into the starting side might not be the right call, but keeping him out simply based on the Game 1 result is the wrong argument.

The Pipeline - Zakauri Clarke, Penrith Panthers

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

The brother of Melbourne Storm rookie Cooper Clarke, Zakauri is putting together a fine season for the Penrith Panthers in the New South Wales Cup.

He’s dangerous with the ball. The 21-year-old runs hard lines and catches well in contact to break through, often getting his arms free to find an offload. He’s an always-popular goal kicking backrower, too.

But it’s in defence where he can stand out. He’s physical. Clarke will shoot out of the line to put a shot on, much like you might see from Liam Martin in the first grade side. He puts doubt into opposition halves and seems to strike a nice balance between defending in and out of the line.

Penrith have a strong squad of backrowers, but in the Top 30 and playing consistent footy in the Cup side, it might not be long before Clarke is makes his NRL debut.

Member Mailbag

In the Cronulla game, What was the reasoning for Ronaldo Mulitalo to not be on his wing throughout the game ? It was like a roaming role however he seemed to get no ball.. Billy Burns seemed to be playing right ring and reaped the awards scoring two tries.

The Sharks do like to have Ronaldo Mulitalo roam around the field a little bit. He loves to get in off his wing in yardage to take a carry, sometimes tracking beyond the far post from his wing to get into dummy half.

But when it comes to this Billy Burns try in which Mulitalo is in the middle of the field ready to take Blayke Brailey offload…

…Mulitalo is likely there to compete on a mid-field bomb.

When the Sharks complete a set just beyond halfway, you’ll sometimes see him come in off his wing to compete on the last play kick in the middle. Given the clock situation at the time of this try, my guess is he was looking to do similar on what he thought would be the last kick off the half before Brailey took the space on offer.

1  It’s still crazy that one man responded to a handful of old men in media complaining about something they don’t understand and reduced the number of opportunities to score from scrums…