NRL Round 15 Review: Momentum Swings, The Flanagan's & Defending From The Scrumline

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These weeks can be a tough slog in the NRL.

The novelty of new players popping up across the competition wears off when the result becomes clear early. The close ones aren’t often the highest quality matches. Still, there are a few things we can take out of Round 15 ahead of State of Origin Game 2 on Wednesday night.

What's to come this week...

• Big Takeaway From the Week: Momentum Swings

• Quick Play-the-Balls

  • ICYMI: Making The Case For Stefano Utoikamanu

  • Dragons Decisions

  • Can Anybody Defend This Scrum?

• Setting Up For A Shot: The Kicker Penalty

• Try Time: Salesi Foketi Has Announced Himself

Big Takeaway From the Week: Momentum Swings

Tackle one can make or break a set of six. First up here, we’re breaking down what makes for the biggest talking point of the week.

“Momentum is specifically defined as the relatively positive performance of the team in offense and defense within a specific period. Through this framework, momentum can be defined more accurately in games, and its impact on game outcomes can be further explored.”

It’s a debate topic that can often go around in circles, but one study looked to explore the influence of “momentum” on the outcome of basketball games. I think their conclusion lands fairly well for rugby league, too.

As a momentum guy, it’s something we can see or feel within a specific period. Its impact on the game and how it might be measured can be further explored, though.

Like anything with momentum, it can be slowed down and stopped. In footy, momentum can flip in a matter of seconds.

Thursday night provided handy examples of how momentum flips and why it’s so difficult to define specific periods.

The Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks finished their set a Tyrell Sloan haircut away from the corner. If you’re not scoring, there is no better place to end a set. There is only one avenue for the attack, and it allows the defence to load up on their line speed and pin the opposition in their own end.

The momentum is with the Sharks after the kick. However, it only takes one strong carry to generate another, and another.

By being able to poke his nose through the line, Nathan Lawson starts to win it back for the St George Illawarra Dragons. His carry takes away the Sharks linespeed, and Clint Gutherson is able to pick up the easy metres and start working his side away from the line. Picking out Cameron McInnes and his low legs tackle style in defence helps to earn another quick play-the-ball which Jack de Belin uses to full effect.

The quickness of the ruck has scrambled the Sharks line, and he’s able to pick out Braydon Trindall and Blayke Brailey standing together to make a half-break. From deep in their own corner, Kyle Flanagan kicks from halfway to end the set.

The momentum of the set changed from start to finish.

Outside of just one set, teams can control momentum for lengthy periods. Even before the Sharks started to pile up points, you could see they were coming for the Dragons to start the second half. Craig Fitzgibbon put them back on track at halftime, and it changed the game.

Based on how the Sharks played with the ball and the 87 tackles Damian Cook and Jacob Liddle combined to make, I’m guessing “what we thought we wanted to do” revolved around getting at the Red V little men.

Tap starts in good ball are a prime opportunity for teams to run a scripted set and play their way. The set leading up to Briton Nikora’s try does well to sum up the Sharks second half.

It starts with Toby Rudolf picking out Cook and Liddle in the line straight off the tap. He wins the contact and generates a quick play-the-ball for Addin Fonua-Blake to play over the advantage line. He also has Cook in his sights, and as he pokes his head through the line, the Sharks spine is provided with their cue to play.

Few teams are better at executing on cues than the Sharks. They flatten up and look to play on the first sign. Their sign here after Fonua-Blake wins his tackle is the space between the B and C defenders. The cue presents an opportunity to isolate Nikora onto Lyhkan King-Togia three-in.

Taking the ball wide off the ruck with a runner inside him, Trindall has the space to skip across the defender at B to engage Luciano Leilua at C.

While Leilua does a good job of reading the pass and making a tackle on Nikora, Trindall’s work has taken the power from his tackle. He’s put Leilua on his heels, and the big back rower can’t make good enough contact to stop Nikora from crashing over.

But it all comes from the momentum generated to start the set. The Sharks picked out the Dragons little men and played on the back of it.

While playing with two smaller attacking players in the middle can have its benefits, those benefits aren’t realised without momentum with the ball. It’s where the game turned on Thursday night, and the Sharks held it through to the 80th minute.

Quick Play-the-Balls

We’re generating momentum through the middle of the article with a couple of quick carries.

ICYMI: Making The Case For Stefano Utoikamanu

Dragons Decisions

Shane Flanagan said there were “some decisions I was amazed at” early into his press conference on Thursday night.

I thought he might have been speaking about his halves. Perhaps Lyhkan King-Togia chipping it to himself for Sione Katoa to score late, or Kyle Flanagan’s last-tackle options, being caught with the ball on the 5th tackle attacking against 12 men, in particular.

But no, Flanagan was referencing a short kickoff that didn’t have as much of an impact on the game as the lack of direction in attack.

I tipped the St George Illawarra Dragons to make the Top 8. Despite losing games early, I liked their attack with Lachlan Ilias in the team. It may have become a bit one-dimensional had they stuck with it, but sticking three spine players on the long side and floating Tyrell Sloan into the mix every so often looked dangerous. They’ve not played in quite the same way since Kyle Flanagan started to take on more of a #7 role.

We’re unlikely to see a chance in the #7 jersey² , but perhaps we should. There is enough talent in this roster for the Dragons to play finals footy if they can carve out a consistent approach with the ball.

Can Anybody Defend This Scrum?

The North Queensland Cowboys scored when stacking one side of the scrum with six players against the Wests Tigers in Round 13 before the Penrith Panthers did similar in Round 14.

In Round 15, the Cowboys found themselves on the wrong end when defending six Dolphins with only five players.

Most teams are looking to get outside the defence with this setup, but Isaiya Katoa doesn’t miss a beat when Jaxon Purdue gets slightly in front of his line to create the gap for Connelly Lemuelu to fade into.

Like the examples in previous week, the shortside winger is caught napping.

We’re yet to see a consistent defence for six-man edges at scrum time, but my bet is that when we do, it features six defenders matching up man-on-man.

Setting Up For A Shot: The Kicker Penalty

Teams play to points with the following tackle in mind. Here, I’m touching on something to watch next week as we try to keep ahead of things happening on the field.

I don’t think I’ve ever allocated this segment to referees. Hopefully, I won’t have to again for a long time. Still, sometimes you just know what the response is going to be when you see a decision made during the game.

In this case, the decision didn’t end up with the whistle blown, but you know what the response would have been should this have been given a penalty, too.

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