NRL Round 20 Review: Breaking Down That Galvin Pass, The Cost Of Contesting The Kick & Brailey's Development

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What's to come this week:

• Breaking Down The Cue For Galvin’s Game-Winner

• Quick Play-the-Balls

  • Vea’ila On Debut

  • The Cost Of Contesting The Kick

  • Panthers In Defence

• Setting Up For A Shot: Brailey Running Riot

• Try Time: The Rookie Of The Year

Big Takeaway From the Week: Breaking Down The Cue For Galvin’s Game-Winner

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.

Lachlan Galvin is the most polarising player in the NRL right now.

He’s the latest product of the NRL media overhype machine.

We see it all the time: A name people have heard about coming through the grades, but most have never actually seen play, makes his debut and is spoken about as “the next *insert great of the game here*” before his every action becomes a highlight.

Before long, the public catches on, becomes annoyed with the overhype of a young player not yet among the best in the competition, and their every move becomes scrutinised.

A 19-year-old throwing a game-winning try assist in their first game at halfback for a new club, on its own, is an incredible rugby league moment. When it came to Galvin doing precisely that on Saturday night, the overwhelming response was to talk the moment down.

There is plenty to be said about the cue presented to him, but the action to create it wasn’t an accident.

I’ve covered the balance of the Bulldogs attack before:

“On the edges, the Bulldogs are especially good at getting to the four-man and testing the defence of the opposing half and movements of the centre.”

This week, however, they moved a space wider to make the best use of Tyrell Sloan’s inexperience defending on the wing.

The Bulldogs, as they have done throughout the season, dropped players back off into the middle to hold up a sliding defence and search for momentum. This week, they ran regular lead runners inside the two-man to force Sloan into a decision on the edge.

He often chose to jam, and the Bulldogs saw that match-winning cue long before throwing the decisive pass.

Presented with a set start following a Dragons short drop out gone wrong, the Bulldogs worked to their spots on the field to get a look at Sloan shortly before Galvin’s final pass.

Note the shovel pass to Matt Burton like the action from late in the first half, and who he is trying to square up. He straightens onto Kyle Flanagan three-in with a lead inside two. Like earlier, Sloan decides to jam on Kikau.

There is a pattern to how the Bulldogs are looking to generate the cue, and it’s evident again in the match winner.

The setup is slightly different; Jaeman Salmon deserves a lot of credit for his ability to engage the middle defence with a lead inside Jack de Belin to hold his slide. Shaping to drop Viliame Kikau back under holds up de Belin further.

We’re back to the same pattern now. Galvin gets across de Belin four in and straightens into Flanagan. With the lead inside two and Burton, this time, out the back of a block, Sloan makes the move Galvin and company have seen a few times already.

It looks easy because it is easy, but those opportunities, regardless of the poor defensive decision, don’t come from nowhere. It’s a well-prepared plan that a young halfback executed on in the biggest moment of the match.

“It’s possibly one of the bravest passes I’ve seen,” said Cameron Cirlado after the game.

“We all know he’s had pressure on him and I can’t wrap him enough for how well he’s handled it. But to trust his instincts and trust himself to make that play just shows everyone probably what we’ve been seeing at training for the last six weeks.”

Galvin still has a lot to work on before he becomes a top-tier NRL half. He’s a big spot in the defensive line for attacking teams, and his last play decision-making leaves a lot to be desired. But those are issues you’d expect from a young halfback in the early stages of his first grade career - physicality and game management.

Whether elevating him to the #7 jersey this season is the right decision remains to be seen. Nonetheless, the Bulldogs have a bright future when it does eventually all click for Galvin.

Quick Play-the-Balls

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

Vea’ila On Debut

Chris Vea'ila Scouting Report: “His ability in attack is at a first grade quality. If the Roosters edge doesn’t get high to cut off his space, Vea’lia has an elite skip and offload in his bag.”

If there is one thing everybody can agree on, it’s that tries on debut rule:

The Cost Of Contesting The Kick

We will have to continue emphasising the risk of contested kicks until blindly demanding them is no longer a regular feature of our commentary.

There is a time and place to contest kicks, but the best teams in the NRL are consistent and calculated with their types of kicks and the kick chase behind them.

The South Sydney Rabbitohs provided another prime example of what can go wrong when there isn’t a clear plan around the kick chase.

All three players on the left edge competing for the ball and coming up without it ends up costing them points through the right edge.

With all three players behind the ball by the time Brian To’o comes down with it, the Rabbitohs don’t present a line to one of the most destructive ball-carriers in the NRL.

With To’o able to crab across the field and generate momentum, the Rabbitohs middle can’t keep up. They don’t travel to fill up on the opposite edge, and the Panthers have only three defenders in front of them with half of a field to work with.

To’o is a special player who often creates something out of nothing, but the Rabbitohs kick chase made it too easy for him on this occasion.

Panthers In Defence

Here come the Penrith Panthers…

They’ve been the best defensive team in the competition for five years, and are well on their way to being one of the best by September this season.

Following a rough start to the year on both sides of the ball, Penrith has conceded only 11.3 points per game in their last six.

Their four premierships have been built on defence, and the foundations for a fifth are starting to pop up as the pointy end of the season approaches.

With the Tigers, Titans and Knights to come in their next three, I’ve got Round 24 against the Storm circled as one to make a strong assessment of their premiership credentials.

Setting Up For A Shot: Brailey Running Riot

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.

Blayke Brailey is in career-best form for the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks at the moment.

Where he has always provided reliable service, Brailey is only now being recognised as an attacking threat out of dummy half.

His 50 running metres per game might not seem like much, but having only cracked 100 running metres once throughout his first 150 first grade games, Brailey has cleared it three times in his last five.

Runs like these have rewritten the tip sheet of the opposition.

But it’s the more deliberate and deceptive actions I’m keeping a closer eye on moving forward.

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