NRL Round 8 Review: Broncos Draw Up A Beauty, Tedesco For Origin & Storm Depth Issues

NRL Film Room - Round 8 Highlights

Quick Hits

The Feature Reel: Try of the Week

Despite there being so many tries, and too many coming from unstructured broken play on the back of fatigue, we still get the odd four-pointer that comes from the planning and tactics covered throughout the week.

Josiah Karapani’s try in the corner on Friday night is a prime example of how an attack coach can draw something up based on what the defensive system of the opposition is likely to do in front of them.

Ezra Mam makes the highlight reel play. His looping pass to Karapani on the edge is a beauty. However, his winger isn’t in that spot by accident.

He’s started on the paint, knowing that should things go as planned inside him, there will be an open passage to the try line.

The Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs defend high and straight on the edges. They get up and hold thier position until those inside them work to the outside, allowing the edge to move across the field.

In response, the Broncos used a lead inside four-man to hold up the work on the inside. That allowed Mam to get into three-man, and with a lead inside and outside the centre, Marcelo Montoya doesn’t have a choice but to stay tight.

They’re forcing the more difficult pass. Unfortunately for the Bulldogs, Mam is all too willing and capable of nailing it.

Round 8 NRL Notes

Cowboys v Sharks

• What Did Toby Rudolf Have For Lunch? He started this one like a man possessed. With no respect for his body, he tore into the defensive line to lay the foundations for a strong Sharks middle with the ball. His 75 running metres on eight carries don’t do the damage he did to the defensive line justice.

• Cowboys Swing Attack: Siosifa Talakai is a handful with the ball. He scored two tries inside 12 minutes in this one. However, his recent move closer to the middle in recent years will have come down to his lateral quickness - or lack of it compared to other centres around the NRL. It’s an area the Cowboys made sure to exploit, using leads inside three to shrink Nicho Hynes which put Talakai in difficult positions. With the lack of cohesion he has with Braidon Burns, the centre and winger weren’t on the same page or moving in the same direction. Murray Taulagi’s try shows the Cowboys swing attack in full effect.
  
  They’re very tight as the ball is played. Taulagi, who ends up scoring in the corner, starts the action from inside the scrum line.

  

  By starting tight and swinging around, Talakai and the Sharks edge isn’t able to cheat across the field. The swing keeps the defence tight, and Scott Drinkwater’s speed puts him on the outside of Talakai before he sends Taulagi over in the corner.

• 80 Points In 80 Minutes: With the score at 30-28 with roughly 20 minutes to play, Dan Ginnane and Mick Ennis started to speak about the state of the game and whether or not this game is the sort of football people want to see. With 13 minutes to play, they started speaking more about the next game than the one in front of them. My thoughts on the six again rule and recent changes are relatively well documented at this point. But it’s interesting to hear, during what would be considered a good game by those in decision-making positions, that leading voices aren’t particularly impressed…

Sea Eagles v Eels

• Moses v Fogarty Kick Battle: Mitchell Moses and Jamal Fogarty don’t always get the credit they deserve for thier ability to save poor yardage sets with a long kick. We’re always looking for the highlight reel play or counting stats, but they aren’t possible without field position. In Moses and Fogarty, these two teams have two of the best long kickers in the competition and they put their talents on full display in this one.
  
  Parramatta fell away in the end, but played out a competitive first half on the back of Moses’ kicking game. Shortly before halftime as the Eels struggled to work out of their own end, Moses sent a rocket off his boot, further back than Lehi Hopoate expected, and kicked the Eels from inside thier own 40m line to a tackle inside the Manly 20.

  

  Fogarty responded on the very next set with a monster kick of his own. A shift on 4th tackle helped the Sea Eagles up towards halfway, but few halfbacks in the NRL can fire off an attacking kick from this field position.

  

  Fogarty’s torpedo bomb put Joash Papalii under pressure and gave his kick chase time to land on him for Parramatta to start their own set around the 20m line.
  
  As both teams struggled to make a significant dent through the middle in yardage, their #7’s kicked them into a strong field position.

• Run Hard, Run Straight: There wasn’t a lot to write home about on the Eels attack. While it proved effective enough to start the game well and get through to halftime only one point behind, once the Sea Eagles started to find points, Jason Ryles’ side didn’t have many answers.
  
  A lot of it comes down to the injuries. Dylan Walker is another big loss with his influence through the middle a point of difference that can spark dangerous actions. However, the lack of threat is something to monitor in the coming weeks. With the state of the game and speed at which teams can score points, trucking it up the middle without testing the edges is unlikely to translate into too many wins while they wait for reinforcements.

Player Spotlight - James Tedesco

Much of the NRL media seemed to retire James Tedesco from State of Origin football after he lost his spot to Dylan Edwards. Having already come in to play a game since then, should he be considered the #1 option for the 2026 series?

His numbers are off the charts…

The 33-year-old is the most consistent attacking fullback in the competition right now. His workrate is as high as it has ever been, and he’s still finding ways to pop up in the right places at the right time to score himself or send a teammate over the line.

Edwards isn’t playing poorly at the Panthers. His line organisation and ability to track across the field and close gaps is arguably the best in the competition. But in a game that is often tight and won on big plays, Tedesco is the more likely of the two to produce with the ball.

The Pipeline - Jack Hetherington, Melbourne Storm

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

Like Craig Bellamy said during his post-game press conference, he’s “stuck with basically the same side the last six weeks” and it’s time to make “some changes.”

But the most telling quote came when asked about whether or not he had anybody in reserve grade banging the door down for a call-up.

Moses Leo scored a try, broke seven tackles and ran for 243 metres in a standout performance, but Bellamy has been there and done it before with Leo. Instead, I’m looking for Jack Hetherington to make a more consistent return to the NRL.

He’s featured on the bench a few times this season, but only logged 36 minutes in the last month. In NSW Cup, however, he’s punching out big minutes and producing impressive numbers.

When it comes to players who “want to go out there and have a go,” few can be relied on to do so - for better or worse - than Hetherington.

Member Mailbag