Five Metre Gap: Rd 15 Wrap
Like the way of the five metre gap in defence, looking at the points you may have missed from round 15 of the NRL. Two sides, Parramatta and South Sydney, were on the bye.
Top of the table Brisbane won 14-12 on Sunday at AAMI Park against the Storm on the back of a great defensive effort but also some puzzling attacking from the home side. With 11 drop-outs sent by Brisbane to Melbourne’s attackers it underscored how much dominance Melbourne had in territory and possession such as the Broncos having to make 442 tackles compared to the Storm’s 327. What caught our attention was the Storms’ persistent pushing at the Brisbane line when it became clear Brisbane was just so dominant in defence.
Elsewhere this weekend it took Johnathan Thurston three attempts to propel his time to victory via a field goal and I wonder if Melbourne could not have adopted similar strategy when say 15 minutes from time they weren’t breaching the Brisbane wall. Having not scored a four-pointer for the last 45 minutes of the game a field goal gives you hope to march back down the field and do the same again to tie the game. It would leave you open to Terry Lamb-esque ridicule (the former Canterbury star once potted a field goal with his team 12-10 behind thinking it would put them in front) but when something isn’t working you need a plan B. I suspect injured halfback Cooper Cronk would have done something like that if he was playing. I concede Melbourne will likely wear down teams in this fashion and get wins as a result during the season but if Sunday is any indication it may not be enough if come finals time.
In Melbourne Jacob Lillyman was used for relatively sparingly used for 26 minutes off the bench during Origin II but he was key for the Warriors as they won on the Gold Coast on Saturday. The Warriors forward ran for 212 metres off the bench on the Gold Coast. This was the most of any player in the match and the made 29 tackles to go with it as his side cruised to a 36-14 victory.
Staying at Robina and the Titans (6-8) were responsible for 42 missed tackles in the 22-point loss. The most penalised team in the competition had former Queensland representative David Taylor and fullback David Mead miss six tackles each on a poor night for Neil Henry’s outfit. In fairness to the Titans duo Peter Mata’utia also missed six tackles this weekend as his side were edged 19-14 by the Sydney Roosters on Monday night.
With both the futures settled for the Manly halves, one staying and the other going, Kieran Foran and Daly Cherry-Evans set about rectifying their lowly ladder position helping guide their side to 30-20 win over the Wests Tigers on Friday. Like the New Zealand Warriors and the Cronulla Sharks, the Sea Eagles scored three crucial tries in 12 minutes of less and put the game beyond doubt when Brett Stewart scored early in the second half. When Cherry-Evans set-up almost directly behind the dummy half in the lead-up to Stewart’s opening try it must have been the start of nightmare for Jason Taylor as his defenders knew whilst Foran was the ball runner if Manly changed the point of attack to Cherry-Evans should they have made the tackle the right-side of Manly’s could still do damage causing doubt to the inside defence. It will be something to watch for opposing coaches as Manly still have Jamie Lyon to return to their backline.
In our Round 14 wrap we highlighted how damaging Chris Grevsmuhl was off the pine for South Sydney with four tackles busts as the 22 year-old out-performed a host of the Rabbitohs starters and this weekend Robbie Rochow found himself in that position as the Knights were edged 30-28 by Cronulla. Other starters had a higher workload but only one, Kade Snowden, broke more tackles. East Maitland junior Rochow made 26 tackles and had 11 runs but, significantly, he broke three tackles plus provided the final ball for NSW forward Beau Scott to cross six minutes before the break. Rochow also didn’t miss a tackle, make an error or concede a penalty. With a disjointed forward pack due to players like Jeremy Smith absent on account of injury Rick Stone could do worse than upping Rochow’s game time now that the 22 year-old has returned from his back injury.
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Hamish Neal
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