Five Metre Gap: Rd 22 Wrap
Like the way of the five metre gap in defence, looking at the points you may have missed from round 22 of the NRL. A statistically significant round for premiership winners in recent years.
Does Craig Bellamy read Five Metre Gap? We can’t be sure but either way the return of a ‘strike centre’ helped propel sixth-placed Melbourne to a 22-point triumph on Sunday with Kurt Mann a late addition to the Storm left side against the Gold Coast. The Dragons-bound centre helped snuff out an early Titans attack and just after the break the Queenslander supplied the pass to Marika Koroibete for the Storm’s second try and a lead they would never relinquish. It’s safe to say the Harris/Bromwich centre-go-round is over.
As Manly romped away to a comprehensive victory on Friday night over South Sydney there was still talk about why rising star Tom Trbojevic wasn’t retained in first grade. Realistically the least experienced player Manly had on that side of the field is Peta Hiku who has played six test matches. Let that sink in… Sides such as the Titans and Raiders don’t have one player with Hiku’s amount of representative experience. The Kiwi international broke five tackles, scored three tries and ran for 211 metres (the most of any player in the match) as the Sea Eagles beat Souths 28-8. Significantly he was part of a defensive unit who only allowed one try with two minutes to go and the game well and truly in safe keeping. If Manly was out of contention and Toovey was coaching next year at Brookvale Oval maybe an argument can be made for ‘needing’ to play Trbojevic but they aren’t and he isn’t so play on Geoff we say!
Staying on the peninsula and it was a bad night for the premiers with their defensive trio of Bryson Goodwin, Aaron Gray and Luke Keary were put to the sword. Whilst the combined missed tackle count for the trio, four, doesn’t look too bad often they completely misread the play. For example Gray rushed up at the end of the play which saw Hiku cross for his first try. And it wasn’t just the defensive left for the Rabbitohs which was of concern, Dylan Walker missed seven tackles on the other side of the park. Notably Jamie Lyon missed four tackles but he had players around him in a system which compensated for that. The same can’t be said for Michael Maguire’s side.
The stability of a future deal for Trent Robinson gave the Roosters boss non concerns about starting Jackson Hastings on Sunday afternoon in Newcastle. The Junior Kangroo, standing in at halfback for Mitchell Pearce, missed two tackles as the Knights scored four tries in 26 minutes late in the contest but he was lively with four runs. Not short in defensive work, he did make 20 tackles but was adept enough to let the Roosters players around him shine on attack as they established a 32-0 lead before winning by 16 points. The former Dragon also compared well to Pearce gaining 192 metres from six kicks. About six metres better on average than Peace’s figures last week (nine kicks, 235 metres) against the Bulldogs.
In recent weeks we have looked at how suspensions for off-field discretions and resting players would impact the Sharks and Cowboys this time it’s the turn of the Warriors. With Ben Matulino facing time of the sideline coach Andrew McFadden has a few options but it seems Raymond Faitala-Mariner is a clear pick to possibly play a full 80 minutes as Matulino, 26, did in the weekend’s 36-0 defeat at the hands of the Dragons. Matulino has played on the edge in recent weeks and Faitala-Mariner has had more impact, albeit playing more minutes, than teammates Charlie Gubb and Sam Lisone. The latter duo haven’t broken any tackles in the last two games and RFM broke three in Wellington on Saturday and gained 92 metres in runs. The week prior he had made 118 metres from 13 runs against Cronulla. The Warriors are in desperate need of Ryan Hoffman but the 22 year-old Otahuhu junior might have to be the stop-gap measure.
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Hamish Neal
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