Five Metre Gap: Rd 21 Wrap
Like the way of the five metre gap in defence, looking at the points you may have missed from round 21 of the National Rugby League.
Melbourne’s defeat on Friday night and the hands of the Tigers 34-16 represented their most ill-disciplined game of the season. Craig Bellamy’s side made 14 errors, the most they have all season. Their previous highest error count was 12 back in round four when they fell in golden point to the Cowboys. Queensland centre Will Chambers was the main offender with four errors whilst skipper Cameron Smith also gave up four penalties. This was half of his side’s total (eight) for the game and as many as his last four NRL games combined.
Staying on the Storm and dual international Wendell Sailor may have foreshadowed more upheaval in the Victorian sides’s centre three-quarter line. Speaking on Triple M’s NRL coverage Sailor noted the lack of a strike centre as hindering their attack. Pointing out that Kurt Mann has been dropped since he announced he was leaving the club it could spell another re-shuffle with Mahe Fonua, who has featured off the bench recently, set to join Super League side Hull FC. Given the treatment of Mann, who hasn’t featured since round 15 which coincided with the confirmation he was joining St George Illawarra, Melbourne’s outside backs/bench impact players could be further depleted. Perhaps because Fonua is joining a Super League side and not a direct rival means Bellamy may cut the Melbourne-born centre some slack. However Sailor’s point about a further strike centre is well made with Tohu Harris and Kenny Bromwich having featured further out towards the wing in recent weeks. Not only has that not had a desired affect for Melbourne but it’s been horrid for fantasy team managers with Messrs K. Bromwich or Harris whose involvement and points have dropped away.
Former Queensland forward Ben Hannant put in a colossal shift to help lay the platform for North Queensland’s comeback in Townsville on Saturday night and the effort could have further importance in the coming fortnight. Down 18-0 after 20 minutes the locals saw Hannant play the first of his 40 minutes in the middle period of the half and he went on to run for 165 metres in 15 runs, the second most of any player in the game. Raiders fullback Jack Wighton, who played the whole game chalked up 176 metres and Hannant’s teammate James Tamou also ran for 165 metres, but had 15 more minutes than Hannant in which to do so. Whilst Jake Granville and Johnathan Thurston won plaudits, as is now the norm for the competition’s second-placed side after the 32-24 win over Canberra, having a player with experience who is able to come on and provide that level of impact is important. It will be all the more significant when current Queensland prop Matt Scott is rested in coming weeks with the Australian representative himself suggesting he could miss the round 23 game against South Sydney.
Warriors winger Ken Maumalo spoke of his statistical goals in NRL games in June to nrl.com’s Corey Rosser. The 21 year-old flyer noted he aimed for 17 or more carries every week and to go error free. After the 18-14 loss to Cronulla on Saturday Maumalo has a bit to analyse having missed two tackles out of 12 attempts and falling well short of his attacking aims, in his 10 runs he made 84 metres which is 16 less than what he averaged in his first three NRL games. What was impressive from the Auckland-born youngster was when he was able to help force goal line drop-outs, twice in game he troubled the Sharks defence in this regard but also allowed his team to get the ball back and launch another attack.
With talk of the exciting brand of rugby league the Ipswich Jets are playing in the second tier it was interesting to see the greatest contrast in off-loads in round 21 came in one of the closest games. When South Sydney beat Penrith 20-16 the Panthers were in the game all the way doing their best to chase down the margin late on, including when Lewis Brown scored with seven minutes to go. Ivan Cleary’s side ‘won’ the off-load count 21-6. What made this point interesting was the teams finished with similar completion rates – Souths 29/40 (73%) Penrith 26/36 (72%) If regular off-loads, as a measure of exciting rugby league, give a team a chance up until the last moments of games the Walker brothers might be worth a chance as head coaches in the NRL.
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Hamish Neal
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