Five Metre Gap: Round 5 Wrap
Like the way of the five metre gap in defence, looking at the key points you may have missed from round five of the NRL.
Slumping to their fourth loss of the season Manly was so ineffective on Saturday they were tackled inside the Raiders 20 metre ‘red zone’ on 24 occasions in the first 52 minutes of their encounter but only scored once in that period. In the same time-frame Canberra managed to score four times with only seven tackles inside the Sea Eagles’ 20.
Staying in Albury, the value of the Raiders off-season signings shone throw as after the Sea Eagles made a meal of another attacking chance Raiders rake Josh Hodgson punched through a 40/20 kick which set up the period of possession for Jarrod Croker’s try – Canberra’s fifth for the afternoon. Hodgson, 25, has only kicked on ten occasions this season but in every game when he has done so the former Hull KR player has averaged over 40 metres per kick.
On Friday evening the Titans lost for the fourth time in 2015 and it was a hugely ineffective start to the game which set the tone for the encounter for them. Each attacking phase inside the first 17 minutes, inclusive of their first 12 sets, ended up in the ‘red zone.’ During this period Neil Henry’s team tried everything from everything including grubbers and hard running (they were held up over or near the line four times) but they couldn’t breach the Brisbane defence. Ryan James’ 68th minute try gave them a chance but Brisbane finished 26-12 winners. This is good news for fantasy players with forwards on the Titans teams but maybe not for their backs or halves. Early defensive work can be hard for teams but is early attacking work (for no reward) just a demoralising?
Speaking of work-rate we can’t go without mentioning Penrith’s Elijah Taylor, he and 16 of his teammates spent the night chasing Johnathan Thurston around Pepper Stadium as North Queensland won 30-10 on Monday evening. Former Warrior Taylor made 68 tackles in a game of high efficiency for the Cowboys in which they completed 34 of their 37 sets at 92%. Failing to complete only one set in the second stanza and easily the best percentage of any side this weekend. Cronulla was next best in that statistic with 86% – 36/42.
While North Queensland made it two wins on the trot Newcastle fell to defeat for the first time this season losing to St George Illawarra. Halfback Tyrone Roberts had a bad night making five errors and missing four tackles. Whilst play makers are likely to make more mistakes governed by the fact they hold the ball more often failing to score points against a side whom themselves had only scored no more than one try per game once in their first month of football is concerning.
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Hamish Neal
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