Five Metre Gap: Round 6 Wrap
Like the way of the five metre gap in defence, looking at the points you may have missed from round six of the NRL.
Proving the folly of jumping the gun to assess a team’s strengths the Newcastle Knights have slide in their last two and a half games and gone from 4-0- to 4-2 in the period after we praised their attack in Five Metre Gap. In falling 22-6 to Cronulla on Friday evening Rick Stone’s side completed a terrible 58% of their sets (11/19) in the second half compared to Cronulla’s slick 94% (15/16) in the same period. The Novacastrians only reward at Remondis Stadium was a try ten minutes from full-time to Akuila Uate. It was their first four-pointer in nearly three hours, 177 minutes to be precise. So, about those Knights outside backs in your fantasy team…
The NSW halves combination have been under pressure to retain their spots with a slow start to the 2015 season for the Canterbury Bulldogs (3-3) duo Trent Hodkinson and Josh Reynolds. Reynolds, whose career has been littered with suspensions, has struggled to get out of the blocks whilst Hodkinson seems reluctant to take control when he should be the dominant playmaker. 22 minutes into the game on Sunday against the Dragons, on the way to a comprehensive 31-6 lose, Hodkinson had only kicked once compared with six occasions for halves partner Moses Mbye who is five years his junior at 21. On Triple M’s Rush Hour program on Monday evening premiership-winning halfback Andrew Johns said Hodkinson “was hiding away from the ball.” Hodkinson also only ran twice. Once Reynolds came on he kicked six times to Hodkinson’s four more attempts. Whilst variety is important surely utilising your more experienced kicking/attacking options when you are chasing the game seems the better option.
Staying with Sunday afternoon’s game and it’s another example of attacking inefficiency. Late in the Channel Nine broadcast it was pointed out the Bulldogs had nearly four tackles inside the Dragons ‘red zone’ (last 20 metres) for every one tackle the Dragons had in Canterbury’s ‘red zone’ during the game. With their 41 ‘red zone’ tackles the Des Hasler-coached outfit only managed one try as they were comprehensively beaten 31-6 by Paul McGregor’s side who dotted down five times.
Despite a late Pat Richards try which made things interesting at Mount Smart Stadium the Warriors held out the Wests Tigers 32-22 on Saturday and it was the second last try which caught our eyes at Five Metre Gap HQ. It was a rare occasion for the Warriors of recent times when both halves launched the attack for Manu Vatuvei’s second try playing on the same side of the field. Chad Townsend fed fellow half Shaun Johnson before centre Solomone Kata provided the final pass. This could be damaging for opposing sides as Golden Boot winner Johnson could easily be used as a weapon in the future even if he doesn’t receive the ball during a similar play. This could allow more space and time for Townsend who is enjoying a renaissance under Andrew McFadden in 2015. Indeed it was the Tigers giving the former Shark too much time which had allowed the 24 year-old to score early in the night.
Roosters halfback Mitchell Pearce is three from 19 in field goals attempts. It’s enough to make you run screaming from the room if you are a Sydney Roosters fan and the game enters golden point. The former NSW halfback was amongst four players from both Brisbane and the Roosters to miss a collective six attempts on Friday night in Brisbane (yes James Maloney did go close.) Noted by Aaron Wallace (@wallyscr) of Fox Sports on Twitter we think it’s a statistic which doesn’t bode well for efficient play during future golden point games for the 2013 premiers. Whilst a component of those 16 missed attempts may be rushed it’s a low return if those attempts are been made late in the game with the aim of needing to win. The further confirms our column from a few weeks ago when we noted players attempting field goals late in the first half (when a try clearly isn’t on) probably has a better chance of success as the opponent isn’t looking for it. An example of this was Sam Williams in round five for the Raiders when they beat Manly in Albury. Pearce owners in fantasy comps need not bother looking up the FG column for his scores for the rest of the season based on the above figures.
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Hamish Neal
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