Five Metre Gap: Round 8 Wrap
Like the way of the Five Metre Gap in defence, looking at the points you may have missed from round eight of the NRL.
As the Warriors closed late at Mount Smart Stadium it was disappointing to see halfback Shaun Johnson get lost in the final set when the home side needed some direction from their Golden Boot winner. As the seconds wound down the number seven got his hands on the ball after two other players had done so from a key tackle with some ten seconds to go. When a kick over the top or across field seemed the option given the Warriors were 40-odd metres out the play slid meekly to the right-hand side of the field and was snuffed out by the Gold Coast who completed a 32-28 win. Whilst looking at aspects like a final play forgets everything which happened in the preceding 79 minutes 24 year-old Johnson needed to do more when the game was on the line and his opponents were, likely, at their most fatigued.
Staying in Auckland (and keeping with the fatigue theme) whilst Warriors boss Andrew McFadden lamented his side ‘checking out’ (my paraphrasing) at times the Titans were actually very poor in defence throughout the game. Neil Henry’s men missed 49 tackles, 28 of those by halftime. The first half misses were more than any other side missed in complete games across the weekend bar Newcastle (35) and North Queensland (29) when the Cowboys beat the Knights by two point at Hunter Stadium. Some leeway does need to be given when opposition players like Tuimoala Lolohea are busting ten tackles (often taking multiple players with them) but it should be a concern for the men from the Sunshine Strip.
As Newcastle fell to their fourth consecutive defeat skipper Kurt Gidley shone a light on his own performance and it may have paved the way for coach Rick Stone to elevate Sione Mata’utia to a starting birth at fullback. Gidley, 32, made seven runs for 57 metres in the 26-24 defeat on Saturday. Former NRL player and now broadcaster Jimmy Smith on Sky Sports Radio called for Mata’utia to be elevated to the custodian role for the Novocastrians and a glance at the last two games the pair played together would make a strong case for this. Gidley missed three tackles and made four errors whilst also conceding a penalty on Saturday. Mata’utia missed four tackles and made one error but the work with the ball really shows out the difference between the two. The youngster made 13 runs for 156 metres whilst veteran Gidley made seven runs for just 57 metres as mentioned above. In round six, the last time they both featured, Gidley made two errors whilst conceding one penalty. Mata’utia had a clean slate in the 22-6 lose to Cronulla as both missed no tackles in the game but again the running metres told a story. Gidley: three runs 17 metres. Mata’utia: 14 runs 137 metres. Having dotted down as well when the Knights were trying to clamber back into the contest on Saturday the temptation to add to Mata’utia’s minutes (68 against Cronulla but just 52 against the Cowboys) must be high for coach Stone.
Perhaps due to the break after 28 minutes in play after to the storm at Allianz Stadium on Saturday both coaches took at interesting approach to their benches in the Roosters Dragons game. Wille Manu, 12 minutes, and Lagi Setu, 19, played less than a quarter of the game for Trent Robinson’s Roosters and Paul McGregor adopted a similar approach for St George Illawarra with former Origin player Ben Creagh, 17, and Jake Marketo, 15, spending more time trying to stay dry then contributing to their side’s 14-12 triumph. Was Saturday a window into the game time we can expect for bench players if interchanges are reduced? Will game time for ‘benchies’ drop to 15 minutes as opposed to 30?
Titans, Tigers, Warriors and Cowboys. That’s the alternate top four in the NRL based on points scored after two months of action. 7th, 5th, 13th and 4th respectively the fourth from bottom Warriors are the outlier in that quartet with their 175 points (the same amount as the Tigers) negated by the fact they have conceded 182 points, the second most of any side. With the Warriors just two points off the pace of the top eight after two months the Titans have scored 178 points and the Cowboys 172. Good news for fantasy owners of players in those teams so far in 2015.
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Hamish Neal
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