Five Metre Gap: Week 1 Finals Wrap
Like the way of the five metre gap in defence, looking at the points from the first weekend in the NRL Finals. Souths and the Dragons were eliminated.
It was the true game of two halves for Melbourne, and in particular Kurt Mann, on Friday as the Storm earned the week off beating the Roosters 20-18. Mann dropped the ball twice inside the opening 20 minutes but the Dragons 2016 recruit turned it around in the second half to score the try that put Melbourne ahead. His teammates joined him in an error-free second half after making five mistakes in the first half and that efficiency, wrestle or no wrestle, sealed the win.
From the two beaten sides who stayed in finals contention this weekend (Sydney and North Queensland) there were a couple of standouts in the forwards. The Roosters Siosiua Taukeiaho in just 45 mins made 16 runs for 155 metres to go with four tackles busts, the most of any forward in the game. The former Warrior also made 25 tackles. In Brisbane on Saturday night as his side was edged 16-12 the Cowboys’ Jason Taumalolo led some key statistics with 153 metres made from 15 runs. Taumalolo made the most metres of any forward in the match but in a concern for coach Paul Green looking for impact off the bench the Cowboys weren’t able to make any tackle busts.
The lack of impact for the Cowboys in many departments helped Brisbane who weren’t at their best on attack to win on Saturday night. The Broncos saluted after leading 8-2 at the interval despite having only one attacking tackle in the Cowboys’ ‘red zone’ (last 20 metres) in the first half. Ben Hunt’s lone try came from a play started outside the 20 as the Brisbane halfback split the North Queensland defence. That’s a huge concern for the men from Townsville but is good upside for Brisbane if they can sharpen their metres gained at the end of sets in a fortnight when they face the Roosters or Canterbury.
With Bulldogs forwards Frank Pritchard, certainly, and Sam Kasiano, possibly, facing time on the sidelines through suspension who will step up to cover their absence against the Roosters? Des Hasler would seem to have a logical replacement with Dave Klemmer who is second top for the club this year in metres gained behind Aiden Tolman. In 41 minutes on Saturday Klemmer made 16 runs which gained 177 metres and logged 26 tackles. If both forwards are lost Shaun Lane could see more time but he would want to improve on his eight tackles and four runs in 25 minutes off the bench from the weekend.
On the Bulldogs one had to feel sorry for the Dragons who they saw off on Saturday afternoon but even at 6-0 early in the second half I thought the dogs were home. Why? Simple. What side misses two try-scoring opportunities in the space of five minutes against a Des Hasler-coached side (in the finals) and live to tell the tale? Benji Marshall’s jinking run was scrubbed out in that period just after the break and even when Englishman Mike Cooper was held up over the line with 15 minutes to go it seemed too tough as ask to get back in contention. It wasn’t for St George Illawarra who got back in front before Josh Reynolds snuck the Bulldogs home.
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Hamish Neal
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