Koni Files: Chapter Three
Go to war on the field, toko's after the game
The 'Koni Files' exist because I'm fan of Konrad Hurrell the footy player and the person. That's why when I watch Gold Coast play and win as they have done recently, I'm not only looking for analysis of how Hurrell is playing footy, I'm looking at his body language and how he's interacting with his Titans comrades on the field. This is perhaps where I've been the most impressed by Hurrell in over the last two weeks as he's not only played some bloody good footy; he's fitting in like a glove.
It genuinely looks like Koni is enjoying the Titans' environment and his new comrades are thoroughly enjoying having Koni on board. When Chris McQueen scored his try, Koni was the first one there, smiling from ear to ear, expressing genuine joy for his homie. It looks as though Koni is a Titan through and through.
Gold Coast handled their business against Parramatta last week 34-14 and Koni was once again a barn-storming presence out on his right edge as well as through the middle. We were actually treated to a fairly epic toko battle with Manu Ma'u sliding to the left edge where he replaced Michael Jennings, meaning that Koni was playing centre in the NRL against Manu Ma'u. Those are collisions that I want absolutely nothing to do with.
Ma'u is an edge forward though, a forward doing a job at centre for his club and no one should ever sleep on how impressive Ma'u has been this season. He's not as nimble as legit NRL centres though, he's not as quick, he doesn't have the footwork and he doesn't have the skill so while it was a funky battle of two powerful Tongans, Hurrell wasn't overly tested by Ma'u. In the second half for example, Ma'u had the footy in a short-side raid and tried to skip on the outside of Hurrell but Hurrell had him covered thanks simply to Hurrell's speed advantage.
Koni scored a nice try to start Gold Coast's scoring, stepping against the grain and doing what he does best in running over blokes to reach out and score. Not only did Koni score a try, he took the most carries of any Gold Coast player with 17 which led to the most metres of any Gold Coast player with 186 ... oh and how about the most tackle busts of any Gold Coast player with 5.
As we saw last week, Koni's carries are huge for Gold Coast because they are lethal out on the edges where he's running at a half or outside backs and then he pops up in the middle. Last week I highlighted how Koni was used through the middle - getting a short pass from Nathan Peats at dummy half and using his speed to make metres around the ruck before making more metres in the tackle - which is an easy set up designed by coach Neil Henry to get the most out of Koni. This week was very similar, with two bonus observations.
In one set, Koni was lining up for one of these carries as Gold Coast were bringing the footy out of their own end, but instead of hitting Koni, Peats hit the toko Agnatius Paasi down the short side. Koni stayed where he was and waited for his turn in the next tackle to hit it up, something so simple but I've seen many players kick stones when they don't get that initial hit up and then drift back out to their edge. Koni stayed there and did his job.
Then I saw Koni stay out on the flank, wide on the right while Gold Coast worked the footy out of their own end down the left channel. Koni was flat though - level with the ruck instead of being further back level with his comrades - which had him perfectly positioned to support Anthony Don when he ran across field, creating an overlap and putting Koni in space. Koni lost the footy in the ruck, but while his team was bunched, chillin' while the backs took tough carries, Koni was still in the game even though he was out on his edge.
Both of these are examples of Koni staying involved, eager to have an influence. And here's two examples of Koni showing an eagerness without the footy.
First of all Koni's leading a kick-chase...
Then we've got Koni covering the hole left by Ash Taylor who kicked the footy and was a little late getting into the kick-chase, which is all good. Koni noted this and made an effort to push in, closing that gap left by Taylor...
Whether it's kick-chase or in the defensive line, Koni is operating with the general idea of defending 'up and in' which is awesome. There were times when Parramatta were coming off their try-line and Koni was scooting off his defensive line to put a shot on, then when Parra had an attacking play on, Koni doesn't slide and leave himself vulnerable, he gambles, reads the play and puts pressure on who he thinks will get the footy. I reckon coach Henry has told Koni that his asset in defence is his speed, which allows Koni to be in the attacker's face with only a short burst.
Fuck whatever you're doing Monday night because Gold Coast host Cronulla and this will be a fun game to watch for a few reasons. Both teams are playing well, both teams are physical and there'll be plenty of niggle and then we've got Koni's battle against Gerard Beale. Beale plays left centre and he's going to have a tough night trying to slow Koni down, even with Wade Graham there to help out, Koni should enjoy plenty of footy.
The flipside of that is that Cronulla's right edge is almost as lethal as their left and Koni's defence is going to be severely tested by Cronulla's slick plays. Whether this comes via a set-play with Ben Barba sweeping, or Graham doing some ball-playing or Beale just getting some early ball and taking Koni on with some footwork, Koni's going to be targeted and it's gonna be fun to watch.
There'll also be another cheeky toko battle, with Sosaia Feki starting on the right wing. Feki and Hurrell were NZ Warriors homies, plus they've done the job for Tonga before so expect them to provide some funk as well.