#KiwiNRL Exploring Storm vs Cowboys
#KiwiNRL leaders.
Sometimes during Origin you gets served a game of NRL footy that feeds the frenzy for State of Origin to exist in it's own little window, chucking the NRL on pause to focus on Origin. More often than not though, games in the Origin period offer plenty of intrigue as the lack of the best players from those respective teams provides opportunities to those waiting in the wings. That was the overall vibe from Melbourne's narrow victory over North Queensland, well out of Australia any way.
The youthful talent on display made this game super funky and youngsters in both teams impressed, snapping up the opportunity as their coaches would like. There were definitely some young #KiwiNRL guns who fell into that category, yet our #KiwiNRL bias saw me droolin' at the prospect of Jesse Bromwich, Tohu Harris and Kenny Bromwich leading the Storm while Jason Taumalolo played to the peak of his abilities for the Cowboys.
Week in, week out, these blokes play at a high level. But with Cooper Cronk, Cameron Smith and Billy Slater dominating for Melbourne, while Jonathan Thurston and Michael Morgan do the same for the Cowboys their quality often gets overlooked; they are legit top-tier NRL players who do their job at a high level, but they just do their job.
The Cowboys are also playing without Matt Scott, leaving Taumalolo to form a trio of leaders along with Lachlan Coote and Jake Granville. So how did Taumalolo go about ensuring that the Cowboys forward pack could still roll down-field and keep Coote on the front foot? Taumalolo played 68 minutes, with a staggering 26 carries for 266m, 3 tackle busts and 3 offloads.
Keep in mind that all the numbers from this game are slightly boosted by 4 minutes of Golden Point. That won't diminish Taumalolo's efficiency though as he averaged 10.23m/carry and when you consider that some players - like Nelson Asofa-Solomona -average over 10m/carry but do so with less than 10 carries in 35 minutes, Taumalolo is out here making big metres all game.
The Cowboys have started to push Taumalolo out a bit wider as well, just as Melbourne have done with Jesse Browmich. Both took carries out on the left edge, starting closer to the middle of the field but angling out, towards the edge forward and opposition half. This is only made possible thanks to the agility of these two, which has enabled them to establish themselves as the best middle forwards in the game and now allows them to add another dimension to how the cart the footy up the field.
During the commentary, wait; the commentary team for this game was a pleasure to listen to as well. Andrew Voss led the gang with Michael Ennis and Danny Buderus offering playing expertise and the best sideline comments man in the game Andy Raymond offering quirks.
During the commentary, Ennis highlighted how Taumalolo was looking to offload and that by adding consistent offloads to his game he'd become an unstoppable force. Guess who led offloading in this game? Taumalolo and Bromwich had 3 offloads each.
Bromwich's numbers are put in the shade by Taumalolo, which only reinforces how much of a beast Taumalolo is instead of how average Bromwich was. In 76 minutes, Bromwich had 19 carries for 156m with 3 offloads and 3 tackle busts which is still an almighty game from Bromwich. There's also a subtle variation in Bromwich's role and Taumalolo's as Taumalolo only had 3 touches that saw him pass instead of run, compared to Bromwich who had 7 passing touches.
The Cowboys have John Asiata as their passing-prop (7 passing touches), so Taumalolo just zones in on running and gunning. Melbourne rely more on Bromwich to handle some passing and along with Kenny Bromwich, they showed glimpses of what makes Melbourne such a threat through the middle. Not only do the Bromwich bros make metres (Kenny had 16 carries for 123m), they execute all sorts of passing moves and Kenny especially can look inside and out, deliver a short or long pass to perfection.
Kenny also had 7 passing touches, so the Bromwich bros had a combined 14 passing touches and both ran over 100m. Three Melbourne forwards ran over 100m and the third forward obviously had to be Harris and the lack of excitement about Harris' arrival at Mt Smart next season is mind-boggling; Harris is a pure gem.
Harris had no passing touches, just 14 carries for 131m without a break and a cheeky 54 tackles. Harris made the most tackles in this game while also averaging the most metres/carry of that Melbourne #KiwiNRL trio with 9.35m/carry. Don't sleep on the fact that Harris was playing as an edge forward, down his favoured left edge and no other player (including other forwards who played all 84 minutes) had over 43 tackles. Not only does Harris charge down-field with ease, showing off similar footwork to Taumalolo and Bromwich, he's a defensive menace. Harris is always eager to slide in-field and make tackles, as well as charging up off the line to get a dominant tackle.
Of course, we had our own #KiwiNRL youngsters who showed impressive signs as they have done all season. Asofa-Solomona got a start in this game and played his usual 34 minutes, with 5 carries for 60m and 4 tackle busts. That's an average of 12m/carry folks and even if Asofa-Solomona is only playing 30 minutes (usually a bit less), the impact he offers Melbourne off the bench is crucial to their hopes of success; he's got a long way to go before he's Taumalolo though.
Unfortunately for big NAS, he gave away the penalty that helped the Cowboys level the scores at 22-22. No dramas though, live and learn.
Melbourne added Brandon Smith to their roster over the summer, taking him off the Cowboys and if you haven't watched the kid from Waiheke play NRL footy yet, schedule a viewing appointment. Smith shared minutes with Slade Griffin at hooker, playing his biggest stint in the NRL to date with 46 minutes, running for 24m off 3 carries with 3 tackle busts, 1 offload and 1 line break to go with a try.
Smith is 'pound-for-pound' as powerful as anyone else in the NRL and I suspect we are going to see him play more minutes alongside Cameron Smith as he's capable of breaking ope a set with a dart out of the ruck, then he's going to pose a threat close to the line as well. Smith didn't get a try assist for his pass from dummy half to put Felise Kaufusi over and that hints at another strength of Smith's game as every pass is slick; in the bread-basket and slightly out infront of the receiver.
That means that Smith's weapons on attack are varied and if you slide off him, showing his passing game a bit too much respect, he'll not only pounce at the chance to run but he's gonna make big metres and bust tackles. Sit too tight around the ruck to limit Smith's running game and he'll deliver a 10m pass to set the Storm's backline in motion.
This game was pure rugby league joy and the rugby league nerd in me not only savoured the #KiwiNRL angle but the influence of Coote for the Cowboys for example, or how Ray Thompson has found a niche as a very solid back up halfback that every club needs - someone like Thompson is incredibly valuable if they are willing to know their role and accept less money for the greater good.
Any time I watch Cameron Munster, I'm in awe. Munster is a freak and he was as influential as Coote; Munster had 54 touches which was the most of any Melbourne player. We've come to expect Munster to put up big running metres and be borderline un-tackle-able, he also had 3 line break assists and a try assist though which put his play-making in the spotlight. He also kicked a few goals as well.
Most impressive for me though was the planning displayed from Melbourne and North Queensland as they have made moves to safeguard their futures beyond Smith, Cronk, Slater and Thurston. Melbourne have Munster, Croft, Jacks and Brandon Smith ready to step in and by the time Croft, Jacks and Smith have to really step up to replace the legends, Munster will be known as one of the best palyers in the game.
The Cowboys just signed Te Maire Martin and now they have him competing with Kyle Labutt for a back up halves spot. Coote has developed into the best low key play-maker in the NRL and it's no surprise that the Storm and Cowboys put themselves in a position where they remain competitive during Origin. Without star players, we were treated to some influential #KiwiNRL performances and shown how the best clubs maintain success, which obviously starts with some fine coaches and two organisations that deserve to be copied.
We love #KiwiNRL and if y'all appreciate the work, just hit an ad and donate to the Niche Cache.