Monday Morning Dummy Half: Shaun Johnson and Aotearoa Kiwis Friends
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Hanging your Shaun Johnson cap on a win over Gold Coast Titans isn't a fabulous endorsement of Johnson's form or scope moving forward, yet it is some kind of starting point. Today's Monday Morning Dummy Half has some Shaun Johnson thoughts, as well as a look at some of the top-tier Aotearoa Kiwis who are cruising at a higher altitude than SJ7.
Yup - SJ7 is back. With Chad Townsend out of Cronulla Sharks' top-17 right now, Johnson is rocking the #7 on his back and the result here was Johnson playing as the dominant Sharks half alongside Matt Moylan. Johnson had 60 touches to Moylan's 40, plus Johnson did almost all the kicking with 13 kicks with Moylan and Blayke Brailey taking a kick each.
Johnson connected well with Moylan moving right and left, playing as a first-receiver pulling the strings. Having steadily hit Moylan out the back of a decoy runner, Johnson then hit Jack Williams with a short ball for his try assist and this was Johnson's second try assist of the season. Johnson has played 11 seasons with 10+ try assists in every season prior to this season so hopefully he can stay on the field, find a few more and crack that 10 try assist mark for the 11th season in a row.
We'll have to let Johnson's running game simmer as all his injuries seem to be with his legs and any time he's coming back from injury there tends to be an easing in period. Against the Titans, Johnson had 4 runs for 37m and didn't register a tackle bust. This was the first game this season with less than 40m running the footy and if the zip doesn't quite come back for Johnson, I'm eager to see him operate as a typical halfback given his passing and kicking is still top shelf.
I reckon this suits the Kiwis halves options as well. Johnson and Benji Marshall are similar in this sense, while Jahrome Hughes play this role well within the Melbourne Storm system but along with Dylan Brown they may be better suited to playing alongside a veteran international half. There is absolutely zero fluff around the fact that Brandon Smith is the best Aotearoa hooker and even though he's been a lovely bloke in working with Harry Grant; Smith is crucial for Aotearoa at hooker.
In tearing up Brisbane Broncos, Smith had 7 Dummy Half Runs for 51m in just 51mins. Smith had a total of 9 runs for 90 (10m/run) taking into account his regular work in running the footy however he gets.. Harry Grant didn't play until round five and then rolled through five games before missing the last two, which didn't amount to anything notable to start the season for Smith as the Storm lost two of their first five games and Smith didn't jack up big performances.
Smith had some tremendous games alongside Grant, then the last two games have seen Smtih score 2 tries as well as 4 try assists and 8 tackle busts. Part of this is to highlight that Smith is still a really good dummy half and part of this is to highlight that with all sorts of injuries or suspension, the Storm have scored 30+ points in their last six games and five of those games have been 40+ point parties.
Jesse Bromwich has played 40+ minutes in all 12 games this season. J-Brom's stats aren't massive, but all you need to know about the Manurewa Marlins junior is that he has not only been a consistent presence in the best team of the last 15 years, Bromwich has done so moving through different styles of NRL.
Bromwich had four games with over 100m in the Storm's first seven games, with only one of those efforts over 120m. Now Bromwich appears to have found a groove with the tempo of NRL footy as his last five games have all been over 110m; four of them passing 120m in dominant wins without may of the Storm's best players.
Kenny Bromwich has been out since round 10 and he'll slot back to that left edge role when available, while Nelson Asofa-Solomona is settling into his footy in glorious fashion. Asofa-Solomona has played all but one game this season, playing less than 30mins just once and his last three game have seen the Upper Hutt Tigers junior score 3 tries with 3 linebreaks, 13 tackle busts and an offload in each game.
Easy Penrith Panthers win over Bulldogs and James Fisher-Harris loves an easy win...
16 runs for 182m @ 11.37m/run and 37 tackles @ 94.7%.
Fisher-Harris has played all 12 games, 40+ minutes in all but one game. There was a five-game streak of 190+ metres prior to the Bulldogs game and Fisher-Harris' 182m still gives him six games in a row with 180+ metres. That's got Fisher-Harris up to an average of 176m/game which is a shade below his best work last season when he averaged 179m/game. With 329 tackles made and 13 missed @ 93.9 percent efficiency, the Northland trooper is an absolute monster.
Tokoroa's Joseph Manu has also played all 12 games this season and a move to the halves for Sydney Roosters saw Manu flex with his play-making. Manu doesn't quite have the consistent stat markers as he's a centre and the Roosters don't need to give Manu the footy every set to create points. As a half though, Manu grabbed 2 tries and a try assist while also doing a bit of kicking with 3 kicks to halfback Lachlan Lam's 10 kicks.
Seeing Manu's growth is a beautiful thing. When the Roosters need a fullback, they can call upon Manu and his round eight start at fullback vs Newcastle Knights resulted in 7 tackle busts and 225m which is the most run metres for Manu this season. Chuck him in the halves and Manu goes alright there, while also being an automatic first-choice selection for Aotearoa Kiwis.
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