Play of the Week
I liked this variation on the block play by the West Tigers
Lots of players crossing lines hold the defence in tight followed by some nice ball play by Eisenhuth – the elaborate first dummy brings Munster in and he can’t release (great line by Garner as well who somehow manages to not impede any defenders). The fact that Wests utilise 2 sweepers holds the Melbourne centre wide.
Long-Short Plays
Isaac John on his Instagram page calls the following play long-short. Set up 2 runners either side of the targeted defender – they guess wrong you score.
In this play the ball player runs across the first defender. The defender reacts by holding ground (stops sliding) allowing the ‘short’ player to hit the hole on their outside shoulder. The next defender feels compelled to come in on the short line opening the gap for the ‘long line’.
Very hard to defend when executed at pace and close to the defensive line.
Defending attacking turnovers
My headline article is “What Dane Gagai can teach us about Risk Management“. After a quiet few rounds there were a number of tries scored in R19 from attacking turnovers.
The 2 against the Warriors really show how important this risk is to manage as they were up 14-6. The 2 events back to back had them down 20-14 and were a big reason for them missing the 2 competition points.
As stated in my article – the cost of having a non-attacking side player rotate behind the play is very cheap considering the outcome.
Rugby League Strategy 