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NRL Round 4 review: Upsets, Knights on top and Thurston's back

Johnathan Thurston's Cowboys could be headed towards another decider. (AAP Image/Action Photographics, Colin Whelan).
Roar Guru
31st March, 2015
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Welcome back to our weekly NRL review series. This week was all about upsets, the surprising Newcastle Knights, the magic of Johnathan Thurston and some curious decision making from the Sharks

Theme of the round: Upsets
Last week in the rugby league media there was yet another round of hand wringing about the fairness and effectiveness of the salary cap, mostly by people jealous of the Rabbitohs and Roosters.

This past weekend demonstrated though that the names on the page often matter less than the performance on the field and that reputations count for little. While the Eels rousing victory over the previously undefeated Rabbitohs was the most notable upset of the round, the Dragons, Broncos and Titans also beat the bookies, the Tigers came oh so close to upending the Bulldogs and even the Cowboys finally got on the board at home to the Storm.

Reasonable people can come to different views on just what role the salary cap plays, but what cannot be argued though is that in any given week in the NRL almost any team (sorry Sharks and Raiders fans) can beat almost any other team.

Team of the round: The Knights
With apologies to the Roosters who kerb-stomped the woeful Raiders and the Cowboys who had the most dramatic comeback of the Round, the Knights are the team of the week.

Four weeks into the season and Newcastle sit atop the ladder as the sole remaining undefeated team. Pretty much just as everyone expected, right? Well maybe not.

It’s fair to say that the Knights have exceeded expectations thus far. While they benefited from an outrageous video referee decision in their Round 3 encounter with the Titans, they have also recorded credible wins over the Cowboys in Townsville and at home to the Panthers on Saturday afternoon.

The Knights game plan is built on a no frills forward pack, solid playmaking from the halves and perhaps most importantly big backs with an appetite for work. While Craig Bellamy’s Storm team have for a number of years made heavy use of outside backs to bring the ball out of their own end, the Knights have taken this approach to a new level.

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The Knights centres Dane Gagai and Joey Leilua, with 144 metres and 119 metres respectively, are ranked second and fifth among centres for metres per game. Plus Aku Uate, with 122.8 metres per game is ranked 11th among wingers. This work rate from the backline is a big part of the club’s success in 2015.

Perhaps the best news for Knights fans is that their draw doesn’t get much harder in the near term. With games against the Dragons, Sharks, Eels and Cowboys coming up, the Knights have an incredible opportunity to lock themselves into the top four before we even get to the Origin phase of the season.

Player of the round – Johnathan Thurston
There honestly isn’t much that needs to be said here. The imperious way in which Thurston brought a bedraggled Cowboys team back into the contest on Monday night was remarkable yet somehow mundane for a player who remains far and away the most integral single player to any team.

Interestingly the improved performance from Thurston and the Cowboys came with Thurston taking a far more aggressive role than previous weeks. After splitting touches fairly evenly with halves partners Robert Lui and Michael Morgan in earlier games, Thurston called his own number far more often on Monday, recording 72 touches to Morgan’s 30. Interestingly though, fullback Lachlan Coote was heavily involved with 52 touches and one forgettable kick out on the full.

In contrast Thurston’s Queensland and Australian partner Cooper Cronk split his touches with new teammate Blake Green almost 50-50.

Whether Thurston putting the team’s success on his own back is a viable long term strategy with Origin approaching is debatable, but for now Cowboys fans will be delighted with the win.

Curious tactic of the week: Sharks take the two. A lot
On Saturday evening the Sharks, who lost by two points, opted to take the shot at goal on four separate occasions. While there are no doubt some situations in which taking the two makes sense, the decision late in the game to take a shot to extend the lead from two points to four points was not one of those occasions.

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In all it conveys either a lack of confidence in the team’s ability to post points or an overconfidence in the team’s ability to defend – which a record of conceding 94 points already this season does not support.

In the end the losing play was somewhat unlucky as James Roberts took an intercept to win the game, but the penalty decision remains a strange one

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