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The most interesting thing I noticed about the NRL action over the weekend was the move by both the Dragons and South Sydney to move a key player from the left side of the field to fullback. In both cases, this was the impetus for victory.
When South Sydney shifted Greg Inglis to fullback in their win over the Panthers, he quickly became a lethal attacking weapon. He was the most influential player on the field.
You often hear people say: ‘why don’t they get the ball to Inglis more often?’ But the reality is that it’s not that easy.
In the centres, he’s getting marked by two or three players. It’s difficult to transfer the ball to him in space.
The same applies for Brett Morris at the Dragons.
In his usual position on the wing, Morris is primarily a dummy half runner or he sits at the end of a sweeping backline play. But when he was given more room to move on the weekend, he was dangerous every time he touched the ball.
It’s a good reminder that, as coaches, we tend to pigeonhole players into certain positions. But the truth is, if you’re a great player, you can pretty much play anywhere and do it well.
And when you have such wonderful broken field runners like Morris and Inglis, they become more dangerous the more opportunities you give them.
In league, fullback and hooker are the two most physically demanding positions on the field. The fullback is generally one of the fittest players in your squad.
While Inglis would be big for fullback, with Nathan Merritt out injured for the Rabbitohs, he makes a strong case to be left back there. Reading between the lines, I think this is where coach Michael Maguire wants him to play.
As for the rest of the teams, it’s still too early to nominate a clear standout.
Melbourne and Canterbury are the only unbeaten teams, but I reckon other sides would still fancy their chances against them. I haven’t seen a team that looks unbeatable yet this season.
Despite struggling with ball control early, my old coach Brian Smith and the Roosters have still got two wins on the board. Smithy is tactically very good, but the Roosters have a bunch of new players, and lots of younger ones amongst them. So it’ll take them a little while to get going. But once they hit their straps, they will have a very good year.
For the rest, we’ll have a better sense in another 5 or 6 weeks of who to call the early favourites.
Former Dragons coach and player Nathan Brown joins The Roar today to write an exclusive weekly NRL column. Brown, who played 172 games for the Dragons and coached them for a further 142 games, is currently the head coach at the Huddersfield Giants in the UK Super League.
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