NRL Round 15 review: Defence wins championships

As we continue to battle through the dog days of the NRL season our weekly series appropriately looks at a pair of stout defensive performances, while also highlighting a potential star for the Storm.

Team of the week – Brisbane Broncos
It’s hard to go past the incredible defensive performance of the Brisbane Broncos on Sunday afternoon.

The Broncos 14-12 victory came despite making well over 400 tackles and enjoying only 42 per cent of possession. In terms of opportunities with the ball, the Storm had 11 more sets than the Broncos and 180 plays to the Broncos’ 132.

The most remarkable statistic of all though was the 11 drop outs forced by the Storm. Over the course of Round 15 only one other team forced more than three dropouts (the Warriors, with six) and several games featured three or less in total. So for the Broncos to defend 11 repeat sets shows truly remarkable fortitude.

While the focus of the commentary team was on the unbreakable second-half effort to hold the Storm scoreless, the win was truly earned in the first half. To hold the Storm to only 12 points despite having only 11 sets and 53 plays with ball in hand, a meagre 39 per cent possession, shows tremendous mental resolve. Indeed after such a colossal effort in the first half the Broncos could have been forgiven for succumbing in the second.

With two State of Origin games now complete and with a bye in hand, the Broncos now boast their best Round 15 record in nearly a decade and are in a terrific position to secure a top-two finish and a crucial home final.

Team of the Week Part 2 – Canberra Raiders
The Raiders may have lost but this was nonetheless a remarkable performance from a young team on the rise.

The result may have been different but the statistics suggest that the Raiders’ defensive effort was almost as impressive as the Broncos’. The Raiders made close to as many tackles, 407, and actually had slightly less possession than the Broncos (41%). Meanwhile, the play the ball disparity was actually worse for the Raiders, only having 113 plays compared to the Cowboys’ 165.

All of which came to nought as Johnathan Thurston finally kicked the winning field goal on his third attempt in 30 seconds of frenetic play as Raiders players collapsed all around him.

The Raiders have exceeded expectations this year, however their success has mostly been built on a formidable ability to score points. Indeed they entered Saturday’s game with the most points scored in the competition. The problem has been defence, as they entered Saturday’s game with the second most points conceded.

As such to put on such a resolute defensive performance against a team that is not only top of the competition but who enjoyed considerably more ball was very promising for the Raiders. Now they just need to combine a defensive effort with one of their typical attacking stampedes and they might make some real progress.

Player of the week – Shaun Kenny-Dowall
Late in the second half on Monday night Shaun Kenny-Dowall decided to take it upon himself to put up a fifth-tackle bomb and the only surprising thing was that it didn’t somehow lead to a try. On a night in which he moved into second place on the all-time try scoring list at the club, Kenny-Dowall put in a rare match-winning performance from a winger.

It wasn’t just his two ties or his 15 carries for nearly 150 metres, it was the relentless energy he brought and in particular his repeated effort to take carries out of his own half, taking the pressure off a Roosters forward pack missing both Sam Moa and Jared Waerea-Hargreaves.

Having started his career as a winger Kenny-Dowall had a number of productive years at right centre for the Roosters, however over the last season and a half it was clear that he had begun to struggle with the defensive responsibility. A shift back to the wing this season has rejuvenated Kenny-Dowall and with Blake Ferguson retuning to the side the Roosters now have one of the most potent right flank attacks in the competition.

Hey, who’s that guy? Cameron Munster
For the best part of a decade, the Melbourne Storm have been blessed with a core group of players unmatched across the NRL. While the troika of Cameron Smith, Cooper Cronk and Billy Slater is unlikely to ever be replaced, it is essential for the Storm to plan for a future without them.

In the halves Blake Green has proved an astute acquisition. When playing alongside Cronk he has been second chair better than any predecessor in the role, but more importantly he has shown the ability to take the primary role in Cronk’s absence.

The team will be hoping that 20-year-old Cameron Munster will take a similar leap forward in the prolonged absence of Billy Slater.

After making his debut in Round 12 last season Munster has gone on to play seven further games this season, all at fullback in Slater’s absence, with Sunday’s agonising loss to the Broncos his first appearance on free-to-air TV. Munster made the most of the opportunity, recording well over 200m with the ball and regularly putting himself in Slater-like support roles through the middle of the field.

For the time being Munster looks at the very least like being a better than replacement-level stand-in for Slater. However he has shown all the tools to become a long term prospect at the position as Slater ages. Storm fans will be pleased to know that he is signed up for a further two seasons.