In a weekend of upsets, the Knights’ win over the Roosters at the SCG might have been the biggest. It wasn’t just that they were huge outsiders, or that they were away from home: it was the manner of it.
You could make the argument that Brisbane, for example, was lucky to beat South Sydney on Friday night because the difference on the scoreboard was the result of an interception and an unlikely field goal. On the underlying metrics, the stats that tell how the game actually went, the teams were all but equal.
Yet for the Knights, it was nothing like that. They outplayed a gun Roosters team and made the 20-6 scoreline look generous on their opponents.
The Knights, as discussed in my tactical preview of the season, have something of an unusual roster, but leaned into it heavily in their gameplan.
Their centres, Dane Gagai and Bradman Best, are bigger names (and, in salary cap terms, bigger wages) than their halves, which is the reverse logic of how NRL backlines are meant to be set up.
The halves pairing are essentially cast-offs from lower end NRL teams. Adam Clune could barely get a game two years at the Dragons while North Queensland let Jake Clifford depart midway through last year – but the pair were at the heart of the strategy that Adam O’Brien designed to topple the Roosters.
Gagai and Best, as well as wingers Enari Tuala and Dom Young, carried hard and often towards the middle of the field, acting as auxiliary forwards and allowing the actual pack to rotate the work more efficiently and conserve energy for defence.
The Knights ran for 400m more collectively than the Roosters and managed seven line breaks while conceding none, keeping the Roosters tryless – nearly chanceless – until the game was won.
The average set distance for the whole team was over 43m (against 36.7m of the Roosters) and consistently delivered the ball to areas which Clifford and Clune could kick effectively and stop the early impetus provided by the Roosters’ back three. Daniel Tupou was a case in point: he managed a grand total of 26 kick return metres.
It was a strategy designed to factor in Round 1 clunkiness – both their own and that of the Roosters – and to ruthlessly punish mistakes. If this was Round 20, the plan might not have worked, but with the new halves pairing of Sam Walker and Luke Keary unable to immediately click, it did.
On an individual level, their centres monstered their opposition counterparts: Dane Gagai managed 200m running metres and forced his direct opponent, Billy Smith, in five missed tackles, while Bradman Best created the major breakthrough of the first half by dismissing Paul Momirovski with a powerful fend before slipping a pass to Enari Tuala to score.
The plan wasn’t exactly a secret, but simply knowing what the other team are going to do is different from being able to stop it. Don’t just take my word for it: Trent Robinson acknowledged as much.
“Their outside backs brought them back to the middle,” said the Roosters coach in the post-match presser. “They carried really well and then they bought it back into the middle of the field to get that momentum.
“They got us on a couple of short sides but it was the momentum from those outside backs that started the rock for them. We knew that plan. We couldn’t combat it.”
The biggest beneficiary of the tactical strategy was Dom Young. The former Huddersfield Giant has sometimes looked shaky in his six prior NRL appearances, but this strategy was the definition of setting him up to succeed.
He was backed to carry hard, make his tackles and get in the opposition’s face, with Gagai stationed inside him to offer support and talk him through the game. The winger excelled, making 11 tackles and missed none, including a try-saver to deny Daniel Tupou.
His late try, which sealed the game for the Knights, was richly deserved, but in the sheds, Young said it was the defensive effort of which he was most proud.
“It’s been a big focus defensively, defending those shapes,” said the Englishman. “Having Gags (Dane Gagai) there, always talking to my inside, he’s helping me out.”
“He’s helped me and my understanding has got better as well. He’s really good for me and he’s making me feel a lot better out there.”
Knights coach Adam O’Brien paid tribute to the working on the training ground from his young winger.
“I’m really happy for Dom,” he said. “I think he’s arrived now. We underestimated him when he moved out here last year – I think we all did. He hadn’t played a lot against adults.”
“He didn’t just move down the road: he moved out here as a really young guy and I thought it shocked him, the preseason. But this year, it’s a complete 180.”
“He’s thrived. There’s no secret that he’s had a strong preseason. I know it’s only one game, but I’m really happy for him.”
O’Brien also spoke highly of Adam Clune and Jake Clifford’s role in his team’s victory.
“There was really good temperament from both of them,” he said.
“The control of the game from Adam in particular is really good. He’s a smart guy on and off the field and that sort of shows and it allows Cliff to be Cliff too. He runs the ball well.”
“There’s stuff there that we want to get better at after one game, but they’re doing a pretty good job. They’ve had a good summer, the halves, and the spine’s been great.”
“When you’ve got guys like that we’ve got – and Edrick Lee come back at some stage and Hymel Hunt – we do have some strike out wide there.”
“It’s really important that you get the balance. In rugby league you’ll always need to lay a platform first but I’m confident that we have the guys in those two halves that can cater for both.”
“They know when we need to use our big tall guys through the middle and then when we need to get the ball to the edges there, they’ve got a good temperament for that.”
In particular, Clune’s ability to spread the play quickly through long passing and to change the point of attack via short side plays was crucial to the Knights attack.
Bradman Best paid tribute to his attack leader, and revealed the emphasis that his team has put on sharing the metres across the forwards and backs.
“Cluney has been massive for me and the whole team,” said centre Bradman Best. “He’s got that footy brain and that lovely pass – he can throw a really long pass, and he knows when it’s on.”
“Us four outside backs have trained really hard and it’s been drilled into us that we’re a big of this team and we need to do a lot of the work.
“We’ve been working really hard and it’s been paying off. It’s been massive for us this offseason.
“Last year, we didn’t get the ball enough to our centres and outside backs so this year we’ve been working really hard, halves included, just to be more connected.
“That’s been able to get us some more early ball. It’s playing heads up and getting early footy to the outside backs.
“We’ve been talking about how our forwards do a lot for us and it’s about time that we switch that mentality. We have to create that momentum first and when we get down there, execute and finish it off. That’s where the mentality is at.”
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