Playmaker's Insight: Why new combinations struggle early on


<ul><li><strong>ROUND 1 RECAP:&nbsp;<a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="http://13.210.220.211/2020/03/16/weekly-wrap-round-1-highs-lows-and-shocks/" target="_blank">Stud and duds from NRL SuperCoach opening weekend</a></strong></li><li><strong>CHAMPION&#8217;S ADVICE: <a href="http://13.210.220.211/2020/03/11/champions-advice-captain-selection-early-trade-strategy/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label="Early season trade strategy tips (opens in a new tab)">Early season trade strategy tips</a></strong></li></ul>



<p>After an interesting first week both on and off the field, in this week’s article I will be focusing on newly formed spines, and why it can be difficult to quickly gel as a result of certain issues that can incur within new combinations.</p>



<p>There is plenty of attention that gets placed on halves and
how their combination with players around them can impact the team, whether it
be for better or worse.&nbsp; </p>



<p>The SuperCoach impact is serious, take Shaun Johnson for
example who averaged 47 points in his first nine games for the Sharks in 2019
that included one injury affected outing.</p>



<p>He would then go on to average over 80 in his final eight games.</p>



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<p>A similar thing happened at the beginning of 2018 when
Cooper Cronk linked up with James Tedesco, Luke Keary and Jake Friend at the Roosters.</p>



<p>Their attack was clunky for the opening month or two, then
they hit their straps and the rest is history.</p>



<p>We are experiencing it at the moment with George Williams
coming into the equation in Canberra with Jack, Charnze and Hodgo. </p>



<p>Fortunately, we’ve had a promising start with our new spine
which bodes well for the remainder of the year.</p>



<p>I think Round 1 looked really good, and although they didn’t link up on a lot of occasions, what they did do well was execute the plays that were in place and use the people directly around them. </p>



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<p>What is often overlooked when speaking about the spine and
how they work together is the fact that the game has changed so much over the
last 20 years. </p>



<p>There is less linking up then in previous eras, and with
this comes a bigger emphasis on how playmakers combine with players on their
edge. </p>



<p>With a large focus on defence these days, we need to execute perfectly to break down teams. </p>



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<p>Therefore, the lines and precision of plays need to be implemented
seamlessly and this itself can take time. </p>



<p>The tempo of how a halfback goes to the line varies from
player to player. </p>



<p>Imagine going from playing outside someone like Ponga who
can beat his man with mesmerising footwork at any time, to Kieran Foran who plays
so fast and direct. </p>



<p>This is the sort of thing that can take time to build, and one that I’m sure many halves are trying to work out early in the season. </p>



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<p>The combination of Moses and Matterson is an example of two
top quality players having a first NRL hit out together.</p>



<p>Moses struggled with just 32 points, while Matterson produced
62 points but without any attacking stats to his name.</p>



<p>Although weather didn’t help them against the Bulldogs, they
will become more expansion after a month of football together. </p>



<p>On the other hand, Wighton and Whitehead hit the ground
running on Friday night.</p>



<p>Jack scored 91 points, including two tries, while Whitehead
managed 71 points with a try of his own.</p>



<p>Jack’s ability to break tackles becomes a major threat when someone as reliable as Elliott is hitting the correct space outside him every time and holding up defenders.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-embed-twitter wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Jack Wighton crosses for the first points of the night 🔥<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NRLRaidersTitans?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NRLRaidersTitans</a> 6-0 after 5 minutes<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/TelstraPremiership?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#TelstraPremiership</a> <a href="https://t.co/LwTvm48ZHY">pic.twitter.com/LwTvm48ZHY</a></p>&mdash; NRL (@NRL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NRL/status/1238361304856809472?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 13, 2020</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



<p>With Elliott attracting defenders, Jack has an opportunity
to take on an isolated player one on one.</p>



<p><a href="http://13.210.220.211/2020/03/10/playmakers-insight-key-questions-ahead-of-season-opener/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label="As I touched on last week, (opens in a new tab)">As I touched on last week,</a> the first month of football can often be fairly safe and I think we saw this with the amount of tries scored from kicks. </p>



<p>Combinations will become sharper and this will translate to
a prettier brand of rugby league in time, but the short kicking games of
players becomes even more important early on.</p>



<p>Due to this, someone like Ash Taylor could really bounce
back. I also expect a dry weekend of football at this stage, so don’t lose
faith if players in key positions last weekend didn’t score well with some
tough wet games. </p>



<p>Rugby league continues forward this weekend and so does SuperCoach,
so enjoy your footy and let’s hope we don’t see too many delays in matches
going ahead. </p>


Playmaker’s Insight: Why new combinations struggle early on

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