2. Roger might be a problem
Let’s be real, however. The defence was good because there were shapes to defend and, for once, it looked like the Titans had seen them before.
Against Manly, they seemed shocked by the idea that Tom Trbojevic might turn up in a right side shape, somewhat quaint given Des coached him for four years.
This time, however, they’d done their homework and, despite conceding twice in the opening ten minutes to moves we’ve seen a hundred times, they did eventually kick into action.
What helped was that the Wahs have been running a lot of the same stuff for a whiel now.
There’s two pet plays – one to
Addin Fonua-Blake, the other to
Dallin Watene-Zelezniak – that they love, and once you start to stop them, there doesn’t seem to be much that follows.
Intrinsically, the
Andrew Webster edition of the Warriors has been quite conservative.
They’ve got the lowest pass-per-run ratio (PPR) in the league, 1.16, tied with the Sharks and Broncos, but differ in that they also have one of the lowest hit up percentages (HU%).
What does that mean? If you look at the PPR of an expansive side, it’s either because they’re hitting the edges early – Manly, for example, are miles ahead on 1.36 – or low, because they play one-out for the first few tackles, then go wide, in which case you’d get a high HU% to go with it, as in the case of the Sharks and Bronx.
New Zealand have a low PPR and a low HU%. They also have an 81% completion rate, suggesting a focus on error-free footy over risk.
That’s lead to multiple games where they’ve piled on pressure, but not broken opponents. Cronulla, Canberra, Manly and now the Titans have made this side struggle.
An issue to follow is
Roger Tuivasa-Sheck. His personal PPR was 1.2, with 15 runs from 18 possessions, compared to
Rocco Berry, who was a round 2 with five runs from ten possessions.
Obviously, RTS is a great set starter, but it also speaks to a guy who isn’t getting the ball to the man outside of him.
Is that him? Is that defences knowing that he likes to step inside? Either way, it’s a block in their attack at the moment and one that Webster has to try to solve soon.