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he Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs mixed things up in NRL Round 8 with Matt Burton playing at halfback and Kyle Flanagan wearing the No.6 jumper. It’s not the first time we’ve seen a struggling club make this change in an attempt to kick-start their attack, but it hasn’t always produced positive results.
Against the Cronulla Sharks on Saturday night, it did… sort of. We saw enough from this new-look halves pairing for Cameron Ciraldo to persist with it in the short term, as Burton played a distributing role through the middle while Flanagan and Hayze Perham got more involved as ballplayers on the edges.
If nothing else, the positional switch seemed to trigger a shift in attacking mentality.
Instead of Burton being the go-to creative option, it was Flanagan and Perham who were free to survey the defence and pick their moments in attack. They had some early joy targetting the spaces around Matt Moylan and Siosifa Talakai on the right edge, finding metres in yardage and points in good-ball.
Identifying Moylan and Talakai were compressing the defence in yardage, Perham took advantage of the speed mismatch out wide to send Jake Averillo downfield in an early exit set:
In good ball, Flanagan and Perham played to the same principle to set up Braidon Burns’ opening try.
A good carry from Max King – and a woeful defensive effort from Cronulla – helped to trigger the scoring action:
Braden Hamlin-Uele is so passive in the line here that Teig Wilton is unwillingly dragged into the King tackle. Wilton ends up around the legs and is slow to peel, leaving the Sharks horribly short down the blind side on the following play.
Flanagan plays his role smartly here. Corey Waddell supporting off his hip invites Talakai to stay tight with Moylan in the defensive line, and the big centre can’t recover quickly enough when the pass goes out the back. Good hands from Perham and Averillo finishes things off from there.
The Bulldogs next shot in attack didn’t result in points, but it was well constructed and highlights the potential of their new-look halves combination.
Take notice of how the defence reacts when Burton plays on the ball at first receiver here:
His threat as a runner sits the Sharks on their heels as he straightens the attack. Wilton in particular sits very deep in the line, hedging his bets incase Burton bangs off his right foot. That indecision leaves a pocket of space for Flanagan when he receives the pass from his halfback, and Flanagan uses that space to dribble a lovely grubber in behind the line.
Moylan – who has a habit of shooting off his line to apply defensive pressure – is no chance of covering this kick. Talakai is at long odds to get there too as a bigger body not suited to turning and chasing. Flanagan intentionally targets the space in behind both Sharks defenders and nearly comes up with an assist for Averillo. Only a desperate cover tackle from Ronaldo Mulitalo denies the Bulldogs on this occasion.
Slotting Burton in at pivot continued to pay dividends when Declan Casey scored his second NRL try just before the break.
Again the Sharks defence is passive when Burton straightens the attack from first-receiver:
Burton’s involvement allows Flanagan to get on the outside of Wilton and isolate Jayden Okunbor one-on-one with Moylan on the edge. Okunbor’s timing is a little off here but he still wins the tackle to invite panic into Cronulla’s defensive line.
On the following tackle, Reed Mahoney almost capitalises on that panic to pass Ryan Sutton into half a hole beside the ruck:
A good tackle denies Sutton here, but with six Sharks defenders tied up around the ball there is space out wide on the following tackle. Burton makes the most of Sutton’s quick play-the-ball to almost crash over himself on the left edge.
Canterbury have now gone close to scoring in three consecutive tackles. Burton is out of play on the last but Perham identifies an opportunity down the short side and sums things up nicely with a cut-out pass to Casey on the paint.
And just like that, the Bulldogs pulled shape on both edges, moving Cronulla across the park and asking questions of the defence on consecutive tackles. Importantly, all four Bulldogs spine players had positive involvements in this set, chiming in and owning their moments to score one of the better constructed tries we saw in the NRL last week.
It’s interesting to note that Burton had one of his best running games while playing halfback in this one. His 98 running metres in Round 8 is his third-best haul of the season, and comfortably his best if you discount the long-range tries he scored in Rounds 3 and 6.
By playing on the ball at first-receiver, Burton had ample opportunities to challenge the line on the back of some ruck speed, eventually slicing through to put Waddell over in the second half.
We usually associate running halves with the five-eighth position, but Burton’s involvements at halfback in Round 8 went against that trend. He was invited into the game when slotting in at pivot, and whether by design or nature it also saw Flanagan and Perham get more involved in the attack, out wide.
They didn’t get the two points this week, but the potential of Ciraldo’s new-look halves pairing is there to see. Playing behind a depleted and beaten forward pack didn’t help their chances in Round 8, but it’s a move that could pay dividends when Canterbury welcome back some troops to their forward rotation.
Against the Cronulla Sharks on Saturday night, it did… sort of. We saw enough from this new-look halves pairing for Cameron Ciraldo to persist with it in the short term, as Burton played a distributing role through the middle while Flanagan and Hayze Perham got more involved as ballplayers on the edges.
If nothing else, the positional switch seemed to trigger a shift in attacking mentality.
Instead of Burton being the go-to creative option, it was Flanagan and Perham who were free to survey the defence and pick their moments in attack. They had some early joy targetting the spaces around Matt Moylan and Siosifa Talakai on the right edge, finding metres in yardage and points in good-ball.
Identifying Moylan and Talakai were compressing the defence in yardage, Perham took advantage of the speed mismatch out wide to send Jake Averillo downfield in an early exit set:
In good ball, Flanagan and Perham played to the same principle to set up Braidon Burns’ opening try.
A good carry from Max King – and a woeful defensive effort from Cronulla – helped to trigger the scoring action:
Braden Hamlin-Uele is so passive in the line here that Teig Wilton is unwillingly dragged into the King tackle. Wilton ends up around the legs and is slow to peel, leaving the Sharks horribly short down the blind side on the following play.
Flanagan plays his role smartly here. Corey Waddell supporting off his hip invites Talakai to stay tight with Moylan in the defensive line, and the big centre can’t recover quickly enough when the pass goes out the back. Good hands from Perham and Averillo finishes things off from there.
The Bulldogs next shot in attack didn’t result in points, but it was well constructed and highlights the potential of their new-look halves combination.
Take notice of how the defence reacts when Burton plays on the ball at first receiver here:
His threat as a runner sits the Sharks on their heels as he straightens the attack. Wilton in particular sits very deep in the line, hedging his bets incase Burton bangs off his right foot. That indecision leaves a pocket of space for Flanagan when he receives the pass from his halfback, and Flanagan uses that space to dribble a lovely grubber in behind the line.
Moylan – who has a habit of shooting off his line to apply defensive pressure – is no chance of covering this kick. Talakai is at long odds to get there too as a bigger body not suited to turning and chasing. Flanagan intentionally targets the space in behind both Sharks defenders and nearly comes up with an assist for Averillo. Only a desperate cover tackle from Ronaldo Mulitalo denies the Bulldogs on this occasion.
Slotting Burton in at pivot continued to pay dividends when Declan Casey scored his second NRL try just before the break.
Again the Sharks defence is passive when Burton straightens the attack from first-receiver:
Burton’s involvement allows Flanagan to get on the outside of Wilton and isolate Jayden Okunbor one-on-one with Moylan on the edge. Okunbor’s timing is a little off here but he still wins the tackle to invite panic into Cronulla’s defensive line.
On the following tackle, Reed Mahoney almost capitalises on that panic to pass Ryan Sutton into half a hole beside the ruck:
A good tackle denies Sutton here, but with six Sharks defenders tied up around the ball there is space out wide on the following tackle. Burton makes the most of Sutton’s quick play-the-ball to almost crash over himself on the left edge.
Canterbury have now gone close to scoring in three consecutive tackles. Burton is out of play on the last but Perham identifies an opportunity down the short side and sums things up nicely with a cut-out pass to Casey on the paint.
And just like that, the Bulldogs pulled shape on both edges, moving Cronulla across the park and asking questions of the defence on consecutive tackles. Importantly, all four Bulldogs spine players had positive involvements in this set, chiming in and owning their moments to score one of the better constructed tries we saw in the NRL last week.
It’s interesting to note that Burton had one of his best running games while playing halfback in this one. His 98 running metres in Round 8 is his third-best haul of the season, and comfortably his best if you discount the long-range tries he scored in Rounds 3 and 6.
By playing on the ball at first-receiver, Burton had ample opportunities to challenge the line on the back of some ruck speed, eventually slicing through to put Waddell over in the second half.
We usually associate running halves with the five-eighth position, but Burton’s involvements at halfback in Round 8 went against that trend. He was invited into the game when slotting in at pivot, and whether by design or nature it also saw Flanagan and Perham get more involved in the attack, out wide.
They didn’t get the two points this week, but the potential of Ciraldo’s new-look halves pairing is there to see. Playing behind a depleted and beaten forward pack didn’t help their chances in Round 8, but it’s a move that could pay dividends when Canterbury welcome back some troops to their forward rotation.
