The first week of the finals in the NRL did not disappoint. And that's putting it mildly!
The opening four games made me fall in love with rugby league again!
I met rugby league sometime in the 1980s. My actual love affair with it started some 33 years ago in 1992 when I played my first real game of it.
It was then cemented by watching the World Cup Final of the same year between Great Britian and Australia. Steve Renouf (a man who was, a decade later going to become a good mate of mine), broke British hearts that day, including mine.
That love for the game has occasionally faded, yet this weekend, I found myself shouting at the television, lamenting missed chances, cheering tries and in genuine awe at the sporting moments that unfolded on our television screens.
My heart was racing during that gripping Canberra Raiders golden point loss to Brisbane Broncos. I was like a teenager again!
But the coaching hat soon goes back on. The analyst starts looking at the reasons why.
Why, when all three other finals were (largely) tense, tentative affairs, did the Canberra Raiders and Brisbane Broncos play just like the teams they have been all year and the scoreline resemble a shoot-out? Just like so many regular round NRL fixtures this season.
Indeed, what differences are there between regular round football and finals football?
The most obvious difference stems from the stakes on offer for both teams. The top four are looking for a place in the preliminary final and with it, a week's rest. The next four are fighting to avoid a sudden death to their title hopes.
Another difference comes in the form of the intensity of the play. Players run harder and tackle harder. The energy levels of the teams and therefore, the game, are lifted. No doubt this is impacted by the stakes on offer.
For the skilled performers, the intensity switch is an easy one to flick on, yet for those not quite at that level of play, the heightened senses associated with more intense contests create a higher chance of error.
Those errors can come in the form of dropped ball, poor running lines or poor tackle execution, resulting in, at best, a missed tackle; at worst, a penalty against.
Toby Sexton's end-of-set kick that went out on the full in the second half in Melbourne on Friday night, was a sure-fire sign that the occasion and the moment had impacted the execution of a skill he would get right 99 times out of 100 in a Bulldogs shirt.
For the vast majority of players, the easiest way to lift intensity is to be more physical. Particularly if they are underdogs going into the game.
This is why the defences of Canterbury Bulldogs and New Zealand Warriors in particular were almost identical in terms of the way they committed players to the tackle in the opening exchanges, deep in the opposition half.
Their defensive lines came up at breakneck speed, and the players ploughed into the oncoming runner like bouncers trying to control a very large, aggressive and inebriated patron in a nightclub.
The problem with this tactic, however, is that, if four go into the tackle, at least two have to retreat back the ten metres into the defensive line.
If the play-the-ball is quick (as it inevitably is in this current NRL era of three-point something seconds play the ball targets) then the attack is often presented with one or two less defenders in the defensive line.
The problems grow for finals defences when, faced with defending their own goal-line, they employ similar tactics, or, individuals, under pressure, can't help themselves!
Viliame Kikau of the Bulldogs was a case in point last week and it's something he exhibited last season towards the business end, too.
The Canterbury Bulldogs mostly employ a spread, ‘up-and-in' defence system, meaning players that are spaced relatively wide from each other, move forward together, at pace before ‘turning in' to zero in on the attacking threat.
This type of defensive setting suits players who want to get really physical. They can focus all their energy on the target; the man with the ball.
The problem occurs when the players away from the middle of the field, such as the second rowers, outward, still decide they want to cream someone despite being close to their own goal-line.
Kikau certainly has the ‘desire to bash' gene, and in last year's finals and this, I have noticed this natural instinct takes over from his desire to follow systemic instruction in these situations.
Many defences, but especially that of the Dogs, have a weakness when it comes to conceding tries in that area and it happened again last week.
On the attacking side of the ball, teams have to ‘look-up' when opposition commit too many men into a ruck, or if an edge defender decides to ‘turn-in' to make a tackle.
The opportunities to exploit such a number shortage either side of the ruck or a disjointed edge defence, present themselves regularly.
Yet an attacker crippled by finals nerves, or playing as part of a team with collective caution will either not notice it, or not even try to look for it.
Penrith are a team that probably fall into the latter category. They are so focused on churning out their sets, with a high completion rate and large amount of patience, that they struggled to put an energetic, yet clumsy, New Zealand Warriors away last weekend. Penrith sides of the past have been more tempted to play to their wide men than they seem to be now.
If they want to just play the percentages again this weekend, their opponents have shown they can live with that. The Bulldogs and the Panthers played out a finals-like slugfest in Round 17. Only two points separated the sides.
It also seemed like, later that day, the Sydney Roosters went into their shell somewhat, too.
An attack that has been scintillating for much of the second half of the season, sometimes didn't even click against the Sharks. The young members of their team, none with more pressure on them than Sam Walker in the halves, looked like the finals novices that they were. Lesson learned no doubt.
What was intriguing is that, during the second half, the Roosters sensed they needed to lift things, so they cranked up their defensive effort. Compressing their bodies and rushing up together, they kept Cronulla in their own twenty or thirty metre zone regularly, just after halftime.
Experienced broadcaster Andy Raymond said on the Loose Carry Podcast this week that it reminded him of the Roosters defence back in 2002. Their coach back then was Ricky Stuart.
Now coaching Canberra Raiders, and looking to add a second title to the one he won twenty-three years ago, Stuart's side seemed to play just like they have in so many games in 2025.
They could justify this with the fact they won the Minor Premiership and by being confident in their processes. Processes that have seen some excellent attack that racks up the points, backed up by some defence that has been enough, to put it politely.
The problem was, they were playing against a side that has similar attacking instincts. The Broncos went to the nation's capital with the biggest points accumulation of all teams this season, and a points against column almost identical to that of their opponents.
Both blessed with the gift of a second chance should they fail, the Raiders and the Broncos put on an absolute classic. No attacking instincts seemed to be kerbed, but smart defence was at a premium, particularly on Canberra's right edge.
Angry with refereeing decisions and a few other things which I won't mention here, the Raiders CEO has been in the media, and coach Ricky was said to be fuming on Monday.
An angry and fired up Ricky Stuart is not a good sign for the rest of the competition as we head into the second round of finals.
They will meet a Sharks side who are very vocal in letting us know that they feel like they haven't been respected this year. Cronulla certainly got my respect against the Roosters and I'm sure I am not alone.
Like you, I cannot wait for the finals this weekend. Love you, rugby league!
Lee Addison is a former Sea Eagles and Panthers coach and the founder of rugbyleaguecoach.com.au. His recently published book ‘Rugby League Coach' is available now on Amazon and www.rugbyleaguecoach.com.au
