On any given Sunday, in any given minute, including this weekend’s grand final, Dylan Edwards will plug a short-side gap.
He will also whip the width of the field when the ball is shifted long. Talk to his tired forwards all the while. Physically throw himself in front of a ball-carrier with 20kg or 30kg on him. And he’ll worry about defending a kick as well.
The best defensive fullback in the game is so good he makes it all look as simple as counting to 10. Because that’s exactly what he and fellow custodian Clint Gutherson – treasured just as much by Parramatta teammates as Edwards is at Penrith – are doing while also clocking up 8 kilometres to 10 kilometres a game.
“At its simplest, yep, that’s it. All you’re doing is counting to 10,” Edwards says with a grin.
In any given defensive line, an NRL fullback is marshalling 10 teammates against 12 attackers – once the two markers and No.1 are taken out of consideration.
A centre-field play-the-ball typically involves a five and five split either side of the ruck. It might switch to six defenders one side, four on the other if play starts closer to one sideline than the other, or as an attacking play dictates.
Pay day: All Clint Gutherson’s extra work puts him in position to stop Jeremiah Nanai.Credit:NRL
“Simple right?” Api Koroisau says. “It’s anything but. The way Dyl moves the boys around in defence, to be able to count those numbers and think on your feet while scrambling from one side to the other, all after those 20 and 30-metre kick returns of his, that’s his point of difference.
“I’ve never seen a fullback who does it so well.”
That Penrith have Edwards “captaining” one of the stingiest defences of all time, for a little more than $500,000 a season, is one of the great rugby league bargains.
For all the brilliance of seven-figure stars James Tedesco, Tom Trbojevic (who are also fine defensive fullbacks) and Latrell Mitchell, Parramatta’s $750,000 outlay for Gutherson comes back to them most without the ball in hand.
“If they get that wrong, if one player is positioned in the wrong spot, the attacking side gets that advantage with space where it shouldn’t be,” former NRL coach Anthony Seibold says.
“Next time you watch a game of footy, watch that third defender into a tackle. On his way back into the line, he’s watching his fullback.
“Because the fullback is his pointer and the difference in where that defender goes – they hold the key because the best attacking sides only need one man slightly out of position to pull you to pieces.”
Quantifying the true impact of the grand final fullbacks is difficult because so much of what they do is off-camera.
Body on the line: Edwards keeps Warriors counterpart Reece Walsh at bay.
Gutherson’s six try-saving tackles this season (behind only Tedesco’s seven) make the highlights reel, not the endless charging behind the line that precedes it.
GPS data has Edwards averaging 95 metres per minute when Penrith are defending, 8.5 per cent more than the average for NRL fullbacks.
The fitness feats of both grand final fullbacks are retold at both clubs; Parramatta’s Dylan Brown once fainted when he tried to keep pace with Gutherson during pre-season drills, while Edwards dusted multiple teammates over repeated 400-metre sprints, one after the other.
The work both put into their craft says it all.
“Oh it takes a lot of years to get the hang of it,” Gutherson says.
“I pride myself on being there as the last line of defence. When the boys need me, I like to think I’m there for them. It might look easy from the back but that’s the toughest thing I’ve learnt about fullback play.
“Not just being in the right spot at the right time yourself, but making sure everyone else is, too. It’s a part of the job and you’ve got to love doing it.”
Edwards has also put countless hours into mastering defensive multitasking than any other player on the paddock.
Number one guns: Clint Gutherson and Dylan Edwards.Credit:Wolter Peters
He and soon-to-be Bulldogs coach Cameron Ciraldo have spent years “rolling a ball out on the field” for Edwards to then set his defensive line accordingly.
It turns one of the NRL’s quietist characters into one of its bossiest for 80 minutes every weekend.
“I’m naturally quiet, so finding that voice, it wasn’t easy to start,” he says. “But Ciro’s taught me that above all else, communication is what holds a defence together.
“I’ve got to be loud, I’ve got to boss people around and it’s something I’ve had to learn. I do enjoy that other side of the ball and I’m very lucky to be in a team with very good defenders.
“I’m lucky to push them around and be their eyes and ears. That’s my job, I’ll let them make the tackles and I’ll sit back and tell them where to go.”
Watch the NRL Grand Final Exclusive Live and Free on Channel 9 and 9Now.
