There was a time when Jason Demetriou had just started at South Sydney as an assistant to Wayne Bennett, and he was angry about comments the Rabbitohs’ old coach Anthony Seibold had made about the team’s attack.
Seibold, so the story goes, said he couldn’t see much difference in the Rabbitohs of 2019 under Bennett and Demetriou to the one he coached to a preliminary final in 2018. Read: they still farmed all the attack down their lethal left side.
It was like a red rag to a bull, and Demetriou went about picking apart South Sydney’s attack in the previous year’s finals under Seibold, looking at how every team knew what was coming and had figured them out in the biggest games.
Four years later, Demetriou is now head the coach at Redfern and is finally making his point: the Rabbitohs aren’t just a team who scores predominantly down their left. Case in point, Campbell Graham.
The NRL’s top try-scorer after nine rounds is a South Sydney player – but his name is not Alex Johnston. Moreso, he doesn’t play on their left side. It’s a script few would have seen coming.
If you had even floated the idea of picking Graham for a State of Origin match over Tom Trbojevic two years ago, you would have been laughed out of the room.
But it’s a genuine debate now, so good has South Sydney’s centre been and so hobbled has Trbojevic looked as he tries to return to full fitness.
Why has Graham been so good this year?
The answer won’t lie in any raw numbers. According to Champion Data, Graham has had slightly fewer possessions, runs, offloads and tackles per game this year than last year, notwithstanding he already has 11 tries in two months compared to five all season in 2022.
But his permanent shift to the right side, and success down that channel, means the Rabbitohs have scored more tries on that side of the field (55 per cent) than the left so far this year.
South Sydney has scored more tries down the right edge this year than in previous campaigns.Credit: NRL.com
Naturally, maturing halfback Lachlan Ilias and powerhouse second-rower Keaon Koloamatangi are big contributors to that. Fullback Latrell Mitchell can take credit, too. Once joined at the hip with Cody Walker on the left, Mitchell has floated more regularly to the right side to link with Graham, who is the beneficiary, and Walker has also thrown the final pass for a couple of Graham tries this year.
“I think ‘Stretch’ has been a threat with ball in hand for a number of years,” Demetriou says. “We just probably don’t go there as often as we should, or as often as we can.
“Having Keaon on that right edge and Lachy now set in stone we’ve got some consistency in the playing group as well on that edge. So, that’s made a massive difference.
“We’re very much a shape over structure. And once we get to our points [on the field], we need to be playing with our eyes, and if our eyes are telling us to go right, we need to back ourselves to do that. And if our eyes are telling us to go left, the same.”
South Sydney’s Campbell Graham is the top NRL try-scorer after nine rounds.Credit: Getty
But it’s not only shifting more of their attack to the right which is helping the Rabbitohs, it’s the subtle differences they employ when they do it.
Adapt or die – the secret to thriving
The best teams and the best coaches will be able to adapt their style during the season, ensuring no opposition defence is ever sure about what is coming at them. South Sydney and Demetriou have run different attacking shapes on their right edge with Graham recently.
Most of Graham’s tries in the first part of the season involved formations which had back-rower Koloamatangi being used as a decoy on a line angling back towards the posts.
Twice in the opening round win over the Sharks, Graham scored by running a wider angle towards the sideline while the bigger Koloamatangi compressed the defensive line. A guy that big and fast is always going to attract defenders. The first was when Ilias was used to set up Graham, and then for the second the Rabbitohs tweaked their formation for Mitchell to inject himself on that side and throw the final pass.
Keaon Koloamatangi is embraced by coach Jason Demetriou at Souths training this weekCredit: Getty
But Koloamatangi was injured a fortnight ago, and the Rabbitohs reacted in their last win against the Broncos.
For Graham’s second try, the Rabbitohs used a scrum play for Damien Cook to pick the ball up from the lock position, with halfback Ilias breaking to the right side seemingly in a position to receive the pass. But instead, Graham was used as a lead man this time on an angle arrowing back towards the inside, receiving the ball and busting through the line while Ilias was the decoy.
“Keaon was running that great, outside-in line and working really quite well off Lachy,” Demetriou says. “But obviously Keaon went down and Campbell switched into that really well. He’s able to handle that transition and the adaptability to his game there.”
It wasn’t the only time he ran that arc, also using the same line to score from an Ilias grubber for the team’s first four-pointer against Brisbane.
Campbell Graham has been in rare form for the Rabbitohs.Credit: Getty
NSW’s State of Origin coach Brad Fittler has another reason for Graham’s try-scoring heroics this year – he’s finally grown into his body.
“I think he’s just getting stronger,” NSW State of Origin coach Brad Fittler says. “It might have taken a bit longer [than others], but he’s got one of those frames where he’s very tall.
“He had it last year, but you get to an age where you get that man strength and you hit the line and no-one seems to bend you like they used to. The rest of his game has always been there. He’s always been a really good defender. He reads it all well.”
Rugby league Immortal Andrew Johns has been studying Ilias’ development since he burst onto the NRL scene, and thinks Graham is benefiting from his No.7’s expanding repertoire.
“I think it’s mainly down to his combination with Lachlan Ilias,” he says. “I’ve always seen [Graham] as a really good defensive player, but now he’s getting that combo going with Ilias.
“I don’t know whether teams are putting an extra defender on that side to counter Cody and Latrell, but he’s looked a class above.” * – with Dan Walsh
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