Api Koroisau was supposed to be the Tigers’ big buy. Here is why it’s not working yet
By Adam Pengilly
March 23, 2023 — 4.00pm
With a gash on his face and blood swelling around his eye, Api Koroisau walked into his last week’s press conference and afforded himself some rare humour.
“You should see the other guy,” the Tigers’ captain joked.
But three games into his new adventure, there has been very little to smile about for the three-time premiership winner and one of the NRL’s master tacticians.
In three years, he lost just seven games at the Panthers. At this rate, he might reach that mark by the end of next month at the Tigers.
So, why is it going so wrong around the ruck for the club’s attack when many thought they had the buy of the year?
In a rare show of emotion for one of the game’s coolest cats, Koroisau was seen in the round one match against the Titans barking at his halves after a scoot from dummy-half left him turning the ball on the inside to a flat-footed Joe Ofahengaue, who then comically ran into his captain.
It pretty much summed up the Tigers’ first few weeks. Since then, Koroisau has launched out of dummy-half and looked right, looked left, stopped, swivelled and done everything bar a ballerina’s pirouette as his team produced some of the most limp attacking displays in years.
The common thread? He’s had virtually no support every time he’s tried to create pockets of space around the ruck from hooker, which Immortal Andrew Johns insists is the most dangerous position on the field to attack from.
“There was a time there in the first half against the Bulldogs last week when Api gets out of dummy-half, he steps and swivels and does a 360 and he’s just waiting for support,” Johns said. “No one’s there.
“The other one he triple pumped and the no-look pass to Alex Twal, it him on the shoulder and he didn’t even have his hands up.
“Api is so clever, but they’re still working out how to play with him.”
It was always going to be a contrast to playing with the likes of Nathan Cleary, Jarome Luai, Isaah Yeo and Dylan Edwards around the ruck, all of whom had formed such a good understanding with the NSW State of Origin hooker at Penrith.
Koroisau’s strength has always been to play predominantly north-south, meaning he likes to identify rucks where he can bolt up field, rarely navigating wider than the first defender in the line, unlike other top hookers such as Tigers assistant Robbie Farah and Eels No.9 Josh Hodgson who prefer to drift east-west looking for a weakness in the defensive line.
It means the art to Koroisau’s deception with his sleight of hand is maximised when he has support in numbers around the ball, which Edwards and co were so good at doing at Penrith.
But so far in his short Tigers career he’s had little help from halves Luke Brooks and Adam Doueihi or fullback options Daine Laurie and Charlie Staines, who have all been deep and on their heels setting up for the next play.
One move against the Knights in round two summed up the Tigers’ problems; Koroisau jumping out of dummy-half after a quick Alex Seyfarth play-the-ball only 10 metres out from the line, but forced to turn a pass meekly back to Alex Twal with all of his speed men set deep and not within 10 metres of the ball.
“They haven’t had too much front-foot footy the last few years and I’ve spoken to them about it and that takes a lot of getting used to,” Koroisau said after the Bulldogs game.
“It’s a reaction thing, understanding the ruck and if it’s quick. I think it’s something we’ve got to work on at training and fix up there.”
The numbers say Koroisau is trying as hard as ever.
According to NRL.com statistics, no player has had more dummy-half runs in the first three rounds with 22, topping noted running threats, South Sydney’s Damien Cook (20) and Melbourne’s Harry Grant (19). The Tigers will seek their first win of the season against Grant’s Storm on Friday night.
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Koroisau’s average running metres for the Tigers (91 per game) are way above anything he achieved at Penrith, with 57 in 2020 down to a low of just 44 when they won back-to-back titles last year, a sign he’s having to run himself because of little support at his new club.
And it’s not as if the Tigers’ other creators have been idle. Brooks (26) leads the NRL in an area described as line engagements, while Doueihi (22) is also in the top 10.
But how much better would they be served shadowing Koroisau in the middle rather than taking the ball to the line wider on the field?
Brooks and Laurie only rank 14th and 24th in the NRL respectively for support runs when they have one of the competition’s best creators as a teammate, albeit Champion Data figures show Koroisau is touching the ball less at the Tigers (97.33 per game) than he did at his peak at Penrith (126.85 in 2020).
Yet there have been plays which have shown a glimmer of hope.
Ofahengaue almost scored against the Knights on a rare occasion when he was tailing Koroisau out of dummy-half as Newcastle’s Brodie Jones was isolated, and Stefano Utoikamanu did end up crashing over from a suspected double movement in the dying seconds from a Koroisau pass.
But that was two middle forwards helping their hooker out, and not the men who should really be there for him.
If they are, then the man tipped to be the NRL buy of the year might start living up to the billing.
In three years at the Panthers, Api Koroisau lost just seven games. He could reach that mark by the end of next month at the Tigers. This is why he desperately needs help from his teammates.
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