Matty Johns: Inside the attacking tricks of Dolphins halfback Isaiya Katoa, NRL’s next great playmaker

Isaiya Katoa is tormenting experienced NRL defenders and bamboozling some of the game’s best defensive systems, MATTY JOHNS reveals the young playmaker’s tricks of the trade.

We’ve never seen a young playmaker with such poise and tactical nous.

Isaiya Katoa is tormenting experienced NRL defenders and bamboozling some of the game’s best defensive systems, at just 21 years of age.

Katoa is another gem to come out of the Penrith region and its junior system.

The Panthers saw Katoa as the next man up in the playmaking ranks, behind the Nathan Cleary-Jarome Luai combination, the natural successor should one of those halves decide to move on.

But they were trumped by no less than Wayne Bennett.

Bennett’s presence and his understanding of what makes young players tick, combined with a contract many thought was way above Katoa’s status at the time, was enough to get the young star to sign with the Dolphins on the day he turned 18.

For the Dolphins, it was a risk. But it’s a punt which may prove to be one of the most astute in many years.

Isaiya Katoa has rewarded the bold recruiting move by the Dolphins. Picture: Getty Images

DOLPHINS’ STORM BLUEPRINT

When the Melbourne Storm were first announced, coach Chris Anderson told John Ribot, get me a great front rower and halfback and I’ll win you a comp.

Ribot delivered Glenn Lazarus and a young playmaker rising fast Brett Kimmorley, Anderson delivered on his promise with Melbourne snatching the title in just their second season.

Bennett and then head of recruitment Peter O’Sullivan followed a similar model.

Wayne brought experience, toughness and know-how with Kenny Bromwich, Jesse Bromwich and Felise Kaufusi.

Winners who got their football education at the Oxford University of Rugby League, the Melbourne Storm.

Isaiya Katoa was their halfback.

However, unlike Kimmorley, who had played 16 first-grade games over the previous two seasons, Katoa entered the NRL straight out of Barker College, where he had starred in their rugby union system, earning selection for the NSW Waratahs academy team as an inside centre.

Isaiya Katoa has evolved into the full playmaking package this season. Picture: NRL Photos

ROCKY ROAD OF A YOUNG HALFBACK

The Dolphins knew Katoa would be a long-term project and they would have to be patient with his development.

It’s at around 50 NRL games that young playmakers start to feel comfortable. They get used to the extra speed and intensity and are better equipped physically and mentally.

But, it’s at this time that playmakers also find their voice and understand their responsibilities.

Rookie halves are told by their older, more experienced teammates that “you need to tell us what to do. Forget about your age, it’s the number on your back. Scream at us and tell us what you want.”

But, in the heat of battle, it’s never that straightforward.

There’s only one football on the field and most teammates believe they’re best equipped to do something with it.

The experienced teammate who lectured you on taking control will be very quick to tell you to “f... off” if you attempt to take a possession that he has his heart set on.

In time, you return the spray and indeed take the possession.

And eventually they will respect you for it.

THE SIX-WEEK WINDOW THAT SHOULD SCARE NRL RIVALS

Earlier this season, Katoa hit the magic 50 NRL games mark and the improvement has been astounding.

In his first two seasons, there were moments and matches where you witnessed his potential, but the consistency wasn’t there.

In the last six weeks, however, all aspects of his football have come together.

The control, the guile, the leadership, the right kick, the right pass at the right time.

Old ballplaying mentors would say to me as a young half that playmaking is an art form, it requires not just skill, but deception, vision and imagination.

Katoa’s ballplaying is high art.

Isaiya disrupts and disorientates defenders individually and collectively with clever variation.

There’s he’s ability to tell a lie with the football, look inward but then pass out and vice versa.

There’s the stutter step.

Going at his target defender, but continually changing speed, the defender unable to find his positioning and timing.

Isaiya Katoa's 'Pause and Withdraw'

KATOA’S SECRET WEAPON

There’s a new addition, the pause and withdraw.

This is where he draws his target defender out of the line and creates a space for a short pass.

He uses this when he recognises a defender is about to rush him.

To see this in clear evidence, watch the Dolphins’ first try against the Cowboys and how he manipulates Jordan McLean and disrupts the defensive formation.

And my favourite, which Cleary has used and mastered, is the “I’m lost” play.

This is where a playmaker goes toward the defensive line, appearing to be confused, like there’s been a complete miscommunication between playmaker and ball runner. Only, there hasn’t been at all. It’s a trap.

In this instance, defenders can lose focus, lulled into the trap, they break defensive formation and are caught out.

Often the mark of an elite ballplayer is how much time they appear to have in going about their craft.

When Katoa goes to the line, two seconds seems like two minutes. He has the rare ability to play slow, it looks effortless.

RISE OF THE DOLPHINS

Katoa is the general of a team which is in the midst of an incredible rise.

The dolphins began the season playing a style which was as sideways as it was awful, losing their first four.

Since then they’ve won seven from 10, claiming some big scalps.

In their last three outings they’ve beaten their opposition by a combined total score of 158 to 18.

At what point are they considered a serious contender?

THE ORIGIN CALL

I have no doubt that Katoa will be in contention for a NSW Blues jersey in next year’s series.

If I’m Blues coach Laurie Daley, I’m not rushing him into the side, but I am absolutely adding the Glenmore Park Brumbies junior to the extended squad for the State of Origin decider in Sydney on July 9.

The sixth-placed Dolphins play Newcastle and South Sydney in the next fortnight and have the bye before Origin III.

Katoa is a player of the highest intellect, and the experience and the knowledge he’ll take out of being in camp will further advance his rapid development and return him to coach Kristian Woolf an even better player.

Originally published as Matty Johns: Inside the attacking tricks of Dolphins halfback Isaiya Katoa, NRL’s next great playmaker