We’re only two rounds into the season so everybody is a little bit apprehensive when it comes to making sweeping calls on anything NRL at the moment. A lot can change over the next 23 rounds and a lot of what we’ve already seen can be down to scheduling, early-season rust or just plain luck.

Jake Clifford's start to the 2022 season, however, is something we should have seen coming and we can be confident in it continuing all year.

The 24-year-old has picked up the maximum six Dally M points across the first two rounds. While Dally M points are a poor tool to judge a player’s season in isolation, they do highlight the fact he is being recognised as one of the best players in the competition to start the year.

It hasn't been an easy rise for Clifford. He started his career with the North Queensland Cowboys where he was shuffled in and out of the 17, never being given a lot of responsibility in a side crying out for consistency in the halves. Shipped off to the Newcastle Knights halfway through last season, he did well to insert himself into a new environment while learning to play alongside two influential players in Mitchell Pearce and Kalyn Ponga. 

Now, with a full preseason and no questions over his standing in the side, Clifford is putting the glimpses of potential we've seen in recent years into action to be one of the best-performing players so far this season.

RELATED: NRL 2022- What's Real And What's Not After Two Rounds?

Kicking Game

When looking through two years of notes there is one comment that constantly pops up beside Clifford's name:

“Clifford kick - perfect.”

“Pin-point attacking kick on 5th.”

“Clifford try assist - grubber.”

He is an excellent attacking kicker close to the line and has a monster boot on him when kicking his team out of yardage. All the way up the field, Clifford can rely on his boot to make a play.

There are plenty of examples of Clifford’s top tier kicking game but we’re going back to Round 20 in 2019 for this one. It paints a picture of the potential that has always been evident and provides some context to how his current form transpired so quickly.

It results in a forced dropout but the identification is something Knights fans have already been celebrating this year.

Jordan McLean takes a strong carry up the middle and picks out Ben Hunt in the line. McLean bumps Hunt away and continues on his run, forcing Tyson Frizell to hang around the tackle and end up behind the ball. Matthew Dufty is filling in at A defender where most fullbacks position themselves at this point, however, he can’t start tracking back into the space because Frizell is slow back into and off the line.

Clifford saw Frizell lagging early and without a numbers advantage down the short side to attack with, chips in behind the Dragons defence and asks them to defend another set.

Hailing Clifford’s kicking game won’t be a shock to anybody that has seen him play over the last two or three years. It has been the hallmark of his 57-game career to date. Just last year he forced 17 dropouts in 20 games to finish behind only Jarome Luai (19 FDO) and Nathan Cleary (25 FDO) for the most in the competition.

It's the strongest part of Clifford's game and his development in other areas is only making it stronger.

Punters- At TopSport, the top of the ladder Newcastle Knights are paying  $2.15 to play finals for a third-straight year. 

On His Feet

Clifford is a willing ball runner and isn’t afraid of contact. Again, it has been part of his game since the very start of his career with his average running metres per game hovering around the 60-metre mark.

It can be a little bit premeditated at times, but he’s starting to pick his moments to step off his left foot and is always pushing up around the ball. At 95kg and 184cm, he's a relatively big body compared to other halves in the competition and pushes well through contact if he makes half a break.

Clifford jumped between halfback and five-eighth last year and his role changed depending on who stood beside him in the halves. However, with Adam Clune joining the club and playing as the more traditional halfback without overcalling the ball as Mitchell Pearce could do at times, Clifford has a lot more freedom and opportunity to insert himself into the attack.

"Clune has made such a big difference to the Knights side. When Andrew went up and started doing some stuff with them, he said Adam Clune is a top-notch organiser and an old-styled halfback." - Matthew Johns, SEN

He is getting the ball wider and building on what is already a decent running game to be averaging a career-high 90 running metres per game at the moment.

While that number is likely to come down given the 40 free metres he picked up to score against the Roosters, he is set up for a career year running the ball.

Punters- At TopSport, the Knights are paying $19 to win their first premiership since 2001.

Eyes-Up

It's a tired and often poorly used cliche, but Clifford is doing an exceptional job of playing eyes up footy.

Pearce's departure again helps here. As good as Pearce was for the Knights over the years, he had a tendency to take too much of a hands-on approach at times. The former Knights half averaged 62.9 touches and 63.3 touches per game in 2020 and 2021. Clune, on the other hand, has averaged only 54.5 touches throughout the first two games this season while Clifford has registered a career-high 43.5 per game.

We saw a good example of Clifford playing what is in front of him in Round 2 in a scenario he almost certainly wouldn't have seen the ball last year.

It's similar to the forced dropout highlighted above. The third man is slowly getting back into the line and it looks as though Clifford has a word to Chris Randall (who, as all hookers will also have noticed in that spot, the slow peel) and asks for the ball to come his way. 

They're a little bit tight on space and Jackson Hastings does a really good job of dropping back at second marker having seen the opportunity open up. Still, to see Clifford take the ball down the short side on 5th tackle 50 metres from the line is very encouraging this early in the season. If not for a good defensive effort by Hastings late in the half, there is a good chance this play ends in points.

Clifford ripped through the junior grades as an elite attacking half but has been held back for a variety of reasons since making his debut. However, it is clear that the game awareness and footy IQ is there for him to dominate in first grade.

It's not always going to come as easy as it has done across the opening two weeks of the season. His excellent performance in Round 2 came against a terrible Tigers side that is currently the favourite to finish 16th. But Clifford is setting himself up for a stellar 2022 campaign and his form has already helped in lifting the Knights from 31.8% to reach the Top 8 before Round 1 to 59.3% heading into Round 3.

Punters- At TopSport, you can get $4.4 about the Knights finishing top 4 for the first time in 16 years. 

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