Matt Burton has warned Maroons winger Corey Oates to prepare for a bombing raid in Wednesday night’s Origin decider as his former mentor Trent Barrett predicted the 22-year-old would become one of the NRL’s marquee playmakers if he is partnered with a top halfback and hooker.
Burton, the Bulldogs five-eighth, will again play left centre for NSW after starring on debut in Perth two weeks ago and the game’s most talked about left foot is again expected to have an impact at Suncorp Stadium as he and Nathan Cleary test the Queensland back three under the high ball.
“It was good to hit one sweet off the boot just after halftime in Perth and if I get asked to step in and put a few up on Wednesday night I am more than happy to do that,” Burton told NRL.com.
“Nathan can hit them just as well so we will be definitely trying to test them out and we will be looking forward to doing that.”
Burton talks us through his Origin debut
The towering kick for rookie Maroons winger Murray Taulagi sparked suggestions that Burton was in the sights of NFL talent scouts but the Canterbury star is more interested in soccer than gridiron, as that is the sport where he learned to strike the ball so sweetly.
However, there is much more to Burton’s game than just his ability to kick the ball into orbit, as the likes of Barrett and another of the Dubbo product’s former coaches, Andrew Ryan, attest about the quietly spoken playmaker.
Barrett has known Burton since he rose from the SG Ball ranks at Penrith to make his NRL debut at the end of the 2019 season and after taking charge of the Bulldogs last year he targeted the gifted rookie, who at that stage had played just six NRL matches deputising for Cleary or Jarome Luai.
“He was always one that we thought no matter what level he played at, he could just go with it,” Barrett said. “The harder it got and the faster it got, it didn’t bother him - and that is the case at the moment, with the step up to State of Origin.
“He is a natural No.6 but he can play anywhere – fullback, centre, half or five-eighth, lock and even edge back row if he needed to.
“An area he has a big advantage is his size. I think he shocks a lot of people when they get up close to him. He is a big boy, he is competitive, and he is a tough kid.
“He is still learning in terms of football smarts and playing NRL, especially playing five-eighth, but in three or four years, if he can stay injury free, he will be one of the marquee players in the game. He is not far away from that now.”
Running game a strength
Burton is yet to play 50 NRL games and until moving to Belmore this season most of those had been in the centres as the Blues scrum-base pairing of Cleary and Luai were also the Panthers halves.
Yet he has always been considered a future star five-eighth and was player of the tournament for the victorious Combined Catholic Colleges at the 2018 Australian Schoolboys Championship and man-of-the-match for NSW in the 2019 State of Origin under 19s clash.
Ryan, the 2004 Canterbury premiership winning captain and one of the greatest players Dubbo has produced, was coach of the NSW under 19s and also had charge of Burton in the under 16s Country team that toured Samoa in 2016.
“He was playing five-eighth then, as well, and he was vice-captain,” Ryan said. “He was pretty quiet around the team but on the field, he was a real strong ball runner and a super talent.
“I remember when he came into the NSW under 20s team, he was still pretty quiet around the group but then he went out and just brained them with his running game. He made breaks, scored tries and got man-of-the-match.
“From what I have seen he has always had that big left foot and long kicking game, but the thing that stood out in those teams was his running game.
“I guess you don’t fully know how he was going to go in Origin for the first time, and it was such a big game, but it didn’t seem to faze him.
"He just got out there and backed himself. He had a fair bit of responsibility with his kicking game, but I thought he was excellent.”
Still learning kick selection
Barrett wasn’t surprised by how well Burton played in his Origin debut as he was surrounded by the best players in the game.
It’s an environment that Barrett believes Burton thrives in and he has the potential to become a superstar at NRL level if given the opportunity to play alongside a top halfback and hooker.
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“He can play anywhere, and he's a very good centre because he is a terrific runner of the ball, but he is a natural No.6 and we haven’t seen Matty Burton play five-eighth with a dominant No.9 or No.7 yet,” Barrett said.
“It is certainly no disrespect to the guys he has played with, but if you put Burto in a team with a No.9 who can control the ruck for him and a No.7 who can steer a team around the park, and free Burto up a bit more, you are going to see a really good player.
“He just does everything well; he defends well, his effort off the ball is good and he is a strong carry, but when he has people around him that can create a little bit more for him then you will see some special things from him. He has got it in all his kit bag.”
While his spiral bombs have caught the imagination of many, Burton has a wide array of kicks in his arsenal and is learning when and how best to use them.
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“He is just a natural kicker of the ball. He is a bit like Darren Lockyer in the sense of how Locky use to hit them, but Burto can probably kick them further,” Barrett said.
“When he was in the reserve grade side at Penrith, we would play an opposed yardage game [against first grade] and Burto would keep reserve grade in the contest, just through his kicking, so we always knew he had a boot on him.
“But he is still learning what type of kicks, and when and where to use them. I think he is starting to realise that it doesn’t always need to be a towering torpy or floater. He has got a big repertoire of kicks. He is good drop punter of the footy, he has got a short kicking game.
“He is a really good goalkicker and he can kick field goals from 60 metres out. He hits the ball as well as anyone I have seen. He has just got tremendous timing because he doesn’t kick the shit out of the ball.
“He has got a nice touch so he is going to get better and better with his kick selection and knowing what his team needs in a certain part of the field and at what time of the game. You don’t have to teach him anything, it is more what kick, when and why.”
Team-mates in awe
Burton played soccer, as well as league, while growing up and attributes his kicking skills to the years he spent in the round-ball code until devoting himself fully to one sport at the age of 12.
“I used to play soccer as a kid as well, so I don’t know if that’s got something to do with it,” he told NSWRL.com.au.
“We were only young; we didn’t really have positions then. We just used to try and belt the ball as hard as we could so that’s probably the same as I try to do now.”
Wherever Burton learned to kick, team-mates are happy he is on their side and he has the ability to intimidate opponents with his left foot.
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The Blues wingers and fullback James Tedesco practice fielding kicks from Burton and Cleary after training and Daniel Tupou told NRL.com he struggled to catch any before Origin II.
“Honestly, I think I caught about one of seven. They were just all over the place,” Tupou said. “He has got a natural boot on him and some of his kicks are crazy.
“It is good to have a left footer and a righter footer in the team. They are both great kickers and it is an advantage for us.”
Tupou and right centre Stephen Crichton were chasing through when Burton hoisted the spiralling torpedo kick for Taulagi in the second half and he urged him to again employ the tactic against Oates on Wednesday night.
“Me and Critter were doing that chase, and I was just looking at it, and I was like, ‘man, I wouldn’t catch that ball’. It was that crazy, but he does it pretty well,” Tupou said.
“That’s just his natural talent, that left foot of his and he has some power behind it.
“That is an advantage for our side, he hit it really well and I can definitely see that happening again next Wednesday.”