2014 Second Row Comparison

Sonny Bill Williams as you may expect dominated most areas when compared to all other Second Row Forwards. In attack he has the most try assists with 4 and the most line break assists with 11. Simon Mannering has the most tries with 9 and Boyd Cordner leads the line breaks with 9. Ex Five Eighth Wade Graham has registered 4 forced drop outs more then any other Second Rower. SBW averages 1.53 Attacking Plays Per Game (APPG) followed by Dave Taylor (1.22), Boyd Cordner (1.21), Wade Graham (1.16), Simon Mannering (1.16), Matt Gillett (1.13) and Tony William (1.06). No other Second Rower averaged over 1.00 APPG. Elijah Taylor is the worst attacking Second Rower with a poor average of 0.18 APPG.

SBW leads the way in Second Phase Per Game with 4.87 with 37 tackle busts and 36 offloads, ahead of Tony Williams (4.28). No other Second Rower averages over 4.00 SPPG. Jason Taumalolo leads the tackle busts with 56 but he only has registered 5 offloads for the season, this gives him an average of 3.21 SPPG. Ryan Hoffman is the least active Second Rower when it comes to second phase only averaging 0.89 SPPG.

Dave Taylor has ran more metres then any other Second Rower in 2014, with 253 runs for 2394 metres at 133 metres per game. SBW and Jason Taumalolo average the second most metres per game with 117 a piece. Chris McQueen averages the fewest metres at only 60 metres per game.

Tackling machine Elijah Taylor leads the tackle count for Second Rowers with 576 at 33 per game to his name. Leeson Ah Mau is the most effective in defence with 454 tackles from 466 attempts at 97.42% effective. SBW comes in second with 337 tackles from 350 attempts at 96.29% effective. Dave Taylor has spent significant time in the Centres this year and his defence has suffered with a effective percentage of 84.13.

With great attacking ability comes errors and second rowers are no different with SBW leading the Errors/Penalties Per Game (EPPG) stat with 2.00. SBW has 21 errors equal with Wade Graham and 9 penalties. Wade Graham also leads the penalty count with 15. Gun defender Leeson Ah Mau is the most disciplined Second Rower only averaging 0.58 EPPG.

Best by the numbers: SBW

Worst by the numbers: No stand out apparent.

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2014 Lock Comparison

Corey Parker’s move to the front row has narrowed the competition for the title of the NRL’s best Lock. Paul Gallen and Sam Burgess appear to be the only real contenders for this title. They are easily the most potent in attack,  Burgess leads the tries and line breaks with 7 a piece and Gallen leads line break assists with 6. Gallen averages 1.63 Attacking Plays Per Game (APPG), this is significantly more then Burgess who averages 1.06 APPG. Feleti Mateo leads the try assists with 5 and is a close third in APPG at 1.00. The Warriors Sebastine Ikahihifo is the least potent lock when it comes to attack in 2014 only averaging 0.07 APPG.

Burgess and Gallen also lead all other Locks by some margin in second phase play. Sam has registered 53 tackle busts and 43 offloads in 2014. The next closest Lock has 16 less tackle busts and 14 less offloads. Gallen has only played 8 games in 2014 so he has significantly less game time then Burgess, however he averages more Second Phase Per Game (SPPG), averaging 6.38 to Sam’s 5.33. Glen Hall with only 7 tackle bust and 4 offloads is worst second phase lock in 2014. This only gives him an average of 0.61 SPPG.

Burgess and Gallen comfortably average the most metres per game, averaging a staggering 163 and 164 metres respectively. Trent Merrin comes in third at 150 metres per game. Sam Burgess has ran 365 times for 2936 metres. This is over 100 carries and 500 metres more then any other Lock. Ryan Hinchcliffe averaging 48 metres a game is the least active running lock this season.

Work Horse Shaun Fensom has racked up 730 tackles in 2014, 130 more then Sam Burgess and Ryan Hinchcliffe who have each made 597. Shaun averages over 40 tackles a game and has only missed 21 all season. This makes him 97.20% effective in defence. Only Glenn Hall has a better percentage with 97.55, however he averages 23 less tackles a game then Fensom. Only Greg Bird (87.34%) and Adam Docker (89.41%) are less then 90% effective in defence.

When it comes to discipline Sam Burgess is easily the worst offender with the most penalties (15) and errors (22). This gives him an average of 2.06 Errors/Penalties Per Game (EPPG) Greg Bird is nipping at his heals at 1.86 EPPG. Greg Eastwood with 3 penalties and 2 errors is the most disciplined Lock, averaging on 0.33 EPPG.

Best by the numbers: Paul Gallen, just gets over the top of Sam due to his poor discipline.

Worst by the numbers: Adam Docker, average in all areas of the game.

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Reliance on the spine.

 

Some claim the “Spine” (1,6,7,9) of a football team is the key to a premiership, others would argue that forwards, and defence win games. I would say its a combination of all, as well as a special team cohesion not shown by the numbers. For example Manly sit on top of the ladder, with the 4th most attacking plays, 9th most metres, and the 10th best defensive percentage. Compared to the Cowboys who sit 12th, with the 5th most attacking plays, 3rd most metres, and the 3nd best defensive percentage. If it was purely mathematical, Manly would not would not be in such a lofty position. Moving on.

The purpose of this article is to rank a teams reliance on their spine in attack. My method which was basic, and only focusing on the statistics available, was to add up all the Tries, Try Assists, Line Breaks, Line Break Assists, Forced Drop Outs, and 40/20s that have been notched up by a teams Fullback, Five Eighth, Halfback, and Hooker (including interchange Hooker). I would then divide this figure by the number of games played by the team to receive a number. This numbers represents the average number of “attacking plays per game” a spine had produced. I would then do the same for the entire team to get a total team “attacking plays per game”. I then used these two figures to calculate what percentage of attacking plays the teams spine had performed of the total. For example the Cowboys relied on their spine for 57.95% of the total attacking plays while the Roosters only relied on their spine for 41.87% of the total.

The problem with this method is that I have not factored in injuries during the game, and swapping of position, such as the Roosters routinely do with their Fullbacks. This effective should be minimal as Anthony Minichiello and RTS have only have a difference on 3 attacking plays, so hopefully it evens out.

The teams are listed below from highest reliance on the spine to lowest. I have also added in a number of other figures, for comparison. Its hard to know if such statistics have any use. Sometimes they confirm exactly what you want them to. For example the Bulldog’s spine have the 14th most attacking plays, and the team has the 12th most, which is not spectacular for a team coming 3rd, but they have the most metres by far, and the second best defensive percentage. These figures seem to confirm that the Bulldogs success belongs to their Forward pack and not their spine. However such numbers do not take into account the Hooker’s control of the ruck, or the Halves direction during play. Which are huge factors in winning football games. Other times stats make no sense at all. The Cowboys for example tick every statistical box of a top eight team, and yet they sit outside the top eight. Perhaps it is over reliance on their spine. I am not sure.

 

1. Cowboys (57.95%)                                                                                  

Pos 12th, 7 wins, 9 losses.

1st in spine attacking plays.

5th in total attacking plays.

All run metres 23751 (3rd)

Defensive percentage 92.81 (2nd)

The Cowboys have used 8 players in their spine out of a total of 29 total in 2014.

 

2. Storm (55.73%)

Pos 8th, 8 wins, 8 losses.

2nd in spine attacking plays.

6th in total attacking plays.

All run metres 23389 (7th)

Defensive percentage 91.99 (7th)

The storm have used 8 players in their spine out of a total of 27 total in 2014.

 

3. Panthers (55.42%)

Pos 2nd, 11 wins, 5 losses.

4th in spine attacking plays.

10th in total attacking plays.

All run metres 23798 (2nd)

Defensive percentage 90.58 (12th)

The Panthers have used 7 players in their spine out of a total of 25 total in 2014.

 

4. Tigers (54.29%)

Pos 10th, 8 wins, 8 losses.

10th* in spine attacking plays.

14th in total attacking plays.

All run metres 22726 (13th)

Defensive percentage 89.87 (16th)

The Tigers have used 8 players in their spine out of 27 total in 2014.

 

5. Raiders (53.44%)

Pos 15th, 5 wins, 11 losses.

5th in spine attacking plays.

9th in total attacking plays.

All run metres 22115 (16th)

Defensive percentage 91.71 (8th)

The Raiders have used 8 players in their spine out of 26 total in 2014.

 

6. Sharks (53.18%)

Pos 16th, 4 wins, 12 losses.

15th in spine attacking plays.

15th in total attacking plays.

All run metres 22214 (15th)

Defensive percentage 92.33 (5th)

The Sharks have used 13 players in their spine out of 29 total in 2014.

 

7. Rabbitohs (50.20%)

Pos 4th, 9 wins, 7 losses.

8th in spine attacking plays.

7th in total attacking plays.

All run metres 22994 (10th)

Defensive percentage 94.19 (1st)

The Rabbitohs have used 9 players in their spine out of 27 total in 2014.

 

8. Knights (50.00%)

Pos 14th, 5 wins, 11 losses.

13th in spine attacking plays.

13th in total attacking plays.

All run metres 23486 (6th)

Defensive percentage 90.42 (13th)

The Knights have used 8 players in their spine out of 27 total in 2014.

 

9. Titans (48.21)

Pos 13th, 7 wins, 9 losses.

16th in spine attacking plays.

16th in total attacking plays.

All run metres 22855 (12th)

Defensive percentage 90.42 (15th)

The Titans have used 11 players in their spine out of 29 total in 2014.

 

10. Dragons (47.88%)

Pos 9th, 8 wins, 8 losses.

12th in spine attacking plays.

11th in total attacking plays.

All run metres 22954 (11th)

Defensive percentage 92.58 (4th)

The Dragons have used 9 players in their spine out of 27 total in 2014.

 

11. Sea Eagles (46.43%)

Pos 1st, 11 wins, 5 losses.

6th in spine attacking plays.

4th in total attacking plays.

All run metres 23071 (9th)

Defensive percentage 91.65 (10th)

The Sea Eagles have used 7 players in their spine out of 26 total in 2014.

 

12. Warriors (45.66%)

Pos 6th, 9 wins, 7 losses.

3rd in spine attacking plays.

1st in total attacking plays.

All run metres 23638 (5th)

Defensive percentage 91.50 (11th)

The Warriors have used 6 players in their spine out of 28 total in 2014.

 

13. Eels (45.55%)

Pos 11th, 8 wins, 8 losses.

7th in spine attacking plays.

3rd in total attacking plays.

All run metres 22610 (14th)

Defensive percentage 90.39 (14th)

The Eels have used 7 players in their spine out of 29 total in 2014.

 

14. Broncos (45.24%)

Pos 7th, 8 wins, 8 losses.

10th* in spine attacking plays.

8th in total attacking plays.

All run metres 23671 (4th)

Defensive percentage 91.66 (9th)

The Broncos have used 5 players in their spine out of 25 total in 2014.

 

15. Bulldogs (42.73%)

Pos 3rd, 11 wins, 5 losses.

14th in spine attacking plays.

12th in total attacking plays.

All run metres 25007 (1st)

Defensive percentage 92.92 (2nd)

The Bulldogs have used 10 players in their spine out of 26 total in 2014.

 

16. Roosters (41.87%)

Pos 5th, 9 wins, 7 losses.

9th in spine attacking plays.

2nd in total attacking plays.

All run metres 23230 (8th)

Defensive percentage 92.08 (6th)

The Roosters have used 7 players in their spine out of 25 total in 2014.

 

If nothing else all these numbers provide interesting talking points.

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2014 Five Eight Comparison

There is no surprise who the dominant Five Eight so far in 2014. Jonathan Thurston has been in superb form and is currently leading the Dally M with Ben Hunt. Thurston leads all other Five Eights in Tries (6), Try Assists (20), Line Breaks (8), and Line Break Assists (15). Thurston is second in Forced drop out with 12, behind Jamie Soward with 13. Soward also leads the 40/20s with 2. Thurston averages 4.36 Attacking Plays Per Game (APPG). To indicate how far ahead Thurston is in attack, no other Five Eight averages over 3.00 APPG. The next best is Jamie Soward (2.93), Josh Reynolds (2.92) and Chad Townsend (2.77). Maurice Blair and Braith Anasta are the worst attacking Five Eights in 2014 averaging 0.82 and 0.85 APPG respectively.

Corey Norman has broken more tackles then any other Five Eight in 2014 with 35. Josh Hoffman (33), and Gareth Widdop (30), are the only other Five Eights to break over 30 tackles. John Sutton and Josh Reynolds lead the way with Offloads, with 18 and 16 respectively. Blake Austin has been the busiest second phase Five Eight in the comp. He averages 3.10 SPPG. No other Five Eight averages over 3.00 SPPG. The next best is Josh Reynolds with 2.92 SPPG. Michael Dobson has the worst strike rate when it comes to second phase plays only averaging 0.50 SPPG.

Josh Hoffman and John Sutton are the only Five Eights to run for over a thousand metres in 2014. Hoffman has recorded 1289 and Sutton 1265. Hoffman leads the Metres Per Game at 85.92, Sutton coming in second at 75.06 MPG. No other Five Eight averages over 70 MPG. Michael Dobson is the laziest running Five Eight only averaging 17.50 MPG.

John Sutton leads in every area of defence. He has made 315 tackles. He is the only Five Eight with 300 plus tackles to his name. He averages more tackles then any other Five Eight at 19.69 per game. Sutton is also the most effective defending Five Eight, at 92.38%. Blake Austin (91.62%) Fa’amanu Brown (90.54%), and Corey Norman (90.44%) are the only Five Eights to average over 90% in defence. Todd Carney is the least effective defending Five Eight in 2014, at 78.34%.

In 15 games Jamie Soward has only made 3 errors and 3 penalties, giving him a superb average of 0.40 Errors/Penalties Per Game (EPPG), the best of any Five Eight. James Maloney is by far the worst offender in matters of discipline. He has the most errors and penalties, with 23 and 12 respectively, at an average of 2.19 EPPG.

Best Attacking Five Eight: Johnathan Thurston,

Most Consistant: Johnathan Thurston,

Worst Five Eight: Michael Dobson.

Johnathan Thurston is to good what else is there to say.

 

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Game 3 prediction review.

Queensland far to dominant for predictions to pan out. They out pointed NSW in all areas. 

2014 Halfback Comparison

 

After 17 rounds of competition few would have predicted Ben Hunt to be the dominant Halfback in the competition. He currently leads the Dally M and is the dominant attacking number 7 in the competition. He leads all other Halfbacks in Tries (7), Try Assists (17), and Line Breaks (14). He is second in Line Break Assists (11) and third in Forced Drop Outs (11). He averages 4.00 Attacking Plays Per Game (APPG), followed by Copper Cronk (3.60), Benji Marshall  (3.14), Mitchell Pearce (3.13), and Shaun Johnson (3.07). No other Halfback averages over 3.00. Daniel Holdsworth has proved to be the worst attacking Halfback in the competition, averaging only 0.71 APPG. He is the only Halfback to average below 1.00.

Shaun Johnson has broken more tackles then any other Halfback this year with 39 to his name. He leads Ben Hunt with 35, Albert Kelly equal with Adam Reynolds on 31 and Luke Brooks with 30. No other Halfback has broken over 30 tackles so far this year. DCE and Robert Lui are the only Halfbacks with over 20 Offloads to their name so far in 2014 with 23 apiece. DCE is the leading second phase Halfback, averaging 3.64 SPPG. DCE leads a close following pack consisting of Robert Lui (3.27), Shaun Johnson (3.20) and Ben Hunt (3.07). No other number 7s average over 3.00 SPPG. Daniel Holdsworth again sits alone at the bottom when it comes to second phase averaging only 0.29 SPPG.

Albert Kelly leads the way in Runs (101), Metres (1178), and Metres Per Game (84.14). Shaun Johnson is the only other Halfback to have cracked a thousand metres this year and to average over 60 metres per game. Johnson has ran for 1049 metres at 69.93 MPG. Daniel Holdsworth makes it 3 from 3 at the wrong end of the scale. He has ran for a pathetic 13.57 MPG in 2014.

Adam Reynolds has made more tackles then any other Halfback in 2014 with an even 300 to his name. Josh McCrone sits second with 292, and Ben Hunt third with 272. DCE is the most effective defending Halfback with a percentage of 92.61. He is hotly pursued by Adam Reynolds (92.59%), Cooper Cronk (91.67%), Josh McCrone (90.97%), and Jeff Ronson (90.53%). No other Halfback averages above 90%. Rookie 19 year old Luke Brooks has opened up a gap of 20 missed tackles to the nearest offender. He has missed 76 tackles so far in 2014. All these missed tackles has left him only 69.11% effective in defence. Brooks is the only Halfback to average less them 75% in defence.

In 7 appearances Jack Littlejohn has only made one error and conceded no penalties, giving him and outstanding average of 0.14 Errors/Penalties Per Game (EPPG). Only Littlejohn along with Jeff Robson (0.70), Tyrone Roberts (0.93), and Shaun Johnson (0.93) average less then 1.00 EPPG. Benji Marshall 2014 comeback tour has yielded more errors per game then any other Halfback at 2.29 EPPG. No other Halfback averages over 2.00 EPPG.

Best Attacking Halfback: Ben Hunt,

Most Consistant Halfback: Ben Hunt,

Worst Halfback: Daniel Holdsworth.

A special mention to Shaun Johnson along with Ben Hunt who each average over 3 APPG, 3 SPPG, over 50 MPG, defend above 85% and only average around 1 EPPG.

If Ben Hunt goes only to win the Dally M in 2014 it would cap of an incredible coming of age for Hunt. He will have finally proved his potential in the top grade after he was heralded as the next big thing way back in 2008, when he won the NYC inaugural player of the year in 2008.

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2014 Hooker Comparison

 

Robbie Farah has been the dominate attacking Hooker so far in 2014. He leads the way in Attack, Second Phase and Metres Per Game.

Jame Segeyaro leads the pack in Tries (5) and Line Breaks (9) followed by Robbie Farah with 4 Tries and 5 Line Breaks. Farah Leads in Try Assists (6) and Line Break Assists (6). Cameron Smith is the only Hooker on this list to kick a 40-20 this year; he also leads the Forced Drop Outs (FDO) with Glen Buttriss with 5 apiece. Robbie Farah is averaging 2.67 Attacking Plays Per Game (APPG), followed by Cameron Smith, James Segeyaro and Glen Buttriss averaging 1.21, 1.20 and 1.07 respectively. Matt Ballin has proved to be the least dynamic Hooker in attack, only averaging 0.20 APPG.

James Segeyaro leads the way in Tackle Breaks with 36, followed by Koroisau and Farah with 26 and 25 respectively. Cameron Smith has recorded the most Offloads so far in 2014 with 18, followed by Segeyaro with 16. No other hooker has recorded over 10. Robbie Farah averages the most Second Phase Per Game (SPPG) at 3.56, followed by Segeyaro 3.47 and Luke 2.88. The much talked about Michael Lichaa brings up the rear when it comes to SPPG. Averaging only 0.29. Lack of minutes per game and finding his feet in first grade is a contributing factor to his poor average.

James Segeyaro again leads the way in runs and metres with 104 for 962 metres, followed by Matt Ballin with 89 for 842 metres and Kurt Gidley with 82 for 730 metres. Robbie Farah averages the most Metres Per Game (MPG) with 78.78, followed by Segeyaro at 64.13 per game and Luke at 62.63 per game.  Isaac DeGois is the least prolific running frontline Hooker in the NRL in 2014 with a poor average of 15.67 metres per game.

Jake Friend leads the way tackling with 688 to his name followed by Nathan Friend with 679 and Andrew McCullough with 608. Andrew McCullough is the hardest working defender averaging 46.77 tackles per game, followed by Nathan Friend at 45.27 and Jake Friend 43.00. Michael Lichaa has only missed one tackle in 158 attempts so far in 2014 giving him the best defensive percentage in the NRL at 99.37, followed by John Morris 97.37 and Cameron Smith 95.94. Isaac Luke is the least effective defending hooker, with a percentage of 90.69.

Glen Buttriss is the most disciplined Hooker so far in 2014, producing only 0.27 Errors/Penalties Per Game (EPPG). James Segeyaro is by far the worst offender averaging 2.27 EPPG.

Best Attacker: Robbie Farah,

Most Consistent: Robbie Farah,

Worst Hooker: Isaac Degois.

James Segeyaro recently became the Panthers fulltime Hooker. If trends continue I think he will become the most dangerous attacking Hooker in the NRL.

 

2014 Fullback comparison

So far in 2014 Jarryd Hayne has been the dominant Fullback in attack. Averaging almost 3.8 Attacking Plays Per Game (APPG), followed by James Tedesco 3.25, Brett Stewart 3.17 & Billy Slater 3.15. Hayne has the most Tries (11), Line Breaks (14), and Line Break Assists (16), he also has 12 Try Assists. Only Michael Morgan and Brett Stewart who have both recorded 13 apiece are ahead of him. William Zillman is the standout failure in attack this year only averaging 0.54 APPG.

Anthony Millford has recorded the most Tackle Busts and Offloads in 2014 with 82 and 21 respectively,  however Josh Dugan averages more Second Phase Plays Per Game (SPPG) with 7.1, followed by Milford 6.87 and Hayne 6.07. William Zillman sits alone at the bottom, only averaging 0.85 SPPG.

In the metre eating department Jarryd also sits on top with 2008, followed by Greg Inglis 1916 and Michael Gordon 1866. Greg Inglis averages the most metres per game at 147, followed by Hayne on 143 and Dugan 136. William Zillman is again on the bottom averaging only 60 metres per game.

Greg Inglis has only missed an astounding 5 tackles so far in 2014. He is the only Fullback to have missed less then 10. He sits on top in defensive percentage at 90% followed by Michael Morgan 87% and Michael Gordon 85%. James Tedesco is the least effective Fullback in defence at 61%, Anthony Milford and Kurtis Rowe follow closely at 63%.

James Tedesco is the most disciplined Fullback so far in 2014, he is only averaging 0.75 Errors/Penalties Per Game (EPPG), Followed By William Zillman 0.77, Darius Boyd 0.83 & Greg Inglis 0.92. Jarryd Hayne is the worst offender averaging 2.07 EPPG, followed by Ben Barba 1.87 and Anthony Minichiello 1.75.

Best in attack : Jarryd Hayne,

Best in Defence: Greg Inglis,

Most consistent: Greg Inglis,

Worst overall: William Zillman.

Special mention to Greg Inglis, Michael Morgan, and Matt Moylan for consistency. They all average above 2.4 APPG, 3.0 SPPG, 100 Metres, and 80% in defence.

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Game 3 comparison

Here is how the teams compare for  Game 3. Cooper Cronk’s return has tipped the balance of power in attack to the Maroons. 

Game 2 Comparison with Ben Hunt at 7