After 21 rounds of the NRL competition the jury is still out on who has been the best Prop in 2014. There have been a number of standout performers, including but not limited to: Matt Scott, Corey Parker, Jesse Bromwich, James Graham, Aaron Woods, Josh McGuire and George Burgess.
The ever improving Paul Vaughan has more tries and line breaks then all other props with 6 and 5 respectively. Martin Taupau also has 5 line breaks to his name. Jesse Bromwich has the most try and line breaks assists with 3 and 5 respectively. Andrew Fifita is equal in try assists with 3. Corey Parker has the second most line break assists with 4. Andrew Fifita has been stifled by injury for most of the season, but he averages more attacking plays per game then any other Prop at 0.67 APPG.
Andrew Fifita is also the king of second phase averaging 7.5 SPPG (Parker second with 4.06 SPPG), including 53 tackle breaks and 37 offloads. He is second in both tackle bust and offloads, behind Martin Taupau with 56 tackle breaks and Corey Parker with 50 offloads. Meat and Potatoes Prop Josh Starling is the least active Prop when it comes to second phase only averaging 0.32 SPPG, including 2 tackle breaks and 4 offloads.
Jesse Bromwich is the biggest metre eater so far in 2014, running 286 timed for 2705 metres at 143 metres per game. James Graham has ran the most hit ups with 297, George Burgess has ran the second most metres with 2426 and Matt Scott has the second best average metres per game, running 139 per game. Sam McKendry runs the least metres per game of all Props on this list, running for just under 80 per game.
Josh McGuire has made more tackles then all other props in 2014 with 632 at 35 a game. Aiden Tolman is the most effective Prop in defence, he has 345 tackles from 350 attempts at 98%. Nate Myles has missed the most tackles with 53, making him the least effective prop on this list. Myles has made 519 tackles from 572 attempts at just over 90%.
The trend of potency in attack leading to a higher error rate continues. Andrew Fifita the best Prop in attack is also the least disciplined making on average 2.08 Errors/Penalties Per Game (EPPG), he has the most errors with 15 and has 11 penalties. JWH is them most penalised Prop in 2014 with 24 to his name. Reformed bad boy Willie Mason is the most disciplined at 0.35 EPPG, including 2 errors and 4 penalties.
Best by the Numbers: Jesse Bromwich (rates high in all areas and has no downsides)
Worst by the Numbers: Nate Myles (surprising, but has high error rate, worst defence, doesn’t average over a hundred metres a game, averages under one second phase play and has not registered a single attacking play in 2014)
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