Dragons 2019 season by the numbers
Author
Chris Kennedy NRL.com Reporter
Timestamp
Thu 5 Dec 2019, 08:01 AM
There can be no question 2019 was an unmitigated disaster for the Red V. More than a few pundits had them finishing in the top eight in pre-season tipping, but from the time Origin lock Jack De Belin was stood down in February, little went right for Paul McGregor's men.
The loss of skipper Gareth Widdop with a serious shoulder injury in round three was another huge blow and did little to settle what the club's best spine looked like, with Matt Dufty shuffled in and out, recruit Corey Norman shifted around and plenty of youngsters blooded along the way.
The Dragons were hit hard by Origin selection as the star-studded forward pack provided Tyson Frizell, Paul Vaughan and Tariq Sims to the Blues while Norman and Ben Hunt each appeared for Queensland.
Some early wins kept them in the finals hunt until about round 16 but they fell away badly to finish just one spot above the wooden spoon.
Home & Away record
4-8 at home, 4-8 away
The Dragons recovered from two losses to start the year (one home and one away) to win four straight games (two away then two at home).
A five-game losing streak between rounds 7-11 was followed by two wins in three weeks from rounds 13-15 but another five-game losing run put paid to any hopes of a top-eight berth.
The Dragons' record against eventual top-eight teams was an abysmal 2-11, with Brisbane (round 3) and Manly (round 6) the only two heavyweights they managed to knock off in 2019.
Their other wins were against Newcastle, North Queensland, the Bulldogs twice and the Titans twice.
Post-contact metres
Kangaroos prop Paul Vaughan was the Dragons' best when it came to pushing past the initial contact, leading the club for PCM per game (45m, with Jackson Ford and Tariq Sims both at 34m per game) and for the season (Euan Aitken 801m was next best).
Tyson Frizell bent the line the most on a per-run basis at 3.21 PCM per carry, ahead of Vaughan (3.06) and Luciano Leilua (2.82).
The best in the NRL in these categories made well over 50 PCM per game and 3.6m per carry, meaning Dragons players were well behind the league leaders in this area.
Tries scored by channel
The Dragons were very right-side heavy with their attack in 2019, scoring 38 tries on the centre-right (19) and right edge (19) channels. A further 17 came through the middle, with just six scored through the centre-left and 10 on the left flank.
The top tryscorer was right-side winger Mikaela Ravalawa with 11, while halfback Ben Hunt was next with eight and operated predominantly on the right edge.
Euan Aitken (six), Zac Lomax (five) and Luciano Leilua (three) also enjoyed attacking on the right side.
Tries conceded by channel
As good as they were in attack, it was the Red V right side that proved the leakiest in defence, with the 28 tries that came via the right flank their worst defensive channel for the season. There were 15 more scored centre-right, although the left edge had its issues with 22 on the left flank, nine in the centre-left channel and a worrying 27 coming through the middle as well.
Their total of 43 tries conceded on the right side was the worst right side record of any club and second worst for either side of the field behind the 48 the Titans conceded on the left.
Tries conceded from penalties
Despite conceding the second-fewest penalties of any club with 139, the Dragons still conceded the fourth-most tries in the set after a penalty, with 28. Wooden spooners Gold Coast had the most with 43 while the other two clubs to concede more tries after penalties – Penrith (30) and Newcastle (29) – were the two most-penalised clubs in 2019.
It wasn't the Red V's biggest problem in 2019 but a lack of resilience in the face of those instances of in-game adversity was certainly an area that will require more discipline in 2020.
