Warning: Lengthy discussion of points scoring stats over different eras ahead.
During the Sharks game Andrew Voss was comparing this Panthers side to the Dragons of 1963, the side that conceded only 95 points at 5.28 per game including 11 tries at 0.61 per game in the season proper. The season proper in those days was 18 games. In their first 9 games they conceded 51 points, which included just 5 tries, at 5.67 per game. The Dragons in their 11 year run usually got stronger as the season went on.
By comparison we've conceded 60 points in 9 games, at 6.67 per game, including 11 tries. A good way short of the 1963 Dragons it would seem. But it's a different game now to then. Watch an old grand final from the era, they are still on the NRL site. Scrum, penalty, scrum, penalty, and on and on it went. Unlimited tackles, and defence back 3 metres The ball cannot have been in play for half of the 80 minutes. There were far more goals kicked than tries scored. It was basically modified rugby union, and as such MUCH harder to score tries than now.
The only possible way to compare the 2021 Panthers to the 1963 Dragons is in the context of average scoring of the day compared to now.
1963 Dragons:
Season Proper Points Conceded: 95 (18 games)
Points Conceded Per Game 5.28
Tries/Goals Conceded: 11/31
Tries/Goals Conceded per game average 0.61 / 1.72
Points/Tries/Goals Conceded Per Game Average For All Teams:12.3 / 2.3 / 2.7
Points/Tries/goals Conceded As Percentage of All Team Average: 42.9 / 26.5 / 63.7
What this shows is that the 1963 Dragons conceded a far greater percentage of their points from kicks at goal than the average. Teams would take two points against them whenever possible. This is another way the game has changed. From my recollection in that era you'd always take the two within kicking distance unless you were substantially behind on the scoreboard.
Compare the 2021 Panthers After 9 games:
Points/Tries/Goals Conceded: 60/11/8
Average Points/Tries/Goals Conceded Per Game:6.67 / 1.22 / 0.89
Average Points/Tries/Goals Conceded Per Game Per Team Across All Teams with 2 games remaining in round 9): 21.52 / 3.74 / 3.6
Points/Tries/Goals Conceded as percentage of All Team Average: 31.0 / 32.6 / 24.7
OK so what does all this mean. In relation to scoring by all teams, we're inferior to the 1963 Dragons in tries conceded by a factor of 32.6 (us) to 26.7 (them)- lower percentage of the overall all team average being superior. But teams got their points in different ways back then to now, games were refereed differently to say the least, and clearly although they didn't concede many tries at all, they gave away enough penalties to concede 63.7% of the average in goals, despite having far fewer try conversions taken against them. It is reasonable to assume many or even most of these penalties were given away in order to prevent tries being scored or to prevent opponents getting into a position to score tries. Whereas our goals conceded closely aligns with tries conceded, because that is where the vast majority of them come from these days.
So in overall points, we've conceded 31.0% of the average across all teams, whereas the Dragons conceded 42.9% of the average across all teams, across the full home and away season. Their points conceded per game in the first 9 rounds were slightly more than for the full season proper, so the result for 9 rounds is likely to be more in our favour.
This also does not take into account that the ball is in play for a far greater percentage of game time these days compared to the unlimited tackle era, with all the scrums, penalties and kicks at goal they had in those times.
