True_Believer
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Was bored this evening and was thinking about who will be our new coach for 2021 and beyond.For what it is worth all the talk of Griffin in the news today is fine by me but what i was thinking about is the the style of football we are playing now and the type of game plan a new coach might try to implement going into next year.One thing i believe in is the statistics don't lie.Like clues at a crime scene they paint the true picture of what is going on.I went to the fox sports statistics page and thought i would share some of the interesting stats of our dragons team.
Some of the stats for the dragons in comparison to where we sit on the table and compared to other teams were as follows;
Run Meters
Dragons 22632.
Leaders Eels 25317
Worst Titans 19042
This was interesting to me as i always thought we would be closer to the bottom of this table than the top but we sit in 5th position overall ahead of teams like the storm ,albeit marginally, and also ahead of the likes of the rabbitohs and the raiders.This suggests to me that we either play a style that gets us over the advantage line or our forwards are doing this better than i actually thought they were,but i suppose run meters is only relative to the ground you concede.
Run Meters Conceded
Dragons 23569
Leaders Dogs 24372
Least Panthers 19247
Here is where statistics paint the true picture.You would expect this to pretty much follow your teams position on the ladder and it mostly does with the teams conceding the least amount of meters to be at the top of the points table and vice versa but here we sit 3rd last on the table with only the Bulldogs and the Sea Eagles conceding more ground.Considering we have conceded over 4 km more than the league leaders the Panthers and teams like the Titans and Warriors concede less ground than we do you would think that an incoming coach would look at this and drastically try to improve this aspect of our game.
Line Breaks
Dragons 54
Leaders Panthers 92
Least Warriors 44
Another area where you'd think it would follow the position of the team on the ladder and it pretty much does but we find ourselves 4th last with line breaks with only a handful more than the Warriors,Bulldogs and Broncos and well off the pace of the top three unsurprisingly being The Panthers,Roosters and Storm.In my opinion we need to look at our attacking structure, a more expansive game plan and even adding players to our team who are more capable of breaking the line with speed footwork and size.
Line Breaks Conceded
Dragons 58
Most Sharks 95
Least Panthers 44
We punch above our weight here sitting in 5th position for least line breaks.This really does confirm to me what i have thought all along...that are actual defence is not the problem...the problem is our line speed.We concede too much yardage because of the defensive pattern to sit back ,maintain a straight defensive line, and not worry about line speed
Offloads
Dragons 114
Leaders Eels 208
Least Rabbitohs 106
Interesting here with the eels 50 more offloads than the second placed team in the storm.We sit 2nd last on this table and i am sure that that is no surprise to anyone on this forum.Something else that is no surprise is that a Bennett coached team sits last on the table for offloads but what was surprising was the Panthers sit 3rd last with 119.I suppose this just illustrates the type of game plan you are trying to implement with the Panthers obviously able to roll over the advantage line with big fast forwards and quick play the balls
Tackled In the opposition 20
Dragons 375
Leaders Panthers 562
Least Broncos 347
This is such a telling statistic for mine.It generally dictates the outcomes of games.If you knock on the door for long enough you'll eventually get inside.It's a credit to the Roosters attacking ability that they can sit worse than midfield on this table in 10th position and lead the points for table ( unbelievable).
We sit 2nd last with this statistic with only the Broncos worse and even the Titans ahead of us.I believe the fact we concede so much ground is key to this because if your constantly bringing the ball of your own try line it is hard to get into the oppositions 20 when teams are going set for set.
Errors
Dragons 145
Least Panthers 132
Most Titans 193
Probably really shows what type of structure you play with and can be misleading as the teams that made the 2nd and 3rd most errors are the Eels and the Storm.We sit 2nd with only the Panthers making less errors than us.When you look at this statistic other than the Panthers it reads like an upside down table with the teams at the bottom of the table making less errors and the teams at the top making more.I think this is easy to explain as the teams that are constantly having to bring the ball out of trouble tucking it under their arm and trying just to complete sets and the teams getting into attacking position willing to throw it around more to try and score points.We sit 2nd on the table for least errors but this really just shows we are not getting into position to attack enough probably due to the fact that we concede so much ground and are constantly bringing the ball off our own line and not getting into position to play more adventurously.Sitting at the top of the table and with the least amount of errors as the Panthers do really does showcase their dominance.
Missed Tackles
Dragons 311
Least Dragons 311
Most Sharks 473
Well if it continues this way at the end of the seasons we will at least be able to say we won something.Again this demonstrates that our actual defence is good we have missed less tackles than the Roosters and Panthers but the key is improving line speed while maintaining tackle effectiveness.This i am sure will be a top priority for our new coach whoever that may be.
Obviously i believe that our new coach will look at these statistics when considering what areas of our play needs tweaking and improving.I think we need a coach who can implement a more attacking mindset with the ball ,empowering the team to play with more confidence and a mindset of looking to promote the ball more than what we currently do.We need a coach that will work on our line speed in defence,to change our defensive structure from being one that sits back and waits for the opposition to come too them to being one that looks to create pressure on opposing teams with line speed and aggression.I heard on 100% footy last night that the club are looking for a disciplinarian who will instil a defensive mindset and i hope that the club is directly talking about our line speed because i think that is a key area for us to improve.
Having a read of those statistics in full it really does ram home to me how well the Panthers are going but still when you hear people talk about who will win the comp they want to talk about the Roosters and the Storm which is fair enough considering their record and of course either of these teams could win the comp but for me at the moment the panthers,even though they sit atop the ladder,are not getting the recognition from the fans that they deserve,they really are flying. One thing i have learnt in life is follow the money and the bookies have the Panthers as favourites for a reason,the statistics suggest that they are well ahead of everyone else.
Anyway i am looking forward to the club announcing our new coach soon and one thing i can say with some certainty is that whoever it will be, it will be massive improvement on what we have had to put up with the last seven years.
For what it's worth, Griffin for mine...Young or Head assistant, take ya pick....but i still have an open mind...
THE ONLY WAY IS UP....
Would also like to see things like play the ball speed, 6 again for and against, penalties etc. There's a few other stats that would impact some of the stats you've highlighted.
