Here we are at the midway point, with time for a little reflection...
We're seventh on the ladder, with seven wins and five losses. We've beaten three of the teams currently in the eight (Rabbitohs, Sea Eagles and Eels), and lost heavily to two teams who sit outside it (Dragons and Warriors). We've had narrow wins over the bottom two teams (Sharks and Knights), and we're yet to play the teams currently holding onto first (Panthers) and second (Bulldogs).
Taking all of that into account, you could say we're a bit all over the place. It's hard to get a proper reading on the Tigers right now, and we're in that delicate poise where things could go either way. Our depth in key positions has been well and truly tested: injuries to Farah and Tedesco, as well as Origin commitments for Farah and Woods, have taken some of the early wind out of our sails. It's fair to say that Gavet's injury came just as he was building into some good, consistent form, too.
Still, we're holding on. Our biggest winning streak has been three games, and, I think rather tellingly, we haven't lost more than twice in a row. That's not a bad effort for a team playing a rookie haflback, who then had to field debutants at hooker, five-eighth and fullback after a pretty fast, headline grabbing start.
Given that Sironen has only had a three minute tune-up and Halatau hasn't seen any game time at all, and both have been named to play in the next game, we're in reasonable shape. I don't know what the plan is for Moltzen - the injury report has his return as 'indefinite' - but it will be interesting to see what happens with the five-eighth position if he pulls up okay before Austin gets the nod.
Anyway, I digress... time for a bit of a look at how the players are actually going:
We've used 26 players over the 13 rounds of football. Three of these guys have only played a game each - Korobeite, Buchanan and Sironen, but we can expect Potter to find a spot for Sironen whenever he's fit. In fact, he's named him to start at 11 for Fulton, who is out with another concussion this week.
Five players have turned out for every game so far this year - Richards, Brooks, Taupau, Thompson and Blair. A further five have only missed a single game - Nofoaluma, Lawrence, Galloway, Seumanufagai, Woods and Lawrence. Although Woods will miss another couple due to Origin commitments. Yes, we've had to draw on some of our reserves, but we're able to field a pretty consistent line-up all the same.
So how about some stats*?
In the back three, Tedesco has run for an average of 138 metres per game, Nofoaluma 114, and Richards 105. Rowe managed a respectable average of 94 in his debut run of 6 games. They seem to love the broken field play, where Tedesco is a tackle breaking machine. He has 32 against his name, after 6 starts. Nofoaluma, who's played twice as many games, has 48, and Richards has 16. Rowe managed 17. Richards and Tedesco are our top try-scorers as well.
In the centres, Simona has showed up his old mate Lawrence. He's got 4 linebreaks and 21 tackle breaks compared to Lawrence's 3 linebreaks and 19 tackle breaks. But Lawrence has played in three more matches than Simona has.
Our playmakers have been doing okay, unless you count Anasta as a playmaker. Brooks has notched up 13 try-assists; Anasta has 2. Compare this to Austin's and Rowe's 1 each, and Tedesco's and Farah's 5 each... and you start to wonder again whether Potter has a plan for the number 6 and if so, what the hell is it?
It's the same deal with linebreak-assists - Anasta's not pulling his weight. He has 1, as does Rowe. Austin has 2, Farah 5, Tedesco 6 and Brooks 7.
And then there are the pigs. We've had 15 players line up with the pack this year, and for the most part they've all had a dig.
Woods, averaging 31 tackles and 141 metres, in his 59 minutes a game, is by far the stand out performer. Thompson has almost played every minute of every game, and is averaging 28 tackles and 84 metres. Blair has had his ups and downs, but his average is a respectable 28 tackles and 82 metres, from 66 minutes a game. The other standouts are Gavet, whose average is not a good measure because he was slowly building and improving on each game before he got injured, and Taupau who has been nothing if not dependable with 37 minutes, 18 tackles and 91 metres on average. Galloway's average of 19 tackles, 90 metres and 42 minutes has perhaps been a little off what we might have expected from him, but since it's no longer all up to him and Woods anymore we can probably just let him grow old in peace...
Then there's Farah. Let's not forget that this man is an 80 minute player. He's averaging 45 tackles a game. He makes the odd sneaky metre, too, with an average of 76. Compare that to his understudy Luani, who plays for an average of 55 minutes a game, makes 30 tackles and runs for 34 metres. It's not hard to see why we struggle when Farah is unavailable.
Another couple of stats worth mentioning:
Top scorers - Richards (8), Tedesco (5), Nofoaluma (4), Farah (4). Richards has kicked 41 from 46 and is sitting on an average of 89%. Austin is kicking his arse on 100%, with his 1 goal from 1 attempt. Well played, young sir.
Most error-prone - Brooks (19), Anasta (8), Farah (7). Funny how the three guys who handle the ball the most are the most likely to drop it...
Conceded most penalties - Woods (13), Taupau (10), Blair (8). Perhaps that's why we can call these guys the enforcers...
And there you have it. As long as we can navigate our way through the rest of the Origin series and keep the injury gods at bay, we can continue to make a dent in this competition.
http://nrlobserver.com/content/midway-point
