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Team list Tuesday: Rnd 12 vs Bunnies

Glenneel

Bench
Messages
3,433
Oh pleeeeease! I am not referring to our overall defense, which has been good against most lower teams. I am referring to our defense out wide, especially in regards to Waqa, Fergo and Sivo...with Waqa the main offender.

Our defensive numbers stack up well due to the great cover and scramble that the rest of the team have to do because of those 3 having such bad reads at times under pressure. And sure our defense looks and is better when you have an A grade defender in the team like D. Brown, but that doesn't mean that those 3 know what they are doing. But Waqa is the main culprit that unsettles Fergo and others in the backline and then the second guessing begins. The team goes into scramble mode and our good defensive structures start to collapse.

If we can remove him and replace him with a more level headed defender with similar pace or better, then our defensive prowess will improve massively right across the board and the confidence will go through the roof.

Sure I can hear you now saying that to get such a player will cost way to much under the salary cap. Well yeah der!. But all great players were juniors once looking for their chance and opportunity. What do you like telling us like a one phrase parrot when we lose a junior to a rival club?

"We can't keep them all."

Well maybe you should heed your own advice sometimes mate.
We must have money in the cap as we were going after Staggs who would have cost us around $600k considering that both Papalii and Cartwright will be upgraded for next year. So we're not broke. Thought we acquired Perham from Warriors as a centre but he has been playing every position bar centre and is not in top 30. But if we don't want to break the bank a good junior at another club could be the go. Look at Crichton at Penrith, not in their top centres prior to be promoted, and now considered elite. Their reserve grade side is undefeated (I think) so they must have good centres, start looking there as there is little prospect any will make nrl anytime soon. And even if under contract you would consider Penrith would release them due to that fact.
 

Glenneel

Bench
Messages
3,433
We also lack support runners. We have stopped playing rugby league and taking risks. We need to be carefull of playing to safe cause our current style won't bother good defenses.
My thoughts exactly. Look at Penrith and Storm, support runners everywhere keeping defences confused and scoring at will. We do too much one out running for my liking. And RCG needs to develop his offloads, often poking his nose thru defensive line but never looking to offload, that is even if a support runner is near him.
 

TheRam

Coach
Messages
13,461
We must have money in the cap as we were going after Staggs who would have cost us around $600k considering that both Papalii and Cartwright will be upgraded for next year. So we're not broke. Thought we acquired Perham from Warriors as a centre but he has been playing every position bar centre and is not in top 30. But if we don't want to break the bank a good junior at another club could be the go. Look at Crichton at Penrith, not in their top centres prior to be promoted, and now considered elite. Their reserve grade side is undefeated (I think) so they must have good centres, start looking there as there is little prospect any will make nrl anytime soon. And even if under contract you would consider Penrith would release them due to that fact.

I really like the idea of having someone that is lightning quick if we can and that is why I have suggested Xavier Savage at the Raiders. He was the quickest kid in QLD as a 17 year old and can play. He is also off contract and playing for the in tatters at the moment Raiders. It could be a big advantage for us in enticing him across. Especially if he can see that he would have a pretty good chance of playing NRL with a quality team that needs to strengthen its outside backs with a little extra speed.
 

Glenneel

Bench
Messages
3,433
Tackle efficiency hides the situation where players only attempt high percentage tackles. Like when Niukore played centre this year.

A key defensive stat (not recorded, so you have to compile it yourself) is tackles per minute. It reflects defensive work rate; all the little one percenters that contribute to a strong defence. Paulo's work rate is very low for a middle forward. One of the lowest in the game, in fact. Of course he smashes merkins when they end up in front of him, but he doesn't go looking for work, he's not good at filling space or helping get numbers in the tackle. But we play him for long minutes because he is so important to out attack, especially inside the red zone.

I don't see why we would play a different structure while Paulo is off the field. As for our results during that time, if you thought about it before asking dumb questions you might realise there are plenty of other changes that occur while Paulo is off the field, including other players that we are likely to be missing at the same time (RCG, Nrown) as well as some of the opposition's starting middles or even their dummy half having a rest.
What a stupid stat is tackles per minute. Might be relevant if you have 50% of the ball, it'll be higher if only 40% and lower if have 60%. Useless stat.
 

Glenneel

Bench
Messages
3,433
He would be better on the wing, and I hope he replaces Ferguson next year, but until then we need to fit Blake, Sivo and Ferguson in the 17. That means Blake plays centre. The rest of the defence needs to do their job so Blake can use his best asset in defence, which is his speed.
No one knows what games you're watching? Blake uses his speed to run out of the line, takes no one, and stands there wondering where he went to. In the meantime his target is 10 metres past him passing to his winger who has a 10 metre gap to run thru. And his attack is almost non-existent. When was the last time he scored a try? How many times does he support Matto to be in a position to score? Almost never. He is poor in nearly every aspect of the game and I don't know why as he was never this bad at Penrith, was he? Bellamy or Robinson would have shipped him off last year if they had him. BA needs to do the same, needs to develop a more ruthless approach to the game, to become a better coach imo. No good sticking with poor players which has been Parra's sore point for 30 odd years now.
 

Noise

Coach
Messages
17,106
It's not a useful stat in a single game. But over half a season the time in defense/attack converges to the average.
Wouldn’t the best teams consistently have more ball (making less tackles) over the course of the season? And then the shit teams would have a lot less ball (and make more tackles) over the course of the season.
 
Messages
19,104
Wouldn’t the best teams consistently have more ball (making less tackles) over the course of the season? And then the shit teams would have a lot less ball (and make more tackles) over the course of the season.
To an extent, but it's nothing like 60/40 over a season. For example, last year the highest average possession was Penrith (54%) and the lowest the Broncs (46%). Every other team was between 48% and 52% and eleven teams were between 49% and 51%.

https://www.nrl.com/stats/teams/?competition=111&season=2020&stat=9
 

Poupou Escobar

Post Whore
Messages
84,176
What a stupid stat is tackles per minute. Might be relevant if you have 50% of the ball, it'll be higher if only 40% and lower if have 60%. Useless stat.
Like any stat it more accurately reflects reality over a larger data set. Paulo is consistently among the worst of all middle forwards in any given game.
 

Poupou Escobar

Post Whore
Messages
84,176
Wouldn’t the best teams consistently have more ball (making less tackles) over the course of the season? And then the shit teams would have a lot less ball (and make more tackles) over the course of the season.
You can still compare players in the same team. Paulo is consistently our worst. He is in the team for his attack, and needs harder workers (like RCG) to cover him in defence.
 

Noise

Coach
Messages
17,106
You can still compare players in the same team. Paulo is consistently our worst. He is in the team for his attack, and needs harder workers (like RCG) to cover him in defence.
Do middle forwards that come off the bench (and play less minutes) usually have the highest tackle per minute stats?
 

Gary Gutful

Post Whore
Messages
51,727
It's hysterical isn't it? He is right up the with Hasler when Hasler lost the plot with all his over the top analysis and thought that Tolman was the best prop in the game. The poor mad professor couldn't see the forest for the trees at that point.

Stats are great and necessary, but common sense needs to be present when assessing them.

Pou misses this small but vital ingredient.
Do you genuinely believe that or are you shit stirring?
 

Poupou Escobar

Post Whore
Messages
84,176
But when your back-up option has proven to be lightyears ahead of your incumbent, then he isn't a back-up any longer.
Has it actually been 'proven' though? Niukore defended outside Dylan Brown in every game, against five bottom eight teams and three top eight teams, and the one time we failed to hold the middle we got carved up out wide. Meanwhile Blake has only defended once outside Dylan Brown (every other game for us has been outside Moses, Jai Field and Jake Arthur) and we only got carved up by Manly; a better team than St George. I'm certain that if Dylan Brown had played we would've gone better, and if Niukore had played centre (without Drown) we would've lost by more.

But we'll never know, will we? Which is what makes this place so much fun.
 

Eelogical

Referee
Messages
22,378
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