Team list Tuesday ! Trial vs Raiders

[Obscene Assassin]

Teams are predictable because they play to their strengths. It's obvious where each team's strengths are, and the teams with the most to spend on players have more strengths across the park. Therefore they are able to play to different strengths as required.

Unfortunately in a year were the refs focus on one area (e.g. the ruck) their focus is necessarily removed from other areas and suddenly there is only one viable tactic.

Increased penalties also meant there was more dead ball time, this favoured the teams with bigger packs.

 

[Obscene Assassin]

I'd like to see the stats on that.

Mannah runs on the field just to take hit-ups off kick returns. Really messes up our interchanges.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

Souths seem pretty good last season.

Roosters get the job more often than not. So do the Storm.

How'd those three teams go last season?

They’re not ‘most teams’ though are they? They also seem to be able to accumulate better players, meaning it’s hard to point the finger at superior coaching as the reason.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

I'd like to see the stats on that.

It would be easy to get. Champion Data has numbers for kick returns and kick return metres. That’s why they’re the champions of data.

Just compare those numbers to total runs and metres.

I couldn’t be bothered but.

 

[I'm a loser baby...]

It would be easy to get. Champion Data has numbers for kick returns and kick return metres. That’s why they’re the champions of data.

Just compare those numbers to total runs and metres.

I couldn’t be bothered but.

What I meant to say was, "That's bullshit".

 

[Poupou Escobar]

I suspect it’s true.

There was a time when Mannah probably did have the quickest play-the-ball in the NRL, but wrestling stopped that. He’s been a defensive player (and a very good one) for years. But even the work rate appeared to be missing against Canberra.

That said, defensive work rate is often only apparent in the stats. It’s not the sort of thing you really notice in real time because it’s boring.

 

[hindy111]

Mannah runs on the field just to take hit-ups off kick returns. Really messes up our interchanges.

Look Mannah and Alvaro have no balls. They do not hurt the opposition. Terepo may not have heaps of leg drive but he would leave the defense sore and bruised.
Happy to have Alvaro or Mannah in team but prefer not both. Too soft.

 

[I'm a loser baby...]

I suspect it’s true.

There was a time when Mannah probably did have the quickest play-the-ball in the NRL, but wrestling stopped that. He’s been a defensive player (and a very good one) for years. But even the work rate appeared to be missing against Canberra.

That said, defensive work rate is often only apparent in the stats. It’s not the sort of thing you really notice in real time because it’s boring.

Can you get a player's yearly stats on champion data? All I seem able to get is individual match stats, which doesn't have kick returns or krm.
Anyway, I'd be surprised if Mannah's gone downhill all of a sudden. He was pretty good in attack IMO last year.

 

[Bazal]

Can you get a player's yearly stats on champion data? All I seem able to get is individual match stats, which doesn't have kick returns or krm.
Anyway, I'd be surprised if Mannah's gone downhill all of a sudden. He was pretty good in attack IMO last year.

It totally does have kick return metres. It's next to Dummy Half Run metres and passes/offloads.

And Mannah does usually have a large chunk of his metres as kick returns. Round One (for eg) he made 137m, 42 off 3 kick returns.

Round 2 he made almost half his metres off kick returns...

He looked shit in the trial. I've always been a Mannah fan too, but I do think he's the kind of player who susceptible to a sudden crash in output. We'll see how he goes, one trial doesn't doom the bloke.

 

[I'm a loser baby...]

It totally does have kick return metres. It's next to Dummy Half Run metres and passes/offloads.

And Mannah does usually have a large chunk of his metres as kick returns. Round One (for eg) he made 137m, 42 off 3 kick returns.

Round 2 he made almost half his metres off kick returns...

He looked shit in the trial. I've always been a Mannah fan too, but I do think he's the kind of player who susceptible to a sudden crash in output. We'll see how he goes, one trial doesn't doom the bloke.

I found it now and looked at the first eight rounds and Hindy111 is right. He does take the most returns by far. Still, he's been a valuable contributor and if I had to bet I'd say he will be again this year. It's not like he's got dodgy joints.

 

[Chipmunk]

They’re not ‘most teams’ though are they? They also seem to be able to accumulate better players, meaning it’s hard to point the finger at superior coaching as the reason.

The Sharks are another one that go pretty well inside the 20.

It appears that the teams who finish higher up the ladder don't have an issue.

Souths had little to do with having superior players to other teams.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

Can you get a player's yearly stats on champion data? All I seem able to get is individual match stats, which doesn't have kick returns or krm.

True there's no per-player stats, but the per-game stats do have kick return numbers.

A biro, a napkin and an abacus is all it takes to get the percentage of metres generated through kick returns. I could probably work it out in 20 minutes but I'm spending nearly every night at home now and don't have the free time I used to.

Anyway, I'd be surprised if Mannah's gone downhill all of a sudden. He was pretty good in attack IMO last year.

I thought he's always been a solid first grader. If he played for a strong club he would've played a lot more Origin.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

The Sharks are another one that go pretty well inside the 20.

It appears that the teams who finish higher up the ladder don't have an issue.

Souths had little to do with having superior players to other teams.

Call it superior middle forwards then. How well you go inside the 20 all comes down to quick play-the-balls.

 

[hindy111]

I wouldnt judge Mannah on a trial. If anyone is going to take a trial lightly its a 30yld veteran ffs.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

I wouldnt judge Mannah on a trial. If anyone is going to take a trial lightly its a 30yld veteran ffs.

The blokes with something to play for were all the fringies in Canberra's lineup. Plus the handful in ours.

 

[Gary Gutful]

I never noticed this but now that I've stopped drinking I think @hindy111 knows his league.

 

[Chipmunk]

Call it superior middle forwards then. How well you go inside the 20 all comes down to quick play-the-balls.

I'd probably agree. But you'd think after a decade of playing the ball slowly most years and being crap and the only year we finished top 4 was when we played the ball faster, we might have learnt something out of all that.

 

[hindy111]

I never noticed this but now that I've stopped drinking I think @hindy111 knows his league.

I drank a whole bottle of red wine last night. It took 5.5hours.

 

[Chipmunk]

The blokes with something to play for were all the fringies in Canberra's lineup. Plus the handful in ours.

Handful?

You mean like a handful as in Parry, Hoffman, GJennings, Salmon, Brown, Lane, Niukore, Mahoney, Terepo, Kaufusi, Davies, Dunster, Utoikamanu and probably Gower?

 

[I'm a loser baby...]

I drank a whole bottle of red wine last night. It took 5.5hours.

You're not supposed to lap it from a bowl.