Since my first post, many response comments have been made that relate to our discipline in 2015. Were there particular players with discipline issues? Would BA have to address these issues by addressing certain players?
Here’s a table of how many penalties each player conceded during the 2015 season.
[table id=4 /]
From this table we can see which players have been our main offenders.
Unsurprisingly, the penalties were mostly conceded by players who are closest to the ruck. Correspondingly, the greater the number of games played by these players, the higher the number of penalties that they concede.
Nothing earth-shattering there. However, we can now keep this in mind during the 2016 season and see if apparent “bad boys” like Tim Mannah and Tepai Moeroa become ” good boys” in the ref’s eyes.
To put some of our stats in perspective, Ryan James from the Titans was the most penalised with 33 (compared to Mannah’s 13), then Cameron Smith (Storm) and James Maloney (Roosters now Sharks) both conceding 25 penalties.
Perhaps, if anything can be drawn from the season’s penalty statistics, it is the relatively even penalty spread across the ruck area playing group.
No one player appears to be considered by the referees as having a discipline problem. Yet, if we are conceding penalties for whatever reason across a large proportion of the playing group, the players were either lacking discipline or were regarded as being ill-disciplined by the referees.
Food for thought.
– Colmac
Stats provided by Champion Data. Follow @championdatanrl
I think the high number of penalties conceded by Smith and Maloney also show that conceding penalties doesn’t necessarily mean a player (or team) lacks discipline. In many cases I’m sure the penalties were intentional, or at least, the player in question was smart enough to risk conceding the penalty rather than give away a quick play-the-ball in a dangerous situation. If Cameron Smith conceded 25 penalties, how many did he get away with in the nick of time?
A bloke like Smith certainly isn’t regarded by the rugby league community as being ill-disciplined. Rather he is considered as being astute. Nice read of that stat Pou.
Agreed Pou and well said!
Col, this is one of the vital areas the team has been working on and thank you for sharing those stats. It’s interesting when you look at the players in our squad who concede the most penalties are mostly defending in the middle third. A lot of this has come down to trying to win the ruck, an area a few years ago we were incredibly weak in. I think there’s an unconscious stigma towards our players from years gone-by that has carried through to the present. I remember a number of times last year thinking some of our boys in the middle were unlucky to be penalized for things the top teams regularly got away with, other times it was completely warranted. Let’s hope this is an area that throughout the year, we continue to improve on. I have no doubt that once we learn to master the ruck and limit our penalties that we will begin to develop into a top side.
I like that Daniel Alvaro is still yet to concede his maiden penalty.
Great blog Col
Semi still learning the game?
Colmac can’t see the relevance of putting in players not playing or not including players that are.
The Roosters are a team renowned for giving away penalties, JWH always appears good for a couple every match, but their defence is good enough for them to still win games. This is something I hope we have improved this year, defence and discipline.
I would guess Broncos are one of the least penalised teams, would be interesting to see their stats on this home v away. Does their home crowd intimidate the refs into giving less penalties against them?
As a side note I can’t remember the last time we won the penalties against Roosters. Are we that bad or Roosters that good when we play them?
It’s an examination of our issues from last year. BA would have looked at this and specifics with penalties conceded in addressing the discipline concerns. As this season unfolds, comparative tables would be interesting.
Colmac,
With all the talk about the need for greater discipline , great choice for the first stats article.
An observation on the stats being that the greater majority of penalties were conceded through the forwards (well with the exception of Normie, perhaps he didn’t want to be left out and conceded an equal top of 13 penalties for the year!).
Naturally a lot of a Rugby League match is played through the forwards , therefore, by that, the greater chances of conceding a penalty would be through the forwards. While the stats recorded don’t go into the depth of “for what” the penalty was conceded over, it would be intriguing to know what the infringements were (my guess would be the majority of penalties conceded in the forwards would be the “soft” off side penalty or an “all too fast” penalty given for not getting off a tackled player in a timely fashion – two penalties I felt we were all to often not given the same latitude as other teams)
Al up , great first up stats article again Colmac. Well done! Can’t wait for more 🙂
I’d go for a combination of too slow getting off the tackled player and hands on the ball in the tackle.
Interesting stats col, really enjoy reading this stuff, semi 19 games and only given 1 away, nice work from him.