The Cumberland Throw

Stat Attack Review – Round 11: Eels vs Raiders

Raiders 22 defeated Eels 16

Crowd: 10,074

 

Sometimes you don’t mind a loss when you see your team give their all. This game was one of those.

Down by 10 after 30 mins, the Eels started their comeback and 10 mins into the second half had scored 16 unanswered points to lead by 6.

Unfortunately injuries to key players, Nathan Brown and Michael Jennings, saw the Eels unable to hold out a fast finishing Raiders outfit.

Lets look at the stats that matter for Parramatta.

Score Flow

Parramatta Eels
H Time Name Event Score
1 4 N.Cotric TRY 0 – 4
1 5 J.Croker CONVERSION MISS 0 – 4
1 20 J.Leilua TRY 0 – 8
1 22 J.Croker CONVERSION 0 – 10
1 34 M.Ma’u TRY 4 – 10
1 36 C.Gutherson CONVERSION MISS 4 – 10
1 39 M.Jennings TRY 8 – 10
1 40 C.Gutherson CONVERSION 10 – 10
2 48 S.Vave TRY 14 – 10
2 49 C.Gutherson CONVERSION 16 – 10
2 56 B.Austin TRY 16 – 14
2 58 J.Croker CONVERSION 16 – 16
2 74 J.Rapana TRY 16 – 20
2 75 J.Croker CONVERSION 16 – 22

 

Full Time Team Stats

 

 PAR Team Stats  CAN
49 Possession (%)

51

29/36 (81)

Complete/Total Sets (%) 27/33 (82)
46:33 Time – Opposition Half

33:43

18:38

Time – Opposition 20 10:24
2228 Metres Gained

2128

7

Scrum Win 4
1 Goal Line Dropout

2

5

Penalty Conceded 7
0 Forty Twenty

0

 

Both teams completion rates were outstanding, which shows how this match was played out. Parramatta unfortunately couldn’t convert their extra time in the Raiders half and red zone.

The Raiders did open the door for the Eels to take the win, but without in-form half Corey Norman, plus a new half in Mitchell Moses trying to settle into the Eels structure, the Eels just couldn’t secure the victory.

 

1st Half Team Stats

 PAR Team Stats CAN
51 Possession (%)

49

16/19 (84)

Complete/Total Sets (%) 14/16 (87)
28:50 Time – Opposition Half

11:13

9:06

Time – Opposition 20 3:58
1103 Metres Gained

1030

3

Scrum Win 3
0 Goal Line Dropout

1

3

Penalty Conceded 4
0 Forty Twenty

0

 

A great first half by both teams, yet this was a tale of 2 halves in a half. The Raiders got the first 20 minutes while the Eels had the second 20 minutes. For Eels supporters, the flow of possession and penalties in the opening stanza must have felt like the Roosters match revisited. However, with a flow of ball coming their way in the back end of the half, the Eels clawed their way into the contest.

Quality completions from both teams saw them head to the sheds 10 all.

 

2nd Half Stats

Team Stats
48 Possession (%) 52
13/17 (76) Complete/Total Sets (%) 13/17 (76)
17:43 Time – Opposition Half 22:30
9:32 Time – Opposition 20 6:26
1125 Metres Gained 1099
4 Scrum Win 1
1 Goal Line Dropout 1
2 Penalty Conceded 3
0 Forty Twenty 0

 

The second half from both teams was a dour affair, and it seemed as if that the quality from the first half took its toll in the second as both teams began to tire. Although in saying that, the error rate was particularly low for the game with the Eels making 7 errors to the Raiders 8.

When you look for reasons for a loss, lack of effort would not factor into this one. For me you couldn’t have asked for more from a side that did try their all.

 

Attack:

 

Top 5 Runs
Name R
 CAN J.Paulo 23
 PAR S.Radradra 19
 CAN J.Papalii 17
 PAR J.Rapana 16
 CAN B.French 16
Top 5 Run Metres
Name RM
 CAN J.Paulo 200
 PAR S.Radradra 195
 CAN J.Papalii 165
 CAN J.Rapana 153
 CAN J.Wighton 153

 

Six Eels ran for 100 metres or more, which was a much better effort than the previous week against the Roosters. Here’s another stat that doesn’t appear in the table above – another 5 Eels ran for 90 metres or more. This was indicative of the shared workload and a great effort all round considering only 4 Raiders ran for more than 100 metres and one was in the high 90’s.

The Eels were full of running and as Brad Arthur said we should have won this game. You couldn’t fault the Eels effort, but it’s important to find a way to win matches that are there to be won.

 

Semi Radradra 195m
Manu Ma’u 132m
Bevan French 126m
Michael Jennings 126m
Josh Hoffman 106m
Tepai Moeroa 104m

 

Defence:

Top 5 Tackles
Name TAK
 PAR K.Pritchard 48
 CAN E.Whitehead 38
 PAR T.Mannah 31
 CAN J.Papalii 30
 CAN I.Soliola 30
Top 5 Missed Tackles
Name MT
 PAR C.Gutherson 5
 PAR T.Moeroa 5
 PAR K.Pritchard 4
 CAN E.Whitehead 4
 CAN I.Soliola 3

 

Kaysa Pritchard tops the tackle counts once again, but I am feeling this is being detrimental to his dummy half service. A few of his passes were poor to say the least and had its affect on the Eels moving forward. Poor decision making and no crisp dummy half service seems to be a fatigue factor with Kaysa at the moment with his work in defence. His defence is first rate, not knocking that, but what cost are we prepared to pay?

Six Eels made 20 or more tackles and another two players sat on 19 tackles. The Eels made a total of 321 tackles with 28 missed tackles, while Canberra made 313 tackles with 22 misses.

Canberra ran a lot of attack at Clint Gutherson. Clint made 19 tackles and missing 5. Ultimately this saw Clint become less effective in attack. It’s a tactic that worked well for the Raiders.

A lot of positives can be taken out of this game. It was a much improved performance on the one displayed against the Roosters, and no doubt we can build on this as we prepare for the Bunnies on Friday night.

 

STAT ATTACK PLAYER OF THE WEEK

BEAU SCOTT

 

Beau played an outstanding captain’s knock to lift his side and put us in the game.

This would have been Beau’s best game in quite a while, even he would admit that. It was very pleasing to see him lift after we lost Nathan Brown early.  Beau certainly picked up Brown’s work load.

With limited game time, Scott’s carries were sensational. Bending the line with almost each run and then still making yards with defenders hanging off him. Vintage Beau Scott.

Both the Eels captains played a good hand. Tim Mannah played strong with little fanfare. His 9 runs yielded 91 metres plus his effort in defence with 31 tackles and no misses does show his value in the team.

Possessions 12
Runs 9
Run Metres 97
Try Assists 1
Tackle Breaks 2
Tackles 16
Minutes Played 34

Colmac

Champion Data

Stats courtesy of Champion Data. All these stats and more can be viewed on our match centre at http://mc.championdata.com/nrl/ including live game stats.

Champion Data

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7 thoughts on “Stat Attack Review – Round 11: Eels vs Raiders

  1. The Captain

    Nice round-up Colmac, and I really feel it again points to something we already know.

    The few standout points for me are:

    1) We were inside the Raiders 20 way more than they were inside ours and yet we couldn’t barge over

    2) We missed a lot of tackles

    3) Paulo and Papalii ate so many metres

    And these three points push to one thing – we were out-sized. Our forwards just can’t be expected to match it with polished bigger packs because they get warn out trying to compensate for size with aggression.

    Don’t get me wrong, I think there’s a lot to be said for sacrificing some size for fitness or nimbleness, but we still need one or two really big wrecking balls. Otherwise the forwards need to play perfect footy week-in-week-out just to look competitive.

    And if you look at our wins this season, nearly all of them have come from speed and aggression in the first 30 mins of the game before the fatigue sets in. But by the last 20 minutes we’re either playing catchup footy or trying to hang on to a lead.

    Really hope BA and the crew are keeping a keen eye out for some big boys. Kane Evans is a great start, but I still feel we’re going to need at least one more.

  2. Colin Hussey

    Reading this set of stats alongside (or just after) Fortys poist on Moses, highlights some areas that I have commented on elsewhere, & its not going to get any better with the possible longer term injury to Brown. The thankfull part is how Scott lifted when he came on, no doubt replacing Brown.

    The element of fatigue that is now being put up against Pritchard was always going to happen, Forty mentioned a poor pass from Kaysa to Moses which went slightly behind him, affectively causing a stutter in the run of Moses. I put that down (in part) to a new half likely a bit more nimble and faster than we have had even in Norman at 7, also the aspect that both Norms and Kaysa knew each others play better, whereas with Moses its a new combination, and just as much Moses was down after only 2 runs, it would have also affected Pritchard in a similar way.

    I keep coming back to the aspect of Kaysa being affected by the amount of defence he does in a game, and what I believe no hooker should have to do, problem is I guess that the 5 forwards around him get spells and it becomes shared tackles for them, and they get decent breathers, Pritchard however is in the frontline all but for the whole 80 minutes, big ask for a player of his size in his first full year as solitary hooker.

    It is no doubt compounded by the lack of alternatives in the 9 spot, King shows up his defensive weakness, so likely not a bench player, Brown, well he is out but has not been affective anyway, Edwards could go for 10 minutes, and perhaps as I have suggested even Gutho as he has gone in there at times.

    Without focusing on one player, I see the need for the whole forward line up to start lifting, some have gone backwards since the first two games, and reality for me is that they are not NRL standard except maybe for the odd game. It maybe a risk but surely some new blood is needed there even from Wenty that are not setting their comp on fire either.

    LIkewise to me, is the poor right side players, they are being found out constantly, and watching the bits in Forties post showed Moses in with Auva’a and Hoffman, that is a disaster waiting to happen with 3 players grouped that each have defensive problems, yet more reasons (excuses?) are given to them in a forgiving way than towards Pritchard. The right side has big problems, and something needs to be done there.

    The more articles, reports and the like that I read here on TCT and other areas, the more I believe the team has lifted and in some ways, with the compounding injuries to key players, the eels are going ok without getting the wins they should be getting. Would like to see some more expansive games as I think we have the players that could be performing if a more attacking game was allowed.

    Last thing re Kaysa, I do not believe that BA wanted him for the 80 minutes, but with IDG out, and King muffing his audition, he has had no choice, I suspect that BA was going to go with IDG but bring Kaysa off the bench for gradual increased minutes. Last year when Kaysa came on, IDG did not get rested each time rather he stayed on allowing him to play as a more defensive line player, which worked, and that is likely the role he was looked at for, IDG becoming the utility. The down side may end up being an up as Kaysa gets more used to the long playing time and improvements will come.

  3. John Eel

    What is happening in our first 20 minutes. It is just not working. For the first 3 rounds we were first quarter winners but since I think that we have lost quite a few. Love to know how many first quarters we have won since Rd 3.

    Further we desperately need our injured players to be there if we are going to make the eight. Norman, Terepo, Brown and the others critical to our chances. IDG would have been good also.

    1. Colin Hussey

      John, Can’t disagree, to me Mannah has to be carrying an injury to be so far down in his game, I also do not believe Matagi is first grade quality. While it would be tempting to put Brown there I think it would lessen the pack and his overall impact in the forwards. Perhaps the best option may be with O’Brien coming in for Matagi, leaving Alvaro and Vave as the bench props, along with Scott, along with Edwards.

      1. John Eel

        Thanks for that. I believe that we are at our best when we lead out. like most teams I guess.

    2. John Eel

      If Mannah is carrying an injury it answers a lot of questions. His minutes are down and he has definitely not been as effective as previously. It is getting close to the time that BA needs to do something. In order for us to make the 8 we need to win another 8 games and we do not have a lot of games left to play with.

      In 2009 when we went on that long run of wins it all began in the Origin period. that gave the team the confidence to go with it and they did. I was hoping for sum of the same this season.

      I still have faith that BA will do what ever he can to make it happen.

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