MONDAY, 2ND APRIL 2018
KICK OFF: 4pm
ANZ STADIUM
One of the big events on the NRL calendar is this traditional Easter Monday clash between the Eels and the Tigers.
Parramatta are on their own Easter egg hunt (make that Easter win hunt) as they try to open up their 2018 account. The Eels looked a lot better in defence last week, but their attack still leaves a lot to be desired. Our Blue and Gold have not scored a single point in any of the 2nd halves in their opening 3 games. A very alarming stat indeed!
The Tigers have started their season riding high on emotion, already claiming the 2 biggest scalps in this years premiership in the Roosters and Storm. They’ve backed this up by coming within a whisker of downing the Broncos last start.
The Tigers problem is they just can’t score tries. (This sounds familiar doesn’t it!)
Their defence is gritty and unrelenting, but that offence just hasn’t clicked.
If the opening rounds are an indicator, I really hope Mitch Moses has his goal kicking boots on this week as goal kicking could well be the deciding factor in this game.
Quick Facts
- Head to Head – 35 meetings between these clubs
- The Eels lead the head to head 20 wins to 14.
- At ANZ, they have played each other 12 times
- Parramatta hold a convincing 9 – 3 win record
- Last 10 games sees them split with 5 wins each
- Last meeting saw the Eels steal a 1 point victory in Rnd 20, 2017
By Quarters (And Golden Point)
| 0 – 20 | 20 – 40 | 40 – 60 | 60 – 80 | GP | |
| Eels | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Tigers | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
- *games won in these time periods
Both Tigers wins this season have come with them leading at half time and backing their defence to hold strong. The Eels have been poor performers after the break, without a single point to their credit in the second forty minutes.
Attack:
The attacking statistics are probably reflective of the team’s respective places on the table.
In attack the Tigers lead the way with 167 runs on average per game. Whereas the Eels are last in this stat averaging 132 runs a game.
Run Metres has the Tigers sitting 3rd with 1531 metres per game and the Eels in 16th spot averaging 1119 metres per game.
Line breaks per game sees the Eels with 2 per game (13th) and Tigers 1.7 per game (15th).
Tackle Breaks have the Eels in 15th with 15.7 per game and the Tigers in 12th spot with 18.3 per game.
Total metres gained again sees the Tigers in top spot with an average of 2188m per game with the Eels in 16th spot with 1584 metres made per game.
The Tigers are very good with completing their sets, sitting 2nd with completing an average of 29.3 sets per game. Unfortunately the Eels sit last with completing their sets. On average the Eels are only completing 21 sets per game.
Thats a stark contrast and accounts for the difference in the metres – 29 sets vs 21 sets.
Defence:
The Eels on average are making 338 tackles per game. This has them sitting 3rd highest in the competition. The Tigers are making more tackles per game with 345 and sit 2nd on the tackle table.
Missed tackles has the Eels missing 28 tackles per game seeing them 12th in this stat and the Tigers slightly better with missing 27.3 tackles per game and has them in 11th spot.
Offloads are killing the Eels. The ineffective tackle count sees the Eels last with 20 ineffectives per game, whilst the Tigers sit in 6th spot with an average of 14.3 per game.
Errors and Discipline:
The Tigers are fairing well in the error stat department. The Tigers sit 4th with 8.3 errors per game and the Eels making 10.3 errors a game sitting in 10th spot.
Penalties for both sides are 10.3 a game each. Eels (15th), Tigers (14th).
The Tigers are utilising their kicking game to full advantage. They want their opposition to work out of their own corners deep in their territory, therefore not giving their opposition quality time in the Tigers half. This means that their opposition burn most of their set trying to get out of their own half. By doing this, the Tigers opponents only have one or two tackles to do something in Tiger territory or making the opposition kick long from their own half.
Statistical Goals:
There are lessons to be learned, goals that can be set, from these stats.
The Eels really need to kill the off load. This is eating up plenty of our energy in defence and allowing the opposition to build up their offensive metres.
The consequence of this is that we are getting the ball under fatigue and in poor field position.
Discipline and errors are also burning the Eels energy in defence. Fixing this will also be a key to helping the Eels take out the 2 points this week. Keep them at a minimum and be miserly with the ball. Be patient with the footy.
We need to start making more metres through the forwards. This will help to get our halves moving and getting good ball to our edges.
For those who read last round’s Stat Attack Review and the associated heat maps, the Eels forwards did little once in the opposition half. There was absolutely no platform for our play makers to work from.
These are simple goals, and have most likely been set by the coaches. Can the players execute?
Let’s look forward to a big crowd turning out again for this traditional clash.
I have a feeling in my waters that this game will be a cracker.
Yours in Blue and Gold
- Colmac
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.
- Follow @championdatanrl
Colmac Thanks for the important stats. In a brief read one could consider the eels as certainties to continue their dominance against the tigers, but is that a certainty?
Depending on which eels team takes the field (with same players as picked) will depend on the result. Many focus on the element that the eels won 2 and lost 4 in last seasons start. No one has looked at the aspect of (aside from the NCLE trial game) the eels have actually lost 5 premiership games in a row, last years 3 finals matches and this years premierships.
I am not wanting to focus on last years matches but with injuries taking out several players we have a fairly different side this year, especially in the backs than last. Looking over the selected team though, there is enough new players in it that have a hunger to want to step up, one can hope so.
I don’t believe its do or die but maybe not far off it, any rumblings need to be given a healthy doss of quick eze or stronger to eliminate them and get the players into a winning mode.
Eels by 7
I can’t believe we are last. We have the same side as last year n yet we are playing rubbish. I’m sure Hayne n Evans are no the single problem. There’s gota be something else. Eels by 7.