The Cumberland Throw

Stat Attack Review – Round 8, 2018: Eels defeat Tigers

STAT ATTACK REVIEW: ROUND 8

EELS – 24 (Tries: B. French, M. Jennings, B. Takairangi, M. Ma’u. Goals: M. Moses 4 from 5)

Defeated

TIGERS – 22 (Tries: C. Thompson, M. Eisenhuth, B. Marshall. Goals: E. Marsters 5 from 5)

ANZ Stadium

Crowd: 17,555

Sometimes a game like this is a lot better than the game we played last week. A tight, gritty affair and a game like this shows the mind set. Brad Arthur and the Eels coaching staff would have been extremely pleased with today’s performance. Four times the Tigers had the lead in the game and in a brilliant performance the Eels kept fighting back to ultimately hold the lead when it mattered most.

 

Full Time Stats

EELS Team Stats TIGERS
51 Possession (%) 49
32/41 (78) Complete/Total Sets (%) 27/36 (75)
43:21 Time – Opposition Half 37:54
19:20 Time – Opposition 20 14:21
2070 Metres Gained 1897
7 Scrum Win 7
1 Goal Line Dropout 1
5 Penalty Conceded 9
0 Forty Twenty 0

 

The numbers do show a very tight contest. Both sides had quality time in each other’s red zone and tries flowed.

With completions at and above 75% both coaches would have been satisfied. Of course the dry conditions were ideal and lent themselves to high rates, so anything less would have been disappointing.

 

1st Half Stats

EELS Team Stats TIGERS
55 Possession (%) 45
16/19 (84) Complete/Total Sets (%) 12/17 (71)
19:28 Time – Opposition Half 21:32
12:58 Time – Opposition 20 5:15
952 Metres Gained 793
5 Scrum Win 3
0 Goal Line Dropout 1
4 Penalty Conceded 5
0 Forty Twenty 0

 

The Eels had ample time in the Tigers 20 during the first stanza, but the Tigers defence held firm. A neat kick for Bevan French to out jump David Nofoaluma for the Eels first and a sublime offload flick from Mitchell Moses to Michael Jennings to crash over were the only rewards. Nonetheless, the high completion rate helps to create defensive workloads, which build throughout a game.

 

2nd Half Stats

EELS Team Stats TIGERS
48 Possession (%) 52
16/22 (73) Complete/Total Sets (%) 15/19 (79)
23:53 Time – Opposition Half 16:22
6:22 Time – Opposition 20 9:06
1118 Metres Gained 1104
2 Scrum Win 4
1 Goal Line Dropout 0
1 Penalty Conceded 4
0 Forty Twenty 0

 

Not a great start to the second half for the Eels. The opening set saw a drop ball and put the Eels under pressure early. It took a little time for the Eels to regain momentum after the break.

As the numbers show, the second half was played in the middle of the park with not much time in each others red zone. A great aspect of this half was the Eels only conceding one penalty in this half. Usually it’s the other way around.

 

Attack:

This was a solid attacking display from the Eels today. Resolute defence from the Tigers stopped the Eels from crossing more times than we did. The Tigers scramble is one of the best in the competition and that appeared again today to stop any more Eels points.

George Jennings led the match with 166 running metres and once again Tim Mannah powered through massive metres with 160 running metres.

The Eels were able to get 5 offloads away while the Tigers offloaded 12 times.

Last week one of our regulars asked for tackle stats. So I thought I would put both in. Here are the runs (R) and run metres (RM) first up.

# Name R RM
1 Clint Gutherson 8 81
2 Bevan French 10 82
3 Michael Jennings 14 95
4 Brad Taikarangi 10 86
5 George Jennings 17 166
6 Corey Norman 8 66
7 Mitchell Moses 4 29
8 Daniel Alvaro 15 118
9 Kaysa Pritchard 8 72
10 Suaia Matagi 6 45
11 Manu Ma’u 15 128
12 Tony Williams 6 45
13 Peni Terepo 10 76
14 Will Smith 0 0
15 Kenny Edwards 7 60
16 David Gower 11 88
17 Tim Mannah 15 160

 

Run Metres:

Eels – 1396m from 164 runs (8.5m per run) – 4 Line Breaks

Tigers – 1358m from 147 runs (9.2m per run) – 6 Line Breaks

 

Defence:

Daniel Alvaro once again powered through a heap of defensive work. Polar topped the Eels tackle count with 46 including zero missed and 3 ineffective tackles. Great defensive work from Polar.

The only disappointment with our defence today were two very simple soft tries. Both Thompson’s and Eisenhuth’s tries came from lazy defence which I would suspect Brad Arthur would have blown up deluxe over. This very poor reading in the defensive line let in two very easy tries for the Tigers.

And as mentioned earlier, the 12 offloads the Tigers got away would be a bit concerning for Brad Arthur and his assistants.

# Name TACKLES MISSED TACKELS INEFFECTIVE TACKLES
1 Clint Gutherson 6 0 0
2 Bevan French 4 2 0
3 Michael Jennings 17 1 0
4 Brad Taikarangi 9 0 1
5 George Jennings 5 0 0
6 Corey Norman 16 3 1
7 Mitchell Moses 19 3 1
8 Daniel Alvaro 46 0 3
9 Kaysa Pritchard 43 5 2
10 Suaia Matagi 17 1 0
11 Manu Ma’u 38 2 1
12 Tony Williams 12 0 0
13 Peni Terepo 27 1 0
14 Will Smith 0 0 0
15 Kenny Edwards 19 1 1
16 David Gower 22 1 1
17 Tim Mannah 23 0 3

 

Tackles:

Eels – 323

Tigers – 342

Missed Tackles/Ineffective Tackles:

Eels – 20 missed / 14 ineffective

Tigers – 32 missed / 10 ineffective

 

 

Effective Contact:

Eels – 90.5%

Tigers – 89.1%

 

Penalties and Errors:

Penalties Conceded:

Eels – 5

Tigers – 9

Errors:

Eels – 10

Tigers – 10

This was a well disciplined game from the Eels, especially with whistle happy Matt Cecchin in charge.

This shows that discipline can win games. Not giving away cheap metres and getting exhausted by relentless defence and not loosing your composure, keeping your heads and not getting frustrated helps massively in these tight contests.

 

Heat Maps:

Hit Ups

As mentioned previously, the game was played mainly between the two 20 metre lines. Both sets of forwards worked hard to gain ascendency in the middle of the pitch. As you can see here, both sides Hit Up heat maps are virtually identical. The above one being the Eels, below, the Tigers.

Set Starts

The Tigers game plan for all their matches has been to kick it long and into the corners of their opposition. Today was nothing different from their season long game plan. The Tigers did make life tough for the Eels with the majority of the set restarts for the Eels coming deep within the Eels territory.

 

A Final Word:

This was a great win for the Eels. The last two games have seen the Eels at both ends of the rugby league spectrum. Last week saw a rampant attacking Eels, this week saw a gritty and patient Eels. Both these styles would be very pleasing to Brad Arthur.

Another stat that shouldn’t be missed is that we finished with 15 players today. Will Smith wasn’t used at all and Tony Williams was replaced at half time with what looks to be a season ending ACL injury. This is very bad luck for T-Rex as he had begun to resurrect his career over the last couple weeks.

We also witnessed another superb performance from Kaysa Pritchard – a well deserved man of the match. Last week I emph assisted that he should do less defence to improve his attack, but this week he seemed to have found a good balance between the two. He needs to keep up this individual game management.

So could this be the run the Eels need to produce to show that we are a well deserved premiership contender? Even though we still sit at the bottom of the table, we are just 2 wins out of the 8 with some very winnable games coming up.

We have the Sharks, Bulldogs, Warriors and Broncos in the next month. All these teams are vulnerable at the moment due to injuries and form so this would be a great time for the Eels to pounce and be just in the 8 come the end of May.

But lets not get to ahead of ourselves.

 

Yours in Blue and Gold.

Colmac

Stats courtesy of Champion Data.

https://i0.wp.com/thecumberlandthrow.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Champion-Data.png?resize=194%2C79

 

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

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14 thoughts on “Stat Attack Review – Round 8, 2018: Eels defeat Tigers

  1. Optimistic Eel

    What a solid win this was. This weeks win tells a lot more about the fight in the team than last weeks thrashing of manly. The way the boys found a way to come back time and time again shows that there is still fight in this team. This weeks becomes a massive game for us – win vs the sharks and we have a very beatable dogs side the following week which would put us back in mid-table just out of the 8. I do not want to get ahead of our selves but if we win the next 2 going into origin period – we will be in good stead for a big push during June/July.

    Special mention to Kaysa, back to back top games. The way he is engaging markers and getting behind the ruck is really getting our sets off to rolling starts.

    Another big game this week – lets smash those sharkies.

    1. sixties

      I don’t recognise this Kaysa at the moment, Optimistic. He’s always been the fierce competitor, but his service in the last two weeks has been so much better and he’s picking far better times to run.
      Meanwhile, Wenty have improved on the back of King’s service and effort.
      It’s amazing what confidence can bring.

      1. Colin Hussey

        60’s for me Kaysa is very much a confidence player, he knows he has competition from Cameron King, who it seems has lifted with the Wenty team from things I am reading, Confidence is also gained, when the players around him are also doing their job.

        The last two weeks have been great, but they all have to be at that level at the least. Thing I noticed with the game is when others came into the dummy half spot rather than Kaysa taking all the moves, allowed him to catch his breath.

        I am liking very much what I am seeing now.

        Last night on one of the news, either 7 or 10, there was a snippet from BA, following the news on Trex that one of the young players will be elevated to the NRL squad and likely get a spot before long.
        An interesting comment and wonder who it might be.

        1. Colin Hussey

          PS, I forgot to add, an extension to the contract would be dependant on his recovery.

      2. Optimistic Eel

        I dont recognise him either – however I hope he stays this way. You can see he knows how much faith BA has put in him. He is playing out of his skin to pay him back…and its working. Hopefully he keeps his head out of akward positions and continues to play 80 with the same ferocity and service

  2. John Eel

    I love the way they are playing right at the moment. Kayser and Manu playing out of there skin. Manu back to 2016 form

    Alvaro is superfit and realy getting thru his work at the moment. Love what MM is doing he is so skilful with a bit of room. He is still an outside chance for SOO. Rather see him make that jump next year from an Eels perspective

  3. Parra Pete, Thurgoona

    Rather have Matt Ceccin reffeing than Henry Perenara any day of the week.. Kaysa and Manu are hitting form..Whatever was said to them…tape it…Good to see Wenty producing a bit of form also..Winning teams create a whole new different feeling around the place…

  4. Colin Hussey

    Good stats report Colmac, see you picked up the aspect of the eels affectively playing with only 15 men when Trex went off.

    Thanks for the tackle counts too. Found that a good return to the posts.

  5. DDay

    Good analysis Colmac, thanks. A good win when you look at the 2nd half stats where the Tigers had a lower error rate and better territory. Highlights how gritty and patient the Eels were – reminiscent of 2017 when the Eels often started strong and strangled the opposition in the 2nd half.

  6. Milo

    Superb work Colmac; the change for me has been less errors; less penalties conceded and a healthy respect for the ball.I really hope they can continue for the next few weeks as if so it will give the team and club the confidence to make a charge in the 2nd half of the season; and importantly over the rep period. Do not be surprised if Brown and Guth get a look in.

  7. Terry Nugent

    Thanks for the great stats, this really helps to put the players’ overall performance into perspective, and minimises the lasting impact of one-off brain snaps/errors that can sometimes occur. Is it possible to include minutes played, as this would also help to explain some unusual stats. I thought one of the commercial sites included these but can’t seem to find them this season. Thanks again

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