The Cumberland Throw

Stats That Matta – Round 24, 2022: Eels Defeat Broncos

ROUND 24, 2022 NRL TELSTRA PREMIERSHIP 

THURSDAY AUGUST 25, 2022 

EELS 53 defeated BRONCOS 6 

SUNCORP STADIUM 

Crowd: 30,371 

 

Back to back big wins for our Parramatta Eels. It’s far more enjoyable writing up the positives than putting the heat on the team after some of their lacklustre efforts.

To be fair, Parra has been building at the right time of the year, and the performance against the Broncos was as close as they’ve got to an 80 minute effort. 

The pack rolled forward, whilst the halves played tremendously well off them and ran the show. The backs then got their slice of the spoils, hitting their straps in some silky smooth plays.

Everything just seemed to click and it showed on the scoreboard. 

One thing I did take out of this game was our patience with the ball is getting better. 

So do the numbers match the game? Lets have a look. 

The Key Numbers 

With 58% of possession the Eels just strangled the Broncos out of the game. A 76% completion rate (37 completed from 49 sets) still isn’t ideal, but when sets were completed full toll was taken on the Broncos. 

Time wise, the Eels were in the Broncos half for just over 49 minutes with 25 and a quarter minutes spent in the Broncos red zone. 

Parra clocked up 2427 total metres, nearly 1000 metres more than the Broncos. Within that, the Eels ran for 1952 metres which included 680 post contact metres. 

Here’s another telling point. Nine Eels players ran more than 100 metres. You can add in another five players who ran over 90 metres. Quite simply, the Eels ran riot.  

RCG was team best with 177 metres followed closely by Clint Gutherson with a monster tally of 173 running metres. Maika Sivo is becoming more confident and contributed 162 run metres whilst Ryan Matterson tallied up 158 metres off the bench.

Run Map 

 

The heat map speaks for itself. There’s been none better this year.

Set Stats 

There are set starts all over the park. The heat area is from the Broncos frequent kick offs. Apart from that, there is no shortage of starts in the Broncos side of the field which is exactly what you want.

However, there were a number of second-half set restarts in the Broncos 20 metre zone when they kept knocking the ball down in attempting to spoil Parra’s attack. After they got their hands to a couple of passes, I believe that the Eels halves should have played a little bit deeper and used the ball before the line.

Defence and Discipline

Parra completed 255 tackles, missing 17 and having 9 ineffective. This produced a tackle efficiency of 90.7%. Reed Mahoney led the Eels tackle count with 32, followed by Isaiah Papali’i (27) and Ryan Matterson (25).

Two big stats to have emerged from the last two games is the Eels tackle count. As you recall, Parra made just 280 tackles against the Dogs. Against the Broncos, it was even less with the Eels only having to make 255 tackles. 

Too much defending drains your tank and you have nothing left for your attack. These low defensive numbers could have been the catalyst for the Eels improved attack. 

From a team discipline perspective, Parra gave away 5 penalties, along with just one set restart for ruck infringement and one set restart for being inside the 10.

Total Errors came in at 14. 

Strange Stat of The Week

This stat is probably more impressive than strange. The Eels broke a grand total of 50 tackles with Shaun Lane coming up with 10 tackle breaks on his own. 

Stats Player of the Year 

It is impossible to go past Shaun Lane. So let’s just bask in his stats against the Broncos. 

Runs – 14 

Run Metres – 153  

Post Contact Metres – 70 

Offloads – 4 

Line Breaks – 2 

Line Break Assists – 1 

Try Assists – 1 

Tackle Breaks – 10 

The Final Thought 

The final thought today is all about looking forward.

And the message is simple and direct.

Get to Commbank Stadium on Thursday. Be the loudest you’ve been all year and paint the precinct Blue and Gold as we cheer the boys into 4th spot.

Yours in Blue and Gold 

Colmac 

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6 thoughts on “Stats That Matta – Round 24, 2022: Eels Defeat Broncos

  1. Luke Winley

    I’d be starting Shaun Lane off the bench this week. Melbourne are gonna be out to destroy him with all the dirt they can muster

  2. Billy

    I’m still trying to work out how Zero Tackle’s team of the week, apparently all statistically based, had Ice rather than Lane. Time to review your algorithm boys, it fails the pub test.

    I’m loving that heat map, fingers crossed for a repeat on Thursday night. I hold little hope that Klein will hold the grubbiness in check, so we’re gunna need to be pretty loud about it. Will they let me in with a megaphone? 😀

  3. pete

    Great read Colmac.
    Lane is hitting his straps nicely and I think he’s got improvement on that. Lane last year and maybe early this year looked spent. He was holding his own but compared to now it’s an unbelievable transformation. Just shows BA had confidence in him and it’s now paying off.
    I really enjoyed RCG’s tough carries. Without those we are on the back foot. I really would like Junior to have about 20 carries each game now because he’s been down in minutes since Origin.
    Go Eels!!

    1. sixties

      I remember a game from Lane during the season when he looked gone after about 60 minutes and I thought he should be taken off, but BA left him out there. I’m thinking about that now and wondering if it was a turning point – where he had hit the wall but was made to push through it.

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