July 2020

NRL Round 8 advanced statistics – Involvement rate

The last of my trio of advanced stats is now available for Round 8. For the unfamiliar, you can check out the Involvement Rate article on the site for a run down of how it works. To quickly summarise, we’re looking for an estimate of how often a player is “involved” during a game on both sides of the ball, either by tackling or running the ball. As with my other statistics, it’s not about quality, mainly quantity. I’m not trying to identify the most damaging runners, just those who expend a significant effort in a short period of time...

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NRL Round 8 advanced statistics – Tackle %

With Round 8 complete we can now take a look at who was completing the most tackles during their time on the field. If you’re unfamiliar with Tackle %, there’s an article on the site that goes through the calculations and how to use it. Like Run %, it’s not intended to be a catch all statistic showing a players overall worth. It is purely to identify those players who make a high % of tackles whilst on the field. Like Run %, middle forwards who don’t play big minutes are usually forgotten as their high impact/low volume stints on...

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Round 8 NRL advanced statistics – Run %

Round 8 is complete so it’s time to look at some advanced statistics for the round, starting with Run %. As noted previous, Run % looks to quantify how often a player completes a run while they were on the field, taking into account an estimate of how many plays they faced whilst on the field. It is purely meant to identify how often someone is making a run, not how good the run was or how much impact it had. Middle forwards are usually only measured by counting stats like runs and run metres, which makes it hard to...

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Does having a positive set restart differential matter? – NRL Round 8 2020 stats and trends

Last round I noticed something interesting with set restarts. Round 7 marked the first time that set restarts, and net set restarts, had a negative correlation with final margin. This meant that the larger the gap between restarts awarded and conceded, the lower the margin was likely to be. After Round 8, the trend has continued as the net restart versus margin chart shows below (the larger the circle the more set restarts awarded): With five rounds 40 games completed, we’re moving out of the small sample size zone and these results start to have a bit more meaning. Still,...

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NRL Round 7 advanced stats – Involvement Rate

It’s time to look at another advanced statistic for NRL Round 7, which is Involvement rate. Involvment Rate combines Run % and Tackle % to give a more wholistic view of player workrate. The idea is that the indiviudual Tackle % and Run % metrics are skewed by position, and combining them flattens that somewhat and also shows those players who are equally as strong on both sides of the ball An example from my article explaining Inolvement Rate shows why combining them is important: “Firstly, it reduces how involved Hookers are for Tackle %, since their roles are primarily...

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NRL Round 7 advanced stats – Run %

Round 7 is in the books and it’s time to look at one of my advanced rugby league statistics for the Round, Run %. What is Run %? The breakdown of Run % and how it is calculated was posted to Medium in late 2019, and can also be found on the Articles section here on the Eye Test. “(Run %) is the estimated % of team plays where a player made a run or hit up.”

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