There’s no team specific deep dive this on the Eye Test this week. Firstly, because I can’t put out one of those posts every week of the season or I’ll lose my mind. Secondly, I like to look at some bigger picture trends every now and then to make sure I’m not missing something. Thirdly, I’ve had countless people DM or email me asking about penalty counts and referees, especially regarding this years “crackdown” on hip drops. Hopefully this will get it out of your system. And lastly, all anyone wants to do is talk about Origin selections, so I’ll...
Continue reading...May 2024
Why you should believe in the Cronulla Sharks this season
The match up between first placed Cronulla and the second placed Sydney Roosters on Saturday evening was billed as match of Magic Round and easily lived up the billing. With a 38-30 win, the Sharks were able to silence some of the doubters who put their hot start down to a pillowy soft draw, but after consecutive wins over the Storm and the Roosters, those comments are starting to disappear. The expected point chart for the game shows just how much Cronulla dominated field position. The key was Cronulla scoring 40% more points than expected in this game, well above...
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Why can’t Manly maintain a lead?
There’s plenty of interesting match ups leading into Magic Round after the conclusion of NRL Round 10. The Sharks still have a firm grasp on first place and will be facing the hottest team in the competition Saturday evening. Canberra and Canterbury kick things off in the battle of two of the big overachievers. The Warriors woes continue against Penrith on Sunday afternoon, looking broken and tired and desperately needing a week off. The Cowboys will face the only team in the competition that’s worse than them defensively. But this week I’m most interested in the Manly and Brisbane game...
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What’s up with the Wahs? April NRL efficiency update
Another month has passed in NRL season 2024 and we’re going to have another league wide efficiency update after some team specific deep dives on the Eels and Bulldogs. This marks one third of the way through the season already and the trends we’re seeing are more substantiated. And one such trend is the Warriors being winless in their last four games and having just three competition points to show from their last five outings. Their inability to score points should have coach Andrew Webster worried. This was meant to be the “easy” stretch of their season, with games against...
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