We’re three rounds into the season and the competition is already starting to split into the haves and have nots. The Eels obviously are firmly have nots, with the Dragons and Cowboys looking like they might join them and there’s some questions coming from the Sharks after their performance. And whilst Brisbane is 1-2, they showed enough against the Cowboys that you’d have to be very confident to predict they couldn’t make the top four from here. Let’s get into the charts and stats. Sydney Roosters v St George Illawarra For a game that was never close on the scoreboard,...
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What even are the Canberra Raiders this year?
The Canberra Raiders entered Round 23 with a point differential of -78, the 6th worst in the NRL. Their opponents were the last placed Wests Tigers, who’ve conceded more than 500 points this season and given up scores of 74, 36, 34, 18 and 32 since the first of July. It represented the best chance for the Raiders to right this number and regain some control over their finals hopes, which friend of the site Dan from the Sportress noted in his excellent match review. But he also noted that both teams are incapable of playing eighty minutes of decent...
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NRLW Round 2 in expected points and advanced stats
We’ve now had two rounds of the NRLW season and there’s only two undefeated teams remaining. League leaders the Wests Tigers have looked dominant in their two matches this season, following up their 36-8 thumping of Parramatta with a 10-0 victory over the Sharks. The other undefeated team, Gold Coast, took a more difficult route to their second win, requiring extra time to squeak past Brisbane by a single point. At the other end of the table, the Broncos are 0-2 but were more competitive against the Titans than they were the Roosters, but probably should have lost by more...
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The Newcastle Knights have become one of better defensive teams in the NRL – July efficiency update
The month of July has seen three teams go 4-0 in the NRL – Penrith, Brisbane and … *checks notes* Newcastle?! After some progress in June where they lost three games by a combined fourteen points, including margins of four to second placed Brisbane and eight to the first place Panthers, Newcastle has strung together four wins on the trot during the past month. The most impressive was Round 21’s 26-18 victory over Melbourne where they chased down a 12-0 lead after eight minutes. They won that game with their defense, something you’d not often say about Newcastle, as they...
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NRLW Round 1 in expected points and advanced stats
With the NRLW kicking off on the weekend, the Eye Test is going to double the site’s weekly output by producing another post on the site. After each NRLW round I’ll be posting the expected points charts (using the site’s ETXP metric) for each game and advanced statistics for the round. Against my better judgement as someone already incredibly time poor, for the remainder of the NRLM and NRLW seasons I’ll be aiming to put out two pieces of content per week for the remainder of each competition’s regular season. I’d posted some NRLW content previously, which got depressingly low...
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Are low socks taking over the NRL? 2023 Sockwatch
After a week off to recharge the batteries, the Eye Test is back with a return of last seasons most popular post on social media. Yes, Sockwatch 2023 is here. Last year we saw that over half of NRL players were wearing their socks at or below the mid calf level, with primarily younger players and outside backs leading the trend. Is that still the case in 2023? Firstly, I’d like to give a big shout out to rljerseys on Instagram for tagging me in a wonderful post whilst I was on vacation talking about how sock heights had changed...
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