Rugby League

NRL Round 20 advanced stats – Run %

For those new to the site, I’d recommend reading this post on Run % which details how it is calculated and how to use it. Here’s the leading players in the NRL after Round 20 without a minute restriction Canberra rookie Jarrett Subloo sneaks into first with two runs in one minute for a Run % of 93.02% and a lesson in small sample sizes. Eye TestTM Hall of Famer Daniel Alvaro placed second with 23.81% in his active eight minutes on field as the Eels ran down the Tigers. Jake Friend completed the single digit minute trifecta with a...

Continue reading...

NRL Round 20 advanced stats – Tackle %

Let’s skip the intro – if you’re new to the site, I’d recommend reading this post on Tackle %, which explains how it works and why I think it’s an important statistic for identifying high motor middle and interchange forwards. Here’s how the Tackle % chart looked for Round 20 without a minute restriction Single digits winners are back with Jack Friend making 3 tackles in 3 minutes for a tackle rate of 51.61% before failing a HIA. True first place went to NRL Physio’s favourite Tiger Alex Twal with a Tackle % of 41.08% in their game against the...

Continue reading...

Set restarts remain consistently inconsistent – NRL Round 19 2020 notes and trends

Regular followers and readers will know I’m a bit of a stickler for consistency with set restarts. I’d pointed out recently that there had been a number of games over the past two months that had zero ruck infringements in the second half. The theory that referees were setting the standards early holds some merit, although I still refuse to believe fatigued players were that well behaved after misbehaving early on. The good news is that Round 18 was the first time since Round 13 that we didn’t have a second half where zero set restarts were called, and the...

Continue reading...

A statistical look at some of the NRL’s most improved players of 2020

The 2020 regular season is winding down and there has been some talk about the most improved player in the NRL. It’s a great talking point for these later rounds as most games are dead rubbers. Are you really interested to watch the Queensland Toilet Bowl this Thursday evening? The problem with examining players who have improved in the traditional way of looking at who scored more tries or who’s averaging more running metres this year is that it falls into the counting statistics trap. You have a number of statistical buckets. Every time you do something, a bucket fills...

Continue reading...

NRL Round 19 advanced stats – Involvement Rate

Involvement Rate is an advanced statistic for rugby league that I created to identify players who have a high workload but don’t play a lot of minutes. If you’re new to the site and want to understand how it works, I would recommend reading this post on Involvement Rate. With that out of the way, here’s the all minutes leaders for Round 19 After leading the Tackle % chart, it’s no surprise to see North Queensland’s Emry Pere first for Involvement Rate as well, at 30.33% for the round. This indicates he made a run or completed a tackle on...

Continue reading...

NRL Round 19 advanced stats – Tackle %

Let’s skip the intro – if you’re new to the site, I’d recommend reading this post on Tackle %, which explains how it works and why I think it’s an important statistic for identifying high motor middle and interchange forwards. Here’s how the Tackle % chart looked for Round 19 without a minute restriction No single digit minute shenanigans this week. The Cowboys Emry Pere takes top spot with a Tackle % of 46.58%, indicating he completed a tackle on nearly half of the possession his team defended whilst Pere was on the field. Second and third place goes to...

Continue reading...