The advanced statistics for the NRL and rugby league in general that Eye Test introduced – Tackle %, Run % and Involvement Rate – have been around for a few seasons now, and I’ve been reasonably happy with the results. They’re not perfect (I don’t and never will claim them to be) and no one single statistic will ever solve any sport, let alone one with as many simultaneous moving parts as rugby league. But as metrics for tracking player workload I feel they offer an accurate representation of what is happening on field. Yet there’s always been something about...
Continue reading...RUn %
NRLW Advanced Stats – 2018 and 2019 seasons
If you’re a regular reader of the Eye Testtm, you’ll be (somewhat) familiar with the advanced statistics I use to analyse players throughout and across each NRL season. And now, they’re also available for previous NRLW seasons. What do these statistics show? The issue is that generally middle forwards don’t play big minutes or put up big numbers and go unnoticed besides the odd comment about how much of an impact they make. To do so I created three advanced statistics for rugby league – Tackle %, Run % and Involvement Rate. Tackle % estimates the percentage of opponent plays...
Continue reading...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...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...NRL Round 19 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 19 without a minute restriction Zane Musgrove led the way this round with a Tackle % of 25.81%, meaning he completed a run on over a quarter of all plays the Tigers had whilst he was on the field. The remainder of the top three comprised of Souths’ Mark Nicholls (21.64%) and season leader Cronulla’s Andrew Fifita (20.88%). Abbas Miski takes the spot for top back...
Continue reading...NRL Round 18 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 18 without a minute restriction Whilst he had a shocking challenge on the weekend, it wasn’t all bad news as Parramatta’s Kane Evans led all players in Run % this round, with a run rate of 21.68%. This means he completed a run on over one in five plays the Eels had. Second place was the Warriors Lachlan Burr, with a Run % of 19.98% with...
Continue reading...