The relevance of certain team statistics and how they relate to standing on the NRL ladder
The use of statistics have become more and more common across all sports in recent years. Rugby League is no different but it is tough to know which stats provide the greatest insight. There needs to be context in regards to every stat and how they are used, as well as examine which ones are most useful in a specific sport. Many head coaches place a large emphasis on completion rates, believing it gives them a better chance of coming away with a win, but after four rounds of the NRL season, is that the case? TSZ has taken a look at the numbers for completion rates as well as a handful of other stats to see how those figures correlate to where the teams lie on the ladder and to assess what they could mean.
New Zealand Warriors boast the best completion rate through four rounds of the campaign with 83% and with a 3-1 record, it suggests that their ability to get to the end of their sets is providing them with a platform to score points and ultimately, secure victories. However, next up are North Queensland Cowboys (82%), Penrith Panthers (81%), St.George Illawarra Dragons (79%) and Melbourne Storm (79%). None of those teams have won more than half of their matches to date while it is perhaps unsurprising that bottom of the ladder Wests Tigers have only managed to complete at 70% which gives some credence to how important ball security is.
Sticking with Wests, they have engaged the line on 118 occasions, more than any other side in the NRL. They have 19 more line engagements than the next side (Cronulla Sharks with 99) which suggests how often they will look to ask questions of the defence but it looks like they are simply lacking the quality in terms of their ball movement in order to turn those questions into effective answers, hence why they have failed to win a game so far. The Tigers also boast the most offloads with 60, suggesting they are playing an attacking brand but again, they do not appear to have the quality to make those efforts count.
On a similar note, Parramatta Eels have had the most runs (805) of any side in the competition and backed that up with the most metres (7,559m) but sit with a one and three record. They are having no problem getting up the field but are not taking their chances and need to be better in the opposition 20.
Despite being forced into making more tackles than any other side with 1,454, South Sydney Rabbitohs have only conceded the sixth-lowest number of points in the NRL which suggests they are standing firm. With 66 points allowed to date, they are conceding at a rate of six points every 132 tackles which is an impressive record.
Brisbane Broncos lead the way at this early point of the season with a 100% record and a big reason behind their early success comes from their ability to break tackles. The likes of Payne Haas, Reece Walsh, Herbie Farnworth and Kotoni Staggs have all proved to be a handful so far this season and with 147 tackle busts, they lead the way in the NRL in that statistic.
