S14 stat attack: Aussie players (2010)

About 12 months ago the esteemed Juan Cote put together a few stats from the 2009 Super 14.  Great idea I reckon. So I stole it.  Now the first Wallaby squad of has been named as of yesterday. As with any team announcement there are always surprise selections and omissions. So this now gives us a chance to review some of the key stats of the season and make some of our own observations.

As they say ‘98% of stats are made up’. As they (no, the other ones) also say ‘statistics are like bikinis – what they reveal is suggestive, but what they conceal is vital’. So take what you read here however you want. Regardless I find them interesting to at least pick up some trends and tendencies.

As such I’ve tried to put together similar stats to those JC did last year. Unfortunately the stats I use don’t have the same details as Juan’s did, so I’ve extrapolated into a few other areas of interest, with regards the attacking stats. I’ve put together stats based on the attacking and defensive side of the game.

For the attacking stats I have based it on the number of ball carries per game.  For further comparison I’ve included stats on line breaks (and % of runs that eventuated in line breaks), off loads (and the % of runs that ended with an off load/pass in contact) and metres carried (and metres per carry). I’ve also included a total handle count (simply the number of times a player has touched the ball in play) as well as the number of handling errors giving us something that might be considered a ‘security rate’ (maybe?). Basically the percentage of times a player touched the ball that resulted in a stuff up of handling.

Thankfully defensive stats are a little more easy. Simply tackles made, tackles missed and an effectiveness percentage.

Attacking stats based on most ball carries – Forwards only

	Player	Team	Ball Carries	Line Breaks	LB/ Carry	Off Loads	OL/ Carry	Metres Gained	Mtr/ Carry	Handle Count	Handling Errors	HE/ Carry
1	Matt Hodgson	Force	153	5	3.27%	6	3.92%	698	4.56	257	24	9.34%
2	Nathan Sharpe	Force	140	6	4.29%	13	9.29%	791	5.65	269	15	5.58%
3	Rocky Elsom	Brumbies	99	7	7.07%	25	25.25%	655	6.62	210	22	10.48%
4	Ben Alexander	Brumbies	94	7	7.45%	13	13.83%	555	5.90	170	18	10.59%
5	Ben Mowen	Waratahs	94	6	6.38%	9	9.57%	564	6.00	206	21	10.19%
6	Stephen Moore	Brumbies	93	4	4.30%	15	16.13%	514	5.53	153	12	7.84%
7	Stephen Hoiles	Brumbies	92	13	14.13%	15	16.30%	667	7.25	249	30	12.05%
8	Saia Faingaa	Reds	86	3	3.49%	3	3.49%	326	3.79	113	6	5.31%
9	Dean Mumm	Waratahs	85	5	5.88%	5	5.88%	469	5.52	152	13	8.55%
10	Phil Waugh	Waratahs	82	2	2.44%	12	14.63%	330	4.02	196	17	8.67%

Best Effective tackle stats (70 Tackle minimum) – Forwards only

	Player	Team	Tackles	Missed	Effectiveness
1	Tim Fairbrother	Force	90	4	95.56%
2	David Pocock	Force	127	6	95.28%
3	Ben Hand	Brumbies	84	4	95.24%
4	David Dennis	Waratahs	113	6	94.69%
5	Van Humphries	Reds	89	5	94.38%
6	Nathan Sharpe	Force	113	7	93.80%
7	Rob Simmons	Reds	80	5	93.75%
8	Rocky Elsom	Brumbies	130	9	93.08%
9	Ben Mowen	Waratahs	114	8	92.98%
10	Ben Daley	Reds	114	8	92.98%

Worst Effective tackle stats (70 Tackle minimum) – Forwards only

	Player	Team	Tackles	Missed	Effectiveness
1	Tatafu Polota-Nau	Waratahs	78	20	74.36%
2	Tom Hockings	Force	70	11	84.29%
3	Richard Brown	Force	75	11	85.33%
4	Kane Douglas	Waratahs	106	14	86.79%
5	Mark Chisholm	Brumbies	103	13	87.38%
6	Dean Mumm	Waratahs	112	13	88.39%
7	Matt Hodgson	Force	183	21	88.52%
8	Scott Higginbotham	Reds	109	12	88.99%
9	Saia Faingaa	Reds	100	11	89.00%
10	Wycliff Palu	Waratahs	72	7	90.28%

Attacking stats based on most ball carries – Backs only

	Player	Team	Ball Carries	Line Breaks	LB/ Carry	Off Loads	OL/ Carry	Metres Gained	M/ Carry	Handle Count	Handling Errors	HE/ Carry
1	Adam Ashley- Cooper	Brumbies	126	15	11.90%	5	3.97%	1626	12.90	245	24	9.80%
2	Digby Ioane	Reds	120	18	15.00%	21	17.50%	1047	8.73	171	22	12.87%
3	Quade Cooper	Reds	111	19	17.12%	41	36.94%	2106	18.97	488	42	8.61%
4	Ryan Cross	Force	108	10	9.26%	18	16.67%	925	8.56	156	8	5.13%
5	Drew Mitchell	Waratahs	106	16	15.09%	17	16.04%	1398	13.19	223	21	9.42%
6	Peter Hynes	Reds	99	15	15.15%	9	9.09%	1317	13.30	180	9	5.00%
7	Pat McCabe	Brumbies	93	15	16.13%	9	9.68%	983	10.57	135	12	8.89%
8	James O’Connor	Force	92	15	16.30%	15	16.30%	1489	16.18	274	15	5.47%
9	Anthony Faingaa	Reds	92	14	15.22%	13	14.13%	826	8.98	167	18	10.78%
10	Tom Carter	Waratahs	87	10	11.49%	9	10.35%	701	8.06	118	7	5.93%

Best Effective tackle % stats (40 Tackle minimum) – Backs only

	Player	Team	Tackles	Missed	Effectiveness
1	Lachie Turner	Waratahs	78	3	96.15
2	Matt Toomua	Brumbies	44	2	95.45
3	Ryan Cross	Force	77	5	93.51
4	Josh Holmes	Waratahs	43	3	93.02
5	Pat McCabe	Brumbies	54	4	92.59
6	Peter Hynes	Reds	52	5	90.38
7	Chris O’Young	Force	40	4	90.00
8	Tom Carter	Waratahs	85	9	89.41
9	Will Genia	Reds	92	11	88.04
10	Luke Burgess	Waratahs	79	10	87.34

Worst Effective tackle % stats (40 tackle minimum) – Backs only

	Player	Team	Tackles	Missed	Effectiveness
1	Quade Cooper	Reds	69	25	63.79%
2	Josh Valentine	Brumbies	44	12	72.73%
3	Drew Mitchell	Waratahs	71	18	74.65%
4	Christian Lealiifano	Brumbies	44	11	75.00%
5	James O’Connor	Force	72	15	79.17%
6	Brett Sheehan	Force	59	12	79.66%
7	Matt Giteau	Brumbies	79	16	79.75%
8	Digby Ioane	Reds	50	10	80.00%
9	Berrick Barnes	Waratahs	97	19	80.41%
10	Daniel Halangahu	Waratahs	84	15	82.14%

The players in red are those that were not selected in the Wallaby squad, despite being fit (to the best of my knowledge).

You can make your own comments below as to specific elements, but a couple of quick observations:

• Hoiles has some pretty damn decent attack figures.
• Cooper just bloody brilliant on attack. Quite dismal on defense.
• JOC pretty bloody brilliant as well, on attack.
• Reds did all their attacking through their backs.
• Timmy Fairbrother – the quiet achiever!
• Lachie Turner – best defender in the game?
• TPN? Seriously? Perhaps he needs to reign in his torpedo hits? Comparatively, are these stats as bad as QC’s?

Match Highs:

Whilst those stats carry over the season there were a few stand out performances by individuals in single matches that I thought worth recording.

• Rob Simmons (v Lions) and Matty Hodgson (v Tahs) had the season high tackle count with 24 one on one tackles for the game. Simmons also had the season high ‘tackle assist’ stat, for the same game, with 10. So 34 tackles for the game for the young lock!
• Hodgson also had the most ball carries in a match, v the Stormers, with 20.
• Whilst the Brumbies thrashed the Reds, it was this game that saw Gits missed the most tackles of anyone in a single match in the season, with six missed tackles.
• Quade’s game v the Sharks was as brilliant as we all thought making the most line breaks (6) and metres (242) of anyone this season.
• His mate in the halves, Will Genia, had a staggering 103 touches of the ball in the Reds upset win over the Bulls. A indication of their game plan based on possession and recycling.
• At the ruck, Dave Pocock lead the way with an incredible 41 in a single game (v the Crusaders) whilst fellow open-side Phil Waugh set the mark for the most number of opposition rucks hit (counter rucking) in a game, with 25 also against the Crusaders.
• Sammy Harris won’t remember his return to Super footy this year with a season high nine errors in the Force’s opening match against the Brumbies.

Ok. I think that will do.  Make sure you let us know your interpretations below.

PS: Following a request, the below table shows the leaders in average tackles per game.

Player	Team	Ave/Game
David Pocock	Force	15.88
Matt Hodgson	Force	14.08
Daniel Braid	Reds	13.4
Anthony Faingaa	Reds	12.33
George Smith	Brumbies	11.75
Phil Waugh	Waratahs	11.17
Rocky Elsom	Brumbies	10.83
Wycliff Palu	Waratahs	10.29
Dean Mumm	Waratahs	10.18