Workhorse Watch Round 17
The requests keep on coming; this week the Tantasy boys have handballed me a question from Isaac Soper who wants to know which NRL teams concede the most number of workhorse tries? What Isaac is really asking is which teams make their opposition work the hardest therefore producing the most number of workhorse tries.
It’s a great question and careful analysis of the opening 16 rounds reveals that the teams who force their opposition to do the most work are the Cowboys and the Rabbitohs. On average, teams playing these sides will score 4 workhorse tries each, ahead of the Titans who rank third and concede 3.64 workhorse tries per game. Having the likes of Matt Scott, James Tamou and Ashton Sim running at you constantly or the Burgess boys in the case of South Sydney creates plenty of work for opposition forward packs.
At the other end of the scale are the Eels, Raiders and Roosters who apply the least amount of pressure up front on their opposition’s forward pack. In the game of fantasy football there are a multitude of variables that influence an outcome, and how many workhorse tries an NRL team gets scored against them is no different. Style of play and playing personnel obviously has a lot to do with it but clearly where a team sits on the ladder has no real correlation.
When considering who to name in your pack each week you’re better off selecting players in matches you think will be close. In the opening ten rounds this season (the rounds not effected by byes or Origin), games that finished with a margin of 1-12 averaged 7.5 workhorse tries per game. In matches with a margin of 13+, there were only 4.7 workhorse tries scored each game. That stat has evened out a lot in the last 7 weeks with many stars away and workloads shared, and it has seen 1-12 margined games average 6.79 versus 13+ margined game average 6.28. With Origin now behind us and the last of the byes this weekend I expect gap to open up again.
Also don’t forget to take into account the time of day the game is played. Day games and twilight games average 5.73 workhorse tries compared to night time game which average 7.32 workhorse tries. I’ll leave you to work out which teams have the most day game between now and the end of the season because with one more week of byes, we’re all naming whoever we can!
WORKHORSE OF THE WEEK:
Sam Burgess:
Based on what we now know about which teams concede the most workhorse tries it should be no surprise that this year’s leading workhorse should have his biggest game against a team like the Titans. Especially as it was a night game. And the match finished with a 4 point margin; the perfect storm for a double workhorse of 70 involvements really.
WORKHORSE PACK OF THE WEEK (Round 17)
8. James Graham: 49 tackles + 21 hitups = 60
9. Jamie Buhrer: 46 tackles + 13 hitups = 59
10. Luke Douglas: 36 tackles + 16 hitups = 52
11. Bodene Thompson: 46 tackles + 9 hitups = 55
12. Elijah Taylor: 42 tackles + 6 hitups = 48
13. Sam Burgess: 49 tackles + 21 hitups =70
14. Brenton Lawrence: 36 tackles + 14 hit ups = 50
15. Michael Ennis: 42 tackles + 5 hitups = 47
CLOSE BUT NO CIGAR
A tale of two forwards this week with one of last week’s members, Luke Burgess, getting out of the club with a workhorse on Monday night. Meanwhile Wade Graham is back in again with another 39. Meanwhile those boasting Ben Creagh will be ropable that he was the only forward to have his stats revised after the game and eagle-eyed NRLCEOs who picked up Cody Nelson as a late inclusion will be disappointed he came so close in his first game as a starter.
Ben Creagh: 24 tackles + 15 hitups = 39
Cody Nelson: 30 tackles + 9 hitups = 39
Ethan Lowe: 30 tackles + 9 hitups = 39
Tom Symonds: 28 tackles + 11 hitups = 39
Wade Graham: 25 tackles + 14 hitups = 39
STATS PER MINUTE
After confirming Tony Williams as NRLCEO’s least working forward last week it was only natural for Des Hasler to respond by slotting him into halfback. There T-Rex was really able to avoid rolling up the sleeves, registering a season low 12 tackles and 5 hit ups.
The player who really benefited from Williams cameo as the world’s biggest halfback was Reni Maitua who came into the back row and made his first workhorse try for 2014. Playing just his fourth game of the season, Maitua had 32 tackles and 13 hit ups in 73 minutes for an SPM of 0.61.
And what about Tariq Sims? Since highlighting the form of his brother Ashton back in round 13, Tariq has been on fire! The younger of the two scored his third consecutive try/workhorse try double on the weekend with 44 involvements in 80 minutes (0.55SPM) Ashton meanwhile has gone quiet since I wrote about him with his Stats per Minute dropping in the last three weeks. In round 16 he had a 1.13SPM but unfortunately only played 32 minutes meanwhile on the weekend and back in round 15 his Stats per minute were back down to 0.65 which is where they were prior to his sudden lift.
JUST QUICKLY
I’m hoping it will be the loss that will remove any hint of complacency in my team’s charge to the finals but my first placed Rams were truly humbled on the weekend by the last placed Wagga Sharks.
In the rounds prior to Origins 1 and 2 this year the Sharks have managed a combined total of 20 points. 8 points in round 11, and 12 points in round 14. So imagine my surprise on Friday night when I checked nrlceo.com to see them up 21-0, after one game!
Led by Mick Ennis with 13 points (line breaks and line break assists don’t count in our comp) with Jamie Lyon and Dale Finucane chiming in, the Sharks jumped out to a massive lead over my boys which would prove too big to chase down.
This final week of byes can’t come quickly enough allowing for the return of a number of stars after Origin and allowing a focus on the finals to begin.
- P.s. Can you believe we’re now up to round 18? I can’t believe how quickly this season is going!
Geoff Adams
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