Workhorse Watch – Round 6
This week your intrepid reporter dug deep into the matrix to analyse every forwards’ stats per minute rating to reveal some fascinating numbers on the best and the worst workhorses, six weeks into the competition.
SPM = (Tackles + Hit ups) ÷ Minutes
The stand out stats per minute performer is by far and away Daniel Alvaro. Alvaro is averaging just 43.8 minutes per game and has only played more than 50 minutes on one occasion this year. And yet he is averaging 51.5 involvements per game. That’s a SPM of 1.17 which is extraordinary. On Saturday he was one involvement away from scoring his first ever double workhorse try as he ran for his season best 139 metres. 59 involvements in 46 minutes is exceptional and to put it into context, his nearest rival has an SPM of 1.00 for the season and that’s based on one game!
Like all good messiahs, Damien Cook has risen from the dead. A week after falling short of a double workhorse for the first time this season, Cook struck back with his fifth double of the year. Not to be outdone though is his teammate Angus Crichton who like Cook has played every minute of the season so far. After six rounds both have played 480 minutes with Crichton just pipping Cook for involvements by one – 311 to 310 (0.65 SPM). The only other forwards to have played every minute of the season so far are Tohu Harris and Gavin Cooper with Harris having four workhorse tries to his name (0.56 SPM) and Cooper just one. Cooper is obviously getting the minutes but his involvements are low, giving him a paltry 0.42 SPM which is the fourth worst in the entire league.
It was good to see Simon Mannering score his first workhorse try of the season with 42 involvements in 59 minutes (0.71 SPM) against Brisbane. Mannering played 57 minutes Round 5 against the Cowboys but only had 30 involvements (0.53 SPM). The Broncos have always had a very high involvement rate among their forwards meaning opposition packs get through more work than they normally would. In fact only two packs have more total involvements across their forwards than the Broncos (2,019 involvements), the defensively oriented West Tigers (2,086) and the woeful in attack Eels (2,032).
It was an extremely poor week for workhorse tries with just 42 for the round which is the equal lowest of the year alongside Round 4. That was the week when the refs blew the pea out of their whistles which slowed play right down. Of the workhorse tries scored, 40% fell into the Workhorse Lite category, that is, they just got there with either 40, 41 or 42 involvements. On a typical week only 26% of workhorse tries are scored with 40, 41 or 42 involvements so this week was a curious one indeed.
Workhorse of the Week:
Cook was the sole double workhorse try scorer this week taking him to 11 workhorse for the season! His 145 run metres this round was a career best for him and almost at the running metres of a running forward.
WORKHORSE PACK OF THE WEEK
- Daniel Alvaro: 45 tackles + 14 hitups = 59
- Damien Cook: 43 tackles + 9 hitups = 52
- Iosia Soliola: 37 tackles + 10 hitups = 47
- Ryan Matterson: 46 tackles + 13 hitups = 59
- Max King: 43 tackles + 15 hitups = 58
- Jason Taumalolo: 39 tackles + 15 hitups = 58
- Kaysa Pritchard: 62 tackles + 4 hitups = 66
- Api Koroisau: 58 tackles + 6 hitups = 54
CLOSE BUT NO CIGAR
Joseph Tapine: 27 tackles + 12 hitups = 39
Jayden Brailey: 37 tackles + 2 hitups = 39
Mitch Rein: 31 tackles + 8 hitups = 39
Martin Taupau: 26 tackles + 13 hitups = 39
Kenny Bromwich: 30 tackles + 9 hitups = 39
Beau Scott: 32 tackles + 7 hitups = 39
John Sutton: 24 tackles + 15 hitups = 39
STATS PER MINUTE
So if Daniel Alvaro is the best stats per minute scorer, who is next best? That honour goes to rookie Taniela Paseka who had 17 involvements in 17 minutes against the Tigers on Sunday (1.00 SPM). 17 minutes in one game is a very small sample size so in reality it’s not fair to say he has the second best SPM in the league but given there are no minimum games or minutes played to get and SPM, the results stand. Few players have an SPM of 1.00 on debut so we have to give him some credit, especially seeing as though he’s 197cm tall and 120kg. That’s a lot of footballer to get around the park and get so many involvements against such seasoned players.
Landing in the Close But No Cigar club is not usually good news but it is if you’re a NRLCEO with Kenny Bromwich. Bromwich scored his first workhorse try of the season in Round 5 and just fell short this past round with 39. The good news is that he has an excellent SPM of 0.99 this season, well up on the 0.65 he averaged last year. Over the last two weeks he has averaged 42 minutes per game which is a big improvement on the 28.5 minutes he averaged in the opening two games. It’s still down on the minutes he averaged last season (50.4 minutes). but with far superior involvement rate this season, he’s one to watch provided he gets his fair share of game time.
Alex Twal burst onto the scene late last year scoring his first workhorse in just 38 minutes in his second game. Twal has continued that high workrate this season to produce an excellent 0.98 SPM over the opening month and half. It’s only resulted in two workhorse tries but Twal’s game time has been restricted with the Parramatta junior only playing more than 40 minutes on two occasions, Rounds 3 and 5, which resulted in said workhorse tries. It’s exciting to think that the front rower is only 21 and only has 15 games under his belt. The sky’s the limit!
Good signs from Jazz Tevaga who has scored three workhorse tries in four weeks despite coming off the bench for the Warriors. His only miss was the Warriors’ hammering of the Roosters in Round 4, and he still managed 37 involvements that day. Tevaga’s minutes have jumped dramatically going from 39.8 minutes per game across his first two seasons to 54.8 minutes per game (0.79 SPM) this season. The other good sign is the consistency of the minutes. In his four outings this year he’s played 56, 55, 53 and 55 minutes. In his first two seasons his minutes fluctuated from 20 or 30 minutes up to 70 minutes. His minutes this season is the kind of consistency NRLCEOs dream of.
Geoff Adams
Latest posts by Geoff Adams (see all)
- 2018 Workhorse Watch Awards - September 3, 2018
- Workhorse Watch – Round 24 - August 29, 2018
- Workhorse Watch – Round 23 - August 22, 2018
