Leeds Rhinos - southstander.com • Re: M8 RD 6 | Halifax RLFC -v- Leeds Rhinos
Clearwing wrote:
There are tackles that rattle the carrier and stop them dead and tackles that eventually drag them down after they've made 15m. To simply focus on the number made is pretty simplistic IMO. Maybe someone can be ar*ed to look whether metres made by the opposition has increased this year which would surely be a better indication of the fitness and effectiveness of those making the tackles.
But I didn't simply focus on the number of tackles did I?
I had responded to JJB being picked out for special criticism by Rhino-Mark who said among other things that "he was gassed after 15 minutes" and in the interests of balance I pointed out the following stats:
JJB was our Top Tackler (31)
Only Cuthbo and Dwyer made more metres (of the forwards) than JJB (114m, average 8.77m per carry)
Only Cuthbo made more carries (of the forwards) than JJB
JJB made No Errors
JJB missed 2 tackles which was half the number of missed tackles of Crosby, Dwyer, Thompson or Myler who all missed 4
Now I did not need to have been at the game to see that JJB cannot have been the worst of our forwards with these stats and his actual overall performance was not consistent with the critical remarks made by RM or that he remained "gassed after 15 minutes"
Furthermore Sinfield chose to keep him on for the first 61 minutes (gassed for 46 of them!) until Halifax had shot their bolt and we were winning 24-6. This again rather shows he did not share RM's critical assessment.
Now if you are saying that for most of JJB's 31 tackles he was dragged for 15m each time then RM may have been right. But if so where were the other defenders? But even then how do you explain his carries and metres made if he was so bad?
Also the radio commentary made a point of praising JJB's quick reaction tackle which prevented a breakaway after Cuthbertson's pass had gone astray.
I never even commented that JJB had a good game because I did not see the game. I merely challenged the selection of JJB for being chosen for special criticism over other players.
So on a fans forum is it not allowed to challenge a critical report of a player which may be an unfair assessment where the stats and coaches interchanges do not confirm the criticism because I was not there?
Statistics: Posted by Juan Cornetto — Wed Sep 26, 2018 7:26 pm