2017 By The Numbers

[Oatley Dog]

2017 by the Numbers
Author
Paul Zalunardo & Chris Kennedy
Timestamp
Tue 12 Dec 2017, 03:00 PM
Share on social media

• Share via Facebook
• Share via Twiiter
• Share via Reddit
• Share via Email

Canterbury Bulldogs 2017 Season in Review

Numbers only tell part of the tale. In NRL.com’s club-by-club series delving into the 2017 season analytics, Paul Zalunardo and Chris Kennedy examine why the Canterbury Bulldogs were way too inconsistent to mount a successful finals campaign and where they need to improve next season.

Among the woes for the blue and whites was an inability to score points – they were the NRL’s worst attacking team – and a struggle to win away from home (only Newcastle and the Warriors had a worse road record than Canterbury's three wins and nine losses).


A strong finish with three straight wins included two of their three away wins for the year and also accounted for their top three scores of the season.

"We were probably playing really competitive footy towards the end there," says centre Josh Morris.

"The last three weeks to finish on that note was good but it's a new season, you've got to forget about that, you've got to work hard during the pre-season and then try and start the year off as well as possible.

"We have had those changes and it's about getting our combinations right during the pre-season. We play the Storm, the premiers in the first round. It's about taking on the best and seeing where we're at."

A poor season away from home played a major role in Canterbury missing out on the finals. The Dogs won three of 12 away fixtures, with an average points haul of 14.8 playing a major factor in their struggles on the road.

In a season in which scoring proved a problem, rookie winger Marcelo Montoya led the way with 12 tries in 19 matches. No other Canterbury player cracked double figures. Brett Morris finished fourth with six tries.

Canterbury (34.5m) finished slightly above the NRL average of 33.4m when it came to clearing the ball out of their own 40m. No Dogs player finished in the top 10 in the NRL in any major kicking category.

Tireless prop Aiden Tolman was never far from the action in 2017. He led the Dogs in this category but was well adrift of the top 10 in the NRL.

Centre pairing Josh Morris and Brenko Lee led the way for the Dogs. Neither finished in the top 12 of the league, but they joined hooker Michael Lichaa as only men in blue and white to average more than nine metres per run.

David Klemmer conceded 17 penalties to be the worst of the Bulldogs in this department. Now Wests Tigers five-eighth Josh Reynolds conceded 14 penalties in 17 matches.

Former representative centre Josh Morris had a year to forget in this department, making 26 mistakes. Special mention to Aiden Tolman who made just six errors throughout the season.

Bulldogs powerhouse David Klemmer was head and shoulders above his teammates in this department. The rugged forward was second best in the NRL behind George Burgess. He was the only Dogs player to finish in the top 30.

Klemmer has carried that form through to rep level with NSW and Australia and teammate Adam Elliott says the big carries from the tall timber constantly inspire teammates.

"Yeah it's massive," Elliott told NRL.com.

"Watching him play in the World Cup, that's a higher level and it still takes three or four people to bring him down.

"When we're coming out of trouble and you look to your left and see big Klem winding up for that next carry, you know that next run is going to be the one that builds momentum for the set.


"That gets us in good position to kick the footy down into the corner. It's very inspiring when you see him roll up the sleeves and have a crack… It makes you want to rip in next to him."

His team didn’t win a lot of matches, but Matt Frawley made some strong contributions off the bench. His individual result was good enough for eighth-best in the NRL.

Senior teammate Josh Morris credited Frawley's controlled kicking game for his influence on the team's net gain in his time on field.

"I thought he played really well when he got his chance," Morris said.

"He adds a bit more of a calm head on his shoulders which is nice to see in a young half.

"He had a kicking game where we forced a few repeat sets then we were able to come up with points on the back of that. That was a strong point of his, getting those repeat sets."

Veteran Bulldogs prop Aiden Tolman turned in another tireless display in the middle third of the field.

The 29-year-old made 908 tackles during the season, more than 200 clear of the next best at the club.

After missing just 40 tackles across 24 matches, Tolman effective tackle percentage of 92.7 was well inside the top 30 in the Telstra Premiership.

Seems like the numbers don't stack up completely against the perception........

 

[Oatley Dog]

Not sure why the photos didn't come up. They were there when I copied into the Kennel site. Any smart people able to fix it? I got it off the Bulldogs site.

 

[Wahesh]

2017 by the numbers?

"SHIT"

How's that for by the numbers?

 

[Kila R Ralai]

I season that we rather forget from a fans perspective but for the coaching staff and players we hope they learn from it.

 

[CaptainJackson]

Veteran Bulldogs prop Aiden Tolman turned in another tireless display in the middle third of the field.

The 29-year-old made 908 tackles during the season, more than 200 clear of the next best at the club.

After missing just 40 tackles across 24 matches, Tolman effective tackle percentage of 92.7 was well inside the top 30 in the Telstra Premiership.

When the coach loves you and gives you more minutes than any other forward and when your third man into a tackle it's not surprising to bring up thosekind of stats

 

[Oatley Dog]

I get that but it does show that blokes like Tolman and Elliott did better than most thought. For example I think Tolman made the most tackles in the NRL at 908 and only missed about 40. You can argue about effectiveness and all the rest but thats 900 tackles someone else has to make if he doesn't. Elliott I think was second in the club and ahead of Kas for tackle busts.

 

[Oatley Dog]

When the coach loves you and gives you more minutes than any other forward and when your third man into a tackle it's not surprising to bring up thosekind of stats

Mate he is no Robbie Farah. He is usually first in. As I say we can argue about whether he dominated the tackle or not but there is no denying he made them and didn't miss many. I still remember him and Graham being the only blokes to chase down the backs who were going to score against us last season. That shows he has plenty of character. Argue all day about ability but he has the pump.

 

[CaptainJackson]

Mate he is no Robbie Farah. He is usually first in. As I say we can argue about whether he dominated the tackle or not but there is no denying he made them and didn't miss many. I still remember him and Graham being the only blokes to chase down the backs who were going to score against us last season. That shows he has plenty of character. Argue all day about ability but he has the pump.

These tackles stats, the way they count them, you can hang on to a blokes jersey, be completely ineffective in stopping them, and others come on board and help tackle him and yet that still counts as a tackle for the initial person who made contact.

Tackle stats don't mean shit, if they were to be broken down into different categories of tackles, then yes it makes sense to look at those stats, but to look at just a general tackle stat it means STFA.

 

[CaptainJackson]

And then stat numbers I'd break down into 20 minute quarters of the game, as the interchange is usually used at 20 minute periods, and with "fresh" players coming on off the bench the implications of the game changes. So I could forgive a player for being less effective if he's played 30 minutes and 10 of those minutes are played against "fresh" forwards.

But the general stats across a whole game don't really paint an accurate picture.

 

[Oatley Dog]

And then stat numbers I'd break down into 20 minute quarters of the game, as the interchange is usually used at 20 minute periods, and with "fresh" players coming on off the bench the implications of the game changes. So I could forgive a player for being less effective if he's played 30 minutes and 10 of those minutes are played against "fresh" forwards.

But the general stats across a whole game don't really paint an accurate picture.

Well they paint the same picture for every player and so from that perspective they are accurate. Why don't we take the stats all the way and divide up those tackling the hitup makers versus the steppers and runners; not count the tackle if there is an offload; only count comparable weight divisions; and on it goes. At the end of the day a tackle is still a tackle. Yes there are some that make an art form of being 3rd man in ala Farah/Hindy but the bulk of them make their tackles in a fair dinkum fashion. Tolman is in the centre third so he really can't hide. Yes he and Jammer got pushed back in that tackle last season but its not like that happened every game. It happened once or twice.

 

[CaptainJackson]

Well they paint the same picture for every player and so from that perspective they are accurate. Why don't we take the stats all the way and divide up those tackling the hitup makers versus the steppers and runners; not count the tackle if there is an offload; only count comparable weight divisions; and on it goes. At the end of the day a tackle is still a tackle. Yes there are some that make an art form of being 3rd man in ala Farah/Hindy but the bulk of them make their tackles in a fair dinkum fashion. Tolman is in the centre third so he really can't hide. Yes he and Jammer got pushed back in that tackle last season but its not like that happened every game. It happened once or twice.

Well for a more detailed analysis and actually how effective that player is well yes I'd take such stats into consideration, that's how analytics work.

As far as that try happening once to tolman no it's happened in the past before, e.g. beau Scott breaking free from tolman and offloading for a try in 2016

 

[Oatley Dog]

Well for a more detailed analysis and actually how effective that player is well yes I'd take such stats into consideration, that's how analytics work.

As far as that try happening once to tolman no it's happened in the past before, e.g. beau Scott breaking free from tolman and offloading for a try in 2016

Good luck with your modelling of that. My point is that Tolman is front and centre every game putting in 100%. If every player we had put in that kind of effort we would be unbeatable. He missed only 40 tackles out of over 900 last year. Maloney misses that many in a month and so do most other players. Heighington and Tolman are on similar money who would you rather have. How about Prior, Packer and a dozen other props who do nothing week in and week out and make only half the tackles. He's a worker, nothing more nothing less but that doesn't mean he doesn't have value. Everyone carries on about Finucane. He made 3 line breaks to Tolmans zero but made 150 less tackles and 60 less hitups playing the same number of games. So if Finucane is a superstar then surely Tolman is OK.

 

[CaptainJackson]

Good luck with your modelling of that. My point is that Tolman is front and centre every game putting in 100%. If every player we had put in that kind of effort we would be unbeatable. He missed only 40 tackles out of over 900 last year. Maloney misses that many in a month and so do most other players. Heighington and Tolman are on similar money who would you rather have. How about Prior, Packer and a dozen other props who do nothing week in and week out and make only half the tackles. He's a worker, nothing more nothing less but that doesn't mean he doesn't have value. Everyone carries on about Finucane. He made 3 line breaks to Tolmans zero but made 150 less tackles and 60 less hitups playing the same number of games. So if Finucane is a superstar then surely Tolman is OK.

I'd prefer heighington, prior and packer

 

[_G-Dog_]

Our 2017 numbers put me in a slumber

 

[Dogzof95]

Why do we need to see this??? We already know how shit we were!!! If anyone needs to see them it would be Hasler, he’s the one that loves stats....

 

[flamebouyant]

And then stat numbers I'd break down into 20 minute quarters of the game, as the interchange is usually used at 20 minute periods, and with "fresh" players coming on off the bench the implications of the game changes. So I could forgive a player for being less effective if he's played 30 minutes and 10 of those minutes are played against "fresh" forwards.

But the general stats across a whole game don't really paint an accurate picture.

So then look at tolmans minutes played and you will see that he was often that player you say deserves forgiveness for the fact he has been tackling fresh forwards.
There is always 2 or 3 in a tackle anyway.

 

[CaptainJackson]

So then look at tolmans minutes played and you will see that he was often that player you say deserves forgiveness for the fact he has been tackling fresh forwards.
There is always 2 or 3 in a tackle anyway.

Except he'd get dominated from the 1st minute and we'd be on the back foot

 

[CrittaMagic69]

Good luck with your modelling of that. My point is that Tolman is front and centre every game putting in 100%. If every player we had put in that kind of effort we would be unbeatable. He missed only 40 tackles out of over 900 last year. Maloney misses that many in a month and so do most other players. Heighington and Tolman are on similar money who would you rather have. How about Prior, Packer and a dozen other props who do nothing week in and week out and make only half the tackles. He's a worker, nothing more nothing less but that doesn't mean he doesn't have value. Everyone carries on about Finucane. He made 3 line breaks to Tolmans zero but made 150 less tackles and 60 less hitups playing the same number of games. So if Finucane is a superstar then surely Tolman is OK.

Yes it's great that he plugs holes defensively and almost always makes the tackle. It's also great that he always puts in 100% and is always trying, but really his effectiveness isn't that great. He doesn't hit hard, he doesn't dominate the ruck, he doesn't play the ball quickly, he doesn't push away from defenders, etc. The intensity of his play is just too low.

Look at Melbourne, they are relentless because of their high intensity play. All their forwards go out there with the intent to play hard and fast. They want to hit hard in defence, they want to dominate the ruck, they want to run through the opposition defender, etc, it's all high intensity play. Finucane might miss more tackles, but i'm certain he's hurt more players with them, forced more errors, slowed the ruck down more, etc. Chances are if he falls off a tackle he has probably slowed the bloke down enough just to be smashed by his teammate an instant later.

My point is that Tolmans long, low intensity minutes really aren't as great as they look on the stats sheet. A higher intensity spell of around 25 odd minutes is more valuable than a bloke trying to grind out a big, low intensity spell. I'm sure if other players lowered the intensity of their play, they would pump out equal or better number than that, but then your not getting real value out of them.

I have said it before, but Tolman really needs to put on some size and strength, he just physically doesn't cut it in todays game the way he is atm. Atm he's basically a small forward with no real speed or footwork. I have always thought he should look to model himself on Matt Scott.