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Canterbury’s commitment to defense emphasises how unserious the Cowboys are - The Rugby League Eye Test
If you watched both Sunday games from NRL Round 7, there’s some very obvious conclusions about the sides that played. Other than the Knights losing their 2023 identity and the Sharks running up a score against a bottom nine side at home, that is. The first is that the long path for Cameron...
www.rugbyleagueeyetest.com
I posted an article by this site earlier on in the season analysing Kikau's early involvement which has certainly come to fruition. This article takes a deep dive into how and why our defence has improved. Some really great stats. Warning, it's a long one and data heavy for those who are into that sort of thing.
Key takeaways/excerpts:
Because once teams get the ball, the Dogs are ruthless at stopping extra yardage past the play the ball. On average metres gained past the play the play the ball by tackle – not average run metres – the Bulldogs rank 1st, 1st, 2nd and 1st from the second to fifth play the ball.
Even by more conventional rugby league metrics, Canterbury has still put on the clamps. Below is a chart of average metres per run conceded by opponent.
Yet again the Bulldogs defense shines here, allowing just 7.63 metres per run, 35 centimetres per run ahead of Penrith, the only other team to allow fewer than eight metres per run.
Unsurprisingly given the above, the Dogs are yielding the fewest post contact metres per run of any team in the competition.