Performance theory based on Teamwork index

There was a really interesting article in the Weekend Financial Review on Saturday about the theories of former Wallaby Ben Darwin as to the biggest indicators of sporting performance.

I'm not going to past the whole article because I'm going to respect the AFR paywall, but you can generally press stop on AFR stories just after they load to stop it from loading up the subscribe page.

Link is here: http://www.afr.com/business/sport/darwins-theory-of-sporting-evolution-20170323-gv4yuj

Essentially it argues, based on data analysis, that individual sporting skill levels are far less important than the overall team cohesion.

To quote: "The predictions are derived from their "teamwork index", or TWI, a measure which reflects and weights the "cohesion" of a set of players based on their shared experiences over various time periods.

It's based on three measures – long-term cohesion, which is the time team members have spent playing together more than two years ago; medium-term cohesion – which is the time spent within two years and finally the in-season cohesion, which has the highest weighting."

So I thought it would be interesting to look at the theory from an NRL point of view, and specially Parramatta.

Long-term familiarity is medium. The club have a number of players who have been at the club for quite a while and a reasonable number of juniors. Score Six

Medium-term familiarity is extremely high. Not only has the bulk of the side been together for the last two years, but I would suggest the tribulations they have been through have created extremely tight bonds between the player. Score Eight

Short-term cohesion I would rate as relatively low at this stage of the season due to having new players come into key positions. A number of forwards are working their way into the team as well. The injury concerns to our key playmaker Corey Norman has also been a disruption, as has the pre-season issues for players like Terepo, Radradra and Edwards. Score Three.

From a cohesion perspective then, we're really lagging on that in-season factor. 

The positive from this though, is there is enormous room for this number to raise. As the personal incidents hopefully get put behind us, and the players become more accustomed to their new roles, this in-season cohesion will get better and better, and that's where the short-term cohesion should hopefully come back into play, as we move into finals territory.

Anyway, the article is a really good read as well into long-term success and sustainability and the factors that may be highly under-rated in achieving that, so if you can manage to read, I recommend you do so.

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  • Good find Phil. It might also explain why Arthur persists with players when many fans want dudes sacked and replaced with blokes from the similarly performing reserve grade side.

  • True, but I think a lot of chopping and changing is an attempt to improve at some positions where it maybe isn't necessary. And then sometimes it's the inevitable loss of a player when his form prices him out of being re-signed.

    This year we have a few new players in our top 17 (so far Hoffman, Matagi, Vave and Fritchard) plus a couple playing new roles (French, Gutherson and Kritchard). Next year we might only have a new winger and a new half, with maybe a minor reshuffle (Gutherson and Takairangi). I feel like the squad is heading for stability. Half of them are contracted for 2019 as well:

    1. French

    3. Jennings

    4. Takairangi

    5. Hoffman

    6. Gutherson

    7. Norman

    10. Mannah

    11. Ma'u

    15. Edwards

  • If it's relating to your most important attacking aspect - the spine, our long term cohesion rating should be almost zero based on the amount of on field time spent together.

    Middle forwards can come and go and virtually fit straight in as their jobs are always similar, but it's the spine that needs time together .

    French - first season
    Guth - 5/8 rookie
    Norman - not usually the main organizer.

    Kays- first year as starting 9.

    At best it's 2/10.
  • This reply was deleted.
    • In regards to the Cowboys, they'd had Thurston for 10 years when they won the comp. Before 2016 they'd had a couple of other superstars in the form of Matt Bowen, Matt Sing and Paul Bowman. However they never found the consistency they needed with those guys. It was only when you had that 2016 team together over a period of time that they won a comp. I'd argue that without familiarity they wouldn't have won that premiership. In many games they would play bullshit football to pull off a win yet somehow all of the players seemed to know what was happening, where to be, where the ball was going. 

      I'd say an ordinary roster can get better over time by playing together. You've seen that with Canberra. 2 seasons ago theywere nobodies, now they're favourites. Same with Penrith and a lot of their players played juniors. Similarly at Parramatta. Our squad has grown and strengthened and gotten better the more they've played alongside each other.

  • Welcome to the Nineteenth Century Phil.

    Essentially it argues, based on data analysis, that individual sporting skill levels are far less important than the overall team cohesion.

    Back in my day we had a saying - "A CHAMPION team will beat a team of champions anyday."

    I love how so many people come out with all these "new" discoveries.

  • YEP - plus a willingness to CHANGE.

    We also need players with a HEALTHY ego.

    Many people mistake the significance of ego and lump it all into the "up themselves" category, whereas a HEALTHY ego is a person who is prepared to back themselves but NOT at the expense of others, ergo, a person with a healthy ego becomes a team player.

    Consistency, solidarity and stability (which you refer to in your own way) are paramount.

    We still however need strong leadership.

    My derision of the article is the "new" idea that has been around for so long it may have traveled with its partner on Noah's Ark.

    People who see the BIG picture and not those who ride that magnificent Green eyed, Golden Horse called self interest.

    Just like anything you build to be strong and last for ages, the foundations must be solid, the structure must hold together in all conditions - that my friend is my interpretation of a Champion Team.

    We had an absolute champion with Hayne - but he was an individual

    We had an absolute Champion team during the 80s liberally sprinkled with Champions who saw the big picture.

    Craig Bellamy (love him or hate him) builds Champion Teams.

    Ps - please do not use the word "graft" - I think we saw where that left us. Hehe.

    • Good to see nurse Ratchet has given you your meds col, " it's medication time, medication time", this is probably the best thing you have ever written on this site and I agree with it 100%.

      • LOL - amazing what can happen when Nursee doesn't get distracted and remembers what she came into my room for.

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