What a win that was! Despite winning just one of our last ten in Townsville, we've bucked the trend for now and produced a resounding display over the Cowboys, albeit they did have several key players out but we'll take it!
Here you all go, the stats!
Tries
The Eels scored four tries (Gutherson (2), Mannah & Smith) to the Cowboys 1 (Winterstein).
Try Assists
The Eels had four try assists (Norman, Jennings, Pritchard & Brown) to the Cowboys 1 (Asiata).
Line-Breaks
The Eels had four line-breaks (Norman, Jennings, Brown & Mannah) to the Cowboys 0.
Line-Break Assists
The Eels had three line-break assists (Ma'u, Pritchard & Jennings) to the Cowboys 0.
Offloads
The Eels had 6 offloads to the Cowboys 3. Nathan Brown had the most offloads in the game with 2, all other players had 1 offload.
Tackle Breaks
The Eels had 22 tackle breaks compared to the Cowboys 19. Michael Jennings & Corey Norman had the most for the Eels with 4 but Kalyn Ponga had the most in the game for the Cowboys with 6.
Total Run Metres
The Eels ran a total of 1757m from 171 runs at an average of 10.27m per run.
The Cowboys ran a total of 1266 from 141 runs at an average of 8.98m per run.
Dummy Half Runs & Metres
The Cowboys ran 85m from 8 dummy half runs at an average of 10.63m per dummy half run.
Ben Hampton had the most metres for the Cowboys from dummy half with 24m from 2 runs at an average of 12m per run.
The Eels ran 181m from 14 dummy half runs at an average of 12.93m per run dummy half run.
Michael Jennings had the most metres for the Eels and in the game from dummy half with 85m from 6 runs at an average of 14.17m per dummy half run.
Tackles
The Cowboys made 352 tackles compared to the Eels 319.
Coen Hess had the most for the Cowboys and in the game with 40 tackles. Kaysa Pritchard had the most for the Eels with 34 tackles.
Missed Tackles
There were a total of 43 missed tackles in the game; 23 to the Cowboys and 20 to the Eels.
Michael Morgan missed the most for the Cowboys with 4 and Kaysa Pritchard missed the most for the Eels and in the game with 5.
Errors
The Cowboys made 16 errors to the Eels 8 for a total of 24 errors in the game.
John Asiata made four errors for the Cowboys and 8 Eels players each made 1 error.
Penalties Conceded
The Eels won the penalty count 8-6; Kyle Feldt & Tim Mannah both conceded the most penalties for their teams with 2 apiece.
Player Stats
1. Clint Gutherson - 2 tries, 5 goals, 80 minutes, 148m from 11 runs (13.45m per run), 7 tackles & 1 error.
2. Semi Radradra - 80 minutes, 135m from 12 runs (11.25m per run), 2 tackle breaks, 4 tackles, 1 offload, 1 error & 1 missed tackle.
3. Michael Jennings - 80 minutes, 130m from 11 runs (11.82m per run), 4 tackle breaks, 11 tackles, 1 offload, 1 line-break, 1 line-break assist & 2 missed tackles.
4. Kirisome Auva'a - 80 minutes, 102m from 12 runs (8.5m per run), 8 tackles & 3 missed tackles.
5. Josh Hoffman - 80 minutes, 104m from 11 runs (9.45m per run), 3 tackle breaks, 1 tackle & 0 missed tackles.
19. Will Smith - 80 minutes, 1 try, 51m from 5 runs (10.2m per run), 2 tackle breaks, 20 tackles, 1 error & 3 missed tackles.
7. Corey Norman - 80 minutes, 109m from 10 runs (10.9m per run), 1 try assist, 4 tackle breaks, 17 tackles, 1 line-break, 1 error & 1 missed tackle.
8. Suaia Matagi - 43 minutes, 125m from 12 runs (10.42m per run), 1 tackle break, 23 tackles, 1 error & 2 missed tackles.
9. Kaysa Pritchard - 69 minutes, 51m from 4 runs (12.75m per run), 1 try assist, 1 tackle break, 34 tackles, 1 line-break assist, 1 penalty conceded & 5 missed tackles.
10. Tim Mannah - 41 minutes, 104m from 12 runs (8.67m per run), 1 try, 2 tackle breaks, 25 tackles, 1 line-break, 2 penalties conceded & 0 missed tackles.
11. Manu Ma'u - 66 minutes, 90 from 10 runs (9m per run), 29 tackles, 1 line-break assist, 1 error & 2 missed tackles.
12. Tepai Moeroa - 39 minutes, 90m from 10 runs (9m per run), 1 tackle break, 20 tackles, 1 offload, 1 penalty conceded & 0 missed tackles.
13. Nathan Brown - 72 minutes, 186m from 22 runs (8.45m per run), 1 try assist, 1 tackle break, 30 tackles, 2 offloads, 1 line-break, 1 error, 1 penalty conceded & 2 missed tackles.
6. Kenny Edwards - 41 minutes, 96m from 8 runs (12m per run), 21 tackles, 1 offload, 1 penalty conceded & 0 missed tackles.
14. Beau Scott - 57 minutes, 65m from 8 runs (8.13m per run), 1 tackle break, 31 tackles, 1 error, 1 penalty conceded & 2 missed tackles.
15. Daniel Alvaro - 35m from 4 runs (8.75m per run), 24 tackles & 0 missed tackles.
17. Siosaia Vave - 137m from 10 runs (13.7m per run), 14 tackles, 1 error & 0 missed tackles.
Replies
We certainly won the forward battle and the metres battle.
You do that and you're near certainties to win more games than you lose.
It's the icing on the cake that is Vave's form. He's been building steadily and then gets an extra five minutes or so and bam! More metres.
Brownie will certainly be one of the buys of the year and if he can keep this up for another month or so, he'll become close to if not the best buy of the year.
Keary is probably still that front-runner if only because he's given the Roosters side a new dimension that has seen them score more points and create more opportunities on both sides of the field rather than just one with Pearce. And his link-up play with Pearce this year has been tremendous.
But you're right about Brown. The pleasing aspect for me isn't so much any of what you mentioned, Bup, but that he's actually curbed his dumb, penalty-laden, over-aggressive ways. I'm surprised that he's done so given so many other players haven't done it but I'm glad that he has because he is really making a huge different to this side.
Hopefully Kenny Edwards can take a leaf out of his book?
You'd like to think so.
You want Kenny to keep that larrikin side to his game but he has to learn not to go overboard.
In other words - Kenny cuddle YES, Kenny slap NO.
100%.
Kenny can do the cuddle all he likes. I actually miss that as it was good entertainment value just to see the reaction of the other players, lol.
I don't do post impact metres, Jimbo, for the simple reason that they are woefully inconsistent.
I know Nine have added them to their coverage but they're inconsistent because there's no gauge or metre to determine how far a player has run post-contact, nor one to take into account how far they've been pushed back etc.
It's probably the most inconsistent stat out there and because I want to ensure total accuracy with the stats I put up, I don't peruse them. Besides, it's mostly guesswork. You ask 10 people how many metres a player makes post-contact and you're probably going to get at least 8 different answers.