Firstly, may I say I appreciate the positive feedback of my previous blog 'The Centre Facts' and of course the negative feedback opinions are respected.
So I thought that I would continue the theme, focusing on the Wingers....
Attack Play Try T Ass AllRun ARMetre LineBreak LB Ass HitUp OffLoad TackleBust
Semi RADRADRA 19 16 2 232 2375 12 1 41 11 66
Vai TOUTAI 8 7 0 95 856 6 0 18 0 19
Ken SIO 10 11 0 120 1111 10 0 8 5 12
Bureta FARAMIO 1 2 0 11 116 2 0 4 1 2
In essence, Radradra is an attacking machine. His ability to find the try line is an attribute that all good wingers need. His ability to hit the ball up out of the defensive zone is very good, but perhaps the most telling statistic is breaking the tackle. Semi 'busts' the tackle 28.4% of every carry.
Toutai has similar statistical numbers in attack (per game played), however has not contributed any offloads or assists in 8 games played, which admittedly is not the role of a winger, but must be a little concerning to those that believe he may make a good centre. The difference being Toutai only 'busts' the tackle on 20% of every carry.
Sio also has good numbers and looks to be superior with his positional play, resulting in a better strike rate as far as line breaks and tries are concerned. The glaring difference with Sio, seems to be the lack of ball carrying stats. Only 8 hit ups and 12 tackle breaks in 10 games played suggests he is not as effective coming out of the defensive end. This is probably due to a smaller body frame than the others and may provide an insight as to why Sio was not offered a contract extension. Sio only 'busts' the tackle 10% of every carry.
Defence Play Tackles 1 on 1 Missed Ineffective Errors Kick Return
Semi RADRADRA 19 65 21 21 4 15 25 (241m)
Vai TOUTAI 8 30 4 5 3 9 13 (109m)
Ken SIO 7 44 7 12 6 11 19 (196m)
Bureta FARAMIO 1 8 6 1 0 0 2 (25m)
The defensive statistics obviously don't tell much of a story about a winger's ability. Generally the reason they are out there is because they can't tackle.
Radrardra is only effective 61.5% of tackles attempted, Toutai is effective 78.9% of tackles attempted, (which isn't too bad) and Sio is only effective 65.3% of tackles attempted.
Kick return stats are fairly similar on percentages, only Toutai seems to struggle gaining a 10m kick return average.
Sio has a few more errors to his name than I would have thought.
In summary, Radradra's stats back up the obvious impact he has had this year. Nothing real special about the others, but the stats do perhaps justify offering Toutai a contract ahed of Sio.
Replies
I think the main reason "The Centre Facts" was so popular was because Ryan Morgan has the ability like no other to polarise the opinions of the entire Eels supporter base.... There are those that love him and think he should be in first grade every week and he is part of the future of this club.... And there are the others, like me, that never want to see him play in the Blue and Gold again. And after this season probably never will again as there are better prospects coming through(Goodall will be ready) who can actually pass.... And don't get me started on that pass he threw to Semi for the 2nd try vs Sharks, cos we all know he was throwing a dummy, but the ball slipped out of his fingers.
So to get this Blog moving along, may I remind everyone that Ryan Morgan has played winger before for us (and he sucked at that too)
I can hear all the Morgan lovers typing away now.
When has Morgan played on the wing for us? The only game I can think of where he was named there was 2011 vs the Titans but I'm sure he played left centre in that game anyway.