Firstly, apologies for adding another Matt Keating blog. I originally posted this in the 'MK needs to stand up' blog but this is important and I want to make sure everybody reads this rather than it falling off the back of a 2 day old blog.
Of all the hookers in the competition (that played more than 10 games in 2009), Matt Keating averaged 1 missed tackle per game (best in the comp)!
Just 1!! To put it in perspective, he played 28 games and missed 28 tackles - in the entire season! Not bad for a bloke who makes an average 30.8 tackles per game. Meanwhile, Michael Ennis missed a total of 104 tackles last year. In fact, at 863 total tackles for the year, MK was the second hardest working hooker behind Nathan Friend (who made 1049 tackles for the season). And he only played and average of 59.1 minutes per game!
In attack, MK scored 3 tries - same as Cameron Smith - as opposed to Ennis' 2 and Farrah's 7. He made 5 line breaks - same as Ennis and Smith and behind Farrah's 10 and he effected 29 offloads - only behind Farrah's 33. Admittedly, Farrah and Ennis school MK in try and line break assists, but in every other category of offensive and defensive statistics, MK is consistently in the top 4 hookers in the comp - beating blokes like Aaron Payne, Isaac De Gois, Isaac Luke, Dean Young, Luke Priddis, Nathan Fien and even...Corey Hughes!
Now these statistics come from NRLStats.com - and no I didn't know them previously. But I suspected them. Why? BECAUSE I ACTUALLY WATCH THE GAME!! And apparently so do the coaches because, despite the calls from all the seasoned League experts on this forum for Kevin Kingston to be elevated, MK started every game for us during the 2009 season.
If there's one criticism I have of MK, it's that he thinks he's Robbie Farrah - and tries to emulate Farrah's 'show and go' - which can lead to confusion and can slow down our ruck play. But when he's doing his job of distributing the ball sharply and taking the occasional dummy half run, he's as effective a rake as there is in the comp!
Replies
At the end of the day I think this position is his own and it is good to see a true Parra junior being such a consistent player.
As with the comment above just dispense with the show and go and provide decisive service to give our backline every opportunity.
I am actually glad that he is not on the radar on rep duty because this means -barring injury - he will be a consistent member of the team for the bulk of the year.
In his game time in 08 he was very ordinary. The first 5 or 6 rounds last year he was very ordinary. Thus the calls for Kingston to come in. For most of the times I have mentioned here, his dummy half service was SLOOOOOWWWWW. He would always take one or two tiny slow shuffles out from the ruck and just put our forwards on the back foot. Even Fui suffered in 08 and the start of 09 because of this, is it any wonder Cayless got hammered! I lost count of how many times he took the wrong option, especially on last tackle. There were passes going to ground, wrong times to attempt a dart from dummy half or his little dummy that nobody ever fell for. He pretty much provided us with no opportunity for any forward momentum.
That was then! Whether it was from his team mates, coaching staff, himself or elsewhere I really don't care but these ad nauseum mistakes started disappearing. As you have stated here, he is statistically a very solid 9 and it appeared to me he stopped trying to emulate other players. He started working with his own strengths as you mentioned. The results started coming. Our forwards started going forward. Confidence in our plays were improving and they were no longer breaking down. Our go to men were shining...yada yada. One reason, MK was delivering a helluva lot better.
Now I think MK is a very integral part of the side. I still believe he needs to work on some game breaking skills and timing but he is certainly on his way.
I think he will be a very good player and there is no reason to replace him, but I don't think he was going that good last year, at least until the latter rounds.
What those stats don't show is the occasions that I observed, from also watching each and every game, that Keating took the very wrong option in the oppostion quarter costing us a simple try. Those are things that infuriate me about a 6, 7 or 9 more than anything else because a good player in those positons will take the right option 90% of the time. In fact he will take the right option so often than it almost becomes invisible and taken for granted.
If he develops in that regard he could be in the top echelon of rakes, if not he won't be.
It bothers me so much when people argue we should have retained Kinga because he was a much more effective hooker. This fails to recognise that (for the millionth time), the reason the combination worked so well is because DA knows what he is doing. Kinga's role was very similar to that of a zippy PJ Marsh and was very effective in the later parts of the game when forward packs began to tire and we needed those quick plays of the ball. As BM has illustrated, Matty is far superior in almost every other facet of the game and this is especially evident when you compare the two players in terms of defence.
Finally, in respect of Matty taking the wrong attacking option - I think people forget how young he is. This is a talent which develops over time and with confidence. I have no doubt that Matty is going to play a huge role in however our team performs this year. I think he is just wonderful. :-)
That said, i'm not here bashing him I think he's steadily improving and as he matures he may very well be in the top three hookers in the game in the next two years or so. He'd have to start doing some really special things on the field if he'd ever be considered for rep duties.