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‘Defence is the best form of attack’ and ‘every team is as strong as its weakest link’ are both motivational sayings drummed into kids around rugby league circles.
These quotes are used before games to stimulate aggression and at half time to instil hope.
If your rugby league team is leaking a mountain of points in defence, they will need to score double the points in attack.
‘Run at the little man’ is another great tactic used by beginner coaches and the little man on the field is usually the hooker or the halfback.
Therefore, to be a sensational hooker or halfback they will need to learn to tackle from an early age.
Which had me thinking, who is the best and worst defensive halfback in the NRL?
Before I looked at the statistics and crunched the numbers, I predicted who I thought would be the best and worst defensive No. 7s.
In the horrible defence corner I predicted Eels halfback Chris Sandow. He is constantly being pushed off tackles with ease and his small stature does not help. On the other end of the scale I predicted the Warriors’ Shaun Johnson would be brilliant in defence.
The end results are not all that surprising but there are some interesting figures that were found. The findings were taken from the missed tackles statistics by the main fifteen playmakers.
Let’s start with the worst defensive player maker in the NRL this year to date. Luke Brooks from the Wests Tigers has participated in 11 games in 2014 and has missed a staggering 54 tackles. This gives Brooks an average of 4.9 tackles missed per game, which makes it hard to believe how the Wests Tigers could be sitting sixth on the premiership ladder.
However, Luke’s statistics are not off the charts – he has a contender hot on his heels. Chris Sandow is the next worst defender in the NRL this year so far. Sandow has played fewer games than Brooks due to personal issues he had at the start of the season. He has missed a total of 33 tackles at an average of 4.7 per game.
The next halfback is a little surprising considering his team was in the top three for the first quarter of the season. Albert Kelly has been palmed off a total of 42 tackles in the nine games he has played, giving him an average of 4.66 disastrous attempts to tackle per game.
The next halfback that your team does not want in their defensive line is Tyrone Roberts from the Newcastle Knights. He has successfully slipped off 39 tackles at an average of 3.54 missed tackles per game.
The next six No. 7s are fairly close and barely passed their defensive training as a junior. Ben Hunt from the Brisbane Broncos has missed 36 tackles from 12 games at an average of three, Mitchell Pearce from the Sydney Roosters scrapes in as the sixth-worst defending halfback in the game with the same average as Hunt, but has missed just 30 tackles.
Peter Wallace from the Penrith Panthers is next with 25 misdemeanours and an average of 2.77. Robert Lui from the North Queensland Cowboys, missing 21 crucial game-losing tackles, gives him an average of 2.33. My prediction of best defending halfback falls dramatically short, as Shaun Johnson is next on the list. He has fallen off a tackle a total of 22 times at an average of 2.2 per game.
The Blues, bra-wearing halfback Trent Hodkinson comes in next at an average of 1.99 defensive errors per match. Terry Campese requires a special mention as the fifth-best defensive No. 7 in the NRL this year, although he should be brilliant at defending – he’s has been around for long enough. He has missed only 17 tackles in the 10 games he has played this season at an average of 1.77 tackles per game.
The virtually unknown Jeff Robson features as the fourth-best defensive playmaker, dropping only 12 from the seven games he has played. The top three defensive halfbacks of the NRL in 2014 are not all that astonishing. Number three, Cooper Cronk, has played only nine matches for the Melbourne Storm this year, falling off 14 try line challengers at an average of 1.55. It is true that Queensland are extremely lucky on the halfback front at the moment. Number two, Daly Cherry-Evans, has also played nine games this season, bouncing off only 13 times at an average of 1.44.
This brings us to the best defensive halfback in the NRL for the 2014 season. Adam Reynolds from the South Sydney Rabbitohs has successfully trumped all other No. 7s this season by producing the best defensive performance. He has participated in all 11 games and slipped up on only 14 occasions, which gives him the incredible average of 1.2 tackles missed per game.
One of my defensive predictions was fairly accurate, however there is no way I would have thought Adam Reynolds to be the best defensive playmaker in the game today. Combined with his incredible kicking game, lighting speed and calm composure, perhaps A. Reynolds will be the next household name.
Maybe he could solve NSW’s problems and help them to a series win one day. Or maybe he could be the next incumbent when Cronk and Cherry-Evans retire from the international team. One thing is for sure, coaches will continue to tell their players to ‘run at the little guy’.
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