- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
Countless words have been written and spoken about Souths skipper Greg Inglis not playing up to his superstar status.
But that’s not the reason why Souths have lost five of their eight games.
It’s the inexperience in front of Inglis, especially in the backs, that is the problem.
Inglis has played 229 games, Bryson Goodwin 147, and Adam Reynolds 100, but he’s missed five of the eight this season.
The rest of the Souths backline – Kirisome Auva’a 32, Hymel Hunt 12, Aaron Gray 20, and Luke Keary 53 – are way down on experience.
In the starting line-up against the Broncos in the just completed eighth round, Souths totalled just 986 first grade appearances, the second lowest of the 16 clubs.
But the Broncos boasted the highest appearance total – a whopping 2003.
Their backline fairly bristled with experience – Darius Boyd 230, Corey Oates 60, Jack Reed 123, James Roberts 60, Jordan Kahu 43, Anthony Milford 77, and Ben Hunt 148.
Little wonder the Broncos won 30-8. Experience dove-tails into tries.
Broncos are on top of the NRL ladder on 14 points having scored 36 tries and given up just 13.
By comparison, Souths are 11th on the ladder on six points with 29 tries for, and 30 against.
The Broncos are the ‘haves’, Souths among the ‘have nots’ in the 2016 NRL season.
The full chart, based entirely on the starting lines in the eighth round, makes for interesting reading.
Team total appearances, average games per player, club, competition points, tries for, tries against.
2003 – 154.05 – Broncos (14) – 36 – 13.
1681 – 129.31 – Cowboys (12) – 39 – 16.
1645 – 126.31 – Sharks (12) – 31 – 23.
1637 – 125.92 – Warriors (6) – 30 – 37.
1604 – 123.38 – Titans (6) – 28 – 31.
1469 – 113.00 – Bulldogs (10) – 30 – 21.
1388 – 106.77 – Manly (8) – 24 – 30.
1361 – 104.69 – Dragons (8) – 12-26.
1354 – 104.15 -Storm (12) – 30 – 19.
1256 – 96.61 – Eels (10) – 24 – 18.
1181 – 90.85 – Roosters (2) – 23 – 36.
1124 – 86.46 – Raiders (9) – 34 – 31.
1059 – 81.46 – Knights (3) – 27 – 45.
1013 – 77.92 – Tigers (4) – 29 – 38.
986 – 75.85 – Souths (6) – 29 – 30.
922 – 70.92 – Panthers (6) – 25 – 27.
On those stats, the Sharks and Raiders are the surprise packets, while the Storm, and Panthers are playing well above themselves.
The rest slot into the combination of experience related to ladder position, with tries for and against.
It will be even more interesting to update these stats in another eight rounds.