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Mike Meehall Wood is a rugby league writer, Celtic supporter and cricket tragic. He has written extensively about rugby league for publications in the UK and Australia, and about sports more widely for Forbes, VICE, LADbible and more.
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Death, taxes and PSG messing it up in Europe. But the story shouldn't be that Paris have again failed again on the biggest stage…
Coaching Queensland and coaching New South Wales might look like similar jobs, but are actually vastly different. The Maroons boss tends to work off…
There’s a joke in soccer that if you sack your coach midway through the season, you give it to Big Sam until the end…
The UEFA Champions League is set for its biggest change in two decades next year with a shake-up for the group stages - but,…
How many weeks are left until we stop caring about the NRL again? This is the golden period of the season, with every team…
Wayne Bennett might be rumoured with a move elsewhere for 2025, but his Dolphins are far from done in 2024 after another stunning boilover…
Benji Marshall has plenty of kids in his side and, sitting 14-6 to the good at half time over the Bulldogs, he might have…
Coaching jobs in the NRL don’t get much bigger than South Sydney. Jason Demetriou, sacked this week, knew that and accepted it at every…
Canberra have pulled off one of the great comebacks to steal a 26-24 victory over Manly at 4 Pines Park with Hudson Young touching…
Anthony Seibold has warned his Manly side that they need to break the habits of the last few years and put together a solid…
Borussia Dortmund have given themselves a huge chance of making an unlikely UEFA Champions League Final appearance with a pulsating 1-0 win over PSG.…
A double from Vinicius Junior has put Real Madrid in a strong position going into next week's Champions League semi final second leg as…
There’s been a trope going round in the NRL and you’d have had to have had your head in the sand not to notice…
The UEFA Champions League is the gift that keeps giving for football fans: few major tournaments in any sport can claim to so consistently…
If there was ever a testament required to the success of the New Zealand Warriors, we might have seen it this last weekend passed.…
Anzac Round is done and another NRL touchpoint is ticked off amid the onward march of the 2024 season. It helps to see things…
The Sydney Roosters have been dealt another major blow with club legend Luke Keary announcing that he will retire from the NRL at the…
Penrith have won plenty of games under Ivan Cleary, but few can have seen them have to grit it out as much as this…
It was already going horrendously for Benji Marshall and the Tigers, 22-0 down at the hour mark, when their captain walked off the field.…
Brad Arthur must wonder what he has to say to his team anymore. With his job under huge pressure, his Parramatta side managed to…
Every player plays injury all the time pretty much.
I’d love him not to play at all (as someone who cares if Manly win, but doesn’t give a stuff about NSW) but it won’t factor in for a second. If he’s playing for Manly he’ll be playing for NSW.
Fullback to the future: Why Madge’s No.1 choice for Blues jersey will define how his side plays
No worries, always have spare stats to throw in so might as well share em.
Fullback to the future: Why Madge’s No.1 choice for Blues jersey will define how his side plays
Is this my burner account?
Fullback to the future: Why Madge’s No.1 choice for Blues jersey will define how his side plays
For me
1. Turbo
2. To’o
3. Critta
4. Wighton
5. Edwards/Foxx (actually don’t care)
6. Burton
7. Cleary
Big bodies, big boots. Play the game at QLD’s end. If Wighton doesn’t wanna do it, Mitchell to centre. If he doesn’t, Burton to centre and Luai to 6.
Fullback to the future: Why Madge’s No.1 choice for Blues jersey will define how his side plays
Sorry yes my mistake. Good job we have an edit function.
Fullback to the future: Why Madge’s No.1 choice for Blues jersey will define how his side plays
‘Can Madge can zhuzh up the Blues?’ is a headline I’ll keep up the sleeve
Fullback to the future: Why Madge’s No.1 choice for Blues jersey will define how his side plays
I’d refer you to the errors=success bit on Turbo. He makes a lot of errors but a decent chunk are while he’s trying to make something happen. Passes that don’t come off, dropping the ball close to contact etc etc.
Were it me picking the team, I’d say you could get the good bits of Edwards on a wing while maintaining the best of Turbo at FB.
Fullback to the future: Why Madge’s No.1 choice for Blues jersey will define how his side plays
Depends…if they’re returning a kick they do but there’s also all the other times. Turbo is taking around 2 more non-kick return carries per game than Edwards so it’s a difference in total yardage that’s certainly worth pointing out.
Fullback to the future: Why Madge’s No.1 choice for Blues jersey will define how his side plays
Edwards pass per run ratio os 0.79, Teddy 0.71, Turbo 0.82. So Teddy passes marginally less, but all three are fairly similar. For comparison, both QLD options are 0.95ish, so almost equally likely to pass or run.
Fullback to the future: Why Madge’s No.1 choice for Blues jersey will define how his side plays
It’s ironic because the absolutely most proven way of changing behaviour is in-game sanctions. Post-match bans are terrible for players and not great for clubs, reds and yellow are terrible for clubs and not great for players.
If you want to start driving immediate change, start sending players off and see how quickly clubs adapt.
Tackle it head on: Finucane and Lewis can teach the NRL why concussion rules have to change immediately
Have you been to Homebush?
Tackle it head on: Finucane and Lewis can teach the NRL why concussion rules have to change immediately
The top 5 of your roster win in the finals, but 18-30 are the ones that get you to the finals in the first place.
Too old, too slow: Do these two stats explain why Souths have fallen off a cliff in 2024?
Leg speed is a woolly phrase that I find very hard to back up with any numbers – but the numbers are clear that the Panthers generate far more of their yardage through backs, which does help the forwards be more impactful on the carries they have and to save their legs for line speed.
Too old, too slow: Do these two stats explain why Souths have fallen off a cliff in 2024?
Horses for courses I’d say – he prioritised culture building at Redcliffe for one, and for two, he’s not expected to win the Premiership. If you want a third, the Phins are the single most conservative side with ball in hand, likely to maximise negative possession.
Too old, too slow: Do these two stats explain why Souths have fallen off a cliff in 2024?
Returns are a pretty inconsequential part of total yards – On Sat night there were 21 distance kicks, 12 kick-offs and 4 dropouts from a total of 384 runs, so that’s just shy of 10% of all runs that were from returns, assuming that all kicks were returned and all dropouts were long (which they weren’t). Not a big chunk at all.
A fullback like Dylan Edwards might get 50% of their metres in KRM and a good winger might get 25% but the other 11 blokes get basically zero.
KRM was seen as linking to success for a bit but is now largely attributed to specifically the way that Penrith play, everyone else has different methodologies.
Statistically speaking, total yardage is about the other plays, which is why MPR is such a useful number to have.
Too old, too slow: Do these two stats explain why Souths have fallen off a cliff in 2024?
Stokes > Stakhanov
Five and a kick: Joey Manu is not the Roosters' best fullback, unless they want to run him into the ground
Turbo
Walsh
Teddy
Ponga
Manu
Latrell can’t be there on form, Edwards/CNK great yardage but not great elsewhere, Papi maybe but obvs injury prone, Hammer/Kennedy/Drinkwater just that level below, love Gutho for all his effort but he’s not the best of the best at 1.
Manu would be better than DE or CNK if he played there every week, I’d say he’s closest to Turbo in style but yet to prove over a long enough period that he’s that quality (as a FB at least, he’s best centre in the world for mine)
Five and a kick: Joey Manu is not the Roosters' best fullback, unless they want to run him into the ground
Top scorer in NLDs, almost twice as many as any single Arsenal player…last time I checked penalties are still goals too (and as a Celtic fan whose side convert about 50% of the pens we get, I’d bite your hand off for a competent penalty taker…)
UCL Preview: A heavyweight clash in Madrid, PSG's open wounds and Kane's return to his favourite hunting ground
Rob is absolutely one of the good guys (and not just because I know him) – he’s a safeguarding lawyer by trade so knows this inside and out, and half his job now is PR on fans/players on why this is happening.
'Will that change in the NRL? It probably will': Why Walsh is the canary in the coalmine for concussion
I did find a reference to it being specifically banned in the RFL’s guidebooks, but in truth it’s a tackle without wrapping anyway so would likely be either a shoulder charge or trip or a bit of both in the modern NRL, or just a dangerous contact. Also it was a really inefficient tackle anyway so not sure anyone would try it on those grounds alone.
A history of hip-drops: What Super Rugby can learn from NRL & NFL to stamp out footy's most dangerous tackle
I guess you could split them into two – the ones from a standing position where it’s an attempt to break a stalemate and the ones where it’s a last ditch attempt not to miss a tackle.
The motion of a hip-drop is very common in judo-based grappling (inc BJJ), a tani otoshi, which I can tell you is very dangerous and will likely get you told off by your coach if you do it too much, especially if you’re not that good. That’s the standing one, and anyone with a background in judo or BJJ could point one out instantly.
The second is a bit more instinctual, because the line between a desperate attempt at a tackle involving dragging someone down and throwing your hips at the floor is much greyer. Bateman on Rudolf (iirc) was more a tackle attempt for example – someone trying to effect a tackle at all rather than win a contact.
But I agree that the addition of wrestling brings in these technique because anyone who knows those disciplines could immediately coach them, and it would take an RL person without any grappling background a while notice what was happening, by which point everyone would already know it. The genie is out of the bottle there a bit.
A history of hip-drops: What Super Rugby can learn from NRL & NFL to stamp out footy's most dangerous tackle
Between that and Top Gun on Thursday night (all Paul’s work) it’s been a bumper weekend
Hail Sezer! Veteran slots field goal to deliver fairytale Tigers win as Galvin announces himself NRL's hottest talent
He did win the Super League and had an 80% winning record with Saints, so I’d guess he can be head coach too. Defo one of the nicer guys you meet, the Gold Coast is just the Bermuda Triangle of sport.
How Dom Young and Justin Holbrook have turned the Roosters inside out - and helped Tedesco get back to his best
Tbh in attack (when he stays wide) you want your wingers to avoid contact, it’s in the early plays that you want them to win it. He had 9 tackle busts, almost all of them in yardage, so I’d say that side went alright v Souths.
Defo true on Keary, though that only happened really when Walker came back in.
And I’ll never complain about them not turning up against Manly 😛
How Dom Young and Justin Holbrook have turned the Roosters inside out - and helped Tedesco get back to his best
I wish there was a stat on organisation but there isn’t really. Edwards might well be excellent at it but from what you hear from people, it might be Tedesco’s best quality.
Fullback to the future: Why Madge’s No.1 choice for Blues jersey will define how his side plays