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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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Brad Arthur must wonder what he has to say to his team anymore. With his job under huge pressure, his Parramatta side managed to…
It might have been that simple all along. As much as the structures, coaching and roster come under pressure at the Roosters, the solution…
Did it take three attempts? What about seven? What about thirteen? The Des Hasler era is up and running at the Gold Coast Titans…
Dale Finucane will go down as one of the most honest, hard-working and inspirational players of his time. He’s what we want out of…
What is the point of rugby league? To win, or to not lose? It’s philosophical question as good as any in the game. Since…
1. Tigers earning their stripes The Tigers played Souths last year when the Bunnies were at their very highest point. Tim Sheens coached them…
It had all been going so well. Canberra were by far the better side for ten minutes, with Jamal Fogarty giving the Brisbane back…
Manly have snuck home against the Titans in a wild game on the Gold Coast, running out 34-30 winners on a night in which,…
Penrith have cruised to a 22-6 win over the Wests Tigers in Bathurst - but Benji Marshall was left bemused by a potentially match-changing…
Who is this team and what have they done with the Dolphins? With Wayne Bennett consigned to his sick bed back in Redcliffe, the…
Zac Lomax has added further to his Origin case with another strong performance in the Dragons' stunning 30-12 boilover win over the Warriors in…
Friday night’s clash between Parramatta and the Dolphins is likely to be a hot one – and not just because the game is being…
Manchester City’s campaign to retain the UEFA Champions League is over after a heartbreaking penalty shootout defeat to Real Madrid despite dominating almost every…
PSG have gone a long way to exorcising the ghosts of 2017 by turning around a first leg deficit to dump Barcelona out of…
You wouldn’t have to look back too far to remember a time when the Roosters had too many good backs to fit into the…
Joseph Manu is to leave the Sydney Roosters at the end of the 2024 NRL season after the club confirmed his move to Japanese…
South Sydney, if you've had your head in the sand, aren’t in the best of shape. They looked better on Saturday night in defeat…
It's back, and it's better than ever. The Champions League is one of the great sporting competitions in the world, and if you want…
1. Manu is not No.1 at Roosters Everyone knows Joey Manu is a really good fullback. He’s probably in the top five in the…
Jason Demetriou will get more time to turn South Sydney around with Bunnies bosses set to give the coach a stay of execution. The…
Didn’t make the stats cut but the Titans have the lowest % of long kicks hitting the deck of any team in the NRL…
Also speaks to their recruitment that they had one of the league’s best set starters, Greg Marzhew, and let him go.
In defence of the Titans: Why Des Hasler can be the man to finally bring tackling to the Gold Coast
She could get the train straight to Wigan in about 15 minutes
A brief history of rugby league's World Club Challenge - and all the fun that's happened along the way
Oloapu is injured long term so it’ll be Sexton
Kurt, Connor, Jaeman, Drew and Blake: Will the Bulldogs be jacks of all trades but masters of none?
Well my Ma and Da will be watching it from Manly rather than Wigan so they’ve a chance…
A brief history of rugby league's World Club Challenge - and all the fun that's happened along the way
Other fun fact: My parents are probably the only people in the world who were at all three of Penrith’s WCC defeats.
Favourite WCC memory: I’ve never seen a team more demoralised than the Broncos during their defeat to Saints in 2001.
They’d been winning 18-6, but a Sean Long try pegged them back and, with Lockyer, Sailor, Tallis et al huddling behind the posts as thousands of Sintellins fans abused them, it started to snow.
I’ve never seen such a group of champions lose their fight so quickly. Late January in Bolton will do that.
A brief history of rugby league's World Club Challenge - and all the fun that's happened along the way
Dunno but he was at the 22 WC so not unreasonable to think he’d have been at least in the squad.
NRL Round 1 judiciary: Vegas roll of the dice comes up snake eyes for Roosters, Wighton gets repreive
Not enough Kiwis for you?
It's not un-Australian to cheer against Australia - in fact, in our favourite sports, it is the best option
I mean…League has a whole other competition in England, plus NZ who just beat Australia, another league in France and a country with a greater population than NSW&QLD that plays it as its first sport. It’s hardly cricket/football but it’s also not ‘barest’ either, I’d say.
So there is certainly RL internationally that is more than 4 teams in the Balkans, though having played in one of the 4 teams in the Netherlands, I’ll always stick up for that too.
It's not un-Australian to cheer against Australia - in fact, in our favourite sports, it is the best option
Come on langparker, don’t get my initials wrong 😂
Leniu v Jared: The young tyro wants to take on the old warrior, but who is actually top dog at Roosters?
In fairness, there’s plenty of other articles you can read about whether someone ‘competes’/’brings leadership’/’the boys love him’, so I’m trying to do something a bit different 😂
I’m not a big intangibles guy (google Scott Brown Celtic 20/21 😔 ) but you’re right in the sense that teams need leaders on the field. Jared (and Reyno) are certainly that.
The question is more about how long you let your most senior players continue to be senior before you lose the benefit of their experience – stats can help make an informed decision there.
Leniu v Jared: The young tyro wants to take on the old warrior, but who is actually top dog at Roosters?
As a Manly fan, I was pretty disappointed in Weekes given the hype but I’m pretty sure they just cut him because they wanted cash for Brooks et al and had GCKT as a better 9 option.
I’d carry him at the Raiders before I would Starling, but Ricky has loved that kind of play since the Kurt Baptiste days so I can guess what he’ll continue to do.
I might do Raiders 9 further down the track, but you can have one stat for free: Trey Mooney is top of the entire NRL for Involvement Rate. The kid gets about.
Ricky v the rookies: Sticky has to turn to youth to replace Wighton, but who should it be?
He played a hooker so I’d say he’s got some passing ability, but the wider question is probably whether the Cowboys want to go that way at all. Not every team needs that kind of player.
JT v Cotter: It's not yet time to put Taumalolo out to pasture, but the Cowboys need to rethink what he is
In terms of stats a ‘clone’ is just someone with very similar stats.
Koula was closest to Pryce despite playing different positions (though he played some FB last year), I’d guess because both are very fast, very elusive players.
Looking forward to seeing Tolu this year (with my Manly hat on), he can hopefully really kick on if this new, ultra-attacking Seibold style continues.
Tyson v Jack: Newcastle's halves are the big question for Adam O'Brien - but does he have a secret weapon?
There’s few things I’d claim to be world class at but eating fish suppers would be one of them
Zac v Tyrell: If the Dragons want to get the most out of their spine, they have to get the best out of Sloan
You can only use stats for things that have already happened, of course 😂
Zac v Tyrell: If the Dragons want to get the most out of their spine, they have to get the best out of Sloan
FWIW (and it was 2 years ago) I walked past Sloan at a Dragons media op and thought he was one of the smallest footy players I’d seen. Him, Soni Luke and Jayden Campbell.
Zac v Tyrell: If the Dragons want to get the most out of their spine, they have to get the best out of Sloan
“If you can’t make the tackle, make yourself a speedbump” was what I was always taught 😂
Zac v Tyrell: If the Dragons want to get the most out of their spine, they have to get the best out of Sloan
I would like to take at least 1% of ownership over anyone slagging off completion rates in rugby league. It is the hill I will die on.
Football’s xG statistic is the most ridiculous in all of world sport and the A-Leagues could do without it
Propellerhead here…
xG is really useful if you’re wanting to know if a team is over/underperforming over a decent sample size. Ange’s first season at Celtic, for example, it told a markedly different story to reality and was eventually proven right as the sample increased.
What isn’t useful is the way that it is used in the ALM comms, which is almost always a crutch for them to sound clever, while simultaneously alienating anyone who doesn’t understand and also totally misusing a stat that was never designed for single-game application.
For example: Liverpool just posted 7.11 xG to Newcastle’s 0.6, which tells you that they battered them, but you could have worked that out by a million other means (not least watching the game) because they had 62% possession, 34 shots to 5, 13 SOT to 3, 9 big chances to 2 etc etc.
In single games, it doesn’t really ever offer more than ‘Team A was a bit wasteful’ or ‘Team B scored off their only chance’.
But: it could also tell you that Darwin Nunez is the most underperforming striker to his xG, suggesting he would likely pick up as the season went on, or that it’s not really sustainable for Bruno Fornaroli to keep scoring at the rate he is given the chances he gets.
Again, you could work this out by watching but it’d take a lot more watching, and stats are designed to give you shortcuts to what is actually happening and to deepen understanding.
Anyway, the worst stat in sports is the VB Hard-Earned Index and I claim my $5. I have asked serious journalistic questions about how this is calculated and nobody knows.
Football’s xG statistic is the most ridiculous in all of world sport and the A-Leagues could do without it
Duly noted 😛
You’ll be surprised to hear I’ve not been – though, like Leon, I also prefer Blackpool to Bondi. Better fish suppers.
An action man, a donkey, a Tibetan singing bowl? What your NRL club wants in their Christmas stocking
I shall revert to the Pommy version, ‘pivots’, from now on just for you.
Pressure Points: Dearden's extension makes him the main man at the Cowboys – now, he has to live up to it
Run-first is the obvious thing when, really the standout two 6s in the comp are Cody Walker and Cam Munster, one of whom is pass-first and the other is run-first. That’s not to say that one can’t do the other, but they clearly specialise well.
Agree on Schuster, though…his strength was to do all the other stuff while still being a the size of a backrower…so he decided to play like he was 30kgs lighter.
Pressure Points: Dearden's extension makes him the main man at the Cowboys – now, he has to live up to it
The negative stats you mention aren’t really that negative, and I would say are fundamentally misunderstood (and misrepresented) by 99% of outlets.
Missed/ineffective tackles really just tells you how a team defends, not if they’re any good at it, for example. It’s easy to say that making tackles is better than missing them (true, too) but what if you don’t even get there to make them? Ask the Titans.
Errors too are just a measure of how you’re trying to attack. The Bronx play super progressive football so of course they drop the ball more. They also score a lot more.
The Roosters won the comp with the most, the Dogs came last with the highest complation rate…that Chooks side was also among the most penalised (and still are) because they pushed every ruck to the limit, which I would say is a good thing. Their goalline D was amazing because they challenged refs to blow penalties on them, and often they didn’t.
Stats can prove a lot of stuff, but you have to know where they fit in with the tactical side because that allows you to separate signal and noise. Neither stats nor tactics works without the other.
Pressure Points: Cameron Munster will know that 2023 wasn't his best - but he remains key to Storm's 2024
Hey – I’ve got one of them and it gets a fair run at touch footy on Monday nights 😂
Welcome aboard, Richo and Barry - here's the big questions facing the new regime at the Wests Tigers
The first ten million years were the worst. After that I went into something of a decline.
Give it a trial! How to watch the NRL’s Pre-season Challenge (without getting carried away)