Try assists and linebreak assists

[Canberra Milk]

Just checking the stats, and unless I'm missing something, neither of our halves are in the *top 50* players in the comp for either try assists or linebreak assists. That is extraordinary for a team in the grand final. It shows how much strikepower we have elsewhere in the team, but also what is probably a weakpoint in our attack. It does concern me going into the GF. I'm confident in our defence. Can we break down the Roosters defence though and get enough points to win?!

We certainly have points in us regardless but I'll suggest playmakers are the ones who convert territorial pressure and dominance into points. Yes we have Hogdson but do we have enough in the 7 and 6 given Wighton is a running five-eighth?

[Northern Raider]

Thats a reasonable observation but not necesarily a weakness. If the majority of a team's attack comes from their halves then you know where to focus your defensive efforts to stop them. With the Raiders the opposition is not sure where the tries are going to come from. Most of the commentary from the experts in pre-game analysis identifies this as one of the reasons the Raiders are so tough to play against.

[afgtnk]

I think it's more a question for next year rather than for Sunday. It's a Grand Final, anything can happen, and we've just come off a game where we've scored three tries with little to no structure. Chances are we won't be passing through them though, unless it's Hodgo throwing the pass.

Long term I definitely don't think it's sustainable, nor is our weak short kicking game, which is why I think it's key for George W to settle in and give us some of the things we're missing.

[Matt]

Yes, but like the Storm, a lot of our play comes from our #9. Hodgo is 19th.

We get a lot of 'solo' tries too, which is our unpredictability.

[edwahu]

Like many NRL stats this is really more a result of possession (influenced by tactics in this case) and the strength of the opposition we play. The TA rate for halves is usually within a pretty close range when you look at those factors. E.g

Sezer is 66th among halfbacks for possession and 41st for TA
Jack is 53rd for 5/8ths possession and 52nd for TA
Hodgo is 4th Hooker for possession and 3rd for TA

You can probably knock 5 or so places off the first two if you take out the players who played only a few games.

I think our attack is good enough to win it, or at least against the very best sides it's one of the more productive. The Roosters defense is in an absolute all time top tier though.

[Seiffert82]

We've been a top 3 attacking team for the past 3 seasons, and I believe we came in 4th this year.

Through all that, our halves have never been particularly influential regarding try and line break assists. In fact, I'd argue that other than Hodgson, Wighton playing second receiver from fullback was our most potent weapon in the spine. Much of our attack focused on Hodgson and the likes of Rapana, Cotric and Leilua jumping out of dummy half.

With Wighton at 6 and the likes of Leilua being injured and Rapana dropping down a notch, our attack is far less dangerous.

I'd love to see our outside backs get early ball off the back of decent go-forward in this game. I don't expect we'll see too much of it though.

[Botman]

The club understands this, which is why they're bringing in George Williams
There is a genuine lack of creativity in our spine save for Hodgson, who is very creative as a hooker. It is what it is. But we possess strike power across the rest of the team. That is seemingly going to take a hit next year to accomodate George and the upgrades for guys like Bateman

But for sunday... it's gotten us this far and our havles play to the edges more than play to the line, our hooker controls our ruck and we run a lot of middle plays, and we'll live or die by it. I think we've got 4 tries in us for the grand final and if we defend like we have most games this year, i think that'll be enough

Are margin for error is small, but it would improve our chances dramatically if one of Jack or Aiden have the game of their lives. Both have had games this year where they've laid on a few tries and been heavily involved in others. I dont think we need that this week but boy it would be nice to have!

[gangrenous]

Sezer is 66th among halfbacks for possession and 41st for TA
Jack is 53rd for 5/8ths possession and 52nd for TA
Hodgo is 4th Hooker for possession and 3rd for TA

Why are there so many halves? Only got one of each per team typically

[Northern Raider]

Sezer is 66th among halfbacks for possession and 41st for TA
Jack is 53rd for 5/8ths possession and 52nd for TA
Hodgo is 4th Hooker for possession and 3rd for TA

Why are there so many halves? Only got one of each per team typically

Sezer is 18th among halfbacks. 1 TA less than Cleary playing 4 less games than him. Wighton is = 14th among 5/8s. A number of players appear on both positional lists.

[edwahu]

Sezer is 66th among halfbacks for possession and 41st for TA
Jack is 53rd for 5/8ths possession and 52nd for TA
Hodgo is 4th Hooker for possession and 3rd for TA

Why are there so many halves? Only got one of each per team typically

If you played one game there you count and as mentioned by NR if you played 24 games at halfback and 1 at five eighth you show up in both lists. There were 96 this year across the two positions.

[yeh raiders]

Should we win on Sunday, would Sezer be the lowest rated Halfback to lift the trophy since Shane Perry?

[bonehead]

Should we win on Sunday, would Sezer be the lowest rated Halfback to lift the trophy since Shane Perry?

without checking the list, yes.
I'm quite ok with Sezer this year and we all know he can win it for us Sunday, we all know Jack and Hodgo and Beej and the skipper can too - that's the beauty of this team.
What I haven't loved this year is that a big chunk of our tries have been opportunist, the chooks would rather bring you to their 10m than have you attack 30m out and I fear that's our weakness

[Neeeegz]

We've been a top 3 attacking team for the past 3 seasons, and I believe we came in 4th this year.

Through all that, our halves have never been particularly influential regarding try and line break assists. In fact, I'd argue that other than Hodgson, Wighton playing second receiver from fullback was our most potent weapon in the spine. Much of our attack focused on Hodgson and the likes of Rapana, Cotric and Leilua jumping out of dummy half.

With Wighton at 6 and the likes of Leilua being injured and Rapana dropping down a notch, our attack is far less dangerous.

I'd love to see our outside backs get early ball off the back of decent go-forward in this game. I don't expect we'll see too much of it though.

Roosters can rush our attack, but we need to hold it up and kick behind the line, but the key is away from tedesco. Take him out of the equation, and run at latrell all day, that takes him out.
They have quality all over the field, so maybe it's best just to play whoever is in front of you. Smash them. Hulk style.

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[Neeeegz]

Should we win on Sunday, would Sezer be the lowest rated Halfback to lift the trophy since Shane Perry?

Nope. Sezer has been good since he came in for wighton with Williams, he played a role, and has got back to what he needs to do, good on him.
I'd still prefer sezer than Townsend

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[edwahu]

Should we win on Sunday, would Sezer be the lowest rated Halfback to lift the trophy since Shane Perry?

He is in the Chad Townsend ball park. Ben Hornby as well imo.

[Northern Raider]

Should we win on Sunday, would Sezer be the lowest rated Halfback to lift the trophy since Shane Perry?

He is in the Chad Townsend ball park. Ben Hornby as well imo.

Those 2 aside every GF winning halfback since Perry has been an Origin rep so the bar is set pretty high.

[Roger Kenworthy]

I'd have Hornby a level above Sezer. His game was all about efficiency and minimising errors, tbh he'd be a great fit for us. Sezer and 2016 Townsend are the same ballpark.

Hoping Sezer manages a game without kicking into opposition bodies this weekend.

[Seiffert82]

Hornby played a few Origins and a Test match. Yeah, I'd definitely have him over Sezer. Solid as, and a good leader.

Hopefully Sezer takes a step back from the line and gives himself a bit more room with his short kicking game. When it's on, it's right up there.

[Roger Kenworthy]

Hornby played a few Origins and a Test match. Yeah, I'd definitely have him over Sezer. Solid as, and a good leader.

Hopefully Sezer takes a step back from the line and gives himself a bit more room with his short kicking game. When it's on, it's right up there.

Yeah he can come up with some nice creative kicks. Repeat sets will be vital for us IMO, if we can win or match them in that battle it will hold us in good stead. We can't afford to have that go like it did against Souths.

[Coastalraider]

I have a feeling we will revert to a backline like against the Storm in week 1 of the finals - we were almost standing as deep as a 90's team in 1 match around that time - it gave our edges so much time and space to play with. I think we learnt a bit from the Manly game on how to combat the rushing defence.