2019 in review - Elliott Whitehead

[greeneyed]

2019 in review - Elliott Whitehead

This is the twelvth instalment of 2019 in review. As usual, now the Raiders' season is over - the best for 25 years - we are reviewing all 26 players who pulled on a green jersey in first grade this year. So far, we've looked at Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad, Nick Cotric, Jarrod Croker, Joey Leilua, Jordan Rapana, Jack Wighton, Aidan Sezer, Josh Papalii, Josh Hodgson, Sia Soliola and John Bateman.

Elliott Whitehead appeared in all 27 Raiders games this season, starting in each of them in the second row. I rated him 6.7/10 during the course of the season, but he finished fourth for total points, not far behind Jack Wighton and Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad... and his overall rating reflects that. I suspect that score might surprise some people... but I do think his efforts in 2019 have been under-rated.

And that's precisely what Raiders coach Ricky Stuart said this week.

"I believe Elliott is very much underrated in terms of the contribution of his play," coach Ricky Stuart said.

“Players are all different in terms of contribution. Everyone sees what Elliott does in terms of his flashes of brilliance with ball play but what’s understated is the amount of work he gets through in other areas of his game. He never quits in terms of his defensive efforts and he was instrumental in terms of our season. There’s no doubt Elliott is now up there with the best back rowers in the world.”

I rated him an "8" in two games, the Round 8 win over the Panthers at Wagga and the Round 10 loss to the Rabbitohs. Whitehead was immense in the Riverina, producing 11 runs for 85 metres, 31 post contact metres, one line break assist, one try assist, four tackle breaks, 42 tackles, 93.3 tackle efficiency. Against the Rabbitohs, he made 11 runs for 102 metres, 27 post contact metres, one line break, one offload, one dummy, 43 tackles and posted 97.7 per cent tackle efficiency. He should have been credited with a try assist, but was not. Whitehead also delivered a great performance in the Round 12 win over the Bulldogs, and my "7" rating in that game was probably a bit harsh.





In Canberra Raiders Fans' Choice voting, he took man of the match honours in the Round 4 win over the Cowboys. He also registered points in three other games - Rd 5 V Eels, Rd 8 V Panthers and Rd 25 V Warriors.

He scored fewer tries in 2019, three, compared with 10 in 2018 - but he was second only to Josh Hodgson for try assists and total try involvements amongst the forwards at the club. His try assists rose from one in 2018, to seven in the season just passed. He ranked second for try assists amongst NRL second rowers and equal second for try involvements. He was, however, well down the list of second rowers for running metres, metres per run and line and tackle breaks.

Whitehead ranked second, behind Josh Hodgson for total tackles at the Raiders, and third for average tackles per match, behind Josh Hodgson and John Bateman. His defensive workload rose in 2019 - and he was more effective to boot. He averaged more tackles per match (29.1, compared with 26.7 in 2018) and his tackle efficiency rose to 89 per cent (87 per cent in 2018). His average missed tackles increased slightly, and ranked third at the club behind Josh Hodgson and Jack Murchie (who had only one game to his name) in that department. However, his try causes fell from 11 in 2018 to just six in 2019.

He ranked sixth amongst NRL second rowers for most tackles... but also first for missed tackles. His tackle efficiency rate was not in the top 20 second rowers, though it wasn't a long way off the benchmark in the low 90s. It compared to 92 per cent for both John Bateman and Joe Tapine. He was way down the list of NRL second rowers for try causes.

Whitehead's error rate was relatively low, but he conceded 17 penalties. That was the second most penalties conceded at the Raiders (behind Hodgson)... but he was outside the top five NRL second rowers on that score.

Whitehead was selected for the Great Britain Lions southern hemisphere tour at the end of the season - and it was a disappointing one for the team, losing all four Tests against Tonga, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea. He was one of the Lions' best forwards, in my view, but he did look he needed a rest by the end of the tour. Overall, however, he was very impressive in 2019.

How did you rate Elliott Whitehead's 2019? Tell us below.

Elliott Whitehead's 2019: 8/10

2019 Statistics: (Stats from Fox Sports Lab)
Games: 27
Average minutes: 79.1
Points: 12
Tries: 3
Try assists: 7
Try contributions: 13
Total try involvements: 13
Total kicks: 4
Kick metres: 15
Kick errors: 1
Total runs: 236
All run metres: 1856
Average metres per carry: 7.9
Average metres per game: 68
Tackle breaks: 25
Offloads: 20
Line breaks: 4
Line break assists: 4
Tackles: 785
Average tackles per game: 29.1
1 on 1 tackles: 20
Missed tackles: 72
Average missed tackles per game: 2.7
Tackle efficiency: 89 per cent
Try causes: 6
Line break causes: 13
Errors: 13
Penalties conceded: 17

[edwahu]

7/10. Very close to an 8 but just short a couple more outstanding individual games.

[Matt]

This scoring system it telling me that Bateman, Wighton, CNK, Hodgson and Whitey are all worth/ played the same in 2019, with 8s. I cant agree. As a person who has his own set of rules for doing his own blog, I get that sometimes an attempt to moderate you answers, or put a system in place to keep it an even scoring system can spit out wrong answers. Its not GEs fault for trying to get his system coherent and even.

However, if you look at his avgs for the game to game for the yr, I think you get a better understanding of the players standing, even if I think those numbers are a little low.

Whitehead avged 6.7, rounded up 1.3 for his contributions to 2019.
Wighton avged 6.9, rounded up 1.1 for his contributions to 2019.
CNKs avged 7, rounded up 1 for his contributions to 2019.
Hodgson avged 7.1, rounded up 0.9 for his contributions to 2019.
Bateman avged 7.5, rounded up 0.5 for his contributions to 2019.

Papa was our best player in 2019, and so far, the scores reflect that. Bateman was definitely #2 this yr, and while the game to game avg reflects that, the 2019 contribution doesn't. I can see an argument to throw a blanket over the 3 spine guys, however, Id go CNK, Wighton, Hodgo. Whitehead had a great yr, and is the forgotten man at times, but he would be behind all those guys IMO for 2019.

[greeneyed]

Matt... just so you’re aware, rounding of the algorithm result also impacts. (Calling it an algorithm suggests complexity, but it a very simple one, btw. It just factors in my average rating per game and my total rating points and number of games played. Origin reps aren’t penalised in the system, by including their Origin game and rating in that game.) Some rounded up to 8, some down. It’s how that cookie crumbles I’m afraid. Put another way, if Bateman had played one more game and got an average score, he’d have rated 8.5. The algorithm was in response to complaints about lack of consistency last year in factoring in games missed.

I always report the average score as well in the reviews. Sometimes one indicator score isn’t enough.

But I’m also happy for people to disagree with the rating. There’s been too little controversy this year!

[The Nickman]

I would've given Elliott a 7.5/10 for 2019, but I'm also perfectly happy with him getting an 8, he's a fantastic player.

So shut-up, Matt.

[-PJ-]

What Nickman said..

All of it.
Even the shut up Matt bit.

[bonehead]

10, he's the man.

Sent from my SM-G973F using Tapatalk

[Seiffert82]

7.5/10

Rock solid. I'd love to see him given more opportunities with the ball.

[Matt]

I would've given Elliott a 7.5/10 for 2019, but I'm also perfectly happy with him getting an 8, he's a fantastic player.

So shut-up, Matt.

Jokes on u, as u agreed by lowering yhe score.

[Matt]

What Nickman said..

All of it.
Even the shut up Matt bit.

But u said I was doing a good job...

[Matt]

Matt... just so you’re aware, rounding of the algorithm result also impacts. (Calling it an algorithm suggests complexity, but it a very simple one, btw. It just factors in my average rating per game and my total rating points and number of games played. Origin reps aren’t penalised in the system, by including their Origin game and rating in that game.) Some rounded up to 8, some down. It’s how that cookie crumbles I’m afraid. Put another way, if Bateman had played one more game and got an average score, he’d have rated 8.5. The algorithm was in response to complaints about lack of consistency last year in factoring in games missed.

I always report the average score as well in the reviews. Sometimes one indicator score isn’t enough.

But I’m also happy for people to disagree with the rating. There’s been too little controversy this year!

I understand. Hence saying the game to game avg was a better representation

[gangrenous]

There obviously needs to be some weighting or Joe Bloggs can score 8 in one game and gets a better season than Whitehead?

[The Nickman]

What Nickman said..

All of it.
Even the shut up Matt bit.

But u said I was doing a good job...

Yeah, but he was being mean.