First team stats:
- Wigan are 7th in Metres Gained, which more-or-less reflects our league position.
- But, in Average Gain, we are 11th above only London.
We're also 11th in Clean Breaks and 11th in Offloads, and we rank 9th in Tackle Busts.
- We do come 1st in one category: Tackles! It's usual for teams at the bottom end of the league table to make more tackles (Saints are "bottom" of the Tackles table).
- In Missed Tackles and in Tries and also in Penalties Conceded we are 8th - again, reflecting our league placing.
- Willie Isa is our top tackler with 446, making him 7th equal in SL., and +47 on James Roby.
- For Tackle Busts, we have 3 of the top 16 in SL: 5th Zak H on 67, 12th George W on 56, and 16th Gildart on 53. (Top two in SL are Fifita on 89 and Hurrell on 71.)
- Metres Gained sees Gildart 4th with 1625, and Hardaker 20th on 1362 is our 2nd best metre maker.
From the above, I'd suggest our low rankings in Ave Gain, Clean Breaks and, to some extent Tackle Busts, suggests either effort with ball in hand is lacking or our strategy is failing to test opponents defence enough. It would be interesting to see how many metres our forwards have made compared with other teams, but this isn't a readily available stat.
There must be some of you who are familiar with stats - please post your opinions.
Finally, if you're one of the people who thinks stats are a waste of time, you are fully entitled to your opinion, but please read the subject line and try to find someone who wants to hear it (again).