Slight confusion there I think, Mr Voodoo.wall_of_voodoo wrote: ↑Wed Feb 26, 2020 10:20 pmIf you looked at the top of the offloading table - which I think caused the OP to post the comments, it clearly shows at least three Toronto players in the top ten for offloading. Seeing as they are currently bottom of the table it DOES prove that stats are meaningless doesn't it? Taken into context with their missed tackles/penalties conceded/errors etc then you can see that offloading in itself is not a useful statistic to decide how well a team is playing or notmorley pie eater wrote: ↑Tue Feb 25, 2020 3:14 pmGood post, NSDU . . . . but you'll surely get the usual "Stats don't mean anything" responsesNo straw damn us wrote: ↑Tue Feb 25, 2020 2:45 pm To counteract the offload argument , Wigan have made more clean breaks than any other team, I believe they've also thrown most passes. The team with most offloads is sitting at the bottom of the table.
SO stats are meaningless. As the saying goes, there are lies, damned lies and then their are statistics
Your point would be a perfectly valid response to someone who claimed that the team that offloads most should be top of league. I don't think anyone has said that?
Now it could be possible that, for example, Warrington use offloading effectively, so have a high offload count and tend to finish high in the league (looking at stats over a number of years). However, a team that's low in the league, and offloads a lot, say Hull KR, may be doing so in desperation, so there would be no overall statistical link between offloads and league position.
Statisticians are careful to look at links and assess whether they are causal or not. Recent examples are smoking and cot death syndrome. Infant mortality has been hugely reduced over the past 35 to 40 years by giving advice as a result of statistical analysis, despite not finding a cause.
To say statistics are rubbish or meaningless goes against masses of evidence. But false interpretation of statistics can be dangerous or misleading.
Meanwhile a coaches job is to have the stats available, but use his/her/its/their knowledge and common sense to interpret them in a way that will help improve the team's performance.
You'll soon be getting a census form on your doormat. Maybe you should try explaining to the Office for National Statistics how they've been wasting their time since 1841?