I checked the stats, we, as a team, made 13 kicks from 29 completed sets. That means we ran the ball on the last 16 times. Considering one of our strengths has been our short kicking game this year, no wonder we lost.
No. Set restarts, penalties and tries all count as completed sets.
- There were 8 set restarts.
- There were 8 penalties, but one was with the Bulldogs in possession (KF obstruction) and one was after an error (KF vs WK), so only 6 count as completed sets.
- There were 2 tries.
8 + 6 + 2 = 16
This is why completion rate can be such a misleading stat. Getting a set restart on tackle 1 and then completing that set = 2 completed sets, even though you only had the ball for 6 ptb’s.
I did a review once of the completion rates for a full season without penalties included. Basically Melbourne were still way better than everyone, but the other 15 teams were all within a few % of each other. It’s the piggy-backs that make the difference.
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All of the comments about the Bulldogs winning the forward battle are odd. They had 2 sets in the first half where they made good yards, but every other set where they started in their own end and got inside the Sharks 40 was from a penalty. Even on some of their 7 tackle sets or when they got set restarts they weren’t making good yardage.
Penalties - not soft forwards - was what got them down the Sharks end.