Official Briton Nikora

bort

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Here is an interesting one for you

Briton Nikora has made more 1 on 1 tackles so far this season than any other player.

He has 79 in 20 games
Next best is Morgan 'Jonah from Tonga' Harper with 75 in 18 games (better on average) and then all the way down to Kikau on 56 in 21 games.
Nikora actually ranks 3rd on average which is a testament to how many he makes to not be pipped by a bunch of randoms who played a couple games, speaking of which #1 by average is a 2 game Warrior and Harper as mentioned is the other one above Nikora.

Amongst our team Rudolf (53) Blayke (48) and Williams (48) are the next most and a big drop off after them.

Interestingly of these players Rudolf (70), Blayke (60) and Nikora (52) are also our missed tackle leaders. Williams has a much more respectable 37.
Of these players mentioned though Jack also leads the way in Tackle Efficiency at 89% (6th for our team) although Blayke 88, Nikora 87, Toby 86 are not statistically* too far behind
*technically Toby ranks 250th in the NRL for tackle efficiency which is not great, especially as it is 4th worst amongst locks and 6th worst amongst props.

Us and Manly also make more 2 person tackles than any other team and while Manly aren't too bad (8th) we concede equal 1st number of offloads with Brisbane.

TLDR;
So the moral of this post is... not sure I just thought the Nikora thing was interesting and went down a rabbit hole... we need to help each other out more in tackles? We will benefit a lot from a 13 who can tackle and has a big tank?
 

Sparkles

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Think I read a stat that we make more two player tackles than other teams, or less 3 man tackles than just about any other. Has to be a strategy... which I don't think is working.

Nikora has defended well the part few games
 
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Think I read a stat that we make more two player tackles than other teams, or less 3 man tackles than just about any other. Has to be a strategy... which I don't think is working.

Nikora has defended well the part few games

Potentially to ensure we can keep our line somewhat intact with a fast PTB etc.

Also explains why teams seem to offload at will against us with only 2 in the tackle.
 

Sparkles

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Potentially to ensure we can keep our line somewhat intact with a fast PTB etc.

Also explains why teams seem to offload at will against us with only 2 in the tackle.

Sounds like the theory, but doesn't work for us in practice.

Anyone know how opposition play the ball speed is against us? Not sure how to find that stat. Feel like we'd probably struggle if we have less players in tackles. That and dominant tackles (if they record that sort of thing)
 

Jaz

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It's easy to forget this guy's only 23. He's still a few years away from hitting his peak.
 

Cage

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Tipping a big improvement in Nikora under his next coach, who played the odd game in the forwards.
 

BurgoShark

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Comparing back rowers to middles for 1 on 1 tackles is not really fair imo. Middles get more help and do less kick-chase.

Volume stats can also be misleading in terms of work rate. Nikora will be ahead of many back rowers on better teams because his team has the ball less. What we really want is per-minute mapper against possession rate - though the fact that he is staying out there and actually making the tackles counts for something.

bort - how does he compare per-game versus Wilton, Graham, and other high-minute back rowers from similarly placed teams on the ladder (Knights, Raiders, Titans)?
 

bort

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Comparing back rowers to middles for 1 on 1 tackles is not really fair imo. Middles get more help and do less kick-chase.

Volume stats can also be misleading in terms of work rate. Nikora will be ahead of many back rowers on better teams because his team has the ball less. What we really want is per-minute mapper against possession rate - though the fact that he is staying out there and actually making the tackles counts for something.

bort - how does he compare per-game versus Wilton, Graham, and other high-minute back rowers from similarly placed teams on the ladder (Knights, Raiders, Titans)?

Happy to discuss per minute vs possession rate if you can find it or work it out.

Nikora leads average per game for second row (as he is 3rd overall on average), around 4 per game.
Rikki is next as clear number 2 (averaging about 3 per game).
Then there are a heap closer together averaging around 2.5 and down including (in decending order) Aitken, Fuimaono, Kikau, Graham, Matterson, Garner, Curran, Sims, Glenn, Elliot, Harris, Wilton, Capewell, Young, Jackson, Sironen, Whitehead, Jack Williams, Frizell, Fifita, CHN, Fitzgibbon, Olakau’atu, and more I didn’t include but after this you’re outside the top 100 for the league and Tupouinua at #102 is the last edge player to average 2.0 or better

Approx 30 of the top 100 by average were edge players and he is a notable leader in this area, although I’m not trying to pretend this is some awe inspiring stat, just thought it was interesting and nobody would have picked it.

Also possible he had to do like 12 one game and stacked his average, I haven’t checked that
 

andrew's_sharks

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I still think Nikora can be a good long term second rower. He looks like he still needs to put on 4-5kg which he likely will in his mid 20s. A few kg and a bit of defensive work with Fitz could make all the difference for both he and Wilton
 

Sparkles

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Crazy that he's still so young, it feels like he's been around forever. Do we think second row is an older players position? He plays a lot of minutes and games for a guy his age... maybe that's why he doesn't hit it up so much.
 

HaroldBishop

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Crazy that he's still so young, it feels like he's been around forever. Do we think second row is an older players position? He plays a lot of minutes and games for a guy his age... maybe that's why he doesn't hit it up so much.

That's an interesting question. Without giving it a lot of thought I wouldn't think they'd take as long to mature as props.
 

Sparkles

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That's an interesting question. Without giving it a lot of thought I wouldn't think they'd take as long to mature as props.

Yeah, they're a kind of hybrid position these days. Edge back rowers are a bit more like 80 min impact players, but still get through pretty high levels of defensive work. You'd think they'd need a bit more of a youthful spring in their steps than a rock solid middle.
 

bort

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A handful of guys in a similar age range and number of nrl games

Schuster 20 17 games
Rikki 21 16 games
Wilton 21 19 games
David Fifita 21 63 games
Curran 22 18 games
Olakau'atu 22 23 games
Koloamatangi 23 34 games
Young 23 47 games
Nikora 23 51 games
Sua 23 78 games
Murray 23 99 games
Garner 25 55 games
Crichton 25 109 games
Kikau 26 90 games
Elliot 26 95 games
Lane 26 118 games
Matterson 26 118 games
 

Gards

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wasn't invisible tonight, was putting in the effort from the opening whistle

didn't miss a tackle either which is remarkable
 

Thresher

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wasn't invisible tonight, was putting in the effort from the opening whistle

didn't miss a tackle either which is remarkable

He's gone through a remarkable turnaround recently. I was a big critic of his but now I see him as one of our most dependable defensively.
 

HaroldBishop

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I'm on the other side, can't see how he starts ahead of Wilton.

That play where he was pushed over the sideline early in the count was dumb as dog ****.
 
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