ACT Brumbies

So who missed out? The Stats.

So who missed out? The Stats.

While it is hard to argue with the majority of the Wallaby selections announced today, there are a few players that could feel a bit unlucky. The selection of Matt Hodgson in front of Ben Mowen and Mitchell Chapman was a bit of a surprise as was the inclusion of Quade Cooper and one wonders what Will Caldwell has to do to get a chance.

A big surprise for me was the fact a specialist fullback was not chosen, sure, O’Connor and AAC have spent a fair bit of time there this year, but someone like Cameron Shephard might feel a bit miffed – even Mungo McLinden might have been burning a candle.

Anyway, below is a statistical comparison between the player chosen and the other players that may have been in the selection mix.


Lock
Player Games Runs Metres Mtr/ Game Offloads Line Breaks Tries Try Assists Effective Tackle % Pilfers L/O Won L/O Steals Total L/O Wins
Peter
Kimlin
13 78 257 20 6 2 3 1 78% 0 20 5 25
Will
Caldwell
13 78 263 20 6 0 1 0 84% 0 26 5 31



Number 8
Player Games Runs Metres Mtr/ Game Offloads Line Breaks Tries Try Assists Effective Tackle % Pilfers L/O Won L/O Steals Total L/O Wins
Richard Brown 7 46 372 53 7 2 1 0 90% 3 18 2 20
Stephen Hoiles 9 38 305 34 12 5 3 1 95% 0 10 7 17



Blind Side
Player Games Runs Metres Mtr/ Game Offloads Line Breaks Tries Try Assists Effective Tackle % Pilfers L/O Won L/O Steals Total L/O Wins
Matthew Hodgson 13 78 376 29 2 1 0 1 91% 6 11 0 11
Mitchell Chapman 7 46 143 20 9 3 1 2 86% 1 18 2 20
Julian
Salvi
12 69 252 21 6 1 0 0 93% 2 10 0 10
Ben
Mowen
13 78 363 28 8 2 1 0 83% 2 45 17 62


Fly Half
Player Games Runs Metres Mtr/ Game Offloads Line Breaks Line Break Assists Tries Try Assists Effective Tackle % Kicks Metres/Kick
Quade
Cooper
13 78 569 44 19 8 3 4 3 61% 128 35.22
Kurtley
Beale
12 69 392 33 14 1 0 0 5 67% 89 35.64
Christian Lealiifano 9 38 390 43 8 5 1 4 1 81% 74 34.26



Fullback
Player Games Runs Metres Mtr/ Game Offloads Line Breaks Line Break Assists Tries Try Assists Effective Tackle % Kicks Metres/Kick
James
O’Connor
10 41 357 36 5 5 1 5 0 81% 37 33.86
Cameron Shepherd 7 46 356 51 1 4 2 7 2 63% 28 34.21
Mark
McLinden
12 69 722 60 13 5 4 3 4 56% 51 35.24


I guess looking at the Locks, based on pure stats it is hard to see how Caldwell didn’t get a run, maybe the fact the Noodles had better attacking stats tipped the balance.

Dick Brown wins out over Hoiles because he is more potent off the back of the scrum racking up more metres/run than Hoiles although Hoiles is clearly the better attacking option with far more offloads and try assits, not to mention line-out steals

Mitch Chapman outpoints Hodgson in all areas except metres/run and the defensive stats so maybe that suggest Deans want his blind-side flanker to do plenty of dirty work.

Quade, well he doesn’t stack up too well against Lealiifano huh?

As much as I rate Mungo and Shephard, it is pretty clear that young JO’C is the man.

 

 

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