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.