From NRL preview The Cowboys play a simple, but extremely effective game of bash and barge up the middle, or use the likes of Luke O’Donnell on the edges, waiting for defences to tire. Taking the finals out of the equation, the Cowboys ranked fourth in the NRL for total hit-ups last season (1,858 at 77 per game). Last week against the Broncos they continued the trend, running 79 times in general play (1st in NRL) and hitting the ball up 74 times (4th) to rank third overall for total runs. The Sea Eagles leaked a massive 45 tries up the middle last season – right alongside the Bulldogs as boasting the worst central defence in the Telstra Premiership. Again, this was exposed by the Raiders last Saturday night when they scored two of their four tries through the middle. Last week the Sea Eagles conceded two tries against Canberra on their right edge by sliding on their line rather than coming up and in to nullify the play. It continued a worrying trend last season that saw them concede 58 tries within 10 metres of their own line – more than any other side. To win on Saturday night we need to focus on our defence up the middle of the ruck and especially our defence 10 metres out of our own line... When teams get within this zone we virtually give them a free uncontested try after one or two tackles.
Excellent analysis Fluff. In the middle of the ruck and in fron of our line are our main two problems. Our D close to our line especially concerns me.
Not my analysis its from nrl.com - i put it up here as interesting manly related football reading. These stats are why the club pays around 30K a year for stats - lets ope this new defensive revolution Des has up his sleve covers the obvious deficiencies shown above.
The revolution was stopped when the NRL forbade us using the GPS devices in games. Apparently Des was able to administer electric shocks via the units when players missed tackles :blaugh:
