Can you measure the performance of a forward in complete isolation? Would Klemmer have identical stats to his WT stats if he was playing next to JWH and co at the Roosters every week and was getting more hit ups over the advantage line and working through less raw defensive work? Factor in how a forwards stats are perhaps effected by games where other in his team players are making insane handling errors, losing possession or dealing with sin bins.
Furthermore, let's say Bateman's good stat is his offloads but at the same time he threw an awful offload attempt that gave a game away against Souths and subsequently blew up in sheds to the extent he had to be shipped out off on loan. Ok stats tell us he made a lot of offloads, but is that the full picture, and did those offloads (positively) change any situations for us with a game in the balance?
Missed tackles stats miss a lot of context as well. What happened in the previous play?, what is the overall situation in the set?, and do these missed tackles lead to a line break or dangerous attacking situation for your opponent? Half the time you miss a tackle you're actually getting rolled from something that screwed up 2 hits ago. Did the missed tackle change the situation of a match our was the team already 50 points ahead either way? What are the missed tackle stats when we are in the lead or getting smashed by 30 points?
I'm
fascinated by sports stats, but what's unique about Rugby League, is that the rules change so much and the game is so physical, data analysts have really yet to find anything remotely close to the modeling you see in Soccer today. (xT), (xG), value models based on all the events and situations that happen in a game.
You can read what some smart people have tried to do with Rugby league, but again the rules and tactics change so much and so often that modelling and measuring is practically impossible.
Of course there ARE stats, but IMO you can't accurately measure how good a forward is in comparison to others from other sides just by counting up the raw stats up given online. You'd need to really refine and set some conditions for what you're measuring. If anything, you want to find things that are
hidden by the raw stats. e.g Liverpool bought Andy Robertson for only 8 mil after playing for a relegated team that conceded over 80 goals in a season. They didn't just measure his passes in the sense of were they successful or not, but what happened
after his passes. Liverpool also have ways to measure if a player has been "Unlucky" or "Close" in certain situations too.
Not saying anything is 'wrong', just offering my opinion and some food for thought.
