Masterton
Well-known member
“THEY’RE not the big four. They’re not the big four.”
At the end of a sobering day for the Wests Tigers this point was spat out by Peter Sterling, more than it was spoken.
Jason Taylor’s sacking brought to light the power a group of four coming-off-contract players - James Tedesco, Aaron Woods, Mitchell Moses and Luke Brooks - were wielding at Concord, a fact in itself the Parramatta great detests.
But it was more than just that player power had — according to plenty of people in the know, even if it was denied by the club — had its way with a coach that disturbed Sterling.
It was that a nickname for four greats (initially including Greg Inglis) of the game who have dominated Origin and Test level and won grand finals for the Storm had been so easily inherited by a group of four players whose combined achievements add up to very little.
“James Tedesco, absolutely. Origin player and excitement machine, one of the top 10 to 15 players in our game,” Sterling said on Triple M’s Dead Set Legends.
“Aaron Woods has been sensational for them. He’s taken on a heavy load for a couple of seasons and he’s been rewarded. I think rightly so.
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'Players have too much power''
“There’s a question mark on the halves and whether or not they can take that next step.
“We thought that Mitchell Moses had last season and it was going to be even better this season. The question mark is on the six and seven.
“I don’t have any problems with the fullback or the front rower in terms of performance on a weekly basis.”
Sterling hit the nail on the head and here’s the proof.
Fox Sports Lab statistician Joel Carbone has devised a ratings system (Player Impact Scores) that uses key performance indicators in both attack and defence to give every player in the NRL an overall rating that changes from week to week.
The data he draws on is historical, meaning performances from two and three seasons ago are included, but more weighting is given to more recent performances.
Based on the clamour from the Tigers to keep Moses and Brooks at the club long-term, you’d think that at the very least they would be in the top 10 or 15 halves in the competition.
But according to their Player Impact Scores they’re not even close.
Currently, Moses sits 20th and Brooks is 34th. Cut-price mature age half Cody Walker (17th) is ahead of both of them, as are Nathan Cleary (18th) and Ash Taylor (19th), who are both younger than the Tigers pair and have been on the scene for considerably less time.
Of the NRL’s 32 regular starting halves, only Newcastle’s Brock Lamb (35th) and St George Illawarra’s Josh McCrone (39th) have lower ratings than Brooks.
That’s not encouraging, it’s damming. Yet the Tigers have seemingly put their fate into the hands of powerful player manager Isaac Moses, who manages each of the ‘big four’ and is asking the Tigers to risk roughly $800,000-a-year on Moses and $600,000-a-year on Brooks.
Those salaries would go some way to justifying the ‘big four’ tag, considering Tedesco will likely sign for somewhere around the $1 million mark and Woods’ salary will almost certainly clear $700,000.
But at this point it’s impossible to argue that the halves have put up performances to match.
THE MITCHELL MOSES CONCERN FOR 2017
The argument to back Mitchell Moses with a big contract for 2018 and beyond gathered steam last season as his performances trended upwards in a breakout year.
In 2016, Moses doubled his try assists (up from 11 to 22) and his tries (up from three to six) from the season before and returned significantly improved numbers in other key categories as well.
This was in contrast to Brooks who had until last year been considered the better of the two prospects.
Brooks had his worst season in terms of tries (he scored five compared to 10 and six in the previous two seasons), made fewer linebreaks and plateaued in the try assists category with 15, compared to 16 the year before and 12 the year before that.
A big area of concern, his defence, also failed to improve with Brooks making fewer tackles per game, while missing more — an unacceptable 3.8 per game, compared to 3.3 in 2015.
His relatively small frame will always make him a target in the defensive line, as demonstrated again when he was bulldozed by Junior Paulo as the Tigers conceded a try on Sunday.
Neither Brooks nor Moses has set the world on fire in attack this season but the bigger concern is Moses who seems to have dropped the standard he set for himself last year.
The dynamic five-eighth is still yet to register a try, a try assist, a linebreak or a linebreak assist in the 240 minutes he’s played this season.
That should have alarm bells ringing and will need to be addressed by the incoming coach quick smart.
Brooks has scored a try, and chalked up a try assist and linebreak assist in the first three games — better than Moses but still not the numbers of a world beater.
It’s why Sterling was so clearly cringing when he heard the pair grouped with Tedesco and Woods in a ‘big four’ that has never really existed.
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http://www.foxsports.com.au/nrl/nrl-premiership/teams/tigers/stats-insider-the-numbers-that-expose-the-myth-wests-tigers-have-a-big-four/news-story/459e8e9194440bd0ee85126f8c80e707
At the end of a sobering day for the Wests Tigers this point was spat out by Peter Sterling, more than it was spoken.
Jason Taylor’s sacking brought to light the power a group of four coming-off-contract players - James Tedesco, Aaron Woods, Mitchell Moses and Luke Brooks - were wielding at Concord, a fact in itself the Parramatta great detests.
But it was more than just that player power had — according to plenty of people in the know, even if it was denied by the club — had its way with a coach that disturbed Sterling.
It was that a nickname for four greats (initially including Greg Inglis) of the game who have dominated Origin and Test level and won grand finals for the Storm had been so easily inherited by a group of four players whose combined achievements add up to very little.
“James Tedesco, absolutely. Origin player and excitement machine, one of the top 10 to 15 players in our game,” Sterling said on Triple M’s Dead Set Legends.
“Aaron Woods has been sensational for them. He’s taken on a heavy load for a couple of seasons and he’s been rewarded. I think rightly so.
\
\
'Players have too much power''
“There’s a question mark on the halves and whether or not they can take that next step.
“We thought that Mitchell Moses had last season and it was going to be even better this season. The question mark is on the six and seven.
“I don’t have any problems with the fullback or the front rower in terms of performance on a weekly basis.”
Sterling hit the nail on the head and here’s the proof.
Fox Sports Lab statistician Joel Carbone has devised a ratings system (Player Impact Scores) that uses key performance indicators in both attack and defence to give every player in the NRL an overall rating that changes from week to week.
The data he draws on is historical, meaning performances from two and three seasons ago are included, but more weighting is given to more recent performances.
Based on the clamour from the Tigers to keep Moses and Brooks at the club long-term, you’d think that at the very least they would be in the top 10 or 15 halves in the competition.
But according to their Player Impact Scores they’re not even close.
Currently, Moses sits 20th and Brooks is 34th. Cut-price mature age half Cody Walker (17th) is ahead of both of them, as are Nathan Cleary (18th) and Ash Taylor (19th), who are both younger than the Tigers pair and have been on the scene for considerably less time.
Of the NRL’s 32 regular starting halves, only Newcastle’s Brock Lamb (35th) and St George Illawarra’s Josh McCrone (39th) have lower ratings than Brooks.
That’s not encouraging, it’s damming. Yet the Tigers have seemingly put their fate into the hands of powerful player manager Isaac Moses, who manages each of the ‘big four’ and is asking the Tigers to risk roughly $800,000-a-year on Moses and $600,000-a-year on Brooks.
Those salaries would go some way to justifying the ‘big four’ tag, considering Tedesco will likely sign for somewhere around the $1 million mark and Woods’ salary will almost certainly clear $700,000.
But at this point it’s impossible to argue that the halves have put up performances to match.
THE MITCHELL MOSES CONCERN FOR 2017
The argument to back Mitchell Moses with a big contract for 2018 and beyond gathered steam last season as his performances trended upwards in a breakout year.
In 2016, Moses doubled his try assists (up from 11 to 22) and his tries (up from three to six) from the season before and returned significantly improved numbers in other key categories as well.
This was in contrast to Brooks who had until last year been considered the better of the two prospects.
Brooks had his worst season in terms of tries (he scored five compared to 10 and six in the previous two seasons), made fewer linebreaks and plateaued in the try assists category with 15, compared to 16 the year before and 12 the year before that.
A big area of concern, his defence, also failed to improve with Brooks making fewer tackles per game, while missing more — an unacceptable 3.8 per game, compared to 3.3 in 2015.
His relatively small frame will always make him a target in the defensive line, as demonstrated again when he was bulldozed by Junior Paulo as the Tigers conceded a try on Sunday.
Neither Brooks nor Moses has set the world on fire in attack this season but the bigger concern is Moses who seems to have dropped the standard he set for himself last year.
The dynamic five-eighth is still yet to register a try, a try assist, a linebreak or a linebreak assist in the 240 minutes he’s played this season.
That should have alarm bells ringing and will need to be addressed by the incoming coach quick smart.
Brooks has scored a try, and chalked up a try assist and linebreak assist in the first three games — better than Moses but still not the numbers of a world beater.
It’s why Sterling was so clearly cringing when he heard the pair grouped with Tedesco and Woods in a ‘big four’ that has never really existed.
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http://www.foxsports.com.au/nrl/nrl-premiership/teams/tigers/stats-insider-the-numbers-that-expose-the-myth-wests-tigers-have-a-big-four/news-story/459e8e9194440bd0ee85126f8c80e707
