Force v Rebels - Round 5

[GIGS20]

Exactly.
What's worse, the Club seems to believe that we (the supporters) are so dumb that we'll just keep on swallowing the nonsense that they spout to excuse another poor performance by the Force.

More disappointing for me was Marcel And Chris waving their arms to try and gee the crowd up and get us into the game.

I've got a novel idea, if you want us to cheer for you, play some decent rugby. Most of us have been faithfully rocking up for ten years win lose or draw in stinking heat, rain etc and to get waved at like that was a little insulting for me.

[WFDom]

Whilst we're getting shit off our chests....

Sam Wykes shave that farkin mop off and grow some balls. Get your frikkin hands of your hips & stop blowin' hard. You're a professional athlete FFS

Be brave and shave!

[Alison]

Agree Gigs, it was hugely insulting. We hold up our side of the bargain week in week out. It's time they held up theirs.

Hell, I've lost friends because of my devotion to the Force; spent $000s following them; shouted myself hoarse and to the point of feeling sick at games; and have stroked egos on their social media platforms so much that I feel like a revolting sycophant. To be 'waved at' like that last night was a kick in the teeth!

[SNOB]

Thanks for saying that Gigs and Alison I felt the same way. I nearly shout myself horse and cheer them on all the time but just because they can't get them selves up to come out like that was bloody disrespectful. IMO

[FingerTips]

Well, I suppose last night at nib could have been worse.

Have a look at the score from Lang Park (Suncorp Stadium) tonight ...

[andrewg]

The tables show ruck stats for the game against the Rebels.
Check out G&GR for the Rebel breakdown later in the week.

Attachment 3714

Attachment 3715

WARNING DO NOT READ ON IF YOU THINK THE REST OF THIS POST IS TOO LONG OR HAVE NO INTEREST IN HEARING THE REASONS WHY SAM WYKES IS THE BEST CHOICE AS CAPTAIN UNTIL HODGO RETURNS.

Sam Wykes seems to be getting dumped upon for all that is wrong with the Western Force.

In the absence of Matt Hodgson it would appear that he may not be the logical choice as Captain.

Unless there is some sort of secret or inner circle making the decisions (and there has been absolutely no indications of this happening under Michael Foley) we have to assume that:

1. Michael Foley and the other coaches, in discussion with Matt Hodgson, are of the view that Sam Wykes is the best man from the Leadership Group for the job.
2. Sam Wykes was prepared to do the job until Matt Hodgson returned.
3. Others may have been considered but declined to carry the extra burden.
4. I don't know the pros and cons of the other candidates to comment further. I have no interest in character assassination.


Comments regarding Sam Wykes’ ruck efforts as follows:
1. Sam had the 2nd highest ruck involvement.
2. Sam had a team-high ruck involvement for any 10 minutes of the game – 13 (40-50 mins).
3. None of the fresh legs off the bench (including Adam Coleman with 6) had more ruck involvements that Sam in the final 10 minutes.
4. Sam’s ruck involvement was 1.5 x that of on-field MOM, Sam Mafi, who for 60 minutes was the other Lock (before changing to BSF).
5. Sam’s role in the rucks is obviously providing strong support for the ball carrier. He has minimal involvement in Defensive Rucks.
6. Sam’s overall ruck involvement is comparable with Ben McCalman for timing of arrival and impact.
7. Neither Sam, nor Ben, nor Steve earned a turnover in this game.
8. Sam is slower to the ruck and has less impact than those in the Back Row or Steve Mafi (probably the reason why Steve is also effective as BSF/No6).
Comparison with Matt Hodgson (relevant not just for Sam)
• I have no SXV ruck stats for Hodgson.
• In the Wallabies game against the Barabarians (his only full game on the EOYT) his key stats were as follows:
o Attack Rucks – 31 (90%/90%)
o Defence Rucks – 15 (100%/73%)
o Total Rucks – 46 (93%/85%)
o 13 tackes (93%)
o 9 runs for 41m (av 4.6m)
Note: I would most likely rank Hodgo's impact higher with my current methodology as even when he's standing over the ball he is usually braced and actively looking for the any likely attack.

Other aspects of Sam’s game against the Rebels:

Tackles
1. Sam made 5 tackles with no missed tackles (100%).
2. This is more tackles than Nathan Charles (2 at 50%), Steve Mafi (4 at 80%) and Pekahou Cowan (4 at 80%).
3. Sam wasn’t all that far behind Ben McCalman (8 at 100%) and Tetera Faulkner (8 at 89%).
4. Not unusually his tackles are much less than both Flankers – Chris Alcock (11 tackles at 69% - 5 MT) and Brynard Stander (14 tackles at 93%).
Ball Carries
1. Sam is not the best ball-carrying Forward but he is far from our worst with 9 carries for 26m (av 2.9m) with 3 Defenders beaten.
2. Steve Mafi was again our best ball-carrying Forward with 15 carries for 73m (av 4.9m) with 4 DB and 1 Clean Break.
3. Other efforts by our Forwards: Chris Alcock – 12 carries for 37m (av 3.1m), 4DB 1CB; Ben McCalman – 10 carries for 13m (av 1.3), 1DB; Brynard Stander – 8 carries for 11m (av 1.5m) and Tetera Faulkner – 11 runs for 9m (av 0.8m), 2DB.
Handling Errors
1. Sam made a single handling error.
2. Sam Mafi made 2 and officially Tetera Faulkner also had 2 (but my count was 4 balls lost in contact).
Lineout Performance
1. The Force won 12 lost 3 on own throw (80%).
2. The Rebels won 11 lost 2 on own throw (85%).
3. Sam won one of the Rebels’ lineouts.
On-Field Decision Making
1. In the game against the Rebels with just over 2 minutes to go it appears that Kyle Godwin elected to take a quick start from a penalty. I can see no evidence from the replay of him checking with his captain.
2. The replay clearly shows Sam Wykes pointing to the corner for a lineout.
3. Once Kyle took the tap it could not be reversed.
4. The Force has been strong from these set pieces previously (but struggled in this game).
5. In my view Sam’s call was the correct one which MAY have given us a chance to take the game with good ball retention from the set piece.

CONCLUSIONS
1. The Western Force is clearly missing the on-field efforts and leadership of Matt Hodgson.
2. Sam Wykes has shown significant improvement under Michael Foley.
3. Sam is currently our best performing Lock by a country mile – he has shown that he can play for 80 minutes and be injury free.
4. This is Sam’s 8th season with the Force. He was always the 2nd Lock under Nathan Sharpe and took over calling the Lineout when Nathan retired.
5. Sam is only 26yo. Notoriously Locks are generally late maturers.
6. Sam Wykes has been chosen to be the stand-in Captain by Michael Foley et al with the obvious support of the team’s leadership group.
7. The stats from this game against the Rebels show that Sam’s contribution amongst the Forwards is better than many.
8. Rather than “sniping” from the sidelines, and in chat rooms, it would be better to get behind the current Captain and team during what is obviously a frustrating time. Isn't that what being a "Supporter" is all about?
9. Others may come to other conclusions but I suggest that they are not supported by the stats.

[Scozzie]

Stats certainly don't often lie, and they've shown that Wykes put in a lot of effort last night, and I thought he did. But, they don't tell you about other factors a Captain needs to brings to the team, i.e. leadership, motivation and the ability to "influence" the ref (wrong as that may be).

I don't think it's fair to say it's "sniping from the sidelines" by offering opinions on the game, team or individuals, as long as it's done constructively.

[GIGS20]

Well, I suppose last night at nib could have been worse.

Have a look at the score from Lang Park (Suncorp Stadium) tonight ...

Reds played better than us despite getting belted at every turn.

The scrum battle in the mid 50 odd minute mark was night and day to what we would have offered because it was a battle.

In light of Andrew's analysis, maybe Sam is playing beyond himself and others, but when the team is as flat as they are there are two people to blame regardless of the reasons for the problem.

Captain and coach share the responsibility, whether they are at fault or not....welcome to leadership.

[Tonkar]

God I hateFriday night rugby. It leaves you with the whole weekend to be depressed!

Flew to bali at 7 am this morning to get stress relief

[Tonkar]

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WF Dom your 4 yr old might know somrthing about the game we don't send her to coach the boys for a week''

[NTT]

Great effort with the stats andrew but i refer you to the phrase: lies, damnlies and statistics.
Sam worked hard but a captain should work hard to set the tone for others to follow.
We kick the early penalties and the result may have been different. Whos decision was that? The captains. Of course this is not to be known at the time but continually turning over our attacking penalty lineouts has a huge demotivating factor on a team. Why work hard for point scoring opportunities when we surrender them so easily.
Also statistics do not represent the whole performance or the intangibles a captain needs to bring like decision-making, motivating those around him and being able to alter tactics during the game. Ie: plan b, plan c, plan d.

Like i said great effort with the stats but i think its fools gold. Its definitely not a true reflection on a players actual impact on a game and its result.

PS: gagr can go fuck itself.

[Rex Messup]

Getting to a ruck and leaning on it means fark all. Wykes is ineffective. He did offload the ball a couple of times. I have never seen him smash anyone in 8 years. He doesnt move bodies when he goes on to cleanout. His main play is to squat like hes laying an egg. He is soft as shite and ineffective. Tally up his missed tackles and jersey pulls and ineffective contributions in the collisions and youd have a more useful stat. You dont have to count to know Mafi has more impacts on the game

[GIGS20]

I'm pretty sure Andrewg's stat on 'impact' is an attempt to address the issue of players who bloat their ruck stats by arriving too late and achieving nothing other than taking themselves out of the defensive line.

Even if this stat is based upon something as intangible and subjective as "I think they made a difference" as long as its the same persons opinion it is statistically valid.

[Rex Messup]

I count impacts on the game like dominant tackles, counter rucks, line breaks, carries over the advantage line....Wykes = 0
The only statistically valid statistics that statiticians from winning teams count

[NTT]

As the classic tv show the Simpsons taught us: fourthtythree per cent of all stats are made up. Seventyeighteen per cent of all people know this.

Players will follow a leader.

Great leaders inspire those around them.

Great leaders make the people around them better.


Its professional sport. Its also a business. Sometimes hard decisions need to made for the better. This is one of those times.

Benny Mac is the man for the job.

Also swich Kyle and Junior back. They were building a solid combination last year and now they have to learn new roles instead of building on what was starting to work. It wasn't broke but we tried to fix it anyway.