2020 season reviews

Post by **greeneyed** » October 31, 2020, 4:29 pm

Canberra Raiders' headaches to turn from bad to good

Canberra Raiders coach Ricky Stuart is hoping for good headaches in 2021, after an injury ridden 2020.

"I know how important the middle unit is and with some youth coming through, those boys who didn't play this year coming back and the addition of Ryan James we certainly are going to have a competitive middle unit," Stuart said. "It'll be different headaches to this year where I was looking for players.

Read more: https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/ ... /?cs=14239

2020 Season Review: viewtopic.php?p=1766864#p1766864

Post by **greeneyed** » October 31, 2020, 4:46 pm

Peter Mulholland says $3 million of the cap was on the sidelines for a good part of the season, with Hodgson, Horsburgh, Guler, Simonsson, Scott, Sutton injuries. Has started talks to retain Guler and about to for Young.

BadnMean · Post by **BadnMean** » October 31, 2020, 6:31 pm

greeneyed wrote: ↑October 31, 2020, 4:46 pm Peter Mulholland says $3 million of the cap was on the sidelines for a good part of the season, with Hodgson, Horsburgh, Guler, Simonsson, Scott, Sutton injuries. Has started talks to retain Guler and about to for Young.

I hope he's counting Young in that list too, otherwise we are paying way overs to some of those young players...

800k (Hodgo)

350k x 5= 1.75m Hors, Guler, Simo, Sutton, Young.

Scott... isn't he only 200k this year and 400k when Storm stop the freight?

350k is pretty generous for fringe props and rookie wingers too.

Post by **greeneyed** » October 31, 2020, 6:33 pm

BadnMean wrote: ↑October 31, 2020, 6:31 pm
greeneyed wrote: ↑October 31, 2020, 4:46 pm Peter Mulholland says $3 million of the cap was on the sidelines for a good part of the season, with Hodgson, Horsburgh, Guler, Simonsson, Scott, Sutton injuries. Has started talks to retain Guler and about to for Young.
I hope he's counting Young in that list too, otherwise we are paying way overs to some of those young players...

800k (Hodgo)

350k x 5= 1.75m Hors, Guler, Simo, Sutton, Young.

Scott... isn't he only 200k this year and 400k when Storm stop the freight?

350k is pretty generous for fringe props and rookie wingers too.

He’s not.

gangrenous · Post by **gangrenous** » October 31, 2020, 6:44 pm

BadnMean wrote: Scott... isn't he only 200k this year and 400k when Storm stop the freight?

If you’re counting salary cap sitting on the sideline for this point it still makes sense to count the whole 400k I’d argue.

afgtnk · Post by **afgtnk** » October 31, 2020, 8:24 pm

Surely that's an exaggeration by Mulholland, to further press the club's narrative that they did it super tough this season.

You're not going to have 24 players on just $7 odd million when you've got the likes of Papalii, Tapine, Whitehead, Wighton, Bateman, Cotric, Croker, George, and Rapa left. Just Wighton and Tapine would set you back ~$1.5 million if the figures around their salaries were even ball park at the time of their extensions.

BJ · Post by BJ » November 1, 2020, 9:14 am

I think Bateman and Soliola were also included in Mullhollands calculations and he probably just roughly rounded up the total a bit. I doubt it was miles off the mark.

I think the Roosters game was missing:
Hodgson
Bateman
Soliola
Guler
Horsburgh
Rapana
Simmonsonn
Hudson Young

Post by **greeneyed** » November 5, 2020, 1:02 pm

GALLERY: Canberra Raiders best photos of 2020: https://www.nrl.com/news/2020/11/05/bes ... s-of-2020/

Post by **greeneyed** » November 7, 2020, 1:44 pm

The 2020 NRL season was the toughest of them all, says the man who’s seen it all

This has been the craziest season on record, eclipsing even the madhouse that was Super League in 1997, and that’s saying something.

“This year was the toughest since Super League,” says Raiders CEO Don Furner, “In many aspects, this was harder for other reasons, because of the uncertainty and the impact on jobs and revenue.”

Read more: https://aboutregional.com.au/the-2020-n ... en-it-all/

Post by **greeneyed** » November 29, 2020, 9:54 pm

2020 Review: Canberra Raiders

Canberra came into the season as one of the favourites for the premiership following their heartbreaking loss in the 2019 decider to the all-conquering Roosters. If there is anyone you want in charge of a team scorned it is the ultimate competitor in Raiders coach Ricky Stuart.

Read more: https://leagueunlimited.com/news/35347- ... a-raiders/

Post by **greeneyed** » December 11, 2020, 11:47 am

Canberra Raiders: 2020 season by the numbers

The Raiders would have been hoping to go one better in 2020 after losing the 2019 grand final but a shocking injury toll rocked their season and in the end they did well to make a preliminary final.

Many put a line through Canberra's season when star hooker Josh Hodgson went down in round nine, joining a lengthy injury list that also featured almost an entire team's worth of middle forwards. But the Green Machine proved their team is much bigger than any one player, losing just three more games all year including the preliminary final against the Storm.

Read more: https://www.nrl.com/news/2020/12/11/rai ... e-numbers/

Some interesting stats there, particularly net pre contact metres and time in opposition half. The tries conceded in the first half no surprise.

Post by **greeneyed** » December 14, 2020, 8:25 am

The NRL season that left Victor the Viking in the "dirty zone"

Tony Wood has been the man behind the mask of the Raiders' Victor the Viking mascot for 38 years. Traditionally a mascot's role was to interact with the fans. High-fiving kids, taking photos with the fans and giving fist-bumps were the norm for Victor the Viking. But COVID took all of that away.

"The NRL gave me a minder - one of the COVID restrictions was that I had to have a minder - and the supporters had to be three feet away from me and I couldn't touch them," he said.

Read more: https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/ ... _4HbtGE87A

Post by **greeneyed** » December 16, 2020, 3:08 pm

Most streamed games of 2020

Round 3: Raiders V Storm:

https://www.nrl.com/news/2020/12/15/mos ... v-raiders/

Round 11: Raiders V Rabbitohs:

https://www.nrl.com/news/2020/12/16/mos ... rabbitohs/

Round 14: Raiders V Broncos:

[/youtube]

https://www.nrl.com/news/2020/12/14/mos ... v-broncos/

Post by **greeneyed** » December 29, 2020, 9:42 pm

VIDEO: All of Jack Wighton's 2020 tries: https://www.nrl.com/news/2020/12/08/all ... 020-tries/

bonehead · Post by **bonehead** » December 30, 2020, 5:27 am

greeneyed wrote:VIDEO: All of Jack Wighton's 2020 tries: https://www.nrl.com/news/2020/12/08/all ... 020-tries/

can score a double

Sent from my SM-G973F using Tapatalk

Post by **greeneyed** » December 30, 2020, 3:04 pm

Year from hell stands Canberra Raiders in good stead for the future

It might not have ended in a drought-breaking premiership, but the Canberra Raiders' 2020 NRL campaign was still a success. Not only did they have to overcome more adversity than most, but they also built impressive depth for the future as a result.

Such that Raiders coach Ricky Stuart will hopefully have the good kind of selection headache next year. As opposed to the bad ones he so often had this season.

Read more: https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/ ... /?cs=14239

The stories that defined Canberra sport in 2020: https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/ ... /?cs=14239

Post by **greeneyed** » January 21, 2021, 12:11 pm

Stat Attack: Which teams managed ruck infringements best

Two of the biggest changes in the restructured 2020 season were the drop from two on-field referees to one and the new set restart rule for ruck infringements.

At the most-penalised end the battling Sea Eagles (86) copped more than any other club, but the Raiders (83) had almost as many. Just 13 per cent of the Panthers' 75 total infringements given away on the last two plays of a set. The Raiders and Wests Tigers both came in under 15 per cent while the Eels and Sea Eagles were at around 16 per cent each. Almost half (30 out of 65) of the Cowboys' infringements were given away on tackle zero or one. That was well ahead of the Raiders, Tigers and Sea Eagles who were all around 36-37 per cent.

Read more: https://www.nrl.com/news/2021/01/21/sta ... ents-best/

Would like to see all the detail of the statistics. The plus for the Raiders is that the high number of infringements, were infrequently given away late in the count. The NRL should be a lot more transparent with these statistics in 2021.

Botman · Post by **Botman** » January 21, 2021, 1:28 pm

We purposefully risked set restarts in certain situations... I think we were on the cutting edge so to speak on that, with some other clubs but it's a trend i expect will pick up steam this year. So im not surprised to see we were one of the worst offenders

I would bet a large portion of our set restarts were on tackle 1, when the opposition were inside their own 20

BadnMean · Post by **BadnMean** » January 21, 2021, 3:44 pm

It's a frustrating thing to try and keep track of as a supporter- because by the time the bell rings the play is another ruck advanced and you struggle to associate the reason for the call at times (if there even was a good reason).

I watched part of last season with an American colleague and I just gave up trying to explain or justify it. It just seemed like random bell madness gives a reward to him. I couldn't explain it any better either.

Post by **greeneyed** » January 21, 2021, 4:13 pm

BadnMean wrote: ↑January 21, 2021, 3:44 pm It's a frustrating thing to try and keep track of as a supporter- because by the time the bell rings the play is another ruck advanced and you struggle to associate the reason for the call at times (if there even was a good reason).

I watched part of last season with an American colleague and I just gave up trying to explain or justify it. It just seemed like random bell madness gives a reward to him. I couldn't explain it any better either.

The way it is being inconsistently implemented... I'm not surprised you could not explain or justify it. The inconsistent application is a big problem with it. And no transparency and accountability on the officials.

gerg · Post by **gerg** » January 21, 2021, 5:27 pm

As you well know I disagree on this one. I didn't find 6agains any more (or less) transparent than how penalties had previously been dished out. It was pretty blatantly obvious (to me at least) why they were given.

If defenders were dominating the ruck or attacking team there was a little more leeway given in the tackle. If an attacker made a half break and was held down a 6again was awarded. If a marker wasn't square and the dummy half was clever enough to take advantage of the situation and milk it, a 6again was awarded.

I do agree though more transparency should have occurred as far as the statistics goes. But you will never get a referee fronting a media conference to explain every decision they make after a game, and I'd hate to see that happening - particularly when certain coaches and clubs have reporters pushing their agenda.

I think there are other areas to focus on rather than this quite subjective area. For example a few years back some analysis was done on outcomes of video referee decisions based on a significant amount of data. I think a similar analysis could be done with sinbinning for various offences because I thought we were on the wrong end of that last year. I think things like that are a legitimate gripe over (subjective) rule interpretations.

Sent from my SM-G570F using Tapatalk

gangrenous · Post by **gangrenous** » January 21, 2021, 6:19 pm

Spot on on the sin binning gergreg. The refs have an itchy trigger finger on ejecting Raiders that is supported by the stats.

Simonsson last year was a shocker.

BadnMean · Post by **BadnMean** » January 21, 2021, 7:02 pm

gergreg wrote: ↑January 21, 2021, 5:27 pm As you well know I disagree on this one. I didn't find 6agains any more (or less) transparent than how penalties had previously been dished out. It was pretty blatantly obvious (to me at least) why they were given.

If defenders were dominating the ruck or attacking team there was a little more leeway given in the tackle. If an attacker made a half break and was held down a 6again was awarded. If a marker wasn't square and the dummy half was clever enough to take advantage of the situation and milk it, a 6again was awarded.

I do agree though more transparency should have occurred as far as the statistics goes. But you will never get a referee fronting a media conference to explain every decision they make after a game, and I'd hate to see that happening - particularly when certain coaches and clubs have reporters pushing their agenda.

I think there are other areas to focus on rather than this quite subjective area. For example a few years back some analysis was done on outcomes of video referee decisions based on a significant amount of data. I think a similar analysis could be done with sinbinning for various offences because I thought we were on the wrong end of that last year. I think things like that are a legitimate gripe over (subjective) rule interpretations.

Sent from my SM-G570F using Tapatalk

That's a well put opinion.

Post by **greeneyed** » January 24, 2021, 11:56 am

Post by **greeneyed** » February 15, 2021, 6:54 am

10 NRL players most improved in 2020, 10 set to make a leap in 2021

6. JACK WIGHTON

The Raiders five-eighth was coming off a pretty fair season in 2019 when he took out the Clive Churchill Medal, but he came of age in 2020 scoring 13 tries in just 22 games to go with 12 try assists.

Immortal Andrew Johns referred to Wighton as the best No.6 in the game at one stage and he was rewarded with the Dally M Medal had the Blues not had a centre crisis he likely would have played five-eighth in the Origin series.

Read more: https://www.foxsports.com.au/nrl/nrl-pr ... ec58b905c7