NEWS Pursuit over as Broncos finally get their man

[broncsgoat]

Err,nope. When he was fullback he wasn't the playmaker. He actually seemed to do fuckall most of the time. He did come up for tge occasional kicks but it wasn't like he had a huge workload. As I said, he was average as a fullback and as a 5/8. Sorry, I know you want to defend him but your million dollar man in any team should be a star most of if not all of the time. No one could say with any honesty that Milford had a red hot go every single game.

Did you watch the games?

 

[Big Pete]

Milford easily made the most amount of kicks at fullback than any other player in the competition. Milford kicked for a competition high 96 from 11 games, with Kalyn Ponga his closest competition with 44 from 17 games. Of all the regular fullbacks, Milford also averaged the most amount of receipts at 42.8. His closest competition was Clinton Gutherson at 37.2. To put that into perspective, the Dally M Fullback of the Year James Tedesco only averages 27.5 touches a game.

 

[Kooly87]

For context, the only other players in the top 25 total kick metres who weren't Halfbacks or 5/8's are Cam Smith at number 25, who played as a defacto Halfback for much of the season, and Corey Norman, who played the last 7 rounds as a Fullback, although his kicking metres dropped off dramatically during those 7 games. He only kicked over 200 metres twice in those 7 games.

 

[Kooly87]

Milford easily made the most amount of kicks at fullback than any other player in the competition. Milford kicked for a competition high 96 from 11 games, with Kalyn Ponga his closest competition with 44 from 17 games. Of all the regular fullbacks, Milford also averaged the most amount of receipts at 42.8. His closest competition was Clinton Gutherson at 37.2. To put that into perspective, the Dally M Fullback of the Year James Tedesco only averages 27.5 touches a game.

It should literally terrify every single non-Roosters/NSW supporter that Tedesco managed the impact he did from comparatively so few touches.

If you then took that number and compared it to his average tries/try-assists/tackle breaks/linebreaks/offloads - the number of touches that resulted in a key attacking stat as a percentage would be huge and probably without a rival anywhere near it.

 

[broncsgoat]

It should literally terrify every single non-Roosters/NSW supporter that Tedesco managed the impact he did from comparatively so few touches.

If you then took that number and compared it to his average tries/try-assists/tackle breaks/linebreaks/offloads - the number of touches that resulted in a key attacking stat as a percentage would be huge and probably without a rival anywhere near it.

Yeah, he's got spiders on him. He does have an all star cast surrounding him though.

 

[Huge]

Did you watch the games?

Yes, I am wrong, he kicked more than I thought. I'm unsure why that's considered such an onerous task though. What, he comes forward just prior to the fifth and gives it a hoist, doesn't seem to be too big of a deal for a guy on 40k a game!! Still, once again I was wrong about how often he kicked.

 

[broncsgoat]

It was a massive gripe of mine (among others). He was having to play both roles which meant he couldn’t be effective in either.

 

[Kooly87]

Yes, I am wrong, he kicked more than I thought. I'm unsure why that's considered such an onerous task though. What, he comes forward just prior to the fifth and gives it a hoist, doesn't seem to be too big of a deal for a guy on 40k a game!! Still, once again I was wrong about how often he kicked.

Credit to you for admitting you were wrong. It's funny how people remember things differently for one reason or another and I'm guessing that was just the case here.

I pointed out where he sat overall in context though as everyone else inside the top 25 kickers were genuine Halves besides Cam Smith at number 25.

I say that because the Halves around him are primarily there to kick and play make. They don't generally do a lot of running or tackling either, yet Milford kicked more than all bar one of these guys (Moses) and he had to do it while adding in the considerably higher aerobic workload that goes with playing Fullback.

I'm again not saying that Milford had a great season, or that he's good value, I'm just saying that he was definitely, statistically speaking at least, doing more than just one role when we played him at Fullback.

 

[Huge]

Credit to you for admitting you were wrong. It's funny how people remember things differently for one reason or another and I'm guessing that was just the case here.

I pointed out where he sat overall in context though as everyone else inside the top 25 kickers were genuine Halves besides Cam Smith at number 25.

I say that because the Halves around him are primarily there to kick and play make. They don't generally do a lot of running or tackling either, yet Milford kicked more than all bar one of these guys (Moses) and he had to do it while adding in the considerably higher aerobic workload that goes with playing Fullback.

I'm again not saying that Milford had a great season, or that he's good value, I'm just saying that he was definitely, statistically speaking at least, doing more than just one role when we played him at Fullback.

Well, yes kinda. Pretty sure other fullbacks kick too and aside from jogging around behind the others it doesn't seem to be such a burden. You're right overall I suppose, I'll concede he was doing one and a quarter jobs ! For 40k a game he should be doing five jobs plus oranges!

 

[Unbreakable]

It should literally terrify every single non-Roosters/NSW supporter that Tedesco managed the impact he did from comparatively so few touches.

If you then took that number and compared it to his average tries/try-assists/tackle breaks/linebreaks/offloads - the number of touches that resulted in a key attacking stat as a percentage would be huge and probably without a rival anywhere near it.

I found that stat more terrifying for the Broncos supporters, Milford had nearly twice as many touches as Tedesco at Fullback and I felt he barely made a positive impact on any of the games.

If that doesn't indicate that he's not a Fullback anymore I don't know what will.

 

[broncsgoat]

I found that stat more terrifying for the Broncos supporters, Milford had nearly twice as many touches as Tedesco at Fullback and I felt he barely made a positive impact on any of the games.

If that doesn't indicate that he's not a Fullback anymore I don't know what will.

has he ever really been a fullback? I know he strung a few good games back to back there about 6 years ago but that’s about the extent of it.

 

[Big Pete]

I don't think the stat is THAT terrifying, it just goes to show that he was virtually playing two positions at once and had to compromise on both. Tedesco was able to be more selective with his touches and it helped made him a far more effective player.

From a personal stand-point, Milford's performances at fullback were actually on par with his efforts at five eighth and were an improvement over Darius' efforts. Milford was slightly more effective with the ball (more runs, more metres, more tackle-breaks, more line-break assists) but wasn't as involved at fullback (42.8 touches at fullback compared to 49.1 at five eighth).

 

[broncsgoat]

I don't think the stat is THAT terrifying, it just goes to show that he was virtually playing two positions at once and had to compromise on both. Tedesco was able to be more selective with his touches and it helped made him a far more effective player.

From a personal stand-point, Milford's performances at fullback were actually on par with his efforts at five eighth and were an improvement over Darius' efforts. Milford was slightly more effective with the ball (more runs, more metres, more tackle-breaks, more line-break assists) but wasn't as involved at fullback (42.8 touches at fullback compared to 49.1 at five eighth).

how did his figures at full back stack up against actual full backs though?

And I would be interested to see how they stacked up against Boyd’s efforts last year.

 

[tommy]

how did his figures at full back stack up against actual full backs though?

And I would be interested to see how they stacked up against Boyd’s efforts last year.

The stats would be skewed anyway. For example I don't believe it counts as a missed tackle if the defender doesn't get a hand on them.

 

[Big Pete]

Let's go through this.

For the purpose of this task, let's compare Milford to every other 'regular' fullback in the competition. In order to do that, we'll have to impose an eight game minimum so there's a decent sample size. We'll take Milford's stats out of the equation and see how he stacks up to the rest of the competition.

Games

Tries

Runs

Metres

Kick Return

Post-Contact

LB

LBA

TA

Tackle-Breaks

Offloads

Passes

Receipts

Kicks

Errors

Penalties

Fullbacks

14.8​

4.6​

16.1​

146.1​

54.1​

31.9​

6.7​

4.8​

4.2​

61.2​

10.2​

13​

28.9​

9.5​

15​

3.5​

Anthony Milford

11​

3​

13.7​

121.5​

43.6​

20.3​

4​

5​

6​

54​

14​

21.5​

42.8​

96​

7​

7​

 

[Unbreakable]

Let's go through this.

For the purpose of this task, let's compare Milford to every other 'regular' fullback in the competition. In order to do that, we'll have to impose an eight game minimum so there's a decent sample size. We'll take Milford's stats out of the equation and see how he stacks up to the rest of the competition.

Games

Tries

Runs

Metres

Kick Return

Post-Contact

LB

LBA

TA

Tackle-Breaks

Offloads

Passes

Receipts

Kicks

Errors

Penalties

Fullbacks

14.8​

4.6​

16.1​

146.1​

54.1​

31.9​

6.7​

4.8​

4.2​

61.2​

10.2​

13​

28.9​

9.5​

15​

3.5​

Anthony Milford

11​

3​

13.7​

121.5​

43.6​

20.3​

4​

5​

6​

54​

14​

21.5​

42.8​

96​

7​

7​

Below average in essentially every important aspect, as expected.

 

[Big Pete]

Below average in essentially every important aspect, as expected.

Keep in mind, the average fullback played four more games, so he was about even in a lot of departments (Tries, LBs, TBs etc.) The interesting stat again is the kicking stat. Over 10 times the amount compared to other fullbacks in the competition.

 

[Spoon]

So exactly what we knew anyway, no other full back being asked to be the primary kicker and the additional pressures that come with it.