Offloads vs Ineffective Tackles - the key to Victory

If the Bulldogs are to knock the Sharks off the beach and continue a miracle surge towards the top eight, there’s one way they can do that - second phase footy

With the additions of Tevita Pangai Junior and Max King to the pack in 2022, the offloads coming out of Canterbury have been unreal. Whilst at the start of the season there were some rogue passes, as we've seen from TPJ over the years, I can confidently say that all of the massive 33 offloads in the past two weeks for the dogs were meaningful.

This incredible form has the Bulldogs coming fourth in offloads, with an outstanding 167. Those two players mentioned are both in the top 10 for offloads in the NRL (First and Seventh), and to go with it, young gun Jacob Kiraz is already 32nd for offloads with just six games under his belt. Only joined by Thomas Flegler as players to be in the top 50 with less than 10 games.

To discuss this next section, we need to put into context what an ineffective tackle is. According to NRL.com, it is when;

“The Defensive player does not stop attacking player from offloading in tackle”

And which team has the player with the most ineffective tackles? The Sharks. In fact, Cronulla has all of the top 3 in that statistic. These players are;

• Blayke Brailey (38)

• Briton Nikora (33)

• Teig Wilton (31)

• They also have Matt Moylan coming 9th, (26)

This gives the Sharks the third most ineffective tackles in the league this season, just behind the Broncos and Sea Eagles.

Although the Sharks are above the Bulldogs in offloads (2 more), the dogs have been great at stopping offloads, the second best in fact, with only 190 ineffective tackles this season. Compare that to the Shark's terrible 261 which also came in one less game due to their bye. If Canterbury want to win this one, they need to capitalise on this mismatch. They will need Tevita Pangai Junior running at Blayke Brailey all day, with Max King moving to the edges of Briton Nikora and Teig Wilton. And guess which centre plays on the same side as Matt Moylan? Jacob Kiraz. They can run riot.

The Bulldogs are more confident than ever. They can win this.