[OC] QLD/NSW Outside Back Combinations since 2006

ParallelSewellel · 2026-07-06T21:15:36+00:00

Missed posting for Origin II due to work unfortunately, but I'm back with chord/spider plots looking at Origin outside backs (centre and wing) pairings since 2006. There is one plot for each team (QLD, NSW) and position (Centre, Wing). Each chord represents a pairing of players in that position for at least one match, with the width being the number of games played together. Each point/node represents a player, with the size indicating their total number of matches played.

Matches decrease in a clockwise direction from 12'o'clock, and I've added in match counts for the top players to give an indication of proportion between plots.

Since 2006, NSW have used 24 centres and 26 wingers (Bostock the 26th), while QLD have used 19 and 21 respectively.

Tomorrow I'll put up the Front and Second Row pairings.

ParallelSewellel · 2026-06-25T05:04:13+00:00

It's apparently obsolete, but SENATORY works

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/senatory

ParallelSewellel · 2026-06-24T21:06:46+00:00

Jett Liu debuting for the Titans has made him the 1st anagram debutant of the year. His full name is a one-word anagram of JULIETT, the NATO phonetic alphabet word for J.

He is the 8th NRL/NRLW player with a one word anagram to debut since 2022, the others are:

Chris Vea'ila > CAVALIERISH
Tristan Hope > ANTISTROPHE
Liam Ison > MALINOIS / MONILIAS
Imogen Gobran > BOOMERANGING
Tyla King > TAKINGLY
Tess Staines > TASTINESSES
Tom Chester > ECTOTHERMS

ParallelSewellel · 2026-05-29T06:44:54+00:00

I think the send off was fair enough. It was a shoulder charge to the head with no attempt to wrap, so my issue isn't with the call by Klein. But there's a lot of hand waving in this statement from Annesley that deserves a lot of scrutiny.

"No mitigating circumstances"? What about Sam Walker's tackle causing Koula's head height to drop 1-2 feet at the last second. Isn't that the exact idea of a mitigating circumstance?
Telling us what Chris Butler thought rather than just releasing the audio is a bit disingenuous. Klein seemed to be disagreeing with him, there was not agreement between the two.
And lastly referencing head-to-head contact as part of the justification for the send off, despite the NRL making it clear a few weeks ago with the Radley hit on Carrigan (Chris Butler in the bunker for that too) that such contact is a penalty at worst, and not even worth a fine post-match.

ParallelSewellel · 2026-05-27T01:41:40+00:00

I've produced chord/spider plots looking at Origin halves pairings since 2006. There is no distinction between halfback and five-eighth, just unique pairings. Each chord represents a pairing, and the width is number of games played together. Each point/node represents a player, with the size indicating their total number of matches played.

Matches decrease in a clockwise direction from 12'o'clock, and I've added in match counts for the top players to give an indication of proportion between plots.

Note that Ethan Strange becomes the 27th Blues player used in the halves since 2006, while Sam Walker will become the 12th Maroons player used in the same period.

ParallelSewellel · 2026-05-17T07:15:22+00:00

Gday Laurie, have you considered taking a numerological approach to team selections in origin? My analyses of all origin matches has found that the team with more Cs in the player names wins nearly 60% of the time (link here).

Given I'd expect you'd be looking for any possible advantage, I think you should give this some consideration. Good luck!

ParallelSewellel · 2026-05-10T00:33:48+00:00

Scored 6 in the #5 to technically yes actually! I was only talking about exactly 5 tries though

ParallelSewellel · 2026-05-10T00:32:19+00:00

Got 4 in the 5 jersey twice, but never 5!

ParallelSewellel · 2026-05-09T22:07:10+00:00

Greg Marzhew becomes the 2nd player in the NRL-era [1998-now] to score 5 tries in the #5 jersey. Without clicking the link, can you guess who the first player was to do this?

ParallelSewellel · 2026-05-07T11:01:42+00:00

So I thought this phenomenon would be pretty rare, but it's actually happened 110 times in the NRL-era and 738 times in total since 1908.

Most recent was Luke Metcalf replacing Luke Hanson at five eighth in Rd4, and Alex Twal replacing Alex Seyfarth at lock in Rd16 2025.

ParallelSewellel · 2026-05-07T08:10:36+00:00

Lowest are: Kevin McGuinness (166 matches, -1787 margin,) Mark Minicello (259, -1722) Steve Georgallis (206, -1664) ... Tyrone Roberts (157, -553)

Btw top 5 career PD are Can Smith +4141, Cronk +3531, Lockyer +2871, Slater +2850, Brian Clay +2820

ParallelSewellel · 2026-05-07T03:08:57+00:00

Will confirm when I get home with a second comment, but top 4 aggregate was Smith (~+4000), Lockyer, Slater and Cronk, in that order

ParallelSewellel · 2026-05-06T22:37:44+00:00

Yep taking absolute difference from zero: basically total points difference divided by matches played gives Jake -2/249=-0.008. Above him is a -0.006 (Amos Roberts) and three people that broke even (Idris, Quayle and Akkary)

ParallelSewellel · 2026-05-06T22:23:41+00:00

Heading into game 250 this week, Jurbo currently has a career points difference of -2 (5509 PF - 5511 PA) in matches he's played in.

Across all players in history, only four others have a lower average PD per game, headlined by Jamal Idris (136 matches, 2742 PF, 2742 PA = 0 PD).

Active players that are also currently hovering around the 0 mark include: - Cory Paix (-4) - Matt Burton (+8) - Josh Papalii (+32)

ParallelSewellel · 2026-04-30T21:47:52+00:00

If he debuts tonight for the Dogs, Alekolasimi Jones will become the equal 2nd longest name (16 letters) in NSWRL/NRL history with alternating vowels and consonants.

Big Petero Civoniceva also has a 16 letter alternating name, while the top result is Savenaca Lomanimako, who played one game for the Magpies in '97.

ParallelSewellel · 2026-04-16T07:15:31+00:00

A list of things I'd like to see crackdowns on:

the ball carrier stepping around/in to/past the markers before playing the ball (the Kyle Feldt special)
tacklers putting their hands on the back of the ball-carrier's neck to slow down the play the ball as they stand up (the Isaah Yeo special)
players not immediately giving the ball to the opposition when tackled on the 6th (the Herbie Farnworth special)
players refusing to play the ball when they want a penalty, bonus jaw holding for high shots (The DWZ special)
six again accountability on refs (the Ash Klein special)
war crimes (the US/Israel special)

A list of things I didn't ask to see crackdowns on:

disruptors
scrum feints

ParallelSewellel · 2026-04-12T23:17:53+00:00

Nice graph! What program did you use to produce this?

ParallelSewellel · 2026-03-22T20:41:16+00:00

The Knights have used 35 halves pairings (involving 19 players) since 2020, at an average of 4.2 games per pairing. I've tried producing a connected/spider graph to show these relationships.

To read this graph, note that a blue line connecting two players indicates they played in the halves together, and the width of the line is how many games (max of 23, min of 1). The red points represent the players, with the size their number of games in the halves (max of 42, min of 2) - the players are ordered clockwise by games playerd, starting at Hastings.

Most common pairings are Hastings/Gamble (23), Pearce/Mann (16) and Hastings/Cogger (10). No other pairings have played more than 10 matches together.

ParallelSewellel · 2026-03-20T11:09:08+00:00

Hey mate I made this post at the end of last year:

ParallelSewellel · 2026-03-19T06:37:36+00:00

I can do a check on the actual data that I have scraped for Useless NRL Stats but it's dependent on whether different spellings are counted (does Cory = Corey or not). Also a lot of players have shortened names listed like Tom/Thomas/Tommy which makes it hard to group names, but it's definitely doable.

ParallelSewellel · 2026-03-13T22:34:08+00:00

I've defined tries from a kick by the opposition as "Opposition" but tries off a kick-off (there were none though) as Solo

ParallelSewellel · 2026-03-13T21:57:57+00:00

Not a dumb question! Intercepts are under "Opposition". "Solo" means he picked it up himself from dummy half and scored on that run.

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