Mozart uses all kinds of comments to justify his spurious assessment of player performances - but in respect of one thing I agree with him and that is the usage of raw stats is undesirable. Stats should be used in context and should be evaluated and developed to optimize usage potential.
Mozart is not always reliable - he is not beyond using raw stats if he thinks it supports his arguments on players - but in the case of one of his favourites (De Jongh) he gave us an insight into how stats should be developed to make meaningful sense.
Taking his evaluation enhancement comments on stats into account - I have decided to do once a week an evaluation of one of his favoured players on the basis he said it should be done, This week it is the example of Francois Steyn - a player he punted as the 12 of the week.
So lets do the evaluation on Steyn's performances in the 6 games he played in thus far and see what comes up:-
Steyn
0/1
39
21/31/42
74
0
8
2
11
39/13
0/0
10
0/0
Try Assists
In his first game this year there was a very good cross kick of Steyn that resulted in a try scored by Ndungane. Unfortunately never repeated in later games
Goal Conversions
Try conversions - 6
Penalties - 9
Steyn was very good in kicking at goal - he attempted 16 kicks at goal and missed only once - his success rate being 92,9%. He consequently added 39 points to the Sharks 181 points gained in the matches played. Percentage contribution 21,5%.
Extremely effective in kicking at goal - some kicks being long distance and very difficult to convert
Ball Handling
This include three essential components, namely -
* kicking of balls from hand;
* passing of balls; and
* ball carries
In the six games played Steyn handled the ball 94 times. He kicked the ball 21 times, passed the ball 31 times and carried the ball 42 times.
Kicking game - 22,3%
He kicked the ball 21 times. Circa 50% (11 kicks) gained the Sharks considerably territory or in one case lead to scoring of a try, 6 kicks were not effective and gained no territory and 4 kicks were poor = one of which was a penalty kick where he failed to find touch.
Effectiveness 55%.
Passing Game - 32,8%
Effectively the situation is that Steyn tends to pass once in respect of every 2 balls handled by him. Of the 31 balls passed - 9 passed balls were in the game where he played at flyhalf and 22 whilst playing at center.
His passing game is questionable since -
* his passes were frequently inaccurate leading to knocking on of balls by the recipient or even wild where the ball was just not reaching any players; and
* often enough to players who were in a worse position than him with no positive effects.
Part of the reason for the 11 ball possession losses by him stem from wayward and forward passes.
Effectiveness - 20%
Ball carries - 44,7%
Steyn tends to hang onto balls too much and try to much on his own. Not passing 44,7% of the balls is just not high enough and leads to predictability on his part.
Distance gained per carry
Steyn carried the ball 42 times for a total territory gain of 74 meters over the gain line. That represents an average gain of 1,8 meters per carry. The problem is that Steyn is predictable and runs straight at the first defender - which eases defense strategies of the opposition.
Totally ineffective with no clear benefits to the team.
Line breaks
The 42 carries produced no line breaks
Totally ineffective with no clear benefits to the team.
Defenders beaten
In the 42 ball carries by Steyn - he beat 8 defenders. in that he beat a defender 19% of the total ball carries.
Effectiveness - 20%
Off Loads
In carrying the ball 42 times - he off-loaded the ball on 2 occasions.
Not effective at all
Possession losses
There is a variety of reasons for possession losses = but they are in the main due to ball carrying. In the case of 42 carries Steyn lost possession of the ball 11 times. That represents 26.2% of all carries.
Very poor in ball protection and handling.
Tackling - Defense
In total Steyn made 39 tackles and missed 13 in the games played. An evlaution of the tackles actually made indicates that about 50% can be assessed as strong/good tackles and 50% as routine tackles where opposing players could pass or off-load balls in tackle situations.
The worrying factor is the missed tackle ratio of 25% of all attempted tackles. This is 15% higher than is acceptable for a backline player and raises serious question marks about Steyn's defense.
In analyzing the high percentage of missed tackles they are in the main due to Steyn;s deficiency in speed and the consequential mistiming of tackle attempts.
Defense really questionable.
Penalties Given away
The penalty count is much higher than in the case of other centers and is basically due to -
* hanging on to balls in tackle situations;
* dangerous and unacceptable tackles on opposing players; and
* going off-side in ordinary play
An unacceptable high number of penalties given away.
CONCLUSIONS
After analyzing the stats I leave it to members to decide whether Steyn's performance to date was acceptable or not.
I believe there are too many deficiencies in his performances to date to make a positive deduction insofar as performance is concerned and the player will have to improve drastically in most facets of play to earn a pass mark.
I expect nothing other from Mozart than his standard personal attacks, but bearing in mind the above - I would like to find out if he can fault the refining of the stats to give us a more realistic picture of Steyn's performance to date.
