redfiona99

Game 25 in 2024 was an unfortunate loss to Hull KR - https://www.saintsrlfc.com/matches/2024/first-team/saints-v-hull-kr-2024-08-24-2/?swcfpc=1

I don't care that Hull KR were the coming force, I don't like losing to them. Blake getting a yellow card and then Makinson getting a red didn't help, although I'm pleased that Whitby got his first try and conversion (and on his debut too).

The game-specific figures don't really add much so I'm not sharing them.

Whitby's two point-scoring moments move him to the bottom of the middle of the "who scores for Saints?" diagram.

Bar chart showing who scored for Saints up to game 25. Whitby is 15th out of 23 players on the diagram. It is still heavily dominated by Percival because he both scores tries and kicks penalties and conversions for Saints.

That might be a bad sign that either Saints's scoring pool wasn't diverse in 2024, or that they needed to score more points.

When do Saints score?

Bar chart of when Saints score. Entirely accidentally, the peak for the minute with the most points scored (minute 50 with 6 point-scoring moments) is in the middle of the chart. It makes it look a bit Gaussian in distribution when it really, really is not.

That Saints didn't score while Blake or Makinson were off the pitch due to their cards means they maintain their positions on the "Who is present when Saints score?" chart.

Bar chart of who is present when Saints score. Blake is still in the lead. Whitby is on the chart. He scored both of the point-scoring moments he has been present for.

The matrix chart is back to being dark in one corner (bottom right) fading as it goes up and left.

Matrix of who is present together when Saints score. Blake, Welsby, Dodd, Sironen, Hurrell, Percival, Bell, Clark, Makinson, Lomax, Mbye make up the darkest section. Next is Lees, Delaney, Matautia, Whitley, Batchelor and Bennison. Then there is a slightly paler section (Wingfield and Walmsley), before a darker area for Knowles, Ritson, Stephens, Robertson, and Davies, before the palest section of Paasi, Royle, Burns, Vaughan and Whitby.

The network graph, interestingly, doesn't quite match. Whitby and Vaughan aren't present on the network graph, and Bennison is clearly outside the "frequently plays together" central blob, while he's in the second darkest area of the matrix chart. Davies has moved the other way.

Network graph of which Saints players are present together when Saints score. There are two less connect groups outside the main blob. At the top, from left to right, are Burns, Robertson, Ritson, Stephens, Paasi and Royle. Royle has more connections to the main blob that to the other players at the top. Burns is similarly out on the other side. At the bottom, from left to right are Walmsley, Bennison and Wingfield. Bennison is either about to be subsumed into the main blob or about to escape from it.

In an amusing coincidence, both matches vs Hull KR in 2024 featured Hull KR having the same number of point-scoring moments.

Bar chart showing number of point-scoring moments against Saints. Leigh Leopards, the second time, still have the most in one match with 15.

When do Saints concede?

The evidence for "in the last 10 minutes" is really building up.

Bar chart showing when Saints concede. Minute 76 has the most point-conceding moments with 7, and while there are a couple of minutes earlier with relatively many (minute 11 and 32 with 5 each), there a real cluster from minute 70 onwards.

Who is present when Saints concede?

Bar chart showing point-conceding moments present for. Blake has the most, then there is a long gap to Lomax who is present for the next most. Wingfield and Burns, who have hardly played, are present for the least.

Understandably, because he is also present for the most scoring moments, Blake is top of this chart. There's a large drop off until you hit Lomax in second.

The "who is present when Saints concede" matrix looks like the top left quadrant of a Roman mosaic of the sun. If nothing else, it's pretty.

Matrix chart of who is present when Saints concede. The overall view is very mosaic-y. The orange areas mixing with the pale areas make it look like the top left quadrant of a Roman mosaic of the sun. It is a regular regimented pattern.

I think it looks like that because of how often Blake played with some of the "second most frequently playing" cluster of players (Robertson, Davies, Ritson, Vaughan, Stephens, Paasi, Batchelor, Knowles and Bennison).

The network graph is less spread out than equivalent one for point-scoring moments, with most players being in the central blob. The players that stick out are Wingfield, Walmsley, Royle, Whitby and Burns. Although there are a ring of players that are either coming out of the main blob or being eaten by it (Knowles, Bennison, Batchelor, Vaughan, Paasi, Stephens and Davies)