Friday, 5 April 2024

Saints Ahoy - Visualisations from game 4 and the season to date

(Delayed due to extreme RL busyness)

L was slightly concerned that I hadn't stated that I was a Saints fan quite loudly enough in my previous posts. I think it may become obvious throughout this summary of the Saints vs Salford match. All winning runs have to come to an end, and 44 years is a pretty long time to not be beaten at home (https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-league/68501496 / https://www.saintsrlfc.com/matches/2024/first-team/saints-v-salford-red-devils-2024-03-08/) and they needed Percival to get sent off for goodness knows what to beat Saints. 

That does explain why Percival is, once again, alone in the dendrogram. Dendrogram - players are in 4 groups. A large group with Blake, Bennison, Clark, Dodd, Lomax, Makinson, Sironen, Welsby and Whitley, then a second group of Bell, Delaney and Wingfield, a group of Matautia, Knowles and Walmsley, and Percival on his own. 

It shows you that Sironen put one heck of a shift in to cover for Saints being a man down. 

This match has an interesting effect on the "up to the end of game 4" charts. 

When Saints score still hasn't really built up into an informative pile of data, but point-scorers (no division between tries and kicks) is starting to: Percival has the most point-scoring moments with 10, followed by Welsby, Dodd and Makinson on 4. Then there is Whitley on 3, then Walmsley, Matautia, Lomax, Knowles, Clark and Bennison. Percival having the most moments makes sense, with him being the kicker (if only he could convert more often), and Dodd and Makinson who can also kick makes sense, Welsby up there highlights his wonderful poaching abilities. Whitley on 3 is an unexpected bonus. He's working out well so far, isn't he? 

Point-scoring moments present for also highlights those players, and makes it clear Clark is definitely first choice hooker. Point-scoring moments present for. Whitley, Welsby, Makinson, Lomax and Dodd in the joint lead with 31, then Sironen (who really is putting in some shifts), Mbye is at the bottom with 3, then Davies on 4 and Knowles on 6. 

I do like how high up some of the academy grads are. I mean the most recent crop, not some of the older heads (help, Lomax is now an older head). 

The matrix is starting to look complicated: The dark purple patch is Whitley, Welsby, Makinson, Lomax and Dodd. The thing that catches my eye is that Bennison is a much darker orange than I would expect for where he is in the diagram. It suggests not on often, put plays with the heavy point scorers when he does. Sironen is at the centre of the diagram. Around him are (starting from top and moving clockwise) Dodd, Clark, Lomax, Blake, Percival, Whitley, Makinson and Welsby. The outer ring are Matautia, Lees, Walmsley, Bell, Hurrell, Delaney, Wingfield and Bennison. The network diagram does give a nice matchday 17 - Sironen, Dodd, Clark, Lomax, Blake, Percival, Whitley, Makinson, Welsby, Matautia, Lees, Walmsley, Bell, Hurrell, Delaney, Wingfield and Bennison.

Because Salford scored several points, there's now enough data to have some solid numbers for "players present when Saints concede". The only problem is it won't include Percival as much as it maybe should given his sending off was sort of responsible for some of the concessions. Whitley, Welsby, Sironen, Makinson, Lomax, Dodd, Delaney and Clark are present for the most with 10, followed by Blake, Bennison and Bell with 9, Wingfield with 8, Percival with 4, Knowles and Hurrell on 2 and Matautia with 1. Percival is also a darker colour than expected on the concession matrix. The dark purple patch is Whitley, Welsby, Sironen, Makinson, Lomax, Dodd, Delaney and Clark. Percival is a darker sand colour, even though he is at the top of the diagram where I expect much paler colours. The network diagram for players present when Saints concede only has 11 players on. In the centre, like binary stars, are Welsby and Lomax, they are surrounded by (clockwise from the top) Sironen, Clark, Delaney, Blake, Bennison, Dodd, Makinson, Whitley and Bell. The diagrams are mostly making me appreciate Sironen at lot more. There's a reason why Saints fans rate him.
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