It's A Grand Old Flag...
Last updated: Sep 17, 2018, 6:51AM | Published: Sep 17, 2018, 5:45AM
It was a jam-packed weekend of sporting action, and to celebrate another great round of sport we've picked out the key points that made *this* weekend so great.
We'll take a look through the weekend as Melbourne made their first Preliminary Final in 18 years, James Maloney's kicking game went missing and we bare witness to another wild round of the English Premier League, plus much more.
This is Data Road Trip - investigating the key data points and numbers that formed what we saw in the week that was in sports.
18 Long Years
The Melbourne Demons are just one game away from the big dance of the AFL Grand Final after a resounding 33 point win over Hawthorn on Friday night, making their first Preliminary Final in 18 years. Before Friday night, Melbourne had lost 15 of its previous 16 games against Hawthorn, its only win coming in round 20, 2016.
Jake Melksham unloads a bomb!#AFLFinals pic.twitter.com/QfXpIiUOf2
— AFL (@AFL) September 14, 2018
Max Gawn also made history on Friday night, breaking Todd Goldstein's 2015 record of 1058 hitouts in a season as the Demons ran riot late to beat the Hawks.
The Pies Get Their Chance
Collingwood will get their shot at reigning Premiers Richmond, after defeating Greater Western Sydney by 10 points on Saturday night. It was a very even contest statistically, but the real difference maker was the Pies winning the contested ball count 158-136. It's set up a blockbuster encounter Friday night, which has already sold out.
Maloney's AWOL Boot
When looking at the key moments that shaped Week 1 of the finals, we highlighted James Maloney's elite kicking game. His 40/20 that swung momentum, in particular. However, that kicking game never came on Friday night. His first kick triggered a seven-tackle set that ended in a Sharks try while he only found 81 kicking metres compared to 324 metres the week before.
James Maloney kicked for 324 metres on 13 kicks with 5 long kicks finding space last week - arguably won them the game.
— Jason Oliver (@JasonNRL) September 15, 2018
He managed just 81 metres on 4 kicks & only 1 found space last night.
Poor completions not only gave up possession, but restricted one of their best weapons.
The halfbacks of losing finals sides have copped it from every angle, and it's not always been fair. But Maloney can't escape what was far from his best overall performance on Friday.
Reynolds For Three!
Adam Reynolds had kicked 11 field goals throughout his 156-game career before Saturday night, so he's no stranger to the one-pointer. But kicking three in a single game, that's entered him into a very small group.
John Smion and Jason Taylor both kicked 3 field goals in a game in 1997. They were the last players to do so until Adam Reynolds tonight.
— Andrew Ferguson (@AndrewRLP) September 15, 2018
They are the only 3 players to achieve this feat since 1989#NRLFinals #NRL
With the game on the line three times in 11 minutes, Reynolds split the posts every time. He came up with the clutch plays that are needed to win finals matches while the Dragons looked lost in trying to respond late in the piece. If their game is tied heading into the final moments against the Storm in Melbourne next week, we know who the Rabbitohs will be feeding the ball to.
Defence Wins Premierships
We're down to the final four teams with the preliminary's and grand final looking like defensive arm-wrestles. The Roosters, Storm, Sharks and Rabbitohs are the four best defensive teams in the competition. Conceding just 14.9 points per game, the Roosters are the pick of the bunch while the Rabbitohs come in at fourth at 18.4 points per game.
Meanwhile, the Storm ends yet another season towards the list of elite defences in at second conceding 15.6 points per game. Their opponents this week, the Sharks, are just behind them with 17.8 points conceded per game.
Top Four Tradition Continues
With the top four teams on the ladder after the home and away season all advancing to the grand final qualifiers, a long-standing premiership trend continues. No side in the NRL era has ever finished outside of the top four and gone on to win the premiership.
For a moment, it felt like the Warriors and Broncos might make some noise, but they were handled in Week 1. Likewise, the Panthers and Dragons went on to lose in Week 2. With all four of the clubs remaining recent premiership winners (within five years), we should have known this wouldn't be the year the trend would break.
Premier League, Round 5
Let's take a look back at the weekend of Premier League action, with statistics taken from our friends at Opta.
- There have been more goals scored in Premier League games between Tottenham and Liverpool than in any other fixture in the competition (152).
- Liverpool have won their opening five games of a top-flight season for the third time in their history (also 1990-91 and 1978-79).
- David Silva has scored his 50th Premier League goal, becoming the fifth player to do so for Manchester City (Aguero, Toure, Tevez and Dzeko).
- Since his Premier League debut in August 2012, Eden Hazard has been directly involved in more goals than any other midfielder in the competition (73 goals, 41 assists).
- All four of Granit Xhaka’s Premier League goals for Arsenal have come from outside the box.
- Romelu Lukaku has scored 20 goals in 39 Premier League apps for Man Utd; only three players have reached 20 PL goals for the Red Devils in fewer games than the Belgian - Ruud van Nistelrooy (26 games), Robin van Persie (32) and Dwight Yorke (34).
- Burnley haven’t won an away top-flight game in the month of September since 1974, when they beat Liverpool – in nine games since, they’ve scored twice and conceded 26 goals (P9 W0 D2 L7).
- Since the start of 2018, only Mohamed Salah (23) has had a hand in more Premier League goals than Marko Arnautovic (16 - nine goals, seven assists).
