Salford Red Devils suffered defeat to Leeds on Easter Monday however there were still some impressive stats coming from the performance and we’ve broken them down in these week’s ‘Stat Pack’.
Daniel Murray
Prop-forward Daniel Murray started his first game of the 2018 season for the Red Devils after impressing on loan with Halifax RLFC and he’s our ‘player in focus’ this week.
Murray worked hard in defence making 30 tackles throughout the afternoon which was only bested by Logan Tomkins (41), Ben Nakubuwai (33) and Ryan Lannon (31). The youngster didn’t miss a single tackle in what was an impressive start to his 2018 for Salford.
And, it wasn’t just in defence where Murray stood strong making a total of 65 metres in his 11 carries and successfully busting two tackles. Following his performance, the competition for places in the pack is as strong as ever.
Yardage by the backs
Junior Sa’u is consistently one of the strongest runners in the Salford side and this weekend at Leeds was no difference with the Kiwi averaging 7.6 metres per carry.
However, it wasn’t just Sa’u who impressed with his yardage in attack with winger Jake Bibby also averaging 7.6 metres per carry. Bibby made seven carries while Sa’u amounted 10 carries.
Josh Jones averaged with the highest average gain in the forwards with seven metres and also made the most tackle busts with four.
Attempts to break Leeds down
Salford spent some considerable time on the Leeds line and players like Kris Welham and George Griffin both managed to earn quick play-the-balls.
Derrell Olpherts was a handful for Brian McDermott’s side as he managed to earn two penalties, a quick play-the-ball, a tackle bust and a successful offload.
Rob Lui attempted to penetrate the Rhinos defence with a range of kicks including two low kicks and three bombs.
