8 May 2019

THE NUMBERS GAME: GIANTS VS ST HELENS

All the stats, key trends and information ahead of our Sunday Challenge Cup tie against St Helens

By Jack Robinson

The Giants welcome current Betfred Super League leaders St Helens to the John Smith’s Stadium on Sunday evening, as both look to progress to the next round of the Ladbrokes Challenge Cup. We analyse some of the stats of both sides ahead of the game.

Busting through the tackles

A standout stat for the Saints ahead of the fixture this weekend is the amount of tackle busts that they have had so far this season. The Saints have made 620 tackle busts so far this season, that is 49 more than anyone else in the competition, and 218 more than the Giants have managed so far this season. Many of those tackle busts have been by halfback Jonny Lomax, who will be key to the chances of the visitors this weekend. It is even more astonishing when you look at the stats of their tackle busts against Hull KR last weekend alone. 

Tackle busts against Hull KR last weekend

  • Tommy Makinson – 11
  • Jonny Lomax – 6
  • Kevin Naiqama – 5 
  • Alex Walmsley – 5
  • James Roby – 4

Coote is key for the Saints

You could pick pretty much anyone based off current form for the player to look out for, for the visitors. Lachlan Coote has taken the place of Ben Barba and has arguably helped the Saints side to perform even better.

The off-season recruit arrived in the Winter from the North Queensland Cowboys and has already had a huge impact.

Coote has eleven try assists to his name already this season, adding five tries too. The fullback has also taken up goal-kicking for his new side this season, kicking 51 out of his 73 attempts. Adding to that Coote has also made 1204 metres so far this season as well.

Making the metres

On April 11th the Giants faced a strong Castleford Tigers team, narrowly beating them 20-18. In that game, the team needed to make good metres to have a chance to keep the Tigers away from their line.

Both the Giants forwards and backs took their fair share of the ball throughout the game, as they manged to hold off the Tigers. 

Top Giants metre makers v Castleford Tigers (11.04.19)

Suaia Matagi – 172 meters

Jordan Turner – 141 meters

Jermaine McGilvary – 132 meters

Ukuma Ta’ai – 131 meters

Kruise Leeming – 99 meters

Super Darnell's Giant Carries

On the opposite side to St Helens’ Coote is the Giants’ 21-year-old fullback, Darnell McIntosh.

McIntosh himself has had a good start to the season, which included him signing a new contract.

The Giants fullback has made 1479 metres so far this season for his home-town club. That’s an average gain of 7.78 metres everytime he runs the ball. The Englishman has scored six tries of his own, whilst assisting nine for his teammates.

McIntosh has also made 13 clean breaks so far this season for the Giants. 

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