Missed tackles badger James
RYAN James’s efforts to inspire his side by playing big minutes is exposing a doubleedged sword, with the Gold Coast skipper’s defence coming under the microscope.
In six games so far this season, 106kg prop James has averaged playing an impressive 76 minutes.
However, the man who has been a rock in the Titans’ defensive line for years has emerged as a surprise frontrunner in the NRL-wide missed tackles column.
Last year, he missed 35 tackles across 22 games. This year, his tally has raced to 24 after just six matches, taking his average to four misses a game, up from 1.6 in 2017.
At the same time, his average tackles successfully made have dropped from 34.2 a game to 30.8.
While tackling guru Trevor Gillmeister openly says he doesn’t read too much into statistics, he has noticed a flaw in James’s game.
“He tends to get on his heels a bit sometimes when he gets fatigued and he tries to grab them (the ball carrier),” he told the Bulletin.
“A lot of big blokes do that when they get fatigued. That’s why the little blokes try to target them when they get tired.
“If you get flat-footed, you tend to grab. I’m not getting too technical but that’s basically what it is.”
Gillmeister, who accepted coach Garth Brennan’s invitation to work with the
Titans last week, challenged James to be more than just a workhorse.
“He has got a high workrate for a big bloke,” he said.
“I would just like to see him be a bit more aggressive when he runs the footy: run over a couple of people. Just be a bit more aggressive but that’s easier said than done.”
Before Round 8, of all players with three or more games to their name, seven sit clear as the worst offenders on the missed tackle front and James is among them.
His average had sat at 4.8 before he pulled off his first clean sheet of the year against the Cowboys on Saturday, when he made 38 tackles without missing one.