Very glad we beat Leeds to his signature. Very consistent, good in defence, aggressive and a very big attacking threat, something we’ve missed in the back row since Currie’s peak years.

Yes ... the more you question stats the more you see their limitations & how they can be used.

I don’t normally bother with stats, but after been at Halton Hospital getting surgery on on my busted elbow.. injured by playing rugby.. I was looking at the Betfred website.. I agree with third man in counting as tackles been a bit misleading because by the time the 3rd man joins, the tackles pretty much completed.. if Yates is joining I fear for Philbin getting much game time next season..

I think this is a really good post. I suspect we have not seen any major change in Philbin's performance over the last few years. But what we are seeing is a much stronger pack combined with much higher levels of motivation / effort and better coaching. So Philbin's performance looks the poorer by comparison.

Perhaps we should bask in the sunshine of a pack that is getting better by the week with ( hopefully ) Yates coming in, and the younger props coming through later on, rather than look back to the gloomy period of the last few years.

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Do you mean Philbins performance this season look poorer? If that’s case shouldn’t he be raising his levels to match the other forwards.. or has he now reached his peak and he can’t improve on what he is doing.. Philbins defence can be sloppy at times..

i think philbin's best performances this year came at left second row, the saints game was his best game as a middle