You said Ponga doesn’t dominate Edwards in any attacking category... except for try assists and line break assists of course, which you conveniently overlooked and are arguably of most importance/value.
So essentially, you made a comment which was proven wrong, then removed (cherry picked) some stats to make it look like Ponga and Edwards are on a similar level attack wise. Also made a point to say Edwards is far superior defensively. So basically, what you’re alluding to is Edwards > Ponga, which is a ridiculous viewpoint as not even diehard Penrith fans would think that.
Fwiw, the gap between Ponga and Edwards in attack is far greater than the gap between them in defence.
Oh, and what makes tries more important than try assists? Serious question. I mean, hypothetically, would you take the centre with 20 try assists or the winger outside of him with 20 tries? By the sounds of things you’d take the latter, and that would be idiotic.
I haven't been proven wrong about anything. I've consistently from the start said that Ponga has superior stats in try assists and line break assists, if you can prove it otherwise please do so. Also I have never "alluded" that Ponga is a better player than Edwards, I have maintained all along that if you take their games and stats so far in their entirety they are playing at similar levels at the moment. Again if you have any proof to the contrary please provide it.
The original comment which sparked this debate was that the only fullbacks
playing at a similar level to Ponga are Tuivasa-Sheck and Trbojevic. I disagree I think Tuivasa-Sheck, Trbojevic plus Edwards and even Dufty are playing at a
similar level at the moment. If you look at
all of the stats of all fullbacks you will see that Ponga is one of the best in attack, there's no doubt. But he is not streets ahead of the other fullbacks mentioned, he is a little bit ahead in some stats and a little bit behind in other stats. However in defence which is also a very important part of the game he is behind
all fullbacks except Holmes. He is only a tiny bit behind and on par with Tuivasa-Sheck, but a fair way behind the others mentioned. He has missed three times as many tackles as Edwards and nearly five times as many as Dufty. So if you want to compare the fullbacks on
all aspects of the game and not just concentrate on attack and try assists then the fact that Ponga's defence is not as strong as the others pulls him back to the field as it also does with Tuivasa-Sheck to make them all overall be playing at a similar level. Some better in attack, some better in defence but when taking all stats together as complete footballers the mentioned players are pretty similar.
What makes tries more important than try assists? Well besides the obvious that you don't get points on the scoreboard for a try assist, you need to know what the definition is and how they are "calculated" which seems to be a grey area. For instance take Latrell Mitchell's try last night. Do you honestly think the player who caught and passed the ball to Mitchell deserves as much credit as Mitchell? If a playmaker does his job with one of the basic skills of the game, passing, hits a backrower who runs a great line and uses footwork and power to break the defence to score does the playmaker deserve as much credit as the backrower? If a player puts in a cross field kick and a winger times his run perfectly to out leap his opponent then dives over the cover defence to put the ball down one handed with the rest of his body in the air over the sideline does this kicker deserve as much credit as the winger? Does your centre you mention above deserve as much credit for catching and passing if the winger has to then use his pace, step and power to beat his man then ground the ball with his fingertips while being driven into touch by the fullback coming across in cover? Not all tries need assistance either, there can be individual tries, tries from kick returns, tries where a player knocks a ball free in a tackle then picks up to score etc etc. Don't these individual efforts that were done solely by the skill, strength, determination etc of an individual player deserve more credit than rewarding basic skills like drawing and passing or passing to a player running a hot line? Sure try assists are very important and there are circumstances where the try assist did much more than the actual try scorer but unless you know definitively what was actually required of the assist and exactly what the definition of a try assist is then a try will in most circumstances be more important.
