Telstra Tracker: Saab off to flying start in 2022

Manly winger Jason Saab is widely viewed as one of the fastest players in the game, and data gathered from the opening round of the 2022 Telstra Premiership showed that once again.

Despite the Sea Eagles going down to Penrith in Round 1, Telstra Tracker data clocked Saab at a maximum speed of 36.0 km/h — well down on last year's season-high of 38.0 km/h — but still high enough to claim top spot this so far this year.

Cowboys fullback Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow came in second with a maximum speed of 34.8 km/h with Dragons winger Cody Ramsey (34.5 km/h) rounding out the top three from Matt Dufty (34.1 km/h) and Dominic Young (34.0 km/h).

Newcastle's stunning upset over the Roosters at the Sydney Cricket Ground also showed up prominently throughout the data, with four players — Adam Clune (10.1 kilometres), Enari Tuala (9.89 km), Bradman Best (9.3 km) and Kalyn Ponga (9.15 km) all sitting inside the top seven for total distance covered.

Best also finished top of all players for high-speed distance (751 metres) with his teammate Tuala (677 metres) coming in at second. High-speed distance measures metres covered a speed which is greater than 20 kilometres per hour.

In the NRLW competition, it was the Parramatta Eels who stood out in their win over the Titans on Sunday afternoon — dominating the majority of categories as they dug deep to earn their second win of the year.

Tiana Penitani, Botille Vette-Welsh and Abbi Church all featured inside the top five players for nearly every category across the board, although former Olympic athlete and Titans fullback Evania Pelite once again stole the show as she came in top of the competition for sprint and high speed distance.

NRL Telstra Tracker: Round 1

Total Distance Covered

1. Adam Clune (Knights) — 10,114 metres
2. Enari Tuala (Knights) — 9,890 metres
3. Luke Keary (Roosters) — 9,775 metres

Relative Distance

1. Mitch Kenny (Panthers) — 116.1 metres/minute
2. Brandon Smith (Storm) — 105.9 metres/minute
3. Victor Radley (Roosters) — 104.8 metres/minute
4. Adam Clune (Knights) — 102.3 metres/minute

Maximum Velocity

1. Jason Saab (Sea Eagles) — 36.0 km/h
2. Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow (Cowboys) — 34.8 km/h
3. Cody Ramsey (Dragons) — 34.5 km/h

NRLW Telstra Tracker: Round 3

Sprint Distance

1. Evania Pelite (Titans) — 297 metres
2. Tiana Penitani (Eels) — 290 metres
3. Abbi Church (Eels) — 271 metres

Total Distance

1. Lauren Brown (Broncos) — 7291 metres
2. Emma Tonegato (Dragons) — 7064
3. Grace Griffin (Titans) — 7055 metres

High Speed Distance

1. Evania Pelite (Titans) — 688 metres
2. Abbi Church (Eels) — 556 metres
3. Tiana Penitani (Eels) — 527 metres