NRL: 2022, Ryan Papenhuyzen, Telstra Tracker, Storm flyer dominating Round 2 of Telstra Premiership competition

Author: NRL.com
Timestamp: Thu 24 Mar 2022, 09:52 AM

Storm star Ryan Papenhuyzen's match-winning field goal might have grabbed the headlines from Round 2 but there was far more to the fullback's dominance than just the game deciding play.

Despite coach Craig Bellamy admitting his star number one was still working his way back from a foot injury suffered in the pre-season, Papenhuyzen starred in a number of key categories across the Telstra Tracker data — headlined by his 821 high speed metres (metres covered at a speed greater than 20 km/h).

Papenhuyzen was the only player to top the 800-metre mark for high speed distance — with Sea Eagles winger Reuben Garrick (795) and Knights outside back Enari Tuala (712) rounding out the top three — while he also finished fifth in sprint distance and eighth in total distance run across the round.

Elsewhere, Newcastle's strong start to the year continues to come through in the numbers with several players featuring highly in this week's data.

Tuala (712), Dane Gagai (707) and Bradman Best (705) all finished inside the top five players for the week in terms of high speed distance, while Adam Clune (9,713 metres) and Enari Tuala (9,664 metres) finished second and third respectively for total distance covered.

Sea Eagles flyer Jason Saab further cemented his claims as the game's quickest player by chalking up a maximum velocity of 37.4 km/h against the Roosters — over two kilometres an hour quicker than any other player in the round.

The best NRLW plays from Round 4

In the NRLW competition, the Telstra Tracker data presented an intriguing insight into how several teams performed, with data for two of the weekend's losing sides — Brisbane and Parramatta — standing out more than some of the winners.

Despite their respective two and one-point defeats, several Broncos and Eels players led the way in the data for the round.

Parramatta had three of the top four players in total distance covered (with the other Brisbane's Lauren Brown); the Broncos had two of the top three in terms of high speed distance covered, and Parramatta winger Tiana Penitani topped the maximum velocity charts with a high speed of 31.6 km/h.

Interestingly, Brisbane and Parramatta will meet this weekend in the final round of the NRLW regular season with both sides capable of sealing a finals berth with a win.