Dearden’s record-breaking effort revealed in Telstra Tracker data

Author: NRL.com
Timestamp: Wed 14 Sep 2022, 12:44 PM

North Queensland playmaker Tom Dearden’s tireless effort in his side’s golden point victory over the Sharks in Finals Week 1 set a new record as the highest total distance ever recorded by a player on the Telstra Tracker.

Across his 93 minutes at PointsBet Stadium, Dearden – who has featured regularly at the top of the total distance category through 2022 – travelled a phenomenal 11,344 metres, eclipsing anything achieved by a player since Tracker data started being collected in 2019.

The sheer effort required in that match is reflected by the top 10 spots in the total distance category all being taken up by players from the Cowboys and Sharks, with all four of the starting halves featuring, alongside both starting hookers.

Chad Townsend was the closest to Dearden, finishing with 11,203 metres, while Matt Moylan was the next best on 10,966 metres.

In terms of metres gained per minute on the field, Dearden and Townsend both featured in the top 10 as well, alongside teammates Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow and Coen Hess.

Raiders centre Sebastian Kris led the way for distance travelled at speeds, topping the round for sprint distance (distance at speeds above 25 km/h) with 212 metres and finishing second in high speed distance (above 20 km/h) with 748 metres.

Cowboys wing Kyle Feldt topped the latter category with 752 metres of high speed running.

Cronulla fullback Will Kennedy registered the top speed for Finals Week 1, maxing out at 33.9 km/h.

Kennedy explodes into the gap

In week four of the NRL Telstra Women’s Premiership, Dragons prop Holli Wheeler led the way in relative distance achieved, clocking up 94.2 metres/minute.

In her 58 minutes on the field Wheeler managed 11 carries, with her relative distance ranking her just head of Newcastle’s Tiana Davison and Dragons teammate Keele Browne.

In a busy day out in her side’s golden point win over the Broncos, Browne also achieved the round’s top total distance of 7,596 metres and the equal-top high speed distance (above 17.5 km/h), tied with Newcastle back Kiana Takairangi on 605 metres.

Dragons players occupied all top five spots in the total distance category.

Eels back Tiana Penitani hit top speed at 29.8 km/h, while Shaylee Bent and Kalosipani Hopoate (both 26.6 km/h) were the only two forwards to crack the top 10.