Missed tackles

When a player has an opportunity to tackle an attacker with the ball, and either falls off the tackle or misses him completely. 

Missed tackles are a far more revealing NRL stat than tackles, as it is a useful yardstick of how well a team's defence is functioning.

Typically, it is a team's halves that have the highest number of missed tackles. This is because they are the smallest players who defend in the line, and see a high proportion of offensive traffic coming their way.

When not only halves but forwards are missing a high number of tackles, it is a bad sign for the defence.

Example: “The Parramatta Eels conceded 36 points against the St. George Illawarra Dragons, largely because they missed 42 tackles.” 

Another great stat for NRL punters to follow, as it is telling of not only how good or bad a team's defence is, but how often individual players miss tackles.

This can be revealing for not only margin and total points over/under punters, but those who like to bet on markets such as first try scorer.

If a certain player is consistently missing tackles week-on-week, opposition coaches will no doubt instruct their players to run his way, and therefore why missed tackles can influence first try scorer punters.

Benchmark: A team who misses over 30 tackles on average per game is considered to have a poor defence.