Who is the best centre in Super League by the numbers?

Centre is widely regarded as one of the strongest positions in Super League but maybe not in 2022.

We’ve seen the likes of Jake Wardle and Harry Newman register just one appearance in 2022, whilst Will Hopoate of St Helens has been in and out of the side due to injury. Carlos Tuimavave has had similar struggles. Meanwhile, at Wigan, the Warriors have been forced into chopping and changing centres continually due to injuries and that won’t change following Zak Hardaker’s release.

Thus, when looking at the best centres in the league there has been something of an injury curse upon them. However, that hasn’t stopped us from looking at the numbers registered by the centres who have caught the eye the most so far in 2022.

So, here’s a statistical break down of some of the most eye catching centres in Super League so far this season:

Tries:
Mark Percival: 6
Toby King: 6
Guy Armitage: 5
Ricky Leutele: 4
Tim Lafai: 3
Corey Hall: 3
Josh Griffin: 2
Shaun Kenny-Dowall: 2

Try Assists:
Shaun Kenny-Dowall: 5
Josh Griffin: 3
Mark Percival: 2
Toby King: 2
Tim Lafai: 2
Ricky Leutele: 1
Corey Hall: 1
Guy Armitage: 0

Combined Tries and Assists:
Mark Percival: 8
Toby King: 8
Shaun Kenny-Dowall: 7
Ricky Leutele: 5
Josh Griffin: 5
Guy Armitage: 5
Tim Lafai: 5
Corey Hall: 4

Metres:
Mark Percival: 1042
Josh Griffin: 999
Shaun Kenny-Dowall: 963
Toby King: 894
Ricky Leutele: 842
Corey Hall: 714
Tim Lafai: 675
Guy Armitage: 588

Average Gain:
Josh Griffin: 8.26 metres per carry
Shaun Kenny-Dowall: 7.77 metres per carry
Toby King: 7.64 metres per carry
Mark Percival: 7.61 metres per carry
Ricky Leutele: 7.45 metres per carry
Guy Armitage: 6.84 metres per carry
Tim Lafai: 6.03 metres per carry
Corey Hall: 6.00 metres per carry

Tackle Busts:
Tim Lafai: 32
Mark Percival: 28
Shaun Kenny-Dowall: 26
Guy Armitage: 22
Corey Hall: 21
Ricky Leutele: 20
Toby King: 18
Josh Griffin: 15

Missed Tackle:
Corey Hall: 23
Mark Percival: 15
Josh Griffin: 14
Shaun Kenny-Dowall: 14
Guy Armitage: 12
Toby King: 9
Ricky Leutele: 5
Tim Lafai: 4

Errors:
Toby King: 16
Shaun Kenny-Dowall: 8
Josh Griffin: 7
Corey Hall: 7
Ricky Leutele: 5
Tim Lafai: 5
Mark Percival: 4
Guy Armitage: 4

Analysis:

You might be surprised by the inclusion of centres like Guy Armitage, Tim Lafai and Corey Hall in these rankings but all three have had strong seasons in 2022. Armitage’s try scoring record is up there with the best in the league in terms of centres whilst Tim Lafai has the most tackle busts of any centre in the league.

Corey Hall meanwhile has had a superb season since making the leap from Leeds back to Wakefield and has looked very accomplished on the left edge with Tom Johnstone. The stats perhaps don’t do him justice with 23 missed tackles being the most for a centre in Super League. However, he still registers a try involvement once every other game which is certainly a good average for a centre.

It’s telling that these three have the lowest average gain of the centres included, even Lafai despite his 32 tackle busts, struggles to make metres. Perhaps this is symptomatic of being in sides who are often on the back foot.

Shaun Kenny-Dowall’s stats seem to indicate he’s the best traditional centre – or winger’s centre if you like – leading the way in terms of assists with five. In fact, the number of assists being registered by the league’s top centres is surprisingly low suggesting that centres are more akin to strike players than provides in the modern game with the majority of winger tries coming from a fullback’s pass rather than one from a winger.

He and Hull FC counter-part Josh Griffin make the most metres per carry for centres. Griffin’s average of 8.26 is particularly impressive and more than Mark Percival despite the fact Percival has more metres to his name than both despite a lower average per carry. This shows that Percival is the most involved centre in the league and one who is back to scoring plenty of tries scoring six which is the most for a centre alongside Toby King.

He makes solid metres and has a number of tries to his name. He seems to be enjoying life at the John Smith’s Stadium.