Defence matters: The NRL’s toughest tackling teams

More and more, the focus on tackles is not who makes the most, but who misses the least.

2021 has seen more of a skew to that pattern of statistical thinking as clubs grapple with a faster style of play created by the new rules and record scorelines as a result week after week.

Those teams who can tackle better than the rest give themselves an enormous advantage week after week, and it shows, with six of the top eight teams on the tackle efficiency leaderboard finishing in the overall top eight.

Tackle efficiency is worked out by missed tackles as a percentage of a team's total attempted tackles.

Here, we go over the top five teams when it comes to tackling, before revealing the full list, with the final list loosely reflecting ladder position, revealing again just how important this is.

Manly Sea Eagles

7280 tackles made, 615 missed, 92.21% efficiency

The Sea Eagles may surprise some landing on this list. They haven't exactly based their game around their defensive work this season, with Tom Trbojevic leading an attack which sat close enough to the NRL.

Pair that with a disastrous first couple of weeks, and it becomes even more of a surprise.

But when you look at the number of times they have held opposition teams to low scores, and run through some of the names in their side, maybe it's not such a surprise.

Defensive organisation starts at the back, and Trbojevic is one of the best, while the middle third includes Jake Trbojevic, who is one of the best tacklers in the game. He is backed up by Martin Taupau and the rapidly improving Toafofoa Sipley and Taniela Paseka, while Haumole Olokau'atu and Josh Schuster have both been excellent on the edges.

The right centre position has become potentially the most important in a defensive line though, and Morgan Harper has become one of the best defensive centres in the competition.

As much as it doesn't make sense for Manly to be this high, once you run through the names, it does.

New Zealand Warriors

8674 tackles made, 725 tackles missed, 92.29%

The Warriors are the only non-finals team to appear in the list.

While the Auckland-based side don't have the consistency or razzle-dazzle to go with the competition's top teams, they do the little things right, week after week.

Nowhere was that more evident than a period at the back end of the season when they won a number of games on the hop despite being hopelessly outpowered and outmanned, down injuries and suspensions, and with a centre in Euan Aitken playing second-row.

The Warriors have every right to have dropped the ball defensively, but like the way they complete sets and have high possession tallies, they do the little things right, which is a credit to coach Nathan Brown, despite the immense criticism he receives.

Tohu Harris is the leader in the middle third, but the aforementioned Aitken has solidified an edge all season, while their systems allow all players to do the job, no matter how often their combinations seem to change due to injury and suspension.

Proving how much work the team have had to do, they have made more tackle attempts than any team apart from the St George Illawarra Dragons, as will be revealed on the full list at the end of this article.

Parramatta Eels

8210 tackles, 647 misses, 92.7%

The Eels may have wound up sixth place on the NRL ladder as their defence all but failed them during the final two months of the campaign, but they were excellent in the first half of the season.

While Penrith were unquestionably the best defensive team through the first half of the season, Brad Arthur's side only let in more than 20 points twice in the first ten weeks, which, given the rules and nature of high-scoring matches this year, was a phenomenal effort.

They limited the Storm to 12 points in Round 2, the Sharks to four points in Round 3 and the Roosters to 18 in Round 9.

It's little surprise some of their defensive issues coincided with hooker Reed Mahoney's injury. He made 763 tackles at over 96 per cent, despite playing just 17 games. He was a rock in the middle of the park for Parramatta alongside Nathan Brown and Junior Paulo, whose work rate increased dramatically the longer the season went on, his minutes going up, but his level of output and consistency also increasing.

Isaiah Papali'i, who was the signing of the season, solidified their edge, while the defensive combinations out wide did a solid job for much of the season.

South Sydney Rabbitohs

8460 tackles, 609 missed, 93.16%

The first team who have managed to click over the 93 per cent mark, the Rabbitohs were widely and routinely criticised for their supposed defensive fragilities during the first half of the season.

For a team who let in over 50 points twice this season, only to go on and make the grand final, the improvement has been dramatic.

Their regular-season numbers maybe shouldn't come as such a surprise given the way they fought with the Penrith Panthers in the opening week of the finals, but this is a team who, rightly or wrongly, have copped a reputation as an attacking weapon.

But Wayne Bennett's teams know how to defend. That is the short and skinny of it.

Over the second half of the season, since that blowout loss to the Panthers, the Rabbitohs have only conceded 201 points across 12 games at less than 17 points per game.

Cameron Murray is the man you immediately point at as the defensive leader, but Mark Nicholls and Tevita Tatola have consistently improved, while Damien Cook is the New South Wales Origin hooker. Adam Reynolds and Cody Walker are excellent defensively for halves, while all of the outside backs have worked on combinations and trust throughout the season.

They say defence wins premierships, and it's not why you'd expect the Rabbitohs to win the grand final, but it might just get them over the line.

Newcastle Knights

8460 tackles made, 609 tackles missed, 93.28% efficiency

The surprise winners of this category - the Knights.

When you stop and think about it though, a team who made the finals despite having the competition's second-worst attacking record had to be doing something - or a lot - right in defence, and here is the definitive proof.

They tackled themselves to an absolute standstill.

Virtually every victory they had was based on the defence and structures put in place by Adam O'Brien. Jayden Brailey led the way at over 96 per cent, while David Klemmer, Daniel Saifiti, Jacob Saifiti and Connor Watson were all north of 90 per cent.

Their defensive strength becomes even more outstanding when you consider the injuries they had in key positions, and the fact the organisation at the back swapped hands multiple times.

And now for the full list.

The Cronulla Sharks were the team who wound up last, more than a full percentage point behind the North Queensland Cowboys, while the Bulldogs were heavily skewed from their position given their reliance on defending well and limited time with the football.

The Warriors, who fought tooth and nail to make the finals, are also heavily skewed from their position, while the Titans and Roosters are the two top eight teams to miss out on the top eight in this list.

Full team tackle efficiency