MLR – Crunching the Numbers at End of Season: We Pick a Canadian MLR XXIII and Look at Participation Numbers
We crunched the numbers to come up with an Editor’s pick of the BCRN Canadian MLR XXIII.
First we looked at the MLR First XV team of the week selections. These were the season results.
MLR First XV Team of the Week Selections
Ross Braude x3 Toronto Arrows – scrum half
Andrew Coe x2 New York Ironworkers – fullback
Matt Heaton x2 Rugby Atlanta – openside
Dewald Kotze Dallas Jackals – hooker
Robbie Povey Houston SaberCats – #10
Cole Keith New England Free Jacks – tighthead
Josh Larsen New England Free Jacks – second row
Andrew Quattrin New England Free Jacks – hooker
Reegan O’Gorman New England Free Jacks – second row
Kyle Baillie Old Glory DC – second row
Jack Shaw Rugby Atlanta – wing
Michael Smith San Diego Legion – blindside
Jason Higgins San Diego Legion – scrum half
Nakai Penny Seattle Seawolves – openside
Mason Flesch Toronto Arrows – second row
Lucas Rumball Toronto Arrows – openside
Mitch Richardson Toronto Arrows – centre
Jack McRogers Toronto Arrows – hooker
Tyler Rowland Toronto Arrows – tighthead
James O’Neill Toronto Arrows – openside
D’Shawn Bowen Toronto Arrows – wing
Ross Braude was selected 3 times, Andrew Coe twice and Matt Heaton twice. They automatically went into starting roles in the BCRN Canadian MLR XXIII. There were 18 other players who were selected once, that wasn’t an automatic selection to the team as there were a number of positional duplicates. Openside flanker, for example, had four candidates.
Next we looked at the players who had 10 or more starts for their team. Andrew Coe was the ironman here with 15 starts, Matt Heaton 14, but they were already selected. Mason Flesch was 14, Lucas Rumball was 14, Mitch Richardson 12, Cole Keith 12 they were also one time First XV selections, they went on the roster.
Players with over 10 Starts
15 Andrew Coe New York Ironworkers
14 Matt Heaton Rugby Atlanta
14 Mason Flesch Toronto Arrows
14 Lucas Rumball Toronto Arrows
12 Ross Braude Toronto Arrows
12 Mitch Richardson Toronto Arrows
11 Cole Keith New England Free Jacks
11 Conor Keys New England Free Jacks
11 Ben LeSage New England Free Jacks
10 Dewald Kotze Dallas Jackals
10 Shane O’Leary Toronto Arrows
Using the process above we compiled a list of 24 players but there were duplicates in several positions and no loosehead prop or #8.
Players who had been selected First XV or had over 10 starts for their team
1
2 Andrew Quattrin, Dewald Kotze, Jack McRogers
3 Cole Keith, Tyler Rowland
4 Mason Flesch, Reegan O’Gorman
5 Josh Larsen, Kyle Baillie, Conor Keys
6 Michael Smith
7 Matt Heaton, Lucas Rumball, James O’Neill, Nakai Penny
8
9 Ross Braude, Jason Higgins
10 Rob Povey, Shane O’Leary
11 D’Shawn Bowen
12 Mitch Richardson
13 Ben LeSage
14 Jack Shaw
15 Andrew Coe
We added another selection criteria to expand our search. We focused on players on teams advancing to the playoffs who had 6 or more appearances. That gave us 7 more players to consider.
Players on Playoff Teams (6 or more appearances)
Spencer Jones New England Free Jacks 13 (6+7) – centre
Foster DeWitt New England Free Jacks 11 (1+10) – loosehead
Isaac Olson New England Free Jacks 6 (0+6) – wing
Djustice Sears-Duru San Diego Legion 13 (2+11) – loosehead
Quinn Ngawati New York Ironworkers 10 (4+6) – wing
Cali Martinez Old Glory DC 11 (1+10) – loosehead
Gradyn Bowd Old Glory DC 13 (9+4) – #10
That produced a list of 31 players, still no #8 but this is where the data ended and selection choices were made.
Players who had been selected First XV or had over 10 starts for their team or over 6 appearances on a playoff bound team.
1 Foster Dewitt, Cali Martinez, Djustice Sears-Duru
2 Andrew Quattrin, Dewald Kotze, Jack McRogers
3 Cole Keith, Tyler Rowland
4 Mason Flesch, Reegan O’Gorman
5 Josh Larsen, Kyle Baillie, Conor Keys
6 Michael Smith
7 Matt Heaton, Lucas Rumball, James O’Neill, Nakai Penny
8
9 Ross Braude, Jason Higgins
10 Rob Povey, Shane O’Leary, Gradyn Bowd
11 D’Shawn Bowen, Isaac Olson
12 Mitch Richardson, Spencer Jones
13 Ben LeSage
14 Jack Shaw, Quinn Ngawati
15 Andrew Coe
So from 31 players that were narrowed down by performance numbers we came up with a BCRN Canadian MLR XXIII. We wanted the team to have a winning culture so we gave extra points to players who went through on playoff teams. We also wanted versatility so players who could play more than one position, got extra points. We used those two factors to break close ties on selection.
This is the final result and our reasoning. We thought positions 2, 3, 7, 13, 15 picked themselves, there wasn’t much doubt. For loosehead prop we went with the experience of DSD, the second row had a few candidates, we moved Kyle Baillie to #8 which left 4 candidates, we chose O’Gorman and Larsen to start and Mason Flesch as the reserve, Flesch can also play blindside flanker. Michael Smith was the only blindside specialist, there is a lot of depth at flanker so it was unfortunate that a couple of deserving players didn’t make the roster. Lucas Rumball was chosen as reserve as he can cover all backrow positions. The #10 selection is hard to pick but we went with Gradyn Bowd with Rob Povey as backup, he can also cover fullback. On the wings, another tough choice, but we went with two players who are advancing to the playoff round. Spencer Jones at inside centre with Mitch Richardson as reserve. On the bench Foster Dewitt can play all front row positions, including hooker.
BCRN Canadian MLR XXIII
1 Djustice Sears-Duru
2 Andrew Quattrin
3 Cole Keith
4 Reegan O’Gorman
5 Josh Larsen
6 Michael Smith
7 Matt Heaton
8 Kyle Baillie
9 Ross Braude
10 Gradyn Bowd
11 Isaac Olson
12 Spencer Jones
13 Ben LeSage
14 Quinn Ngawati
15 Andrew Coe
16 Foster Dewitt
17 Cali Martinez
18 Tyler Rowland
19 Mason Flesch
20 Lucas Rumball
21 Jason Higgins
22 Mitch Richardson
23 Rob Povey
Reserves
Dewald Kotze
Jack McRogers
Conor Keys
James O’Neill
Nakai Penny
Shane O’Leary
D’Shawn Bowen
Jack Shaw
More Number Crunching
We looked at the numbers for some more insights. Even though there are 72 names on the Canadian MLR spreadsheet, 7 players never set foot on the field, 5 more had only one game, 4 others had only two games and 4 more had over two games but no starts. When coming up with a number of how many Canadian players were involved in MLR in 2023, it depends on the criteria used, 65 who got on the field, 60 who got in more than one game, 58 who got to start at least one game, 35 who got on the field in at least half of their team’s games. The average over 18 weeks was 19 Canadian starters and 14 Canadian reserves, so 36 Canadian players took the field on average each week.
Spreadsheet (click for larger image)
