Defensive effectiveness can be measured in many ways. NRL.com looks at which teams and players had the best defence in Round 5 of the NRL Telstra Premiership.
The Brisbane Broncos were forced to make a whopping 403 tackles in their 10-7 loss to the Canterbury Bulldogs on Thursday night – by far the most tackles made by a team in Round 5 of the Telstra Premiership.
The St George Illawarra Dragons made the second-most tackles of the round with 366, while the Storm made 362 tackles – many of which were on their own tryline against the Penrith Panthers.
The Bulldogs missed the least tackles of Round 5 with 333 tackles made and just 20 missed against the Broncos. The Warriors were the next best in defence with 21 missed tackles and 260 made in their 28-22 win over the Gold Coast Titans.
On the scoreboard front, the Bulldogs, Cowboys, Storm and Dragons all only conceded one try against their respective Round 5 opponents, showing some staunch defence in the process.
The Storm is the best defensive team after five rounds, conceding an average of 9.6 points per game. The Dragons are next, conceding an average of 14.4 points per game, followed by the Broncos (15), Roosters (15.6) and Sea Eagles (15.6).
For the fourth week in a row, Broncos hooker Andrew McCullough was the top tackler of the round with 60 tackles against the Bulldogs and just one missed tackle. McCullough has now made 285 tackles in five games to start the season, an average of 57 tackles per game, with eight missed tackles in total.
Dragons hooker Cameron McInnes is next on the top-tackling list after five rounds, with 233 tackles and three missed tackles.
Bulldogs prop James Graham turned in a massive defensive performance with 56 tackles and no missed tackles against the Broncos, while Roosters hooker Jake Friend made 57 tackles and four misses in his side's 18-12 loss to the Sea Eagles.
