Stat Attack: Souths set run-metres record in Tigers demolition

South Sydney seemed to make metres at will in their 51-10 over Wests Tigers at ANZ Stadium on Thursday night and the end result was the biggest run-metre discrepancy recorded in one game.

The Bunnies' 1317 run metre advantage is 238 metres more than the next biggest discrepancy on record since NRL.com Stats has tracked the data from 1999.

The load was shared around between the likes of Cameron Murray (191), Sam Burgess (189), John Sutton (187), Campbell Graham (176), Alex Johnston (173), Angus Crichton (169) and Greg Inglis (165).

In all, 11 Rabbitohs cracked 100 metres against Wests Tigers, with all making more than the only Tiger to hit the ton, winger Kevin Naiqama (101).

The Rabbitohs' backline (985) on its own out-ran the entire Tigers squad (880). The Rabbitohs made almost as much ground in post-contact metres (711) as the Tigers made total metres.

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Souths completely dominated possession (63% - 37%) and also made far more metres per set, running 52.3 metres per possession compared to just 31.4 for Wests Tigers, as the Bunnies made just as much of a statement without the ball as with it.

They also finished up with nine line breaks to zero.

The previous biggest run metre discrepancy on record was 1079, by the Cowboys against Souths in 2003, one season after their readmission to the NRL after two years in the wilderness.

In just their second year back after readmission Souths were thrashed by a Matt Bowen-inspired Cowboys with the fullback tallying three tries and 342 metres. Winger Ty Williams (246 metres) and prop Paul Rauhihi (227 metres) also ran amok in the 60-8 win.

The Wests Tigers were on the receiving end of the previous second-biggest run-metre difference of 1071, with the Cowboys again inflicting the damage. This time it wasn't a pre-Thurston Cowboys but rather a star-studded 2014 edition. That 64-6 win featured huge knocks from Matt Scott (231), fullback Michael Morgan (211) and Jason Taumalolo (204).

The Bunnies were on the wrong end of a 66-0 belting from the Warriors in 2006 with a 1025-metre difference between the teams with Steve Price (181), Awen Guttenbeil (164), Lance Hohaia (158 metres and three tries) and Brent Webb (150) racking up the metres.

In the final 1000+ differential on the list, an early-readmission Souths also let in a monster 1025 metres against then-premiers Penrith in 2004; starting props Ben Ross (214) and Martin Lang (166) plus halfback Craig Gower (186) and fullback Rhys Wesser (171) did the damage in the 38-4 win.