The rise.... and RISE of Marc Pittonet

[Lods]

Blah blah blah. You've said all this....repeatedly.

Now lets say you are correct. (Although  you are very much overcomplicating things, and oversimplyfying things all at once)
But....if the HTA stat is 100% dependant, or even 50% dependent on the midfield and the opposition tactics. Then how do you explain the difference in stats from our rucks relative to each other?
That is....
Why does Pittonet always get more than TDK, by a long way (except for games he gets injured) whether he rucks solo, or in tandem regardless of who is is rucking with, and how much rucking he does.
TDK gets the same RC-HTA% whether they ruck solo or in tandem. So there is no difference in which midfield they are coming up against, or rucking too. The only variable is the actual rucks ability.
Same with Jack vs Young. Jack had 6 HTA, Young had 1. Young was in 61 RCs, Jack was in 36.
Same teammates, same opposition. Only variable is the rucks ability.

You can complain about the broader HTA stat and how it relates vs other rucks and other mids....and while you drastically overstate its importance (large enough sample size shows this) there is a tiny nugget of truth to it. However, when comparing apples with apples, be that our own team/players relative to eachother, that nugget of truth is not appplicable.
Once you do that, you see that the relative difference between apples and apples, you can see by extension that apples compared to oranges actually holds true as well.

In summary.
If you are correct. The only reason the stats continue to stack up the way they do is IF our midfield tries harder when Pittonet is in the ruck vs any other ruck. Which of course is ludicrous, but if its true....then it doesn't even matter about the HTA stat, Pittonet improves the side just being there, which ultimately yields the same result statwise or otherwise.

Would it possibly be more how the midfield sets up for different Ruckman.