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The AFL’s best player, Nathan Fyfe, plays his 100th game at the highest level this weekend. Let’s take a moment to reflect.
It has been a fascinating first 100 games for Fyfe, who has endured injury, suspension, contract speculation, grand final heartache and tasted success at the highest of individual levels.
It’s almost been a full career’s worth of events and achievements in just five-and-a-bit short years.
I’ll declare an interest now. My Twitter handle – @RyanBuckland7 for those who aren’t yet following – is in a small way a reference to Fyfe, who is, on reflection, my favourite player to watch (sorry Buddy).
He has managed to improve his effectiveness and output every season since his debut in 2010, after he went number 20 in the 2009 AFL draft. Oh yeah, he went at number 20. That’s kind of a big deal.
Drafting is a little bit of a crapshoot. There’s only so much you can know when you’re a team picking up a raw, 17 or 18-year-old who has been applying his trade against blokes that are as likely to be astronauts as professional football players in their 30s. But consider these selections:
Port Adelaide (#9): Andrew Moore
Carlton (#12): Kane Lucas
Western Bulldogs (#15): Christian Howard
Melbourne (#18): Luke Tapscott
Melbourne, incidentally, had four chances to select Fyfe, but passed up. Just one of their selections, the oft-injured Jack Trengove, still plays footy for the Demons. Sliding doors, hey?
Anyway, here’s how Fyfe’s career has shaped up so far.
| Year | Games | Disposals | Marks (uncontested) | Marks (contested) | Scoring Shots |
| 2010 | 18 | 16.1 | 3.5 | 1.1 | 1.6 |
| 2011 | 21 | 25.1 | 3.3 | 2 | 1.6 |
| 2012 | 11 | 23.4 | 3 | 1 | 0.7 |
| 2013 | 22 | 25.9 | 3.3 | 1.1 | 1.4 |
| 2014 | 20 | 27 | 2.8 | 1.2 | 1.7 |
| Year | Clearances | Tackles | Contested Possessions | Disposal % | Inside 50s |
| 2010 | 1.7 | 3 | 6.8 | 60.7 | 3.6 |
| 2011 | 3.6 | 4 | 12.5 | 61.5 | 3.8 |
| 2012 | 4 | 3.7 | 12.4 | 56.4 | 4.4 |
| 2013 | 5.9 | 3.4 | 13.9 | 63.6 | 4.3 |
| 2014 | 6.7 | 4.7 | 16.1 | 69.6 | 3.4 |
I won’t run you through the numbers. They kind of speak for themselves. Fyfe does it all, and in volumes that are almost unsighted in AFL history.
Fyfe is currently the game’s fourth-best player on the Official AFL Player Ratings. I have no problem saying he is three spots too low.
Want some proof? Here are his 2015 numbers:
| Games | Disposals | Marks (uncontested) | Marks (contested) | Scoring Shots |
| 7 | 30.3 | 2.8 | 2.6 | 2.4 |
| Clearances | Tackles | Contested Possessions | Disposal % | Inside 50s |
| 7.6 | 3.1 | 17.9 | 76.4 | 5.9 |
There’s no AFL-equivalent to the NBA’s player efficiency rating (PER), but if there was, Fyfe would be putting up Wilt Chamberlain circa 1962-63 numbers.
Still not convinced?
I’d like to introduce you to a new statistic. It’s not like me to introduce new statistics and put impressive-sounding, over-capitalised names on them, I know, but bear with me. Its called the Nat Fyfe Quadrant. Or NFQ, for short.
What is the NFQ?
It’s well-known that Fyfe is great over his head. So far in 2015 Fyfe has taken an average of 2.6 contested marks per game. That would make him the second-most prolific taker of contested marks to this point in the season. In first place is Carlton’s Levi Casboult, who takes an average of 3.2 per game – which is a pretty significant number. The AFL average is 0.46 contested marks per game.
While Casboult is a good mark, he’s a much more pedestrian player around stoppages. Fyfe, on the other hand, is among the game’s elite in the clinches, and this season he’s been credited with 7.6 clearances per game. The AFL player average is 1.8.
This, sports fans, is the Nat Fyfe Quadrant.
There are just 32 players that have managed to be above average in both clearances and contested marks so far this season. And almost half of those players (15 to be exact) are ruckmen, who are credited with a contested mark if they manage to clunk a kick in.
But while 17 players are above average on these two measures, none are on the same planet as Fyfe, who is setting himself up to be considered one of the greatest players of all time. The boy could be anything if he keeps on the trajectory he’s on now.
Let’s all bow down to the AFL’s Iron Throne, for we know who the king is.