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With all the discussion in the media at the moment focusing on one club’s player, I thought now would be a good time to examine the rest of the league’s stats, and see who is leading the numbers.
Firstly, the stat that really matters at the end of the day, the ladder.
Fremantle have got top spot sewn up, with a flawless nine wins from as many starts. Sharing the spotlight with an impressive 161.2 per cent is West Coast nipping at their heels with 28 points.
Sydney and Collingwood round out the top four with 28 and 24 points respectively, with only percentage keeping the Giants out of the double chance at this early stage of season.
Completing our top eight is Hawthorn, the Adelaide Crows and Richmond. With Richmond heading over to take on Fremantle on Friday, a percentage hit could see them head to the dreaded ninth on the ladder, with Essendon, Geelong, Port Adelaide and North Melbourne all hunting to get back into the top eight.
At the other end of the ladder, Carlton and Gold Coast Suns are on a race to the bottom, with superior percentage (67.2 versus 63.3) the only thing separating the teams.
Changing tact, we now swing around to which teams are scoring the most and conceding the least.
Of little surprise, it’s West Coast Eagles and Fremantle occupying the top two spots. Hawthorn jump up to third spot with a very healthy percentage of 151.3, which will likely improve when they take on Saint Kilda this week.
Other than a couple of minor placing changes, the top eight stays the same, with Richmond still holding onto eighth on the ladder with a precarious percentage of 108.9 per cent. The bottom ten almost perfectly stays nine through eighteen, with only Gold Coast and Brisbane trading places (16th and 17th). Another random fact from looking exclusively at the percentages, Saint Kilda is the only team to have a whole number (82).
To give the diehard Richmond supporters something to cheer about, they are currently topping the AFL ladder in home match attendances for season 2015 with an impressive average of 59,237 fans attending their home games this season (which includes the Dreamtime at the MCG).
Essendon are also strong with 57,272 fans on average attending their home games this season. The diehards of Carlton come in strong at third, with a 49,411 average (including the season opener versus Richmond).
Adelaide Oval remains a strong drawcard for attendances, with Port Adelaide (46,054) and Adelaide Crows (45,798) both getting strong support. Rounding out the 40,000-plus average home game attendances are Collingwood (43,643) and Hawthorn (41,143).
The form of the Western Australia teams also sees their attendances strong with Fremantle averaging 36,620 and West Coast 34,584. Potentially of concern to the AFL are the attendances of the other interstate teams, with Sydney (28,190), Brisbane (20,634), Gold Coast (13,754) and Greater Western Sydney (9428). Even though Victoria is their main market, they still haven’t quite grabbed the Eastern market as strongly.
Now lining up for goal is the race for the Coleman Medal, something that any team can win. Josh Kennedy (West Coast Eagles) is out to an early lead with 37 goals, kicking a bag of six goals against Geelong last week. Not far behind is Adelaide’s Eddie Betts who looks more comfortable on the boundary than directly in front with 31 goals, and GWS Giants star forward Jeremy Camereon with 29 goals.
Buddy Franklin’s quiet night against Carlton with seven goals sees him rocket back into contention with 27 goals, and Saint Kilda’s key defender-cum-forward Josh Bruce sits on 26 goals. Adelaide’s former mullet role model Taylor Walker trails his teammate with 25 goals, and Richmond’s Jack Riewoldt is also in contention with 25.
Disposals have recently been used as a key indicator of how a player is tracking, and surprisingly leading the league is not the 2015 Brownlow Medallist hot favourite Nat Fyfe, but Hawthorn’s Jordan Lewis, with an average of 34 disposals a game.
Saint Kilda’s David Armitage might be a dark horse for the Brownlow if Fyfe finds himself suspended, picking up an average of 32 disposals a game and surely finding some votes from umpires. Fyfe comes in at third for average disposals with 32, which is still impressive as he often finds the opposition tagger nipping at his heels all day.
West Coast’s Matthew Priddis, Sydney’s Dan Hannebery and Hawthorn’s Luke Hodge all average 30 disposals a game so far in season 2015.
Supercoach stats are the other key indicator fans use these days to determine how a player is tracking, and unsurprisingly it’s Nat Fyfe streaking away with an average of 134 points a game. Steele Sidebottom in the three games he’s played has scored an average of 124 points.
Port Adelaide’s Robbie Gray is averaging a healthy 121 points and my Brownlow dark horse Armitage is averaging 118 Supercoach points a game. Dream Team, however, rates Armitage second in the league with an average of 117 points. With Hawthorn’s Jordan Lewis taking first with an average of 131 Dream Team points, and Saint Kilda’s Jack Steven equal second with 117 on average from nine games. Fyfe slips to fifth in the league on average points, with a healthy 112 points on average.
A stat that the SANFL club I support would always use as a way of tracking how involved a player is, is the tackles. Essendon’s Ben Howlett and West Coast’s Matthew Priddis lead the league with 62 tackles each in the nine games played. Saint Kilda’s Jack Steven has laid 61 tackles, and West Coast’s Jamie Cripps 60.
Adelaide’s Patrick Dangerfield has laid 58 tackles and surprisingly coming in tied sixth in the league is GWS’s ruckman Shane Mumford with 55 tackles. In term of averages, it’s Hawthorn’s Liam Shiels with an average of eight tackles a game leading the league. Scott Selwood (West Coast), Jack Spencer (Melbourne) and Port Adelaide’s Matthew Lobe are all averaging seven tackles a game from the limited matches they have played.
The last stat I will end with is the contested marks. Geelong forward Tom Hawkins leads the way with 22 contested marks from seven games. Right behind him is the purple ball magnet Nat Fyfe with 21 contested marks. Holding onto the bronze is Josh Bruce and Essendon’s Cale Hooker with 20 contested marks from their nine games this season. Aaron Sandilands and Melbourne’s Jesse Hogan round out the top five with 19 contested marks.
So there you have it, Roarers, a nice little summary of the AFL action for the end of May. Stay tuned for next week’s article where I revisit my May predictions, and remind myself that I have no career as a physic.
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