Apparently West Coast’s laboring ruckman Nic Naitanui is more influential than Fremantle genius Nat Fyfe. Meanwhile, inconsistent Hawthorn forward Cyril Rioli is rated higher than Geelong kingpin Steve Johnson.
The AFL website last year launched its official player ratings, “the result of the most sophisticated, detailed and wide-ranging statistical system ever devised for AFL footy”.
These ratings, it said, don’t just measure a player’s statistical output but also take into account the circumstances in which each stat was earned, their effectiveness and a player’s impact over his previous 40 games.
They were devised, in part, to take some of the debate out of who were the most effective players in the competition by disregarding reputations and using numbers as the measuring stick.
To be fair, I cannot argue with the makeup of the current top five players in the rankings.
Gold Coast phenomenon Gary Ablett reigns supreme, followed by Collingwood playmaker Scott Pendlebury, Geelong hard nut Joel Selwood, Adelaide match winner Patrick Dangerfield and Essendon’s ever-reliable leader Jobe Watson.
But from there the rankings get a bit dodgy.
North Melbourne’s Brent Harvey is a champion of the game and enjoying a rewarding vein of form, but is the 36-year-old the sixth-best player in the AFL right now? Not in my book. In fact, he would be hard pushed to feature in my top 15.
Western Bulldogs midfielder Ryan Griffin is similarly fortunate to be at seven in the AFL rankings. Griffin had an outstanding 2013 season, claiming the Bulldogs’ best and fairest and nabbing an All-Australian guernsey. However, he has failed to back that up and has turned in a rare disappointing run of form this year.
Arguably his side’s most important player, Griffin has averaged just 20 touches a game and kicked only four goals from his nine appearances, as the Bulldogs have struggled.
He definitely does not deserve a higher rating than Sydney warrior Josh Kennedy, who is two spots below him at nine.
Kennedy is one of the most consistent players in the competition and has been outstanding for Sydney this season, averaging 32 possessions (18 contested), seven clearances, six tackles and four inside 50s per game.
The player in the top 10 who most surprises me is Rioli. I have to admit to having long considered the Hawthorn forward to be over-rated. He is a brilliant, mercurial player who has an extraordinary ability to read the play, sublime skills and tremendous defensive assets. But he doesn’t have a consistent enough impact over the course of games to be rated as a truly elite player alongside the likes of Ablett, Pendlebury, Selwood, Kennedy and Johnson.
If I could choose between he or Johnson, who is rated three spots behind him at 13th on the website’s rankings, I would not even consider Rioli.
Johnson used to play a similar role to Rioli and also used to flash in and out of matches. But his value has increased markedly since moving from the forward line into the middle, where his canny vision, sharp decision-making and clinical foot skills make him a devastating player.
Johnson would not look out of place in the top five of the rankings, and undoubtedly deserves to be above Rioli and Griffen.
But the most curious ranking among the top 25 players has to be Naitanui. He is ranked 22nd, yet it has been debatable at times this season whether he was even in his own team’s best 22. The much-hyped ruckman is also coming off a mediocre 2013 in which he failed to replicate his scintillating touch from the previous year, when he was an All Australian.
The idea that Naitanui is currently ranked as a better or more influential player than his crosstown rival Fyfe is utterly comical.
The Dockers’ midfielder deserves to be placed in the absolute elite bracket of players in the AFL. He won Fremantle’s best-and-fairest last year in a season in which they made their first grand final.
Fyfe was probably the Dockers’ best player in that grand final loss to Hawthorn and has been similarly dominant this season.
The fact he is ranked at 26th, four places behind Naitanui, says a lot about the flaws of the AFL player rankings.
dave
Guest
NicNat surely has the most covers front and back of the paper stat covered (sorry Buddy you may be a thousand times better but you gotta get some dreads man). NOTE im from WA where it is rare to read a newspaper without seeing the god NicNat.
Boris
Guest
i dont think you understand that list- im pretty sure thats a list of the most paid (and overpaid) players. Those 3 arent obviously
Boris
Guest
Sam mitchell, even when fit, is not near the 5th best player in the comp. probably not even top 10
Kev
Guest
Probably because Cox has years of good performances on the board which buys him some leeway. Naitanui hasn't done squat. He scraped in for AA selection (as if a sole AA selection is proof of anything), he makes some good highlight reels, and everyone cracks on about his "potential" and that he could be the best player in the game.
Kev
Guest
The same thing could be said of Natainui. Does nothing for most of the match and yet because he does something highlight reel worthy, everyone of his fanboy's jumps up and down like it's the greatest thing.
GazzaW
Guest
Jeez the stats don't agree with your opinions so therefore the stats are wrong. We only see our own team every week and everyone else occasionally and form certain views and when the official stats show someone is doing better than popular opinion then i't's obviously the stats that lie. I don't know why but Nic Naitanui for example is constantly targeted by the media maybe it's because everyone is jealous of his talent but revel in his lack of game sense. maybe they just secretly want him at their club where he could get a proper football education. even unfit Nic is the eagles number 1 ruck although Cox is hanging on getting games he is not the player he was. Fyfe is top shelf at the moment but if he gets injured and struggles for a year or so are you then going to say he is overrated and disappointing. Harvey has being extraordinary this year just because he too old doesn't mean he is no good last night tore into richmond at the right time. Rioli's pace broke the eagles apart on the weekend i felt he had a big influence on the game regardless of the official stats might say. We all have our favourite players who are footsoldiers solid and dependable and think they should be rated higher but often they are just very very good players without being a star.
Dalgety Carrington
Guest
Or you could take the whole 40 games, but weight the more recent games with a higher influence on the score. So in other words the form of say 30-40 games ago would only be rated 50% statistically compared to the last 10 games rated at 100%.
Cat
Roar Guru
And completely disappears for entire quarters and halves, but somehow all is okay when he make a single highlight reel play.
Jack Russell
Roar Guru
You left out Jack Gunston, Brian Lake and Shaun Burgoyne.
Jakarta Jeff
Guest
The rating system is fine with one obvious error ie the number of games on which the calculation is based. When calculations are made based in previous 40 games then you are getting an average that reflects the last 2 years more than the current year. This is why Natanui, Rioli and Griffen seem out of place. If we want to reflect "current" real ratings then cut the previous games to 20 and get a more up to date ranking system!
Don Freo
Guest
Are you sure about that Michael?
Bosk
Guest
Top 10 AFL Mercenary Scumbags 1. Lance Franklin 2. Kurt Tippett 3. Chris Judd 4. Gary Ablett 5. Tom Scully 6. Shane Mumford 7. Brendan Goddard 8. Eddie Betts 9. Dale Thomas 10. Nick Dal Santo
Don Freo
Guest
I just watched Dangerfield crumble under Crowley. Give me Nic Nat any time. Only stat freaks think Nic is no good. Watch him clear spaces, knock the ball to advantage...same as Sandilands. You don't need to be pretty. You just need to be better than anyone else on offer. Put Nic Nat on the market and the response of the club recruiters will be different from the on-line critics.
Don Freo
Guest
Michael huston strikes again! If you have ever watched Fremantle, you'd know how good Stephen Hill is. Possibly the most under-rated player in the AFL. He is fast, skilled and canny but what many don't see...probably blinded by his brilliance...is his toughness when tackling and in the clinches. If you watch a game Michael, you'd change your mind.
Jack Smith
Roar Guru
Despite 16/20 from top 8 teams, or 100% of top 27 in top 11 teams. Or out of the top 5 positions given in each role, 39/50 of those players are in top 8 teams?
Simoc
Guest
Who cares. The game is about a team winning. Ratings rubbish is only for those with nothing to do and is absolutely irrelevant to AFL football.
Cat
Roar Guru
thanks for the laugh.
Shouts Chen
Guest
My top 10 players 1. Cyril Rioli 2. Ben Stratton 3. Dan Hannebury 4. Jarryd Rough Head 5. Jack Viney 6. Aaron Mullet 7. Lindsay Thomas 8. Chad Wingard 9. Robin Nahas 10. Scott Lycett
Michael huston
Guest
Probably because Dean Cox isn't being paid close to a million bucks?
Francis Curro
Roar Pro
Kennedy is almost brownlow fav.