The Eagles are a false flag contender
It’s not often you can draw a line through a top four team at the half way point of the season. But here we…
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Ryan likes his sport played efficiently, effectively and elegantly, like a Nic Naitanui hit out to advantage. Always searching for an interesting angle, Ryan loves nothing more than digging deep into the play and searching for the signal others miss in the noise. You can follow Ryan here (@RyanBuckland7).
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It’s not often you can draw a line through a top four team at the half way point of the season. But here we…
The top eight looks mighty settled through 11 rounds of the 2019 season, but there’s still plenty of room for teams to rise and…
Next week’s numbers game will show the competition is a race in three, or four, or at most five, as we hit the half…
Nine rounds into the season and the competition is separating in the usual way. We can start to look ahead knowing the likely finalists…
No more. The AFL executive has lost its ability to govern itself, and it cannot be allowed to continue this way for the good…
This year, more so than in any of the past five, the outcomes of the first seven weeks of football have been impacted by…
Melbourne has confounded us all. Show me someone who says they saw this Demon season coming and I’ll show you a liar, a fool,…
Today in breaking news I can exclusively reveal the AFL is working on a secret plan to start a new professional Australian Rules football…
In keeping with this column’s early season capacity constraints, here’s ten significant numbers that help explain the madness of the first three weeks of…
Nothing that has happened in the AFL in the first two weeks of the season makes sense. Nothing, except, the team that sits atop…
If we can extrapolate a significant downside surprise in Round 1, then surely significant upside surprises are fair game. Fremantle, and their obliteration of…
It’s that time already. A truncated preseason for this column is no excuse for missing out on the whacky science of pre-season predictions. Let’s…
Acquiring a prime age AFL superstar has been a fraught and surprisingly fruitless exercise, according to recent history. Is Patrick Dangerfield set to join…
And so we reach the end of The Roar’s AFL Top 50. Now we’re in the sorts of rarefied air where there’s not much…
Facing one of the longest finals loss streaks in the league, Essendon has emerged as the 2018 offseason’s darling. One key unknown dogs them…
So much of last year’s football palace intrigue centred on just how far the AFL would go to change the rules of the game…
Numbers! Football! It’s time for our annual dispassionate look at some of the numbers behind the numbers in the AFL and see whether we…
Let’s do two sets of rankings for the final BBL column for this year: the finals teams, and four things Cricket Australia should do…
The past 18 months have been challenging for a thinking fan, with the repeated administrative malfeasance of AFL HQ. This year, we cast all…
With five games to go, this season’s finalists are all but decided. All that’s left to do in these penultimate power rankings is work…
It’s not a rating. It’s a sign that their underlying indicators suggest they will perform better in the second half of the year than they did in the first half.
Numbers game: Which teams will rise and fall in the second half of 2019?
Hawthorn (pre-season): https://www.theroar.com.au/2015/03/17/bucking-the-trend-hawthorn-will-be-flag-favourites-again-this-season/
Dogs: https://www.theroar.com.au/2016/04/06/why-cant-the-western-bulldogs-win-it-all-in-2016/
Tigers: https://www.theroar.com.au/2017/04/19/tigers-unleashed-richmond-breaks-out-of-its-cage-and-into-the-2017-flag-race/
Eagles (admittedly, early May): https://www.theroar.com.au/2018/05/03/west-coast-flying-high-test-begins-now/
Numbers game: Which teams will rise and fall in the second half of 2019?
Haha I’m fine, just stretched for time. I’m trying to keep it up but it’s getting tougher with three kids who’re getting older and my work life getting increasingly hectic.
Numbers game: Which teams will rise and fall in the second half of 2019?
I agree. There’s another interesting number that I didn’t put in here because I’ve not used it before in this context: uncontested marks. The top four on the ladder are the top four in uncontested marks, and are four of the top five in uncontested mark differential (Brisbane being fourth, they don’t concede many though rather than taking a lot themselves). Ball control is key this year it seems.
Numbers game: Which teams will rise and fall in the second half of 2019?
Preseason predictions are junk, I agree.
I used numbers to call Hawthorn, the Dogs, Richmond and West Coast premiership favourites inside the first four weeks of the season in the last four years.
Numbers game: Which teams will rise and fall in the second half of 2019?
Could not have said it better myself Josh. Spending today doxxing every single Carlton Big Footy user who gave me both barrels over my 2015 trade period piece.
Brendon Bolton was crucified to save SOS's sins
Not sure Mason Cox breaks back into this side until/unless Ben Reid gets inured.
How Collingwood mirrors the big AFL trend of 2019 - and why it works for them
To shake something is to cause it to move backwards and forwards. You cannot climb a goal post without shaking it. If it wasn’t against the rules why did the umpire caution Rampe to climb down?
The AFL’s administration has failed and it must be changed
I think any credible writer would have noted the same thing for Fremantle. Problem is there aren’t many of them out there.
There's only one AFL team we can trust with seven rounds in the books
Brendon Bolton is not the problem at Carlton. The problem is the club’s list was a travesty at the end of 2015. That doesn’t get unwound overnight. If the Blues’ leadership do move on from Bolton they might as well resign at the same time.
Brendon Bolton, it's time to pack your bags
Yeah there’s a little bit of sub-editing that appears to have been missed. Good pick ups, hopefully you understand what I’m getting at!
Ten significant digits three rounds into the 2019 AFL season
The last four April premiers have been Hawthorn, the Western Bulldogs, Richmond and West Coast.
Geelong has answered their most pressing off-season questions. Now for a premiership
That’s essentially a different way if saying the same thing though, because teams that win big in Round 1 are the ones that sit atop the ladder.
When a big Round 1 AFL victory is a sign of something more
Hi guys, just a quick heads up, this is going to be the form of my columns for the next few weeks on account of a very busy work life. Hopefully I’ll be back to the deeper dives soon. Cheers!
When a big Round 1 AFL victory is a sign of something more
Like I said, if you look hard enough you can work out who I have in my final eight, including (most) of the positions.
My 23 crazy, fearless predictions for the 2019 AFL season
Yeah I went back and had a look myself. Pretty happy all things considered, noting some of them were quite specific and a little bit out there.
My 23 crazy, fearless predictions for the 2019 AFL season
Yeah I’m already thinking that one needs to be revised. 110 goals between Riewoldt and Lynch.
My 23 crazy, fearless predictions for the 2019 AFL season
Paul I like to think you are a Roar reader who engages with the substantive portion of articles instead of the stuff at the periphery.
Where do I say Adelaide won the trade? Or that Geelong made a mistake?
Are the Adelaide Crows winning the Patrick Dangerfield trade?
It’s just a device to cover off two of the interesting teams in the league. The Dangerfield thing was more a realisation I had thinking about where Geelong and Adelaide are at, and then going back and looking at how the superstar acquisition circuit has performed in recent years. Headlines and lead lines are headlines and lead lines for a reason. I hope you and everyone else engages with the substance of what is in here because I write it for a reason. I could come up with wayyyy more interesting controversial and inflammatory opinions than this if that was my goal.
Are the Adelaide Crows winning the Patrick Dangerfield trade?
Josh Kennedy is great but he’s no Lance Franklin. He has dropped down the list this year too though.
The Roar's 2019 AFL Top 50: 20-11
You can blame me and my ranking method: pedigree + prediction. I’m worried we’re about to enter a phase of Josh Kennedy’s career where he plays every other week on average because of his age and the miles on his body.
That has to count against him: being available and able to perform at 100% is a skill.
The Roar's 2019 AFL Top 50: 20-11
You’re only a true West Coast fan if you hate the team. It’s part of the rules. I thought this was common knowledge?
The Eagles are a false flag contender