Mega Thread 2025 Media & Miscellaneous Thread

[Tonga Bob]

Back by popular demand. However...

There has been some aggro from publishers of articles in recent months about sites that copypasta their content onto other sites, particularly the paywalled ones, which could lead to fines and whanot for those that do it. Apparently there are copywrite laws for these things. As a result we can no longer have full articles reposted here, so if you come across something then please refrain from nabbing the whole thing and just post the link. Quoting a paragraph or two and linking the source is fine however, just don't get greedy.

Here's the updated site-wide rule: https://www.bigfooty.com/forum/threads/please-read-re-copyright-posting-newspaper-articles.1389553/

Here's an example of what you can do:

"If West Coast was the gold standard for how to operate, then Fremantle's arrival into the AFL in 1995 could be viewed as a series of cautionary tales.

Despite eight wins in that debut season, a series of poor recruiting choices meant they didn't play their first final until 2003."

If they believe that us not making finals until 2003 was solely due to "a series of poor recruiting choices" then I have a bridge to sell them.

Can 'perennial underachievers' Fremantle become WA's biggest footy club?

For 38 years the West Coast Eagles have been WA footy's alpha male, but in the midst of their worst ever on-field run, is the balance of power shifting towards their bitter rivals Fremantle?

www.abc.net.au

Thanks for your understanding.

 

[Piggy Smalls]

Yeah, I bet its giving too much of a rating for these two who dont really count

It's because they rate Switta and ruckmen so highly.

He named Young, Darcy, Switta, Pearce all having missed significant time as being the main contributing factors.

 

[sumavich]

It's because they rate Switta and ruckmen so highly.

He named Young, Darcy, Switta, Pearce all having missed significant time as being the main contributing factors.

Darcy, Switta and Pearce have been out more than in over their careers

 

[Sully90]

Surely he's just talking expected ranking points multiplied by games missed. By those terms Switta and Young would be worth the same as like 5 or 6 Jordan Ridley's

That's underselling Switta dn Young

 

[stax on the mull]

I remember listening to their Champion Data version of a 2024 All-Australian team, and pretty sure that Hayden Young

26

Hayden Young

Age

24

Ht

189cm

Wt

88kg

Pos.

Mid

Career

Season

Last 5

D

10.0

3star

K

6.6

3star

HB

3.4

3star

M

3.2

3star

T

1.4

3star

CL

0.2

2star

D

10.0

3star

K

6.6

3star

HB

3.4

2star

M

3.2

3star

T

1.4

2star

CL

0.2

2star

D

10.0

3star

K

6.6

3star

HB

3.4

3star

M

3.2

4star

T

1.4

4star

CL

0.2

2star

was in that team.

 

[Purple Jesus]

It's because they rate Switta and ruckmen so highly.

He named Young, Darcy, Switta, Pearce all having missed significant time as being the main contributing factors.

Accurate really. If we had those guys on the park, would we have lost Sydney x 2 and the first Collingwood game? Then we'd be top 2 now.

 

[Piggy Smalls]

Hoyne also named the top 16 players for moving the ball through the corridor and Jordan Clark

6

Jordan Clark

Age

25

Ht

185cm

Wt

83kg

Pos.

Def

Career

Season

Last 5

D

13.7

4star

K

9.4

4star

HB

4.3

3star

M

4.2

4star

T

2.6

4star

MG

172.0

3star

D

12.5

3star

K

8.5

3star

HB

4.0

3star

M

4.0

4star

T

1.5

2star

MG

172.0

3star

D

12.2

3star

K

10.4

4star

HB

1.8

2star

M

3.4

4star

T

2.4

4star

was our player on the list. It got me wondering if he could currently be the least replaceable player in our B22. He gives us so much defensively and offensively.

 

[JunglistPosse]

Either that or at least you might get the inside word on some old african tribe trick to add 5 inches to your old fella so I reckon you can’t lose either way

Are you a fireman anchor man , you guys like to flex your hose

 

[academicbowl]

"Fremantle have been affected by injury, clearly more than any other team this season" - Daniel Hoyne/Champion Data

Sturt, Walters and Fyfe were all b22 when fit last year and combined for 52 games. This year they have 3 combined. I wonder how much weighting that has. None are guaranteed b22 this year

 

[malpaso]

Sturt, Walters and Fyfe were all b22 when fit last year and combined for 52 games. This year they have 3 combined. I wonder how much weighting that has. None are guaranteed b22 this year

Why wonder? Do you think a professional statistical data company is doing it average? Fascinates me how people don't get the games missed by other players besides Fyfe, Walters and Sturt would affect us so greatly.
Sturt and Walters have been replaced by Bolton and Reid which has had a bigger positive impact.

 

[Alfonz]

Don't know about those two but Jackson missed 3. Bolton missed the first game. I suppose whatever the metric is, it all adds up, if it's players in or near the Top 5 at the club. Someone like O'Meara might be rated higher than we think if it's based on him being one of the better performers in the early games. Same with O'Driscoll in his wing role.

Think this bloke's job on radio is to statistically manufacture something surprising each week.

You got the last part right.

Are the Wheelo player ratings the Champion Data ratings? I hope they are, cause I'm about to ramble on about them.

Fyfe, JOM, Walters at end of 2024 (which might be what they are using) would be considered losses in the realm of 2025 Freddy, Reid, Johnson

Fyfe for example was 9.4 for his 2024 rating. At his peak he was double this and this is about where the ratings seem to top out.

2024 Fyfe is worth more than the 2024 ratings of Zach Reid + Harrison Jones, or slightly less than Ben McKay to use a few examples from Essendon.

2024 Darcy was 14. That's pretty high. Gawn and Grundy are at 14.5 this year for example.

Sturt and Walker were about 8 for 2024. These guys being injured might not be considered big losses, but would add up using the player ratings. They are basically worth one of our gun mid trio.

 

[go_the_dockers]

I would need to see the maths on that to be honest. It must be actually based on the player ranking of the player missing or something. We haven't had the perfect run but worst feels a stretch

Fyfe, Walters, Darcy are the key oarts

 

[BStaff17]

Does any other sport in the world get caught up in champion data nonsense like the AFL.

I like my stats but its more the basic stuff and team-orientated one

I also prefer the eye test when judging players and ability not just raw numbers.

Give me someone who has 15 touches but is damaging on 12 of them where he kicks 3 goals and sets up 1 or 2.

Then someone who gets 35-40 and you barely notice him.

The other week Naicos had about 13 up to quarter time. Outside of a FK he got where he kicked a goal i didnt really notice his disposal because it wasn't impacting the game enough.

 

[ubiquitous226]

Does any other sport in the world get caught up in champion data nonsense like the AFL.

I like my stats but its more the basic stuff and team-orientated one

I also prefer the eye test when judging players and ability not just raw numbers.

Give me someone who has 15 touches but is damaging on 12 of them where he kicks 3 goals and sets up 1 or 2.

Then someone who gets 35-40 and you barely notice him.

The other week Naicos had about 13 up to quarter time. Outside of a FK he got where he kicked a goal i didnt really notice his disposal because it wasn't impacting the game enough.

I think there's a middle ground, most of people outside of the media don't get too obsessed with stats like that.
There's also some that think their eye test is better than anything else, ignoring the human limitations and biases (not aimed at you for avoidance of doubt, speaking generally).

American sports from what I've seen use data even more, which given the money involved isn't surprising, they're looking for any 0.1% advantage.

 

[greatgatsby]

Does any other sport in the world get caught up in champion data nonsense like the AFL.

I like my stats but its more the basic stuff and team-orientated one

I also prefer the eye test when judging players and ability not just raw numbers.

Give me someone who has 15 touches but is damaging on 12 of them where he kicks 3 goals and sets up 1 or 2.

Then someone who gets 35-40 and you barely notice him.

The other week Naicos had about 13 up to quarter time. Outside of a FK he got where he kicked a goal i didnt really notice his disposal because it wasn't impacting the game enough.

I think MLB has us covered still.

 

[Docker82]

I think there's a middle ground, most of people outside of the media don't get too obsessed with stats like that.
There's also some that think their eye test is better than anything else, ignoring the human limitations and biases (not aimed at you for avoidance of doubt, speaking generally).

American sports from what I've seen use data even more, which given the money involved isn't surprising, they're looking for any 0.1% advantage.

Feel like cricket is constantly talking about stats but the game itself makes it easy to use very basic statistics to measure performance making a cricket version of Champion Data absolutely pointless and irrelevant to the point that no one has ever bothered.

 

[Mags98]

I think there's a middle ground, most of people outside of the media don't get too obsessed with stats like that.
There's also some that think their eye test is better than anything else, ignoring the human limitations and biases (not aimed at you for avoidance of doubt, speaking generally).

American sports from what I've seen use data even more, which given the money involved isn't surprising, they're looking for any 0.1% advantage.

stats are much more useful for american sports at least. football just has too much variables and factors to account for, and then the data collection itself is lacking so its not as appropriate here as it is in the states

 

[Minz]

stats are much more useful for american sports at least. football just has too much variables and factors to account for, and then the data collection itself is lacking so its not as appropriate here as it is in the states

Ice hockey is one where the stats are debated… someone did an analysis and given the high speed, small rink size and irregular-shaped bouncy puck, it turns out ice hockey is the sport where chance matters the most! Makes the stats great in large aggregations, but next to useless for any single game (or a few games).

 

[mattis117]

I would need to see the maths on that to be honest. It must be actually based on the player ranking of the player missing or something. We haven't had the perfect run but worst feels a stretch

Hayden Young is the main contributor as he is ranked second in the league last season.

 

[Paracleet]

Feel like cricket is constantly talking about stats but the game itself makes it easy to use very basic statistics to measure performance making a cricket version of Champion Data absolutely pointless and irrelevant to the point that no one has ever bothered.

It's more that because all the relevant stats (other than for fielding*) are recorded automatically as part of the scoring. You don't need a team of people watching and re-watching games to record post cleanance ground ball gets or something.

If you want to do some analytics, like to compare players relative performance to other players in the same games, rather than just use the absolute stats, you only need like one statto to do it. Not a whole company.

*I'm sure collecting stats like fielding errors or dropped catches might be useful, but it's probably not providing enough of a comparative edge to make it commercial given all the pathways are representative (no trades or drafts).

 

[anchor man]

Does any other sport in the world get caught up in champion data nonsense like the AFL.

I like my stats but its more the basic stuff and team-orientated one

I also prefer the eye test when judging players and ability not just raw numbers.

Give me someone who has 15 touches but is damaging on 12 of them where he kicks 3 goals and sets up 1 or 2.

Then someone who gets 35-40 and you barely notice him.

The other week Naicos had about 13 up to quarter time. Outside of a FK he got where he kicked a goal i didnt really notice his disposal because it wasn't impacting the game enough.

Stats are to keep unemployable people in media outlets. One in particular. Never without his lap top. A royal failure.
Only stat that matters is the final score of the game.

 

[freo84]

Stats are to keep unemployable people in media outlets. One in particular. Never without his lap top. A royal failure.
Only stat that matters is the final score of the game.

Stats 100% have a place in the game and there wouldn't be a single club that doesn't use them as a means to improve or counter opponents gameplans.

The issue is which stat gets the credit and its correlation to winning that makes it contentious.

 

[Dale147]

 

[Piggy Smalls]

Why does Squiggle hate us so much?

We're on top of the last 10 weeks form ladder, have beaten 6 of the other top 9, we are projected to have more wins than GWS and Hawks, yet our range is apparently 7th-8th and finishing below them both. We're also about 9th on the Power Rankings. At least as of this morning anyway.

Meanwhile, Dogs are number 1 on the power rankings and were still projecting as 9th this morning.

Make it make sense.

 

[Stinky Lomax]

Why does Squiggle hate us so much?

We're on top of the last 10 weeks form ladder, have beaten 6 of the other top 9, we are projected to have more wins than GWS and Hawks, yet our range is apparently 7th-8th and finishing below them both. We're also about 9th on the Power Rankings. At least as of this morning anyway.

Meanwhile, Dogs are number 1 on the power rankings and were still projecting as 9th this morning.

Make it make sense.

Has anyone seen King & Squiggle in the same room together?

 

[freo84]

Why does Squiggle hate us so much?

We're on top of the last 10 weeks form ladder, have beaten 6 of the other top 9, we are projected to have more wins than GWS and Hawks, yet our range is apparently 7th-8th and finishing below them both. We're also about 9th on the Power Rankings. At least as of this morning anyway.

Meanwhile, Dogs are number 1 on the power rankings and were still projecting as 9th this morning.

Make it make sense.

The squiggle favours scoring heavily.

We arent a high scoring team so we get penalised by the squiggle. Don't let it get you down.