Senior #35: Caleb Daniel

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Wizard17

Wizard17

Brownlow Medallist
Veteran 10k Posts 10k Posts
Sep 2, 2013
10,969
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AFL Club
Western Bulldogs
CDaniel.jpeg

DOB: 7/07/1996
Height: 167cm
Weight: 63kg
Position: Midfield/Forward
Drafted: Pick 46, 2014 National Draft
Recruited from: South Adelaide (SANFL)
Nickname/s: Mighty Mouse

Daniel is a prolific ball-winning midfielder, an astute decision maker and executes well by hand or foot.

The 18-year-old had an outstanding last three games of the NAB AFL Under-18 Championships, winning All Australian honours.

He averaged 20 disposals at 92 per cent efficiency in three appearances during the championships, including a best-afield display against Vic Country with 27 touches, eight tackles and three goals.

Daniel also impressed in 11 SANFL games for South Adelaide.

The South Australian highlighted his elite endurance at the NAB AFL Draft Combine, sharing top honours in the beep test with a level 16.1 and scored 25/30 in the clean hands test."

 
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http://www.afl.com.au/news/2015-03-13/dogs-talk-up-tiny-pup

HE MIGHT be the AFL's shortest player, but what Caleb Daniel lacks in stature he makes up for in work ethic, veteran Western Bulldogs defender Dale Morris says.

On Saturday the 167cm South Australian will get his first taste of the big time in a NAB Challenge clash against Melbourne at Ballarat's Eureka Stadium.

It will just reward for the dynamic midfielder, who has turned heads for more than just his size since he arrived at the Kennel.

"I spoke about energy before and he's got tons of it," said Morris, who will captain the Dogs in Robert Murphy's absence against the Demons.

"In training he's the one that's always last off the track, always working the hardest already in his first year.

"So I'm excited to see how he goes and I'm sure he's going to do some nice things for this football club."

Daniel, who was the 46th pick in last year's NAB AFL Draft, is one of seven new Dogs who could be unleashed against the Demons.

Fellow draftees Toby McLean, Lukas Webb, Declan Hamilton and Bailey Dale might get their chance, while rookie recruits Jordan Kelly and Roarke Smith have also been named in the 29-man squad.

"It's a good sign for the club, good for the supporters, good for the players, good for the club to see how the new draftees and some young guys are going to go out on the big stage," Morris said.

The Bulldogs have rested first-year skipper Murphy and vice-captain Jordan Roughead won't take the field at the Bulldogs' new second home in Ballarat.

It is their first game at the venue since the club announced plans to expand into the region.

Morris said the Dogs were keen to build on their relationships in Ballarat and for another chance to test out their gameplan under new coach Luke Beveridge.

In Beveridge's first match in charge, the Dogs defeated Richmond by 22 points at the Whitten Oval two weeks ago.

"We've worked really hard this pre-season," Morris said. "We just want to put into practice the things that we've worked on under pressure in a game sense and see how the guys hold up and see how the structures hold up too."

It will also be a chance for Beveridge to look at potential replacements for star midfielder Tom Liberatore, whose season was ended by a torn ACL against the Tigers.

Morris nominated Josh Prudden and Mitch Honeychurch as players who might get an opportunity to fill the breach.

"With any team if you lose your gun players they're hard to replace but we've got a lot of guys willing to step up who have put their hand up to take that position and that role," Morris said.

"Whether it's spread over one, two, three players – we don't know.

"I think that's the beauty with our midfield mix is that we've got that many people who can run through there that, yeah, he will be missed because he's such a gun but we've got guys that can really step up."
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Hangzhou Dogs said:
Anyone know what his nickname is?
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I believe Libba Snr calles him Mighty Mouse in a article on the WB site. I'm not sure if the boys have a nickname for him or not though.

Edit: it was an AFL.com article

http://m.afl.com.au/news/2014-12-08/daniels-short-story

Daniel played 11 senior SANFL games with South Adelaide this year and had no trouble matching it with bigger-bodied opponents, impressing Liberatore, who has already nicknamed him "Mighty Mouse"
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Put it in the OP
 
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Sentinel said:
Not sure if it's been mentioned elsewhere, but does anyone know why he wears a helmet? The obvious reason would be his height, but I wonder if there's another specific reason on top of this, perhaps he's had a few heads knocks/concussions before so wears it as a result?
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I'm pretty sure his mum made him wear it when he was younger and it just stuck. The habit of wearing it, that is. Not the whole helmet to his head :p
 
Igloo said:
I'm pretty sure his mum made him wear it when he was younger and it just stuck. The habit of wearing it, that is. Not the whole helmet to his head :p
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Thanks. He'd be the first since Nathan Burke and Shaun Hart finished around 03-04 to don the helmet (excluding a handful by Graham Polak and maybe the odd one or two by others following injuries). Love the unique look.
 
The babychino

Credo_04.jpg


The helemeted half pint
Tyron Lannister
The mini maestro
 
The Little Master! Loved his goal yesterday, thought he'd kick it with the left foot, but he made it work :D
 

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ALL PRAISE THE GREAT DEFENDER CALEB DANIEL

Posted in the game day thread bit better suited in here...

His game changes completely if he plays forward of centre. He won’t just be able to waltz around hitting targets as he does in the backline.
He’ll have a direct opponent and will get his hands on the ball far less than he does down back.

He’s had 70 rebound 50’s this season. At a efficiency rating of 84% which is ******* high for the whole comp.
next best for us is Crozier with 36 rebound 50’s.
Take Daniel out of the backline, who replaces that output ?

Daniel also only averages 3 clangers a game. That includes turnovers and free kicks. For someone that plays that role with such danger that’s pretty good going.
If half of those clangers result in goals ( which is over kill as would only be a third at most ) that’s only 1.5 goals a game he costs us. For the role he plays you take that every day of the week.

And here’s a bit of a comparison with our skipper , Wood averages pretty much the same clangers per game as he does rebound 50’s.
Daniel averages half the amount.

Score launches stat which records first player to handle ball in scoring chain has Daniel ranked as 9th across the whole comp behind 8 ruckman. That means that he has a hand in scoring shots more than any other player in the comp besides 8 ruckman and considering a large number of scores come from stoppages, that is an amazing thing for Daniel to be ranked top out of all non rckman.

There’s a number of stats that reflect how good Daniel has been down back this year and besides actually watching him play, they are almost reason enough to not want him moved from his defensive position.

As I’ve said before, moving Daniel out would mean we’re far worse off.
 
Compared to all the other defenders in the comp, here’s some more stats from our man Daniel

Defensive half pressure acts. 3rd with 112

Effective disposal 3rd 247

Score involvements 2nd

Ranked 4th for turnovers ranked behind Sicily, Jake Lloyd and Luke Ryan. Those three are considered the best three in the comp for rebound defenders yet Daniel is more efficient with ball in hand.
Also has less clangers per game than Sicily who’s considered the best in the business coming out of defence.

His average ranking in all the important defensive rebound stats is higher than Sicily, Lloyd, Ryan, Crisp, Laird etc.

He even ranks 20th for intercept marks with 16. Siclily top with 29.
Crozier with only 18.

There’s more there if some are still in doubt ???
 
And some more...

18 One on one contests, ranked 24th. Luke Ryan on top with 33.
That’s only 1.5 a game. Plus his total for Contested Defence Losses is only 8. That’s including ground ball contests, so he’s losing out in the air **** all most games compared to the league average for defenders.

This tells us he’s not being isolated as some have pointed out, but even when he has been isolated his contest win rate is high compared to most other defenders.
 
He's a very good player in a very average side
 
Caleb is in the AFLs top 4 players for kick rating - takes into account the pressure around the kicker, the positioning of other players on an x,y axis and the average times that kick would be made across the afl. Effectively he is one of the best kicks in the comp with the stats to prove it.
 
Calebration of the Hawks after the siren 2016 final

1583635741401.jpeg
 
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