Can't tell if serious? Wingard and Betts both this year have higher numbers of score involement then rioli, Wingard and Rioli are both equal for goal assist (with betts only a couple behind), not to mention betts kicking 17 goals more then him and wingard kicking 15 goals more then him... Of course betts and wingard deserve to be AA over rioli.
Should probably back up your score involvements comment with some stats.
He's been good though, no arguments here. Probably still have Wingard and Betts ahead of him though.
I purposefully said "score involvements
for his teammates" in trying to make a point about Cyril's unselfishness. Some people want their gun small forward to be selfish and snap goals from all angles, but this undervalues the key point I tried to make about the underrated aspect of Rioli's game.
Wingard, Betts and Rioli have all had the same similar numbers of score involvements and goal assists (the possession prior to goal)
Wingard and Betts have had more shots at goal than Cyril and kicked more goals. However, if you subtract their scoring shots from their overall score involvement totals, you'll find Cyril has set up way more scores for his teammates than those two. Wingard and Betts are deadly finishers, but Cyril is more of a set-up player. (Luke Breust has also kicked the same number of goals as Wingard and Betts, but how many of his goals could we attribute to Rioli's good work?)
Goals
49 Eddie Betts, (avg 2.72)
47 Chad Wingard (avg 2.47)
45 Luke Breust (avg 2.37)
36 Michael Walters (avg 1.89)
32 Cyril Rioli (avg 1.78)
Assists
17 Cyril Rioli (avg 0.94)
17 Chad Wingard (avg 0.89)
14 Eddie Betts (avg 0.78)
13 Luke Breust (avg 0.68)
11 Michael Walters (avg 0.58)
Score involvements
143 Luke Breust (avg 7.53)
136 Chad Wingard (avg 7.16)
132 Eddie Betts (avg 7.33)
131 Cyril Rioli (avg 7.28)
112 Michael Walters (avg 5.89)
Scoring shots
71 Chad Wingard (3.74)
69 Eddie Betts (3.83)
61 Luke Breust (3.21)
53 Michael Walters (2.79)
50 Cyril Rioli (2.78)
Score involvements minus scoring shots
82 Luke Breust (4.32)
81 Cyril Rioli (4.50)
65 Chad Wingard (3.42)
63 Eddie Betts (3.50)
59 Michael Walters (3.11)
Another thing about these "score involvements", I'm not 100% certain, but I'm fairly sure these only count the players who were involved in the
possession chain which led to a score. So they don't count the score involvements when Rioli tackles a player and strips the ball loose, or when he intercepts an opposition kick or handball by getting a hand in there and causing the turnover, or when he doesn't even take possession, but simply taps the ball onto Breust, Gunstan, Roughead and Puopolo - some of these tap ons are better than a possession because they give defenders no time to react.
Rioli is the king of this stuff. Not just the raw number totals, but the timing and quality of his work and the effect it has on the game.
Tackles
80 Cyril Rioli (avg 4.44)
70 Luke Breust (avg 3.68)
58 Chad Wingard (avg 3.05)
52 Eddie Betts (avg 2.89)
47 Michael Walters (avg 2.47)
One-percenters
43 Cyril Rioli (avg 2.39)
23 Eddie Betts (avg 1.28)
22 Chad Wingard (avg 1.16)
19 Michael Walters (avg 1.00)
18 Luke Breust (avg 0.95)
It would be interesting to see the score involvements emanating from these last two statistical categories.
I'd venture to say, Rioli would be a clear number one if they measured that.
At the end of the day, people can ignore the tackles and one-percenters when rating the small forwards. They can focus purely on the goals and the highlight reel stuff (the arsey snaps and the speckies) but I think it's selling Rioli's overall contribution short. When the hawk fans make their way home after another win and they speak in raptures about Rioli, they're not just discussing his 15 disposals, 2 goals and a specky - it's the 5 or 6 goals he created with his chasing, tackling, clever taps-ons and timely intercepts.