Analysis Aussie Rules Explained - Swans Board Style

Apr 7, 2012
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I might be wrong but I think every club in the AFL now has a reserves/affiliate second tier team that they have either complete (reserves) or substantial (affiliate) control over.

I have to confess to not knowing a lot about the Victorian clubs' arrangements with VFL affiliates, but as far as I know the last dominos to fall were the Perth sides having affiliates in the WAFL, which happened in the last couple of years, and the SA teams having reserves sides in the SANFL. This year is the Crows' 3rd year in the SANFL - the Crows having been a club created in 1990 specifically to play in the AFL as a representative of all 10 SANFL clubs of the time. One of those clubs, Port Adelaide, entered a team in the AFL a few years later but the SANFL club remained in the SANFL and was not actually a reserves team for the Power until the last few years. It created a bizarre situation where the Crows would draft players from interstate - they would be farmed out to SANFL clubs via a "mini-draft" and some young Crows would end up deep in enemy territory playing for Port Adelaide in the SANFL.

As others have said, I think the reluctance of SA and WA to have "AFL reserves" teams in their local leagues is largely historical - these are once proud leagues that were comparable to the VFL of the time (which has now expanded into the AFL) and there are many people, particularly those who were into adulthood before the Crows came into the league in 1991, who still feel a greater parochial attachment to the club they grew up supporting than the one that was created from thin air to compete on the national stage. Indeed, there is a very strong school of thought amongst SANFL die hards that the two AFL reserves teams should be kicked out of the SANFL.

As others have said, a full AFL reserves competition is definitely desirable and probably inevitable.

Now, let's have a good clean game and we can all join together in hurling vitriol at Kurt Tippett.

I might be wrong but i think north still splits its affiliate sides, saint kilda has no control over sandringham (which they are parting ways with after this season) and its clear from the way melbourne play that the scorpions are an affliate in name only and don't give a * about developing youth for the dee's.
 

DarkFlyer

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Apr 4, 2016
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What is the tradition behind the banners each team runs through at the beginning of each match?
 

DarkFlyer

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Apr 4, 2016
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57
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As far as analytics, here is the type of advanced metrics I'd expect to see:

  • Movement tracking that demonstrates who the most active players are. Disposals are important, but simplistic. If I want to track the effectiveness of a player who plays in the middle of the oval (I am an idiot and can't seem to memorize the position names), I want to know how active he is and how much pressure he puts on opponents.
  • A +/- analysis of various players or lines, which is the sum of the score while players are in the match minus the scores of the opponent. I know footy has limited and less impactful substitution than basketball, but knowing the score of my squad relative to the other team while a particular player on the oval would illustrate the most effective lineups or the effectiveness of a particular player.
  • Kick disposal effectiveness: on the run, after a mark, with left foot, right foot, by total distance. I think the last would be particularly interesting. Who on the Swans is most effective on longer than 30 meter disposals? What about the League in general? Who is most effective at short kicks? Does this affect how teams construct their roster?
I'm surprised you smart blokes haven't had more to say about this subject. . .
 
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As far as analytics, here is the type of advanced metrics I'd expect to see:

  • Movement tracking that demonstrates who the most active players are. Disposals are important, but simplistic. If I want to track the effectiveness of a player who plays in the middle of the oval (I am an idiot and can't seem to memorize the position names), I want to know how active he is and how much pressure he puts on opponents.
  • A +/- analysis of various players or lines, which is the sum of the score while players are in the match minus the scores of the opponent. I know footy has limited and less impactful substitution than basketball, but knowing the score of my squad relative to the other team while a particular player on the oval would illustrate the most effective lineups or the effectiveness of a particular player.
  • Kick disposal effectiveness: on the run, after a mark, with left foot, right foot, by total distance. I think the last would be particularly interesting. Who on the Swans is most effective on longer than 30 meter disposals? What about the League in general? Who is most effective at short kicks? Does this affect how teams construct their roster?
I'm surprised you smart blokes haven't had more to say about this subject. . .

A +/- anaylsis based on the players on the field is something i'm working on (in secret). The trouble is actually seeing/tracking the interchanges. Would most likely need someone at the ground...
 

DarkFlyer

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Apr 4, 2016
48
57
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A +/- anaylsis based on the players on the field is something i'm working on (in secret). The trouble is actually seeing/tracking the interchanges. Would most likely need someone at the ground...

So there is no official record keeping of the interchanges? I would think there would have to be with the new interchange limit rule implemented this year.
 
So there is no official record keeping of the interchanges? I would think there would have to be with the new interchange limit rule implemented this year.

There is but it is unpublished.
There are stats for 'time on ground'.

  • Movement tracking that demonstrates who the most active players are. Disposals are important, but simplistic. If I want to track the effectiveness of a player who plays in the middle of the oval (I am an idiot and can't seem to memorize the position names), I want to know how active he is and how much pressure he puts on opponent

Most players wear GPS units (you can see them just above their number on their back), most the data is used in house.

  • A +/- analysis of various players or lines, which is the sum of the score while players are in the match minus the scores of the opponent. I know footy has limited and less impactful substitution than basketball, but knowing the score of my squad relative to the other team while a particular player on the oval would illustrate the most effective lineups or the effectiveness of a particular player
Very rarely do players play on a direct opponent the entire match so it would be difficult to do a direct player v player stat.



Most teams use '1 percenters' and 'ground ball gets' and 'tackles' as a proxy for pressure.


Who on the Swans is most effective on longer than 30 meter disposals?
Does this affect how teams construct their roster?

Our most effective kick (long and short) now plays for West Coast.
In the off season the club made a point of recruiting players that can kick well because it is one of our glaring weaknesses.
 
So there is no official record keeping of the interchanges? I would think there would have to be with the new interchange limit rule implemented this year.

as Number37 mentioned. Getting my hands on the actual timings of players on/off is incredibly difficult. I suppose someone like Champion_Data may have access to this kind of thing but I doubt it's freely available :'(
 
As far as analytics, here is the type of advanced metrics I'd expect to see:

  • Movement tracking that demonstrates who the most active players are. Disposals are important, but simplistic. If I want to track the effectiveness of a player who plays in the middle of the oval (I am an idiot and can't seem to memorize the position names), I want to know how active he is and how much pressure he puts on opponents.
  • A +/- analysis of various players or lines, which is the sum of the score while players are in the match minus the scores of the opponent. I know footy has limited and less impactful substitution than basketball, but knowing the score of my squad relative to the other team while a particular player on the oval would illustrate the most effective lineups or the effectiveness of a particular player.
  • Kick disposal effectiveness: on the run, after a mark, with left foot, right foot, by total distance. I think the last would be particularly interesting. Who on the Swans is most effective on longer than 30 meter disposals? What about the League in general? Who is most effective at short kicks? Does this affect how teams construct their roster?
I'm surprised you smart blokes haven't had more to say about this subject. . .
To be fair to all the smart blokes around here they can only really work with what's available to them. Data limitation by Champion Data (& the clubs) means a lot of the deeper analysis would occur in house and not often be made available after the fact. Occassionally there's some gold though. Often though it's more about you piecing together bits of fragmented info from different sources and coming up with the goods on a more subjective basis.

I do however love you idea about statistics around the ground per player.

As an example.

PlayerX makes 40% of their effective tackles in the Fwd50 RH pocket.
PlayerX kicking efficiency in the Fwd50 RH Pocket is 20%.
PlayerX Heart rate in the Fwd50 RH Pocket is avg 160bpm.
PlayerX makes 30% of their effective tackles in the Fwd50 LH pocket.
PlayerX kicking efficiency in the Fwd50 LH Pocket is 60%
PlayerX Heart rate in the Fwd50 LH Pocket is avg 150bpm.

As such, play this player out of the LH Fwd pocket as much as possible and instruct them to handball when on the RH side of the ground. Have a particular teammate always trailing them ready for the handball when on the RH side. etc etc

Genius (& something I'm sure the clubs have access to & we do not).
 
Apr 7, 2012
18,188
13,947
Sydney
AFL Club
Sydney
Other Teams
Coney Island, GWS, The Exers!
What is the tradition behind the banners each team runs through at the beginning of each match?

its not that traditional,

fans used to make home made signs, naturally cheer squads members being the weird bastards they are went over board in the 50's and 60's and started making bigger and larger banners that took up large sections of the walls and fencing at grounds and over time they got larger and larger. but most of the extravagant "cheer squad" were only for big games.

then the 70's happened and well: drugs, alcohol and venereal disease are a dangerous combo, most old people will tell you its because ground advertising meant that most of the home made signs and banners were taken down as they were blocking the ad's companies were paying money for and also because ground staff hated picking up miles of crate paper. so cheer squads started mounting them on poles to make them portable.

these are a lies, the truth is everyone was off their face on scooby snacks in the 70's, So they thought this was the most epic idea ever. After they finally kicked the drugs they came down and couldn't bare to admit that they had done something utterly *ed, So they claimed its "tradition" rather then admit they went on a decade long acid trip.

most people who make banners today are on either on day release from the local correctional centre, or just embarrassed their weird uncle with the strange bracelet on his ankle dragged them to banner making once again.
 

DarkFlyer

Rookie
Apr 4, 2016
48
57
AFL Club
Sydney
its not that traditional,

fans used to make home made signs, naturally cheer squads members being the weird bastards they are went over board in the 50's and 60's and started making bigger and larger banners that took up large sections of the walls and fencing at grounds and over time they got larger and larger. but most of the extravagant "cheer squad" were only for big games.

then the 70's happened and well: drugs, alcohol and venereal disease are a dangerous combo, most old people will tell you its because ground advertising meant that most of the home made signs and banners were taken down as they were blocking the ad's companies were paying money for and also because ground staff hated picking up miles of crate paper. so cheer squads started mounting them on poles to make them portable.

these are a lies, the truth is everyone was off their face on scooby snacks in the 70's, So they thought this was the most epic idea ever. After they finally kicked the drugs they came down and couldn't bare to admit that they had done something utterly ******ed, So they claimed its "tradition" rather then admit they went on a decade long acid trip.

most people who make banners today are on either on day release from the local correctional centre, or just embarrassed their weird uncle with the strange bracelet on his ankle dragged them to banner making once again.

Absolutely hilarious. No offense, Ticky009, but this was so much better than the Wikipedia link. . .
 
Mar 1, 2002
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334
Ertvania
AFL Club
Sydney
And no decent, self-respecting banner is complete without at least one spelling or punctuation error.
AlAYeHMCAAMjpJx.png:large
 
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