Best Games of 2018?

[AmericanAFL]

Posted a question in the stats forum but realizing now that it may not get a lot of traffic there. Here’s the link if anyone wants to help get me pointed in the right direction:

https://www.bigfooty.com/forum/threads/key-statistics.1208267/

I’m basically looking to get info on what the important team and individual stats are when analyzing games and players. There’s so many stats, and kind of overwhelming to determine what’s truly meaningful and what’s not. Thanks in advance for any and all help.

 

[AmericanAFL]

Have gone through many of these games, and haven’t been disappointed yet. Thanks for all the suggestions.

I have many, many questions about the sport, but the one that I’m most curious to hear some responses on, are how it is possible to get a sense for how players who aren’t taking spectacular marks and scoring lots of goals are actually performing.

The game game moves so fast at times, with so many players contesting the ball, on such a large field (making it almost impossible to see much more than 5-10% of the field at any time)- honestly it’s overwhelming at times. I’m actually surprised that without names on their jumpers that it’s possible to get a sense for how many of them are performing across an entire match.

 

[Jen2310]

Have gone through many of these games, and haven’t been disappointed yet. Thanks for all the suggestions.

I have many, many questions about the sport, but the one that I’m most curious to hear some responses on, are how it is possible to get a sense for how players who aren’t taking spectacular marks and scoring lots of goals are actually performing.

The game game moves so fast at times, with so many players contesting the ball, on such a large field (making it almost impossible to see much more than 5-10% of the field at any time)- honestly it’s overwhelming at times. I’m actually surprised that without names on their jumpers that it’s possible to get a sense for how many of them are performing across an entire match.

Those players that aren't most visible, to see how they went in each game, what I usually would do is check their stats on the clubs website. Like for example, the day after the game, I could go to the collingwood site and within the players section you can see what each individual player went in terms of marks, kicks, goals, disposables etc.

 

[Mitchell54]

Here's some Hawthorn games over the years that have been crackers. A combination of close games we've won and lost.
Sydney, Essendon & Geelong are our 3 main rivals.

Hawthorn v Sydney Round 22 2012
Hawthorn v Sydney Grand Final 2012
Hawthorn v Geelong Round 19 2012
Hawthorn v Sydney Round 10 2017
Hawthorn v Essendon Round 2 2015
Hawthorn v Geelong Prelim Final 2013
Hawthorn v Geelong Round 17 2009
Hawthorn v Geelong Grand Final 1989

In terms of a highlight reel.
I'd suggest watching Cyril Rioli highlights. One of the more unique players to have played the game. Get sme up and about every time I watch it.
45 Minute highlight reel (Trust me it's worth it. He needs the time)

 

[Apsaalooke]

I’m actually not a Crows fan. I don’t have a team (yet). Didn’t seem to be an option to not specify a team when I signed up for the forum, so thanks to alphabetical order, I’m listed for the Crows.

Too late. The die is set and can't be changed.
Besides it's really bad luck to change teams once you've locked onto one - old Australian tradition.

 

[AmericanAFL]

Those players that aren't most visible, to see how they went in each game, what I usually would do is check their stats on the clubs website. Like for example, the day after the game, I could go to the collingwood site and within the players section you can see what each individual player went in terms of marks, kicks, goals, disposables etc.

Thanks for the feedback!

I aspire to such, however I don’t currently know to what make of the stats or how to read into them.

If you have any insights I’m all ears (ie. for midfielders take a look at stat X- any value above Y is indicative of strong play).

Thanks to anyone who can help here, on evaluating the play of any position.

 

[AmericanAFL]

Here's some Hawthorn games over the years that have been crackers. A combination of close games we've won and lost.
Sydney, Essendon & Geelong are our 3 main rivals.

Hawthorn v Sydney Round 22 2012
Hawthorn v Sydney Grand Final 2012
Hawthorn v Geelong Round 19 2012
Hawthorn v Sydney Round 10 2017
Hawthorn v Essendon Round 2 2015
Hawthorn v Geelong Prelim Final 2013
Hawthorn v Geelong Round 17 2009
Hawthorn v Geelong Grand Final 1989

In terms of a highlight reel.
I'd suggest watching Cyril Rioli highlights. One of the more unique players to have played the game. Get sme up and about every time I watch it.
45 Minute highlight reel (Trust me it's worth it. He needs the time)

Thank you for the game suggestions!

I watched 3 Hawthorn games and they were an early leader for me in “choosing a team”.

Unfortunately a big piece of that was as a result of the play of Rioli, and my enthusiasm for the club was dampened when I heard he had retired.

It was sort of similar to the Swans. I love Buddy but how long will he be there? I assume he will retire soon and, honestly he was most of the reason I enjoyed watching Sidney.

 

[AmericanAFL]

Too late. The die is set and can't be changed.
Besides it's really bad luck to change teams once you've locked onto one - old Australian tradition.

Haha, fair play mate.

Truth is it was probably going to be an uphill battle for a non Victorian squad to win my support. As of now only the Eagles have managed to stay in the running for non-Vic teams.

 

[Mitchell54]

Thank you for the game suggestions!

I watched 3 Hawthorn games and they were an early leader for me in “choosing a team”.

Unfortunately a big piece of that was as a result of the play of Rioli, and my enthusiasm for the club was dampened when I heard he had retired.

It was sort of similar to the Swans. I love Buddy but how long will he be there? I assume he will retire soon and, honestly he was most of the reason I enjoyed watching Sidney.

Unfortunately Rioli retired due to wanting to settle down into family life in his home region therefore retiring.

Franklin still has 4 more years on his Current contract.

Hawthorn have the 2018 Brownlow medalist(BnF of league) in Tom Mitchell and have some really exciting forwards with Wingard, Bruest & Gunston.

If I had to recommend a team other than Hawthorn to support than I would have to recommend Anyone but Gold Coast.

Richmond would be my recommendation. Although Hawthorn have the best coach in the game and building a $120 million training facility which will put us in good stead for the future.

Hope you choose Hawthorn as your team but supporting AFL and for whatever team is very good as I’d like for it to become more popular in America and around the world.

 

[Baird]

Fremantle v Port Adelaide

Pisstake surely? That match was putrid

 

[Rod Stroker]

North v Sydney was my favourite non Bomber match. Absolute cracking game of football.

Which one?

Both the North v Sydney matches this year were tight, cracking games.

 

[windyhill]

Which one?

Both the North v Sydney matches this year were tight, cracking games.

Second one. Champagne Football. Added extra of the two Sudanese boys going head to head.

 

[Jen2310]

Thanks for the feedback!

I aspire to such, however I don’t currently know to what make of the stats or how to read into them.

If you have any insights I’m all ears (ie. for midfielders take a look at stat X- any value above Y is indicative of strong play).

Thanks to anyone who can help here, on evaluating the play of any position.

Midfielders usually have good stats, as they are the ones usually running around the middle of the ground. Not every midfielder are also goal kickers, so when you have some of those, you're team is far better off for it. You tend to find between 25-30+ is a good stat for touches/disposables, and they usually get you noticed especially when it comes to the brownlow.

In terms of choosing a team. We're all biased here, but I nominate Collingwood. One of the most passionate fanbases you'll find (also gets us hated, but eh, you take the good with the bad) but I wouldn't have it any other way. As an outsider, I can't imagine how hard it is to choose a team. Most of us grew up supporting a team, so it's kinda in your blood. But whatever you choose, make sure it's the right decision, as once you choose, you don't go back.

 

[windyhill]

We're all biast here.

Is this the most misspelled word in bigfooty history ?

 

[Jen2310]

Is this the most misspelled word in bigfooty history ?

My bad, sorry. Biased lol Thinking one thing and typing another.

 

[windyhill]

My bad, sorry. Biased lol Thinking one thing and typing another.

I'm being pedantic Jen, but it is a bit of an in joke !

 

[wce4premiership]

A lot of people not understanding the not-giving-the-result-away part of this.

 

[Dogs_r_barking]

AmericanAFL, welcome to AFL. My original country was big on rugby so it took awhile for me to get my head around AFL, but now I just love it.

AFL is very tribal, but fans are not rigidly found in the clubs heartland, you will find Collingwood fans in Western Australia, and Bulldog fans in Geelong.

Hawthorn has been the most successful team in the modern era, after winning their first flag in 1961.

Some of the original Victorian clubs are considered big clubs, with their VFL premierships counted in the AFL, the two most successful are Carlton and Essendon sitting on 16 premierships each. In recent times things have been a bit harder for these two clubs, with Carlton found cheating the salary cap after winning the 1995 Premiership, and were severely punished, they don’t seem to have bounced back from it, but they are gathering a very good list now, look for Cripps, he carries that team.

Essendon have been punished for experimenting with performance enhancing substances that were not legal, but are also gathering a formidable list together and are hopeful of winning a final for the first time in 14 years in 2019.

Collingwood is the biggest Victorian club, and gets a bit of hate from other fans because of it. They regularly make GFs but unfortunately regularly lose them as well. Their fans are considered fanatical, but if you enjoy a genuine chat about footy, they are great to talk to, minus the inevitable Collingwood bias.

I will say a little about my team the Bulldogs, we are a small club, with a fighting history, we put together an amazing month of football in 2016 to win the flag. We played all four of our finals as the outside team (lower ranked team); but created history by winning the flag from 7th. To do this we won two interstate finals, and put an end to Hawthorn’s domination in another. If you want to watch a good game watch the preliminary final against GWS. The highlights are on YouTube.

Anyway sit back and enjoy AFL.

 

[AmericanAFL]

AmericanAFL, welcome to AFL. My original country was big on rugby so it took awhile for me to get my head around AFL, but now I just love it.

AFL is very tribal, but fans are not rigidly found in the clubs heartland, you will find Collingwood fans in Western Australia, and Bulldog fans in Geelong.

Hawthorn has been the most successful team in the modern era, after winning their first flag in 1961.

Some of the original Victorian clubs are considered big clubs, with their VFL premierships counted in the AFL, the two most successful are Carlton and Essendon sitting on 16 premierships each. In recent times things have been a bit harder for these two clubs, with Carlton found cheating the salary cap after winning the 1985 Premiership, and were severely punished, they don’t seem to have bounced back from it, but they are gathering a very good list now, look for Cripps, he carries that team.

Essendon have been punished for experimenting with performance enhancing substances that were not legal, but are also gathering a formidable list together and are hopeful of winning a final for the first time in 14 years in 2019.

Collingwood is the biggest Victorian club, and gets a bit of hate from other fans because of it. They regularly make GFs but unfortunately regularly lose them as well. Their fans are considered fanatical, but if you enjoy a genuine chat about footy, they are great to talk to, minus the inevitable Collingwood bias.

I will say a little about my team the Bulldogs, we are a small club, with a fighting history, we put together an amazing month of football in 2016 to win the flag. We played all four of our finals as the outside team (lower ranked team); but created history by winning the flag from 7th. To do this we won two interstate finals, and put an end to Hawthorn’s domination in another. If you want to watch a good game watch the preliminary final against GWS. The highlights are on YouTube.

Anyway sit back and enjoy AFL.

Always enjoy reading posts like this. I’ll take as much history on the teams and the league as I can get.

I’m actually a bit familiar with the 2016 run the bulldogs went on thanks to a recent thread in this forum asking if the ‘18 Eagles premiership was the best ever. Several posters have made the case for the 2016 Bulldogs in that thread and it sounds pretty remarkable. How long have you been following AFL? What attracted you to the Bulldogs.

 

[Dogs_r_barking]

Always enjoy reading posts like this. I’ll take as much history on the teams and the league as I can get.

I’m actually a bit familiar with the 2016 run the bulldogs went on thanks to a recent thread in this forum asking if the ‘18 Eagles premiership was the best ever. Several posters have made the case for the 2016 Bulldogs in that thread and it sounds pretty remarkable. How long have you been following AFL? What attracted you to the Bulldogs.

When you live in Victoria, a common question is “Who do you follow?” It took me awhile to pick a team, the local clubs were the Saints who were really poor at the time and Hawthorn who were about to go on a magnificent run through the 80s, but yellow and brown just didn’t do it for me.

For me I tend to go for the underdog, so one of the first games I really watched was the Bulldogs taking on a more fancied opponent and winning, it was a great game, but I can’t recall who it was against or when, it would be early 80s. But anyway that was me sold on the Dogs.

I didn’t seriously follow footy until the late 90s,and signed up as a member around 2003. I have seen a lot of lows, mainly preliminary final losses, my club nearly fold twice, but saved by the members and community raising millions to bail us out. We once got referred to as a “Tragic Club”by a past Carlton President.

I think the supporters tell you a bit about a club. The Saints have a lot of musician supporters, the Hawks and Carlton a lot of politicians, Collingwood a lot of successful people from working class origins. It’s a bit more difficult to say with the non Victorian clubs as they only have two teams in each State. For the Bulldogs we have a lot of comedians, oh and the Hemsworth’s.

 

[Apsaalooke]

Haha, fair play mate.

Truth is it was probably going to be an uphill battle for a non Victorian squad to win my support. As of now only the Eagles have managed to stay in the running for non-Vic teams.

Your choice but you'll be sorry.
We have AmericanCrow from Cleveland on our board. He's seen the light.

 

[Macpotata]

per the thread I had made already


The Classics


There were several to name in this field. Round 1 we had the Max Gawn miss as the Dees and the Ctas played out a memorable match at the MCG which saw it have several switches of Momentum. The Cats got up famously as Gawn's shot at the end went horribly wide.

Being the reigning premiers WCE were involved in some good contests. Their round 1 fixture, the first official game at Optus Oval Sunday night twilight against Sydney was pulsating. 8 Buddy Franklin goals as well as the umpires held off a fast finishing Eagles outfit.

Round 2 on Easter Monday rivals Geelong and Hawthorn took centre stage at the MCG for a huge titanic tussle. The Hawkers prevailing by a solitary point as the Cats late surge wasn't enough. Pies vs Giants was also a goody on the Saturday.

Round 3 and the West Coast jumped the Cats and should have put the game to bed by half time. They didn't however as poor kicking almost cost them as it did in the Grand Final, and the Cats came back to take the lead. A huge rally from Yeo and Co and some sizzling football in the last 10 put paid to the Cats hope of producing a famous come back. Sheed kicked a great goal as he's notoriously famous for now as the Eagles found their feet again and held off a gallant, undermanned Geelong.


Hawthorn vs Sydney

Ronke's 7 on the biggest stage of them all. Friday night football at the MCG. Swans win in another Hawthorn-Sydney Saga



Power defeat Richmond at the Oval on a Friday night mid year. Intensity was huge, the pace frenetic. The Power, good.


Dogs vs Cats - The Bullies win a week after blowing it at the death against the Roos. This time they win at the end as Taylor's shot misses, Dogs win by under a kick and the game offered many good moments and many goals.


Cats vs Dees - Tuohey sinks his shot after the siren as Geelong rally from 5 goals down to steer and major dagger in the Demons heart.


Power vs Adelaide Crows - Both shootouts

WCE vs Melbourne round 22 - Dees win to make the finals

West Coast vs Collingwood qualifying Final & Grand Final




The Statements

Bombers beating Adelaide in round 1
Richmond vs Melbourne ANZAC Eve - You're not on our level Dees
WCE vs Richmond Round 9 at Optus
Collingwood vs Melbourne Queens Birthday
Swans knock off WCE again and stop their run of 10 straight games
Richmond beating Sydney 1 v 2 Thursday night at Etihad
Dees destroy Adelaide in the N.T
Eagles defeat the Pies at the MCG for their first win against them at that venue since 1995
Sydney coming back against GWS to re-shape the top 8 just before the finals




The nail biters

In round 4 it was chaos and it wasn't always pretty. But the Dogs-Swans battle where the Doggies really did drop the points at least caused edge of your seat stuff.
Eagles beat the Dockers in the first ever Derby at Optus
Hawks defeat the Power by 3 Saints by 2 and Dons by 2 points
Richmond beat the Cats by 2 Friday night at the G and defeat the doggies in round 23 surviving a late poster
Swans beat the Pies by 2 points
Roos beat the Lions by 3
Saints draw with GWS
Pies win on the road in the final home and away game of the year to seal a top 4 birth. As the Hawks would do later that day to pip the Swannies for 4th spot up at the SCG.

The come backs

West Coast vs Port - Gov goal after the siren as the eagles win from 5 goals down in their first game missing Andrew Gaff
Saints vs Suns - saints rally from 33 down to win up at Metricon
Adelaide rallying from 27 down against WCE after they were on a big losing sequence. The Crows announced they wouldn't go quietly off into the 2018 season.
North win as dogs choke under lights at Etihad
Bulldogs come back against the Roos and upset them, ending their season.



The Shootouts

Brisbane vs Collingwood - Gabba Goals galore as De Goey's 6 see's the Pies prevail in an epic shootout. 121-114
Saints vs Dees at the G
Swans beat the Roos latish in the season at Etihad
Dons defeat the Roos in another Sunday Shootout under the Etihad bright lights


The upsets

Pies v Beat Crows in Adelaide missing several stars
Ditto the next week as the Crows upset the Swans at the SCG
Swans beat the Cats in Geeling missing Buddy and a gun mid
Suns beat the Swans at the SCG
Dons beat the Cats and the Eagles in Perth to produce a solid month at least of very good football. They also toppled the Giants at Spotless.
Roos win up in Sydney
Blues win against Essendon
GWS win against the Tiges was an upset and a statement
Lions beating the Hawks twice
The choke jobs

Already mentioned here but the dogs and roos both games both teams choked as did the Crows and Power somewhat in their two meetings. Eagles against the Crows in Adelaide. Dees twice to the Cats. There were more.

 

[Brutalitops]

AmericanAFL

You should be able to watch round 3 2016 Melbourne vs North Melbourne. And if you can, do. High scoring, tight finish and is highlighted throughout by the epic duel between the two elite ruckmen, Todd Goldstein (North) and Max Gawn (Melbourne). Its one for the ages.

 

[W.C. Fry]

As an aside, I really wish player names were on the backs of uniforms (jumpers?)

As someone with an Alex Smith and Colin Kaepernick 49er jersey I'm happy AFL players don't have names on jumpers!

As for selecting a team. Philly Eagles 2018 champs, West Coast Eagles 2018 premiers. It's meant to be. Jump on board! All you need to do is booooo

 

[Unique Name]

Rnd 2 - Freo vs Essendon was a good match.

High scoring, late comeback, Fyfe dominating, unexpected result. First night game at Optus stadium.

And something no other game in the 2018 season had...... an epileptic light show at the end! (pretty sure they toned down the lightshow after that night).