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Senior List
- Sep 20, 2015
- 192
- 780
- AFL Club
- North Melbourne
Carey is widely recognised as the GOAT or at the minimum a top 3 GOAT candidate. This doesn't need much more attention. Playing the most important and difficult position on the field, captain of the side, unbeatable in contested marking, physical and intimidating as f#ck, booting goals from 60m out, these are the aspects of Carey that most of the general public will remember most.
I'm no different, I will always think of those aspects first when remembering Carey play. But there are a few other aspects to Carey that also inspire awe in me. One of those aspects is Carey the disposals accumulator. This may be one aspect that helps paint the complete picture when Leigh Matthews talks of Carey as his number one because he helped the team win in more ways than any other player could. I think back to the 99 grand final when Carey went into the midfield to rack up pivotal touches in quick succession to steady North in that critical 3rd quarter. I remember Carey mopping up everything in the backline. But what I didn't realise was Carey was also doing this as a CHF. It might just be his highlight reel marks and goals that distracted me from the fact that Carey is a GOAT forward possession accumulator too.
I actually think that Carey's total number of goals compared to other legendary CHFs doesn't stand out. Carey's best effort was 82 goals in 96, which is a total that the next tier like Brown, Tredrea, Hall, Riewoldt, etc. all got close to. Franklin and Richardson had seasons where they kicked more goals than Carey. Even marks, where I'd assume Carey was miles ahead of others, he wasn't. He was elite but players like Riewoldt and Richardson had better years. Not sure about contested marks though. Remember, just from a pure raw stats point of view. But where Carey popped out a bit more compared to the rest is the total amount of disposals he racked up per game. If you combine this with Carey's other traditional power forward metrics, you have the complete package.
Carey's career averages
Carey's career disposals per game at 16.5 (this includes his first few seasons and his last few seasons where he's averaging just over 11 disposals per game are still higher or comparable to the elite forwards of the game in their prime seasons. I compared Franklin, Tredrea, Brown, and Riedwoldt.
Side notes: Buddy has insane longevity and has 12 quality seasons that I would consider prime years. I considered Richardson, Grant, and Ablett Snr as well. Richardson has crazy numbers but doesn't seem to seasons where it all peaks, Grant was a tier below, and Ablett Snr wasn't a CHF though his 1989 is probably the most comparable to Carey's peak seasons by numbers. And lastly, I didn't consider Riedwoldt's utility playing seasons too - he actually averaged over 20 disposals per game in 2016, but would consider that way past his peak CHF playing days.
So, hopefully that sets the scene for Carey's uniquely high disposal game compared to some other great CHFs. Now, let's check out Carey's prime season stats:
Carey averaged 18.4 disposals per game over 170 games across 8 seasons. That's a superior disposal rate than the other four mentioned. This also includes Carey's injury interrupted 97 season. If you remove that, his disposals per game increases to 18.6. The numbers look good, but then when you compare eras and the relative disposals per game from Carey's prime years to basically the 00s and 10s, it get's even wilder.
Consider Carey's arguably peak seasons of 96 and 98:
From a quick scan curtesy of Footywire, Carey is the number one ranked key forward (or possibly any full-time forward though didn't really thoroughly check) for disposals per game. But league-wide, Carey was top 50 in 98, and just about in 96. I know not an exact match as the game has changed, but for some context, this season's #42 in disposals per game was Lachie Whitfield averaging 25.0 per game! That's pretty impressive for a powerhouse forward like Carey to also rack up possessions as well. I won't even go into how good he was with his disposal too. It's a shame that stats like goal assists weren't recorded because Carey would dominate that stat as well.
Rarely do I hear anyone mention this aspect of Carey's game, but aside from his GOAT goal kicking, contested marking, and dominance of the game, I think his ability to win the ball and distribute as a CHF separates him even further from the rest of the pack.
I'm no different, I will always think of those aspects first when remembering Carey play. But there are a few other aspects to Carey that also inspire awe in me. One of those aspects is Carey the disposals accumulator. This may be one aspect that helps paint the complete picture when Leigh Matthews talks of Carey as his number one because he helped the team win in more ways than any other player could. I think back to the 99 grand final when Carey went into the midfield to rack up pivotal touches in quick succession to steady North in that critical 3rd quarter. I remember Carey mopping up everything in the backline. But what I didn't realise was Carey was also doing this as a CHF. It might just be his highlight reel marks and goals that distracted me from the fact that Carey is a GOAT forward possession accumulator too.
I actually think that Carey's total number of goals compared to other legendary CHFs doesn't stand out. Carey's best effort was 82 goals in 96, which is a total that the next tier like Brown, Tredrea, Hall, Riewoldt, etc. all got close to. Franklin and Richardson had seasons where they kicked more goals than Carey. Even marks, where I'd assume Carey was miles ahead of others, he wasn't. He was elite but players like Riewoldt and Richardson had better years. Not sure about contested marks though. Remember, just from a pure raw stats point of view. But where Carey popped out a bit more compared to the rest is the total amount of disposals he racked up per game. If you combine this with Carey's other traditional power forward metrics, you have the complete package.
Carey's career averages
| Games | Disposals per game | Marks per game | Goals per game |
| 272 | 16.5 | 6.7 | 2.7 |
Carey's career disposals per game at 16.5 (this includes his first few seasons and his last few seasons where he's averaging just over 11 disposals per game are still higher or comparable to the elite forwards of the game in their prime seasons. I compared Franklin, Tredrea, Brown, and Riedwoldt.
| Player | Prime Seasons | Games | Disposals |
| Franklin | 2007-18 | 256 | 16.2 |
| Tredrea | 2001-05 | 120 | 16.2 |
| Brown | 2006-10 | 93 | 15.9 |
| Riedwoldt | 2004-10 | 147 | 16.9 |
Side notes: Buddy has insane longevity and has 12 quality seasons that I would consider prime years. I considered Richardson, Grant, and Ablett Snr as well. Richardson has crazy numbers but doesn't seem to seasons where it all peaks, Grant was a tier below, and Ablett Snr wasn't a CHF though his 1989 is probably the most comparable to Carey's peak seasons by numbers. And lastly, I didn't consider Riedwoldt's utility playing seasons too - he actually averaged over 20 disposals per game in 2016, but would consider that way past his peak CHF playing days.
So, hopefully that sets the scene for Carey's uniquely high disposal game compared to some other great CHFs. Now, let's check out Carey's prime season stats:
| Prime Seasons | Games | Disposals |
| 1993-00 | 170 | 18.4 |
Carey averaged 18.4 disposals per game over 170 games across 8 seasons. That's a superior disposal rate than the other four mentioned. This also includes Carey's injury interrupted 97 season. If you remove that, his disposals per game increases to 18.6. The numbers look good, but then when you compare eras and the relative disposals per game from Carey's prime years to basically the 00s and 10s, it get's even wilder.
Consider Carey's arguably peak seasons of 96 and 98:
| Season | Disposals | AFL rank |
| 1996 | 19.4 | 52 |
| 1998 | 19.6 | 42 |
From a quick scan curtesy of Footywire, Carey is the number one ranked key forward (or possibly any full-time forward though didn't really thoroughly check) for disposals per game. But league-wide, Carey was top 50 in 98, and just about in 96. I know not an exact match as the game has changed, but for some context, this season's #42 in disposals per game was Lachie Whitfield averaging 25.0 per game! That's pretty impressive for a powerhouse forward like Carey to also rack up possessions as well. I won't even go into how good he was with his disposal too. It's a shame that stats like goal assists weren't recorded because Carey would dominate that stat as well.
Rarely do I hear anyone mention this aspect of Carey's game, but aside from his GOAT goal kicking, contested marking, and dominance of the game, I think his ability to win the ball and distribute as a CHF separates him even further from the rest of the pack.
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