Analysis Our Average Age

[Heir_Apparent]

Just did some quick calculations to cure my curiosity and thought I would share with everyone.

Last Friday night vs Saints our team's average age was pretty much spot on 24.
This is a number that has shown in the past to have huge significance when it comes to finals.

Time and time again history has shown that during finals time teams with an average age of 26 - 27 are far greater odds of winning the flag than those teams with a younger average age.

Friday night was the youngest team we have fielded so far this year, especially after Maxwell went off, he was our oldest player on the night.
With Ball and Swan to come back in and once Maxwell and Reid re-join the seniors, our average age would be sitting right on that 26 year old mark.


Our 2010 GF team also had an average age of 24. Very rare for a GF side to be so young.
But as we saw on Friday night and in 2010, not so bad sacrificing bigger experienced bodies for youth and speed.

I don't have any questions regarding this, I just thought I would share and start a topic of discussion I find interesting.

 

[Seedsfan]

It is good that our list is young means we have more improvement left in us then other teams around us

 

[THATSGOLD]

Geelong won the 2011 flag with an average age of 27-28?

 

[blaze036]

Just did some quick calculations to cure my curiosity and thought I would share with everyone.

Last Friday night vs Saints our team's average age was pretty much spot on 24.
This is a number that has shown in the past to have huge significance when it comes to finals.

Time and time again history has shown that during finals time teams with an average age of 26 - 27 are far greater odds of winning the flag than those teams with a younger average age.

Friday night was the youngest team we have fielded so far this year, especially after Maxwell went off, he was our oldest player on the night.
With Ball and Swan to come back in and once Maxwell and Reid re-join the seniors, our average age would be sitting right on that 26 year old mark.


Our 2010 GF team also had an average age of 24. Very rare for a GF side to be so young.
But as we saw on Friday night and in 2010, not so bad sacrificing bigger experienced bodies for youth and speed.

I don't have any questions regarding this, I just thought I would share and start a topic of discussion I find interesting.

We aren't as young as we like to think we are

 

[Gone Critical]

As you say Ball, Swan and Reid will push up our average age. My belief is we played the kids last year through necessity but this year have a better and more experienced 22. The exception to this is our ruck division and KPB by dent of Brown and Reid being out.

Having Beams, Young, Toovey, Ball, Fasolo and Keefe back in for full years has regenerated our depth and the Kennedys, Martins, Dwyers, Oxleys etc who debuted last year havent been getting much of a look in. If we keep injuries under control we are a strong top 4 contender with an experienced 22 full of premiership players. I hope for a flag this year. They are impossibly hard things to win. I have never been a believer in treating a year like this as a development year. Sure I hope we improve in 2015-16 and onwards but experience has taught me when you are in a position to strike you strike as hard as you can and let the subsequent years look after themselves.

 

[gutsroy]

Just a general question on this, as average age is a statistic that is brought up reasonably often and the stats quoted seem to vary.

Is the more common measure of average age that of the selected senior side in any one week or that across the entire senior list?

I guess if some quote the former while others concentrate the latter, it'd explain why there sometimes seem to be discrepancies in how it is reported

 

[Vicky Park]

I think the club has managed our age profile very well, including the composition of the senior list (older through to younger players). We are not too heavy at either end, with a very solid middle range of players in the 23-27 age group. With that middle range you also get the guys with 100 games experience or thereabouts, also crucial to finals success.

Our delisting/retirements of the last year or so - Didak, Jolly, Johnson - trimmed a lot of years from our age profile. This pattern will be reinforced when Lynch and Huddo follow this year, and possibly also Maxy and Ball.

Obviously all clubs trim their lists of older players every year, but who you let go and when is the hard part. Keeping older guys who are still easily top 22 (Swan) and those who provide on field leadership and mentoring (Maxy) is critical. Hanging onto older players/fading champions out of desperation or - dare I say - a misplaced sense of loyalty is not the way to go.

The Pies have done 'good work' in this regard.

 

[ipswichpies]

I think we definitely are as young as we think we are,Maxwell and Swan do bump our age age up but Reid is only 25 himself the thing is a lot of our mid aged players have been playing for a long time.Travis being the best example he is only 27 but has been playing since he was 17,Pendlebury18,Sidey18,Beams19,Brown was either 18 or 19the same with Reid.
I agree with Vicky Park the club is doing a great job of handling the list we move players on when we feel they have reached their use by date but most importantly we do them a fair crack,the club have stuck by Gault and Yagmoor and others long after most felt they should be delisted so I would say the club are fair in their dismissals these days.

I think the club is doing a great job with the list and it,s development of the players,against the Saints on Friday we had 11 players 23 or under and most had not played 30 games let alone 50 we are in fantastic shape for the future and do not let anyone tell you otherwise.

Players Like Elliott,Witts,Thomas,Langdon,Williams will be good players for Collingwood for a long time,we are showing this with Pendles,Cloke,Beams,Reid and company.If there is 1 area where we should be pleased with our former coach it is player development and managing the list he was 1st class at it and we continuing on even better.

 

[Old Spice]

The AFL Prospectus calculates average age across the list and I have heard we are 4th youngest although I don't have this years Prospectus myself.

Another good way to go about assessing the list is to see how many players are in that 0-20 game bracket, 20-50, 50-100 and 100+. If we end top 4 or 6 and have a large volume of quality players in that sub 50 game category we are well placed to improve.

 

[Markfs]

The commentators were going on about how young the Saints were last week and then they said that the team had half a dozen players over 30 and the Pies only had Maxwell. Jones, Hayes, Montana, Riewoldt, Schneider, Dempster - that's a helluva lot of old players to be in a young team. It annoys me but lots of things do.

 

[doodles98]

The AFL Prospectus calculates average age across the list and I have heard we are 4th youngest although I don't have this years Prospectus myself.

Another good way to go about assessing the list is to see how many players are in that 0-20 game bracket, 20-50, 50-100 and 100+. If we end top 4 or 6 and have a large volume of quality players in that sub 50 game category we are well placed to improve.

Yes but the more relevant stat in terms of this thread is the average age of the senior side put out on the park this year. Our overall list may be young due to our VFL side not having many middle agers unlike other clubs.. our senior side is firmly in the middle of the group at between 9-10th youngest. The age profile actually looks pretty good in terms of "premiership windows" for the seniors and in also in terms of future development in the VFL. Hudson, Lynch, Clarke and Armstrong are the only four that could be considered cloggers and they will be gone so the profile gets even younger and more exciting in 2015!

 

[Heir_Apparent]

Is the more common measure of average age that of the selected senior side in any one week or that across the entire senior list?

I guess if some quote the former while others concentrate the latter, it'd explain why there sometimes seem to be discrepancies in how it is reported

Yea spot on, I calculated the 22 players that played vs the Saints Friday night.

Maxwell the oldest, today he turns 31!!!

HAPPY B'DAY MAXY

I think he can go around 1 more year, and he is more crucial to us winning a flag in the next 2 seasons than any other old guy I think.
Swan a little younger looks like he's got 5 seasons in the forward line in him easy if he wanted, but he has stated he doesn't want to play footy after 30, could be a very surprising end if he finished this year.
Luke Ball on the other hand, just turned 30, doesn't look like he could go another year unfortunately, he could, but he would end up being a burden for our midfield.

At the other end Grundy is 20, Adams coming up 21 in a few months and Langdon the youngest regular is 20 in 6 days.

Special mention to Fasolo, almost 22 and has had his 46 career games spread across 4 seasons, 12 games a year poor kid has been r*ped with injuries.

So list wise we look amazing, a massive amount of boys between 24 and 27 with only a handful of old wise heads and youth.

 

[Temploar]

If we don't win a flag with this list by 2017 would you guys consider it a massive disappointment?

 

[ottoman]

If we don't win a flag with this list by 2017 would you guys consider it a massive disappointment?

yep

 

[SuperSub17]

If we don't win a flag with this list by 2017 would you guys consider it a massive disappointment?

I wouldn't say massive. Flags are hard to win. There are going to be other good sides up there at the same time - GC, Port, GWS etc. So many good teams have spent time and the top and been unrewarded for it, St Kilda 2009-10 is a great recent example.

What excites me though is we don't have many players past their prime, of our best 25 or so now only Maxwell, Swan and Ball are over 27. We have a great core of young players coming through over the next 5 years.

With that in mind, I don't see 2017 as a limiting year really, there's no reason why we can't be up there until say 2020.

 

[damuzzdu]

snip snip

Friday night was the youngest team we have fielded so far this year, especially after Maxwell went off, he was our oldest player on the night.
With Ball and Swan to come back in and once Maxwell and Reid re-join the seniors, our average age would be sitting right on that 26 year old mark.


Our 2010 GF team also had an average age of 24. Very rare for a GF side to be so young.
But as we saw on Friday night and in 2010, not so bad sacrificing bigger experienced bodies for youth and speed.

I don't have any questions regarding this, I just thought I would share and start a topic of discussion I find interesting.

Not correct.

R7 vs Carlton age was 24 yrs 90 days 1782 games
R11 vs St. Kilda age was 24 yrs 158 days 1869 games

Just as a comparison :

2010 GF

Draw 24 years 149 days 2353 games
Replay 24 yrs 57 days 2226 games