Analysis Pressure Acts Spreadsheet

[RunningBounce]

I have to say from Fridays game, I wonder if these pressure acts are misleading in what a player does on the ground.

Yep. Taken on their own without considering the caveats, every stat in Aussie Rules is misleading.

I reckon you found a good example. If you stand off the footy and wait for the oppo to collect it, then you're in the right spot to earn a pressure act stat. I reckon Graham might be another who tries to get to the footy second.

Which is more valuable to us? Contested possession or pressure on the kick? Debatable, as I reckon we set up to score off turnovers.

Personally, I enjoy combative, dumb footy and would prefer to see Butler and Graham smashing in.

 

[RunningBounce]

I want to take this opportunity to defend Conca, using this thread as my own little soapbox for a second. He's not going to be dropped, he shouldn't be dropped. We should be singing his praises. He's not only gotten healthy and played 12 straight games, he's done it while moving positions and becoming a genuine inside mid for the first time in more than 5 years for him. It's astounding to me that he gets called to be dropped after 9 tackles and 20+ disposals. I'll admit his stats have him playing a slightly better game than my eye saw but even the most inattentive viewer can tell that's a great game, not a shit one. He's clearly a defensive star, leads the club in total tackles and is now 4th in average pressure acts. I know his disposal isn't particularly slick, but it's definitely made out to be worse than it is because he has more out-and-out shocking turnovers.

Well said.

Pressure acts quantify all that essential stuff that we supporters can't see at all on the telly, and only notice at the ground if we're making a specific effort to watch a player.

Conca's use of the ball can be scratchy, even when he rarely tries anything difficult that opens up the game for us. That disposal efficiency isn't great for someone who specialises in a 15 metre poker backwards to the open player. But what he does when he doesn't have the footy makes him a valuable contributor.

Those who are calling for him to be dropped need to watch more VFL and realistically make a case for his replacement. Really, it's Miles, Lloyd or CEllis - are any really that much better?

 

[shaky]

Sorry, typo. What I meant to say was dud, delist.



It's such a regular occurrence that I'm certain he must be coached to do that. Maybe it's a case of play to your strengths, tackling is your priority and winning the ball is someone else's. I suppose if you're a shit ball-winner then tackling or corralling produces a better outcome or at least a neutral result more often then picking it up would. Whereas competing for the ball would see you lose a decent share. Maybe the holdup break even is a better outcome in that case. Playing for a draw rather than a win, as it were.

Makes some sense I suppose, lose the contest the ball goes up the other end, let them take possession, tackle and force a ball up. I just remember late in the game he didn't go at a mark and let the Port player get it a waltz away, got me quite frustrated. There has been other occasions where he seems to have just jogged to the ball, could have got there first using his pace but it ends up a contest which he loses.

 

[shaky]

Yep. Taken on their own without considering the caveats, every stat in Aussie Rules is misleading.

I reckon you found a good example. If you stand off the footy and wait for the oppo to collect it, then you're in the right spot to earn a pressure act stat. I reckon Graham might be another who tries to get to the footy second.

Which is more valuable to us? Contested possession or pressure on the kick? Debatable, as I reckon we set up to score off turnovers.

Personally, I enjoy combative, dumb footy and would prefer to see Butler and Graham smashing in.

Time and a place for everything I suppose. Sweat on them and get a holding decision is an easier result than hard body on body contested work and gives you a better disposal than a hurried contested one. I personally feel he is just doing a little bit too much of this.
Could be another one of those things that you bring Rioli back into the side and it changes the dynamics for a player like Butler.
Just like have Prestia in does for Cotch and Dusty.
Might just show that having 4 of our best 22 out, a player getting injured early in the match and being on the road was a it too much for the boys to handle last week.
We probably aren't a team that can manage that many issues. Yes we have some depth, but more in the fringe players. lose a few top ten players and we can struggle I think.

 

[RunningBounce]

Could be another one of those things that you bring Rioli back into the side and it changes the dynamics for a player like Butler.

Good point.

Rioli changes things. Like Nim says on Conca, Rioli really delivers with and without the footy. But he also is a game-breaker. They're rare.

Whatever Rioli, Butler and Castagna bring as a unit, it's an obvious difference between 2016 and 2017.

I've got no chance of finding the number, but I'd bet there's an i50 pressure point stat somewhere and it'd be interesting to compare that with vs without Rioli, both for the whole team and for Butler and Georgy specifically.

 

[NimFromSudan]

Round 13

Season averages

Season bests for Graham, Rance and Martin and an equal-best for Broad. Was a career best 8 tackles for Rioli and that also converted to a team-bronze and a (probably short-lived) hold on first overall.
I suspect that Graham's 41 may be a season-best for anyone in the comp. I can't work out a way to check this without going through every player from every AFL game or otherwise contacting CD directly though. At the very least he's done better than any other player that had 13 or more tackles in a game this year as those few games were the only ones I've checked.

16/22 players played at or above their own season average, with only the following not hitting their own benchmark:
Lambert
Caddy
Conca
Butler
Edwards
B. Ellis

Was the best game of the year as a team, though the raw numbers aren't a perfect picture given it doesn't adjust for the opponent's possession rate, weather etc.

 

[Elton Johns Wig]

41, mein gott!!

 

[RunningBounce]

16/22 players played at or above their own season average, with only the following not hitting their own benchmark:
Lambert
Caddy
Conca
Butler
Edwards
B. Ellis

Interesting.

Of those six who didn't make their season averages for pressure points, I thought Lambert, Caddy and Edwards were amongst our best with the footy. And I thought Brando's defensive game was the strongest I've seen from him all year.

Needed to check, but Conca was up in most categories on his season average. Butler was up in most.

 

[NimFromSudan]

Interesting.

Of those six who didn't make their season averages for pressure points, I thought Lambert, Caddy and Edwards were amongst our best with the footy. And I thought Brando's defensive game was the strongest I've seen from him all year.

Needed to check, but Conca was up in most categories on his season average. Butler was up in most.

Wouldn't worry about some players being below average. Bound to happen 50% of the time. That data is more noteworthy for the fact that 16/22 were above average

 

[TJASTA]

Round 13

Season averages

Season bests for Graham, Rance and Martin and an equal-best for Broad. Was a career best 8 tackles for Rioli and that also converted to a team-bronze and a (probably short-lived) hold on first overall.
I suspect that Graham's 41 may be a season-best for anyone in the comp. I can't work out a way to check this without going through every player from every AFL game or otherwise contacting CD directly though. At the very least he's done better than any other player that had 13 or more tackles in a game this year as those few games were the only ones I've checked.

16/22 players played at or above their own season average, with only the following not hitting their own benchmark:
Lambert
Caddy
Conca
Butler
Edwards
B. Ellis

Was the best game of the year as a team, though the raw numbers aren't a perfect picture given it doesn't adjust for the opponent's possession rate, weather etc.

f**k that makes me hard

 

[NUFC Tiger]

I think Dimma mentioned it in the post game comments but while Graham may not be the biggest accumulator or greatest offensive player, he is a superb defensive player. Him playing that role allows others to be more offensive minded. Important to have that balance. I think Dimma also hinted he should have played in the Port game. He plays and we possibly get the win.

P.S Rioli showing us what we've been missing too. Huge return to the seniors with his tackling and pressure acts.

As Dusty said, the band is back together!

 

[HTT]

I think Rance needs to go forward to learn the defensive side of his game

 

[richo's dodgy hammy]

I think Rance needs to go forward to learn the defensive side of his game

Would win the Coleman

 

[TigerImposter]

41, mein gott!!

This is why he should never be dropped . Now the last time I said this he xxxxing was. Still angry even after beating Geelong.

 

[TigerImposter]

The opportunities become infinite as the the pressure acts increase.
Things such as Rioli frees up Butler and George .
Graham assists Cotchin and frees up Lambert .
Midfield becomes more potent and backline relax and settle better.
So on so on ........

 

[Rustof]

Rioli with 28 for a small fwd is ****ed. Completely changes our fwd line when he’s in it. We become a vice in our fwd 50.

 

[biaseddustyfan]

I think Rance needs to go forward to learn the defensive side of his game

isn't buying into our gameplan dud delist

 

[banana_bus]

I dont think Ill ever get over Jack Grahams omission against Poort... unless we finish top and win the flag

 

[Grrr]

This is why he should never be dropped . Now the last time I said this he xxxxing was. Still angry even after beating Geelong.

He wasn't dropped, just didn't play. Might have needed a rest, or sore??

 

[biaseddustyfan]

He wasn't dropped, just didn't play. Might have needed a rest, or sore??

from what dimmer said it sounded like he was dropped

 

[blackcat]

Yep. Taken on their own without considering the caveats, every stat in Aussie Rules is misleading.

I reckon you found a good example. If you stand off the footy and wait for the oppo to collect it, then you're in the right spot to earn a pressure act stat. I reckon Graham might be another who tries to get to the footy second.

Which is more valuable to us? Contested possession or pressure on the kick? Debatable, as I reckon we set up to score off turnovers.

Personally, I enjoy combative, dumb footy and would prefer to see Butler and Graham smashing in.

It's a bit like the #porm_lens: i know it when i see it. The best pressure act is the 19th man, not the web or matrix defense from westcoast coach Adam Simpson and the team defense* (*** but tangental to this)

It is the reputation, the swarming team pressure and team defense^* and inferred pressure... it is the reputation of Rioli Castagna et al, their reputation precedes themselves. This means the opposition player takes two less steps to steady for his right foot... which dominoes to his next teammate who DOES NOT get an easy chest mark and Rance or Astbury can spoil...

The 19th man is a ghost, not unrelated to team defense *NB double negative.

NB the double negative does not have to = positive. It is merely on an ambiguous spectrum from 0 to 1. Re: the above ^, I imply closer to 1.

 

[TigerImposter]

He wasn't dropped, just didn't play. Might have needed a rest, or sore??

Nope KDH put that story to bed.

 

[NimFromSudan]

Round 15

Season Averages

Rioli regresses out of first. Conca's injury brings his season average out of the top 5.

Pressure Acts Brownlow:
25 - Graham
17 - Cotchin
10 - Lambert
8 - Caddy
7 - Conca
7 - Butler
5 - Prestia
3 - Nankervis
2 - Townsend
2 - Menadue
1 - Edwards
1 - Grigg


I also finally got around to doing last year's games. I'll post a year-to-year comparison later today.

 

[Elton Johns Wig]

I'll post a year-to-year comparison later today.

This will be great thanks mate.

 

[NimFromSudan]

2017 season averages

Year to year comparison

Conca's obviously a huge bump, but i'd imagine it's moe to do with his role change from backman to midfielder more than anything. George, Cotch and Cads show big bumps in the key pressure roles. Grigg, Lambert, Edwards and Dusty all with vary degrees of drops. Still decent years from the first three though. I am worried about Dusty's output. Being a one way player while you're a leader for the club isn't a good look. That said he's scored back-to-back 21s so maybe he's just warming up.