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Stats observations

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In five of the nine AFL games in the final round next week, the opponents are meeting for the first time all season. And quite remarkably, the last match ups between these teams all took place in the first half of 2018 as follows:

Swans vs. Saints - Round 12 2018
Kangaroos vs. Demons - Round 3 2018
Cats vs. Blues - Round 10 2018
Bulldogs vs. Crows - Round 9 2018
Tigers vs. Lions - Round 4 2018
 
This year sees a rare finals series containing both Richmond and the Western Bulldogs (the only examples are 1944, 1974, 1995, 2015 and 2019) and a Brisbane victory over Richmond in the Qualifying Final coupled with a victory by the Western Bulldogs over the GWS Giants in the Elimination Final will see the first ever finals match played between the Tigers and Bulldogs in history.

With Hawthorn and Richmond having met for the first time in a finals series in 2018, if there is a semi final between the Tigers and Bulldogs this will leave Carlton vs. Bulldogs as the only finals match up to have never taken place between current Victorian teams.
 

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The following players all played their last ever senior games in the last ever matches for their clubs:

Brisbane Bears (1996 Preliminary Final vs. North Melbourne) - Gilbert McAdam & Roger Merrett

Fitzroy (Round 22 1996 vs. Fremantle) - Simon Atkins, Peter Doyle, Simon Hawking, Jeff Hogg, John McCarthy & Marty Warry

University (Round 18 1914 vs. St. Kilda) - George Anderson, Ernie Atkins, Frank Cameron, Keith Doig, Wally Don, Bob Heatley, Bill Hinman, Gerald Johnston, Gordon Morrisey, Heinrich Schrader, Cyril Sedenmeyer & Eric Woods

South Melbourne obviously did not leave the league but became the Sydney Swans from 1982 onwards, however the following four Swans played their last senior matches in the team's last ever fixture as South Melbourne in Round 22 1981 against North Melbourne - Bernie Conlen, Mark Fraser, Kevin Goss & Peter Morrison
 
emuboy said:
The following players all played their last ever senior games in the last ever matches for their clubs:

Brisbane Bears (1996 Preliminary Final vs. North Melbourne) - Gilbert McAdam & Roger Merrett

Fitzroy (Round 22 1996 vs. Fremantle) - Simon Atkins, Peter Doyle, Simon Hawking, Jeff Hogg, John McCarthy & Marty Warry

University (Round 18 1914 vs. St. Kilda) - George Anderson, Ernie Atkins, Frank Cameron, Keith Doig, Wally Don, Bob Heatley, Bill Hinman, Gerald Johnston, Gordon Morrisey, Heinrich Schrader, Cyril Sedenmeyer & Eric Woods

South Melbourne obviously did not leave the league but became the Sydney Swans from 1982 onwards, however the following four Swans played their last senior matches in the team's last ever fixture as South Melbourne in Round 22 1981 against North Melbourne - Bernie Conlen, Mark Fraser, Kevin Goss & Peter Morrison
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Hawking certainly did his best to keep playing, but despite being at three other clubs (after Fitzroy finished up) never managed another senior game!
 
35Daicos said:
Hawking certainly did his best to keep playing, but despite being at three other clubs (after Fitzroy finished up) never managed another senior game!
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It was quite amazing that Simon Hawking - a proven player with Fitzroy from 1993-1996 - was listed by three clubs Brisbane, Sydney and Collingwood after the merger, but never played a senior match for any of them. I can't name another player with a career like that.

Two of Simon Hawking's team-mates from the last ever Fitzroy team - Simon Atkins and Jeff Hogg - both exited AFL football with 33 consecutive losses to their names.
 
emuboy said:
It was quite amazing that Simon Hawking - a proven player with Fitzroy from 1993-1996 - was listed by three clubs Brisbane, Sydney and Collingwood after the merger, but never played a senior match for any of them. I can't name another player with a career like that.

Two of Simon Hawking's team-mates from the last ever Fitzroy team - Simon Atkins and Jeff Hogg - both exited AFL football with 33 consecutive losses to their names.
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It was a strange career, for sure! Hawking obviously had some ability, and was one of the eight Fitzroy players snapped up by Brisbane, but had injury issues that wrecked his career from then on.

South Australian Darren Bartsch has a somewhat similar story, but never played a senior game, despite being "on the books" of five AFL clubs - Adelaide, Brisbane, Essendon, Geelong and West Coast!
 
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This year was a very low scoring season with just 1 of the 18 teams - the Brisbane Lions - kicking more than 2000 points for the season. And the Lions only just made it, with 2004 points.

This year Geelong's minor premier team with a 16-6 record scored 1984 points for the season. This is less than the 1997 points that the Sydney Swans 1992 wooden spoon team scored, and bear in mind the Swans (and all of the other 1992 teams obviously) had to play at grounds far muddier than those today. And the Swans of 1992 were not a 'good' wooden spoon team, they had a 3.18.1 record and lost their last 15 matches of the season and copped quite a few heavy defeats. Fifteen of the losses were by 30 points or more.
 
emuboy said:
This year was a very low scoring season with just 1 of the 18 teams - the Brisbane Lions - kicking more than 2000 points for the season. And the Lions only just made it, with 2004 points.

This year Geelong's minor premier team with a 16-6 record scored 1984 points for the season. This is less than the 1997 points that the Sydney Swans 1992 wooden spoon team scored, and bear in mind the Swans (and all of the other 1992 teams obviously) had to play at grounds far muddier than those today. And the Swans of 1992 were not a 'good' wooden spoon team, they had a 3.18.1 record and lost their last 15 matches of the season and copped quite a few heavy defeats. Fifteen of the losses were by 30 points or more.
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That's quite remarkable with the scoring, although the way footy is played nowadays there's been some defensive efforts by clubs with points against that have last been seen in the 60's, even before the free against for out of bounds on the full rule being introduced in 1969, which did precipitate an uptick in scoring into the 70's and 80's. Some of the scores conceded by Geelong at Kardinia Park this year and even in the last couple have been relics from the 50's...Demons 6.10.46, Eagles 7.4.46 and North 1.8.14 of course.

I just checked the 1975 season, where Leigh Matthew's 68 goals won the leading goalkicker that year, but seven clubs scored over 2000..(Hawks 2382, Blues 2360) finishing 1st and 2nd, and three other clubs scored mid-high 1900's. But checking Gold Coast, they conceded just 2232 points, the only club to concede more than 2000. A far cry from 1982's 'open sesame' defences of the Dogs and Saints that year which saw each of those clubs have over 3000 points booted against them!
 
emuboy said:
This year sees a rare finals series containing both Richmond and the Western Bulldogs (the only examples are 1944, 1974, 1995, 2015 and 2019) and a Brisbane victory over Richmond in the Qualifying Final coupled with a victory by the Western Bulldogs over the GWS Giants in the Elimination Final will see the first ever finals match played between the Tigers and Bulldogs in history.

With Hawthorn and Richmond having met for the first time in a finals series in 2018, if there is a semi final between the Tigers and Bulldogs this will leave Carlton vs. Bulldogs as the only finals match up to have never taken place between current Victorian teams.
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With the Western Bulldogs eliminated by the Giants in Sydney this afternoon, we won't be seeing the first Richmond vs. Bulldogs final this year.
 

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Finished in the top four and bowed out in straight sets

12 Collingwood*
9 Carlton
7 Geelong*
4 Sydney
2 Fitzroy, Hawthorn, Melbourne, North Melbourne
1 Fremantle, Port Adelaide, West Coast, Western Bulldogs

Collingwood (1946) and Geelong (1962) also drew a final

Bit surprising to see Essendon and Richmond in particular not on the list.
 
wagstaff said:
Of all the VFL/AFL players who've played more than 50 games in the last 55 years, the player with the best winning percentage currently is Nathan Broad.
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Only 80.77% though.

I believe guys like Tom Lonergan, Harry Taylor and Joel Selwood had better percentages after 50 games, even Bruest and Poppy were up there too.
 
The Swert said:
Only 80.77% though.

I believe guys like Tom Lonergan, Harry Taylor and Joel Selwood had better percentages after 50 games, even Bruest and Poppy were up there too.
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Difference is that those players are long-term regulars so inevitably their win percentage drops off a bit.

Broad us a fringe member of the team and could easily fall out of favour next year so he's more likely to hold onto his win percentage a bit like Mark Blake did.
 
I was looking up Paul Callery's statistics on AFL Tables yesterday when replying to a thread about good players who never once played in a final, and found something quite extraordinary. He played for three clubs - Melbourne, St. Kilda and South Melbourne - and his first game for each team commenced with a win over Fitzroy.

His league debut for Melbourne in Round 4 1970 saw the Demons defeat the Lions, and when he switched to the Saints in 1974 his first game in the opening round saw St. Kilda defeat Fitzroy. Callery played just one game for South Melbourne after switching from St. Kilda early in the 1980 season, but wouldn't you know it the Swans beat the Lions at the Junction Oval.
 
It is actually quite common for one of teams from the season before makes the grand final the next season.
But we are now at four seasons in a row where that has not happened. No club has played in back to back grand finals in these four seasons since Hawks did it last in 2015.

When Hawks missed in 2016 to do it we had a new set of teams each season to follow on from the previous season:

2016 Swans v Dogs
2017 Tigers v Crows
2018 Eagles v Pies
2019 Tigers v Giants

The longest sequence of new sets of teams playing in grand finals year after year is 1961 to 1965:

1961 Hawks v Dogs
1962 Dons v Blues
1963 Cats v Hawks
1964 Demons v Pies
1965 Saints v Dons

1966 broke that sequence when Saints played in back to back grand finals
 
footyfan78 said:
1961 Hawks v Dogs
1962 Dons v Blues
1963 Cats v Hawks
1964 Demons v Pies
1965 Saints v Dons
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That 1964 season was the closest ever, with 5 teams all within 4 points of each other.....The Demons beat the Hawks out at Glenferrie Oval by 4 points, after Hassa Mann kicked one from out of his arse, from the dead pocket in the dying minutes of the game......If we won that game, then the Hawks would have finished 1st & the Demons 5th, as all of Collingwood, Essendon & Geelong had drawn a game that year.

In fact, Hawthorn's 13-5 record remains the highest win/loss ratio @ 70%, for any side to ever miss the finals in VFL/AFL history.
 

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With one vote in Round 21, Ablett went to a career total of 28 Brownlow votes against North Melbourne, equalling Sam Mitchell's record for votes against one club (also against North).
 
This year is the 20th season that the AFL has used the current Top 8 Finals Series which replaced the abominable McIntyre Final 8 System used from 1994-1999, but never once has there been a finals series in which all the finals went the way according to ladder position.

The closest was 2009, where the higher teams on the ladder won the Elimination, Qualifying, Semi and Preliminary Finals, only for second placed Geelong to defeat minor premiers St Kilda in the Grand Final.
 
Seasons in which players with the same surname kicked 50 goals or more.

SeasonPlayerClubGoalsPlayerClubGoals
1928Ted JohnsonSouth Melbourne60Bob JohnsonMelbourne55
2008Steve JohnsonGeelong53Brad JohnsonWestern Bulldogs50
2013Jack RiewoldtRichmond58Nick RiewoldtSt. Kilda50
2019Jeremy CameronG.W.S.76Charlie CameronBrisbane Lions57



With different spellings, St. Kilda's Bill Mohr (83 goals) and South Melbourne's Roy Moore (52 goals) both exceeded 50 goals in 1935.
In 1941 Norm Smith of Melbourne kicked 89 goals while Paul Schmidt of Carlton kicked 77 goals.
 
Cool stat someone found.

If Richmond had completely Castagna-ed on Saturday and missed all their shots for goal - scoring behinds - they would still have won. They had 29 scoring shots and GWS only scored 25.

I wonder how often it's happened in GFs? (Obviously it happens in one-sided H&A games occasionally). It happened in the 1960 GF. Any others?
 
Wallaby said:
Cool stat someone found.

If Richmond had completely Castagna-ed on Saturday and missed all their shots for goal - scoring behinds - they would still have won. They had 29 scoring shots and GWS only scored 25.

I wonder how often it's happened in GFs? (Obviously it happens in one-sided H&A games occasionally). It happened in the 1960 GF. Any others?
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1927, 1960 & 2019.

2007 was one scoring shot short of equal.
1901 & 1933 were three short.
 

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Stats observations

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