Stats observations

North park

Team Captain
Mar 2, 2015
323
510
AFL Club
Collingwood
The Western Bulldogs after their loss to Fremantle last night slumped to a 2-4 win/loss record and while there is plenty of time for the Bulldogs to turn this around especially in a very even and unpredictable season like this one, it is looking more likely that the Bulldogs will not be playing in September this year.

If the Bulldogs don't qualify for the finals this year, it will be the third successive year that they have missed the finals since their premiership in 2016. It got me thinking; how many other teams have missed the finals for three consecutive years or more immediately after winning the flag? It was actually quite rare, and while plenty of teams have gone into medium to long term decline after Grand Final victories, most of them managed another finals appearance or two soon after their premiership. These were the only four examples I could find, and all many years ago:

HAWTHORN - 3 YEARS - 1979-1981: After beating North Melbourne in the 1978 Grand Final, Hawthorn did not make the finals in 1979, 1980 and 1981. However the Hawks quickly turned this around, finishing 3rd in 1982 and thrashing Essendon to win the 1983 premiership.

MELBOURNE - 4 YEARS - 1942-1945: The Demons ruthlessly dispatched Collingwood, Richmond and Essendon to win three successive premierships in 1939, 1940 and 1941, but the Second World War had an effect on Melbourne's team and the red and blues failed to make the finals at all in 1942-1945. The Demons returned to September action in 1946 finishing runner up to Essendon, remarkably the first time that Melbourne had finished runner up.

ESSENDON - 9 YEARS - 1913-1921: In fairness to the Bombers this drought is technically only 7 years as the club was in recess for two years (1916 & 1917) in the First World War, but it is still remarkable that close to a decade went by after Essendon beat South Melbourne in the 1912 Grand Final (second flag in a row) until they returned to the finals in 1922.

MELBOURNE - 22 YEARS - 1965-1986: This is the most amazing statistic, and unlikely to be broken. After beating Collingwood in the 1964 Grand Final, Melbourne would have to wait 23 years to appear in the finals again in 1987. And most remarkably, in all but 1976 when the Demons got sixth position, the Dees never really looked like challenging for the finals in these 22 seasons. Imagine if the Demons' 1964 premiership team got into a time machine the day after winning the Grand Final and went forward in time to the day of the Demons' next finals match, the 1987 Qualifying Final against North Melbourne. They would have found the world a very different place - decimal currency, color television, VCR's, video games, push button telephones, fax machines, Walkmans, MTV, new wave music, space shuttles, an actor holding the position of United States President and many other changes. In the VFL, they would have found no South Melbourne Swans but Sydney Swans following the relocation of the club in 1982, and two strange new entities called the West Coast Eagles and the Brisbane Bears which had just completed their first seasons in the league.

The 22 years final drought by Melbourne is quite incredible, as I hadn't realised they never really looked liked challenging for finals.

Melbourne played in a 12 team competition during these years (with a Final 4 format from 1965-1971 and a Final 5 format from 1972-1986) and their finishing positions were:

6th - 1 time
7th - 3 times
8th - 4 times
9th - 2 times
10th - 3 times
11th - 5 times
12th - 4 times

The other amazing statistic is that, prior to 1965, Melbourne had played in finals for 11 consecutive years (which was the equal record at the time) which included 7 top place finishes and 6 premierships from 8 Grand Finals.
 

The Swert

Premiership Player
May 3, 2009
3,508
4,707
Melbourne
AFL Club
Hawthorn
2001 is the only full season in which being a home team was a disadvantage. Home teams had a win percentage of only 49.4%.

The only other times this has occurred was the war affected 1916 season and the current season.

Hawthorn at York Park have the best home ground record of any team at any regular home ground with a win percentage of 77.9%. Although the Blues almost bucked that trend last weekend.
 
Last edited:

Catsace

Premiership Player
Apr 15, 2007
4,867
4,117
Geelong
AFL Club
Geelong
Other Teams
Golden State Warriors
Geelong and the Eagles have played 52 times, with the Eagles having 26 wins, a draw and 25 defeats. But in those matches according to AFL Tables, Geelong's got a considerable percentage lead over them, having scored 5138 points for to 4478 points against. That's a percentage of 114.78, a pretty massive number over that many events. By contrast playing North, Geelong has 98 wins and 65 losses, and an overall percentage of 113.96 despite the 35 extra wins.

https://afltables.com/afl/teams/geelong/overall_wl.html

One can click each club and see their results against all other teams as well on this wonderful site.
 

LiterallyNobody

Cancelled due to poster being a Campaigner
30k Posts 10k Posts Cake Connoisseur SFA Daffodil Day Fund Raiser Harry Potter Fan Song Contest Winner - 5+ Rounds Shiny Penny
Jul 26, 2006
35,635
32,224
AFL Club
St Kilda
Geelong and the Eagles have played 52 times, with the Eagles having 26 wins, a draw and 25 defeats. But in those matches according to AFL Tables, Geelong's got a considerable percentage lead over them, having scored 5138 points for to 4478 points against. That's a percentage of 114.78, a pretty massive number over that many events. By contrast playing North, Geelong has 98 wins and 65 losses, and an overall percentage of 113.96 despite the 35 extra wins.

https://afltables.com/afl/teams/geelong/overall_wl.html

One can click each club and see their results against all other teams as well on this wonderful site.
great site. One of my favourites for looking up quick score stats - virtually everything except scoring shots and score by score available on that website (and for games from 2008 onwards, score by score is available)
 

worbod

Norm Smith Medallist
Oct 26, 2008
5,886
7,507
Bendigo
AFL Club
Western Bulldogs
Other Teams
Liverpool
A very random stat: Western Bulldogs are currently on 8 points after six rounds. There are four teams below them with 4 points and five teams immediately above them with 12 points. The last time there was only one team on 8 points after round 6 was Essendon in 2010.
 

SunGirl89

Club Legend
Feb 19, 2019
1,339
907
AFL Club
Gold Coast
Other Teams
Liverpool
Jeremy Cameron is on target to kick 94 goals this year.

2016 - last time anyone kicked > 70 goals
2009 - last time anyone kicked > 80 goals
2008 - last time anyone kicked > 90 goals
 

The Swert

Premiership Player
May 3, 2009
3,508
4,707
Melbourne
AFL Club
Hawthorn
Currently Bulldogs and Hawks sit 12th and 13th on the ladder with 3 wins and 4 losses.

How to determine who is higher?

Using point difference would be difficult as they both have +1 point difference (one more point scored than scored against).

Some methods would then rank based on highest scored for, which would put Hawks on top.

AFL uses percentage method. Both teams are showing 100.2% but the Bulldogs is actually slightly higher.
Bulldogs - 100.184%
Hawks - 100.171%

Closest example I've seen before.
 

SunGirl89

Club Legend
Feb 19, 2019
1,339
907
AFL Club
Gold Coast
Other Teams
Liverpool
With North Melbourne and Melbourne winning, and Sydney losing, the Swans find themselves at the bottom of the ladder.

Last time Sydney have been dead last at Round 7 or later: Round 24, 1994

Sydney have never finished below 15th, they will do well to finish 15th this year.
 
Last edited:

worbod

Norm Smith Medallist
Oct 26, 2008
5,886
7,507
Bendigo
AFL Club
Western Bulldogs
Other Teams
Liverpool
For the first time after round 7, each team in positions 11, 12 and 13 (Essendon, Western Bulldogs and Hawthorn) has a percentage over 100, albeit only just. The nearest this has come to previously occurring was in 1998 when the teams in positions 12 and 13 (West Coast and Essendon) had a percentage over 100 but the team in position 11 (Fremantle) did not.
 

SunGirl89

Club Legend
Feb 19, 2019
1,339
907
AFL Club
Gold Coast
Other Teams
Liverpool
Updated from my post back in March. Phenomenal start from Geelong given what looked like a difficult draw.

First 6 rounds for Geelong

This year: Collingwood (MCG), Melbourne (KP), Adelaide (AO), GWS Giants (KP), Hawthorn (MCG), West Coast (KP).

6-0 - 2013, 2011, 2009, 2008
5-1 - 2019, 2017, 2016, 2014, 2000
4-2 - 2012, 2010, 2005
3-3 - 2018, 2015, 2007, 2002
2-4 - 2006, 2004, 2001
1-5 - 2003
 

Ron The Bear

Up yer arse, AFL
30k Posts 10k Posts
Jul 4, 2006
35,845
36,723
Melbourne
AFL Club
Richmond
Scoring for rounds 1-7, last 50 years


Statistic

R1

R2

R3

R4

R5

R6

R7

R1-7

Average score

100.0

99.2

99.5

95.8

96.4

98.2

96.5

97.9

High average

121.3

127.8

134.8

118.4

117.8

131.4

117.7

114.9

Low average

78.7

81.2

83.9

75.3

66.6

79.6

77.4

80.9

2019 average

78.7

81.2

88.4

75.3

84.8

80.8

77.4

80.9

2019 rank

50th

50th

45th

50th

45th

49th

50th

50th
 

SunGirl89

Club Legend
Feb 19, 2019
1,339
907
AFL Club
Gold Coast
Other Teams
Liverpool
I would have never predicted this, and I was in favour of 6-6-6, then again, is this one new rule to blame?
 

emuboy

Premiership Player
Dec 17, 2006
4,359
4,600
The Southern Hemisphere
AFL Club
Collingwood
Other Teams
South Fremantle, Sturt
Funny how we have the lowest scoring in most of our lifetimes yet we have a player on track to kicking 90+ goals, the most since 2008.


I thought the 6-6-6 rule was meant to free up scoring but it hasn't, in fact the opposite. I wasn't expecting to see games with final scores such as 25.15-165 to 22.12-144, but if a game occurred with a 17.10-112 to 13.10-88 result it would probably be reported as in the media as a high-scoring match, when it wouldn't have been in the 1990s. When I saw the result of the Adelaide vs. Fremantle game in Adelaide on Sunday I thought it was played in heavy rain, but instead it was on a fine sunny day albeit slightly cool.
 
Sep 15, 2011
10,975
5,370
Perth
AFL Club
Hawthorn
Other Teams
Canberra Raiders,Crystal Palace F.C
Especially when you having 45 mins without a goal the 6-6-6 rule becomes redundant. No matter what the rule changes you make we will never see those high scoring days again because coaches will look at ways to minimise their risk (and the opponents score) rather than attacking to kick a higher winning score.
 

SunGirl89

Club Legend
Feb 19, 2019
1,339
907
AFL Club
Gold Coast
Other Teams
Liverpool
Jeremy Cameron is on target to kick 94 goals this year.

2016 - last time anyone kicked > 70 goals
2009 - last time anyone kicked > 80 goals
2008 - last time anyone kicked > 90 goals
Today was the first time he has not kicked 3 goals in a game this year, in fact he did not kick a single goal. Now on target for 82 goals.
 
Last edited:

SunGirl89

Club Legend
Feb 19, 2019
1,339
907
AFL Club
Gold Coast
Other Teams
Liverpool
EDIT: oops, Selwood actually didn’t play on the weekend. He was listed as an Emergency, was the named as a starter but was then pulled out. The stats below re Selwood will apply as long as he wins his first game back.


Andrew Mackie was the quickest to 200 wins and finished his career with a 207-2-71 record from 280 games (74.29%).

Joel Selwood has a slightly better record of 207-1-71 from 279 games (74.37%).

Gordon Coventry was the quickest to 208 wins, doing so in his 289th game.

Coventry holds the record for quickest to 208-220 wins, and Selwood will break all of these.

Michael Tuck was the quickest to 221 wins, achieving that record after 323 games. Before long, Selwood will start taking wins records away from Tuck,
 
Last edited:

SunGirl89

Club Legend
Feb 19, 2019
1,339
907
AFL Club
Gold Coast
Other Teams
Liverpool
The Swans are saying that Lance Franklin will most likely not play this weekend. If so, this will be just the third time that he has missed 4 consecutive games.

Rounds 1-8, 2006
Rounds 16-21, 2012
Rounds 6-9, 2019?
 

Derby103

Team Captain
Apr 20, 2006
328
228
Macclesfield
AFL Club
North Melbourne
Of the 12,722 men to have played league football, 508 have borne the first name of ‘Jack’. That means that close to 1 in every 25 players over the years have been called ‘Jack’.

Most common first names of league footballers, 1897 to 2019

Jack 508
Bill 418
John 336
Jim 269
George 238
Peter 225
Tom 219
Frank 213
Bob 212
Harry 168
Fred 152
Les 146
Ron 144
Charlie 142
David 139
Michael 130
Kevin 119
Paul 117
Joe 115
Ray 115
Mark 113
Arthur 112
Alan 109
Ian 109
Ken 109
Ted 107
Brian 104
Norm 102

Note that ‘Jack’ was traditionally used as a diminutive form of ‘John’, so it could be argued that the Jacks and Johns could be combined somehow here, however we will leave that aside.

In the early days of the league, ‘Bill’ held sway as the most common name. In 1900, there were 25 ‘Bills’, which represented nearly 10% of all players. By 1930, ‘Jack’ had taken over, and that name prevailed in 1940 and 1950 as well. In 1940, there were nearly three times as many ‘Jacks’ playing league football than the next most common name of ‘Jim’. Nearly 1 in 9 players were called ‘Jack’ in 1940.

By 1960, the ‘Jacks’ had almost completely disappeared. There were only 4 of them playing that year. Instead, it was ‘John’ which dominated, with a remarkable 12% of players bearing the name. In second place in 1960 was ‘Brian’, which had been completely unknown 20-30 years earlier ('Brian' has completed disappeared nowadays).

‘John’ continued to lead in 1970, but it was now being challenged by ‘Peter’, which had been slowly gaining ground after being completely unrepresented in 1940. Although ‘Peter’ had hit the front by 1980, it was the name of less than 6% of players as parents tended to adopt a wider spread of names. ‘David’ and ‘Mark’ shared the title in 1990, with ‘Michael’ close behind. The year 2000 was the era of ‘Matthew’, but it burnt out pretty quickly and by 2010 had given way to ‘Ben’. In 2019 we’ve gone back to the past, so to speak, with ‘Jack’ back in front, just like in 1930-40-50.

Most common first names of league footballers by year

1897

Bill 19
George 17
Jack 17

1900

Bill 25
Charlie 16
George 11

1910

Bill 24
George 17
Jack 17

1920

Bill 15
Jack 15
George 11

1930

Jack 32
Bill 24
Frank 18

1940

Jack 47
Jim 17
Bill 16

1950

Jack 30
Bill 20
Alan 14
Jim 14
Ken 14

1960

John 51
Brian 21
Ron 15

1970

John 33
Peter 26
Barry 16

1980

Peter 28
Michael 21
Robert 17

1990

David 24
Mark 24
Michael 23

2000

Matthew 26
Andrew 19
Ben 17
Mark 17
Paul 17

2010

Ben 16
Andrew 14
Daniel 13
Michael 13

2019

Jack 26
Tom 25
Sam 16
Josh 15

Analysis of the most common surnames produces no surprises:

Smith 126
Williams 80
Jones 70
Brown 67
Johnson 54
Taylor 54
Ryan 51
Wilson 51
Anderson 48

...however, examination of first names chosen by adult film actresses does indicate a less flamboyant selection than might otherwise have been expected:

Most common first names chosen by female adult movie performers, 2000 to 2019

Jessica 102
Nikki 91
Victoria 74
Anna 69
Samantha 69
Mia 66
Amber 64
Ashley 62
Tiffany 61
Bella 60
Chloe 59
Sarah 59
Vanessa 58
Angel 57
Taylor 56
Eva 55
Veronica 53
Kelly 52
Holly 51
Katie 50
Nicole 49
Sasha 48
Emily 46
Jenny 46
Lexi 46
Michelle 45
Sara 45
 

Ron The Bear

Up yer arse, AFL
30k Posts 10k Posts
Jul 4, 2006
35,845
36,723
Melbourne
AFL Club
Richmond
^^

The traditional biblical names have taken a hammering. How long will it take for Bailey, Lachie and Toby to get to the top?
 
Back