Who are the top 10 midfielders in the league?

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BBC1967

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Aug 9, 2015
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I’ve asked you on several occasions for who you think my “aliases” are, giving you multiple opportunities to make me look foolish and you never have. I’m not disabled enough to care enough about having multiple accounts, but clearly you are. So tell me, who are these fairy accounts?
Stax on the mill for one, he uses same type of insults and constructs sentences in same way. Maybe you don’t know you are doing it? BTW Cunnington when fit is amonng top midfielders. He is injured at the moment but NM don’t us crippled by injuries as an excuse.
 

lumpinee

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peeps Trent Cotchin is Richmonds mid field gun,general,barometer whatever you want to call it,not Martin,not Prestia,not Edwards,not Lambert
not Shai,tho Shai has been our most brilliant this year,when it matters most outta the middle in the big games its Trent,i dont know where he sits
in AFL/VFL history but hes in the top 5 best ever players to ever pull on the Richmond jumper imo,thts how ggod this guy is
 
Mar 18, 2013
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Stax on the mill for one, he uses same type of insults and constructs sentences in same way. Maybe you don’t know you are doing it? BTW Cunnington when fit is amonng top midfielders. He is injured at the moment but NM don’t us crippled by injuries as an excuse.
Lmao you are something special
 

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Jun 23, 2008
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Where would people rank Jack Steele right now?

He's arguably been a top 10 player in the league this season, but is playing a couple of levels up on what he has done previously. Is it a case of a bloke simply maturing and coming into his own (at 25 years old, he should just be entering his prime), and this is his level from here on, or is he having an outlier year (under unusual circumstances), and will fall back once everything gets "back to normal"?
 

lumpinee

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If people think that Petracca is in the top ten (and they should) they should have Martin in there as well. Both impact per possession players.
they both, Martin has for longer of course,do something Cripps and Fyffe have failed at theyre whole careers and thats damage teams
on the scoreboard,scar teams,give sides nightmares....the greatest mids of all time not only gathered possesions but kicked goals,think
Matthews,Bartlett,Martin,Greg Williams,Dangerfield,Ablett jr....these players gave and give opposition sides nightmares before a ball has been bounced
Fyffe,Mitchell,Pendlebury,Cripps,Watson,Cousins etc never gave/give teams continous nightmares
Petracca has the ability which is obvious to be Matthews like, the ONLY other 2 players along with Petracca that have that ability right now to go n play fwd after spending time in the midfield and turning a game off theyre own boot by kicking 3-5 in a half are Martin & Dangerfield.....the rest are incapable
Dane Swan could do it,i always rated him above Pendlebury much to the disagreement of many pie supporter mates
 
By applying my own incredibly special methodology into the arcane world of statistics, and by using Yojimbo's list, I have arbitrarily awarded the players the following incredibly amazing ratings. 1 point per position in the top ten, ie, Dangermouse gets 1 point for kicks, and 6 points for disposals, and so on and on, get it? Lowest score wins.

What I then do, and I know that this will resound with you all as the best way to account for those non-scoring areas, (eg, with Dangermouse he only scored in the top ten in 5 of those categories) I have given each of them a score of eleven, for those categories that they have not scored in, clever eh? Yeah I know, it’s stats for god’s sake. Make up your own.

Yes, I knew you would all go my god how long did it take for him to work that out, anyway by my scoring method, here are the top 6:

Neale 45

Oliver 54

Dangermouse 63

Mitchell 71

Merrett 73

Steele 83

Am I bored, yes, have at me.
 

Stax on the mill

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Stax on the mill for one, he uses same type of insults and constructs sentences in same way. Maybe you don’t know you are doing it? BTW Cunnington when fit is amonng top midfielders. He is injured at the moment but NM don’t us crippled by injuries as an excuse.
Insults! Who me? All I ever try and do is point out where you’ve gone wrong. And it’s always done in the spirit of counselling you and genuinely trying to make you a better, more rounded person. And this is all the thanks I get. I’m deeply hurt.

Strong body of opinion doing the rounds that you’ve morphed out of that master troll Adam H. He got a permanent ban around the same time you crawl..., sorry I meant surfaced. Might just be coincidence, but striking similarities between the 2 of you. Obsessive inferiority complex, and irrational jealousy and hatred of all things to do with the Pies, to the point where it seems to dominate your whole life. Not healthy old son.

You’re obviously still salty over the 1927,28 and 29 Grand Finals where the Tigers featured as runners up to the mighty Pies on their way to their magnificent 4 peat. Add to that the 2018 PF, where the Pies knocked off the Tigers again. From all reports you already had your premiership tattoo inked in. Just think, if you’d managed to win in 2018 you’d now be gunning for 4 in a row. Alas, the Pies ruined it for you.
 
guthrie has the distinction from all and sundry of going missing in finals,its a fact
I love it when posters make sweeping statements that are factually incorrect. Here's how Guthrie's performance in the WCE final win last year was rated:

" A welcome inclusion for the Cats, having an immediate impact with eight first-term disposals. Provided great run and accurate kicking inside 50 in third quarter to have 12 disposals (10 effective) and four clearances. Really underestimated how important he is to this side. 9"

Guthrie is having his best and most consistent season ever. in 2020. No coincidence he is playing as a true midfielder
 

Saint

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Cotchin is a great player and been important in the flags, but without Dusty, Cotchin is just a very good inside player. His role inside and defensively allows Martin to get out the other side. There are a lot of unsung heroes across the AFL who play this role and Cotchin might be the best of them but without a dynamic attacking partner, it's not worth much.

Dangerfield gave Bont and absolute lesson over 3 quarters on Friday night. The last quarter was almost comical. I'm not sure Bont has a next level to go to when a game is on the line, like Dangerfield or Cotchin. Danger's disposal obviously lets him down, but since he's winning his own contested ball, it's not really a problem.

Neale's ball use has really improved since he moved to Brisbane, most likely due to more options forward of the ball giving him a bit more confidence to look forward rather than just sideways or for a backwards handball.

Fyfe and Martin don't appear on those stats lists because they've missed games, haven't they?
 

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1. Lachie Neale
2. Dustin Martin
3. T. Kelly
4. Fyfe
5. Patrick Dangerfield
6. Patrick Cripps
7. Boak
8. Macrae
9. Steele
10. J. Kelly

Still holds up well - maybe sub Boak for Petracca. Cripps arguably not in the best 10 currently.
 
Feb 23, 2009
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You right only one player in the league averages 20 possesions, 10 contested possessions and a goal a game

Only problem is it isn't Dustin Martin (don't let the facts get in the way of a good story)

It is this man

View attachment 949544

23.8 disposals per game 912th in the league)
12.6 contested diposals per game (4th in the league)
1 goal per game
To be fair, that bloke pictured has done it for 13 games, just over half a usual season.
Dusty has that average over a 10+ year career and 237 games (25.1 disposals, 1.1 goals, 10.0 CP per game).

Dusty isn't having his best 2020, (20.8 disposals, 9.8 CPs and 1.1 goals per game) if using those measures, but worth noting his "down" year is still a pretty good return and stacks up pretty well.

It's a question of how the top 10 reacts to the first good season breakout players like Petracca, or the proven body of work over the career. I expect Petracca to go on with it in 2021 and beyond, but there have been plenty of players who haven't lived up to their big breakout years in future seasons, so the proof will need to come.

How do we rate the top 10? On season so far or on body of work? E.g so far in 2020, Petracca having a better year than Martin (finals Dusty usually becomes the best player in the comp by far), but wouldn't be rated ahead if we include a body of work for runs on the board that Dusty has over recent years and in finals.
 
To be fair, that bloke pictured has done it for 13 games, just over half a usual season.
Dusty has that average over a 10+ year career and 237 games (25.1 disposals, 1.1 goals, 10.0 CP per game).

Dusty isn't having his best 2020, (20.8 disposals, 9.8 CPs and 1.1 goals per game) if using those measures, but worth noting his "down" year is still a pretty good return and stacks up pretty well.

It's a question of how the top 10 reacts to the first good season breakout players like Petracca, or the proven body of work over the career. I expect Petracca to go on with it in 2021 and beyond, but there have been plenty of players who haven't lived up to their big breakout years in future seasons, so the proof will need to come.

How do we rate the top 10? On season so far or on body of work? E.g so far in 2020, Petracca having a better year than Martin (finals Dusty usually becomes the best player in the comp by far), but wouldn't be rated ahead if we include a body of work for runs on the board that Dusty has over recent years and in finals.
I agree 100% with everything you said

Based on this year Fyfe, Martin, Cripps and Bont would all be outside the top 10 mids. But if you were to base it on their body of work(s) all would probably be in the top 5, top 10 min
 
Feb 23, 2009
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I agree 100% with everything you said

Based on this year Fyfe, Martin, Cripps and Bont would all be outside the top 10 mids. But if you were to base it on their body of work(s) all would probably be in the top 5, top 10 min
Yep, it's just the question of form vs record. Petracca is more likely to make AA in 2020, and has had the better season, but is someone a better "player" because of that? Probably not yet, needs more runs on the board.
 
May 5, 2016
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Guthrie has been more damaging with disposal than Dangerfield this year. I came to this conclusion without needing stats, but with my own bung eye.

Perhaps that's true. Dangerfield has been more damaging to the opposition in winning ball we had no right to win.

In the same way that players with perfect disposal get lauded - rightly - despite not always being superb at winning the ball or clearing it, why would the best hard-ball-beast in the sport be so derided because his worst kicks look worse than other players' worst kicks? It seems forgotten that he actually has a brilliant right foot when he's just slamming it at high speed. His bad kicks are so bad, though, that they just spray completely. It's like watching a golfer who misses the fairway no more often than most players, but those misses go out of bounds.
 

Andy_Mac

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Is Patrick Cripps still in the top 10? He's been overtaken by a few this year. Carlton supporters will always blame injuries but he's played as many averages games as good ones this season.
Big call.

I think on the year then he’s at best bottom half, but his best is epic. He’s probably having a year not to dissimilar to Danger and Dusty.
 
Is Patrick Cripps still in the top 10? He's been overtaken by a few this year. Carlton supporters will always blame injuries but he's played as many averages games as good ones this season.
Still deserves to be up there. I guess if we were to phrase the OP as 'what would trade for this midfielder' everyone would be offering whatever what they have. He's an exceptional midfielder that's had a down year.
 

Fadge

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peeps Trent Cotchin is Richmonds mid field gun,general,barometer whatever you want to call it,not Martin,not Prestia,not Edwards,not Lambert
not Shai,tho Shai has been our most brilliant this year,when it matters most outta the middle in the big games its Trent,i dont know where he sits
in AFL/VFL history but hes in the top 5 best ever players to ever pull on the Richmond jumper imo,thts how ggod this guy is
Assuming Ian Stewart's out due to lack of games in the Yellow and Black, who does Cotchin push out of the top 5:
Dyer
Bartlett
Hart
Bourke
Martin
 
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