23 heroes and one game

[Thunder Shaker]

There are plenty of interesting statistical stories to come out of the Grand Final regarding the game itself and the players and coach who won the premiership. I have a few of them here, and it would be an interesting exercise to compile others.

The focus on the breaking of the 72 year drought has buried some other interesting statistics.

Grand Final
The game itself is already considered to be a classic. Yet the aggregate score of 112 points is the same as the aggregate score for the 2002 draw against St Kilda, considered by some to be one of the worst games ever played.

The Swans scored 2.7 (19) in the second half but won the premiership. It would be interesting to find the last occasion when a side winning the premiership scored this low in a half.

The Eagles scored the exact same score in the first half - 2.7 (19). I think this was the Eagles' lowest half-time score this season.

Players
10 Paul Williams - holds a quirky record of the most games played before winning a first premiership medallion.

19 Michael O'Loughlin - How many finals has he played in? I think the Grand Final was his 14th final. (The Swans have played in 16 finals during his career, and he missed the finals in 2003 due to injury.) He does not yet hold the record for the most finals played in by a Swans player. That record belongs to Vic Belcher, who played in 17 finals and is the only dual-premiership Swans player.

21 Leo Barry - He is the first player since 1979 to decide the Grand Final through a single piece of play.

27 Jason Ball - Became the 25th player to win a premiership at two clubs.

37 Adam Goodes - became the first player to win the Rising Star, Brownlow and a premiership medal.

How many of our premiership heroes will join Vic Belcher as the winner of two premierships in the red and white? Most of them if we go back to back next season. The more likely scenario is when the Swans next reach the peak in the nine- or ten-year cycle. The Swans reached peaks in 1977, 1986/7, 1996 and 2005. Young players like Paul Bevan and Sean Dempster are well-placed to win two (maybe even three!) premierships for the Swans.

Coach
Paul Roos - He no longer holds the record of the most games played and coached without a premiership. The Grand Final was his 440th game.

What other stats stories are there?

[penga]

20 Luke Abblett - A third of his possessions nearly cost the Bloods the premiership.

[hammo]

A possible:

1 Barry Hall - Swans' first premiership captain in 72 years and is sacked after the grand final ????

[ItsAllGoodes]

Craig Bolton is probably the first player to be an emergency for one team in two premierships and then go on to win one with another team

Tadhg is probably the first Irish born/raised winner

Amon may be one of the first or very few delisted players to be re-recruited and then win a GF

Possibly LRT has played the least games of aussie rules football in his life before winning a medal

[goswannie14]

Originally posted by ItsAllGoodes
Amon may be one of the first or very few delisted players to be re-recruited and then win a GF

Does Kirk fit into that category as well?

One on the other side, the NS medallist had the most possessions on the ground, but at least 1/3 went directly to the opposition

[ItsAllGoodes]

Originally posted by goswannie14
Does Kirk fit into that category as well?

One on the other side, the NS medallist had the most possessions on the ground, but at least 1/3 went directly to the opposition

Yes youre right about Kirky...

So Amon would be the first delisted player to be re-recruited who then goes on to kick the winning goal in a GF

[liz]

Kirk was never delisted from the Swans.

He was on the Supplementary List for a year and then not invited back the following year. I don't think the Sup List has ever been considered to be part of the list-proper.

[ScottH]

Originally posted by ItsAllGoodes
Tadhg is probably the first Irish born/raised winner

Not "is probably", "IS".

[SimonH]

Would Jason Ball qualify for the longest that a player who's won 2 flags waited between the first and second?

No doubt plenty of players have retired straight after winning a GF, but I imagine relatively few of them would have announced before the GF that they were going to retire regardless of the result. (Given that internet links about players' intentions before winning the 1929 flag are probably thin on the ground, this one might be impossible to answer.)

If not, then more obscurely might Ball qualify the entire team as the first premiership team where one (and only one) of the players has a prior premiership medal? Or are there plenty of teams that qualify on that score?

(These ones for those w/ too much time on their hands.)

[Jeffers1984]

How about Tadhg Kennelly. First Irishman to win an AFL premiership.

[Lucky Knickers]

Originally posted by goswannie14
One on the other side, the NS medallist had the most possessions on the ground, but at least 1/3 went directly to the opposition

LMAO! I think you are being generous...more like 1/2!!!!

Most blonde highlights in a GF?

[cruiser]

Originally posted by hammo
A possible:

1 Barry Hall - Swans' first premiership captain in 72 years and is sacked after the grand final ????

No, he cant be "sacked" bacause he was never appointed permanently in the first place.

Originally posted by penga
20 Luke Abblett - A third of his possessions nearly cost the Bloods the premiership.

Ouch!

[Destructive]

Originally posted by penga
20 Luke Abblett - A third of his possessions nearly cost the Bloods the premiership.

If we'd have lost the game, that would have been the catalyst for it. As it turned out, we won, and that episode is all but forgootten.

[liz]

Originally posted by SimonH

If not, then more obscurely might Ball qualify the entire team as the first premiership team where one (and only one) of the players has a prior premiership medal? Or are there plenty of teams that qualify on that score?

I'd be amazed if this were the first time that has happened.

Off the top of my head, Pike has 4 premierships, of which 3 are with the Lions. He must just have got the one with the Roos then (1999 - don't remember him in their 1996 team and he was probably at Fitzroy then anyway).

Were there any other members of the 2001 Lions premiership side who already had a medallion? Can't think of any, but others might put me straight.

[penga]

Originally posted by Destructive
If we'd have lost the game, that would have been the catalyst for it. As it turned out, we won, and that episode is all but forgootten.

I was stating "interesting" stats. As far as the actual kick is concerned, he made the play for starters in taking one hell of a contested mark and then it was Cousins read of the play that caused the turnover rather than purely a clanger from Ablett.