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[NMWBloods]

Originally posted by lizz
An interesting stat (that could be derived from the ProStat data) would be scoring shots per inside 50. That would isolate goal kicking accuracy from the ability to create genuine scoring opportunities. Obviously kicking straight is crucial but so is a team's ability to "have a go" when they get it forward.

I don't have a feel for how we're going against last year on this measure but it was something Dermie was talking about during the commentary on the Roos game - how every time we got the ball into our forward arc it looked as if we'd score. This was the case even during those horrible first 15 minutes. We probably deteriorated badly in the final quarter but for the first three we seemed to be pretty efficient, notwithstanding the ordinary kicking for goal.

Given we are currently at the lower end of the goal kicking accuracy, moderate for inside 50s and mid-table for total scoring I suspect we'd be right up there on this stat. I might do the calcs later today if I have the time.

No need - I had already done this one!!

For each team I have worked out scoring shots (goals, behinds, misses) as a percentage of I50s.

The best is Port Adelaide 63% followed by Kangaroos on 62% followed by the Swans. For Sydney it is 58%. For Melbourne it is 56%. Competition average is 54%. The worst are Geelong and Essendon at 45%.

In terms of difference relative to opposition (ie: own % - opponents' %), the best teams are Port Adelaide +12%, St Kilda +9%, and Sydney +9%. The worst are Adelaide -13% and Collingwood -9%. Melbourne is +4%.

[penga]

fossy really has stepped up

NB: his 3rd quarter rd 22 was definitely worth the 3 votes he received

so on pro-rata basis:

bolton needs to get busy in the middle

goodes has a lesser around the ground clearance rate due to him moving forward rather than following the ball (mistake on roosy's part IMO)

kirky is going great guns and could probably attribute the positive clearance ratio compared to opponents to him

maxy needs to get to more ball around the ground

willo really havin a crack in the middle

bally having a good impact

fossy once again - WOW! goes to show you dont need a fat arse to get the ball

crouchy moving out from the BP a bit more - probably due to the emergence of bevan

mathews - see crouch

the rest of team stat is phenomenal - very encouraging... of course it could all go pear shaped but potentially we are doing alright clearance wise

so, whats our current ranking compared to the rest of the league?

[NMWBloods]

Originally posted by penga
so, whats our current ranking compared to the rest of the league?

Second behind Brisbane.

Now this will surprise a lot of people, but we were actually 6th in clearances last year.

Here are the total clearances per game for each team for 2003:

West Coast..............39.4
Adelaide...................38.8
Collingwood.............37.5
Brisbane...................35.3
Kangaroos................35.0
Sydney.....................35.0
Hawthorn .................34.0
Geelong....................33.9
Carlton......................33.7
Port Adelaide.............33.6
St Kilda......................33.4
Essendon..................33.0
W. Bulldogs...............32.5
Richmond..................32.1
Melbourne................31.3
Fremantle.................30.2
Average...................34.3

One of the reasons we are so unexpectedly high, is that we seem to rely more on our top 10 players for clearances rather than a few stars. Our top 10 clearances getters finished 5th.

Just to add some further clarification, our 6th-10th best clearance getters were the highest in the comp in terms of their total. This quite easy to see when you consider that our 6th best (J Ball at 51) was second-best 6th highest and our 10th Best (Mathews - 38) clearly had the highest number of clearances for a player in 10th spot for a team.

In terms of the highest clearance getter (J Bolton) we finished 10th in total. Looking at our top 5, we finish 11th. For the rest of the team, we are well down, finishing 12th.

The other area we fell down in last year was centre bounce clearances. We finished 13th last year, at an average of 11 per game against comp ave of 13 and Brisbane up top on 14.

This year we are still down the list on CB clearances - 12th, averaging 12, against a comp average of 13 and W Bulldogs on top at 16.

Fortunately for us we have managed to slightly beat our opponents in total over the four games this year in terms of CB clearances (ave against is 11, so a net +1 benefit).

Of our opponents for this year, in terms of CB clearances the Kangaroos are 4th (15-11), Brisbane are 6th (12-10), Fremantle are 13th (11-10) and Geelong are 16th (10-12). The respective CB clearances (us-them) for each of those games are in brackets.

The inconsistency of some of those results (eg: we did better against one of the best CB clearance teams than against the worst) shows how potentially misleading it can be to read too much into statistics (particularly this early in the season).

However, it seems that we have increased our overall clearance levels, while the rest of the comp have fallen back a bit, and our CB clearances have improved marginally, but still trail badly.

The table below shows the difference in total clearances and CB clearances per game for each team between 2003 and 2004YTD.

Team................Tot Clear..........CB clear
West Coast..............(6.9)..............0.8
Adelaide...................(4.8)..............0.3
Collingwood.............(7.3).............(0.2)
Brisbane....................4.7..............(1.0)
Kangaroos...............(1.3)...............0.3
Sydney......................2.5................0.4
Hawthorn..................0.8................2.7
Geelong...................(2.9)..............(2.6)
Carlton.....................(0.2).............(1.3 )
Port Adelaide............(5.1)..............1.0
St Kilda.....................(4.4)..............1.5
Essendon .................(2.8)..............0.5
W. Bulldogs................1.0...............1.9
Richmond....................3.4..............1.3
Melbourne.................(1.6)............(0.4)
Fremantle...................3.5..............(0.7)
Average.....................(1.3).............0.3