LRT, Rohan and Parker are among the worst players in the AFL

[ugg]

Having read some of the AFL Prospectus while on a 2 week break that recently ended (yes that's what I do on holidays), I feel I'm in a good position to comment.

Things to note:

• The rankings are based on the Champion Data ratings, aka the SuperCoach scores. While it is heavily dependent on basic stats such as kicks, handballs, marks, goals etc. there are a lot more factors than come into play, but which CD does not care to reveal (except to say there's about 140 categories which is constantly being modified and added to).
• The analysis is done over a 2 year period (with 'greater weighting towards 2012' but no specific numbers are mentioned), Pierik does mention this in the article but almost in passing:

  Elite players are in the top 10 per cent for their position. Other categories were above average (top 35 per cent of position), average (middle 30 per cent), below average (bottom 35 per cent), poor (bottom 10 per cent), while players who had managed five games or fewer in 2011 and 2012 were only afforded a question mark.
  

• This is why players such as Jetta only rate as "average" as his 2011 is a significant anchor dragging down on his "elite" 2012 output.
• The introduction of the sub rule in 2011 has played havoc with CD ratings as a player who comes on during the last quarter of a game will have an extremely limited amount of time to make an impact. This is why we see Rohan and Parker in the "below average" category because they have served as the starting or finishing substitute numerous times over the past 2 years, and their shortened game time brings their averages down.
• In any case, these are ratings based on what a player has performed, not based on his potential. Parker, for all the glimpses of talent and the great hopes we hold for him, is still very much a fringe player in our midfield rotation and I don't think a "below average" rating (he's on the cusp anyway) is too unfair.
• CD also recognise the limitations of their system in ranking defenders, in particular the key ones, (The 2012 CD Team of the Year had Scott D. Thompson and Michael Johnson as their key backmen as opposed to the AA version with Teddy and Luke McPharlin) and asked their staff to rank the defenders subjectively. I believe this is the only exception to their numbers-based approach
• And lastly, while it's true we don't have a "poor" player on our current list, we did have one player over the 2011-12 period (shown in the linked article). We must have traded him out so we could claim to have zero "poor" players

And for those interested, the categories used by CD are: (this year anyway, they seem to change every year)

• Gen Def
• Key Def
• Gen Fwd
• Key Fwd
• Mid
• Mid Fwd
• Ruck

[aardvark]

So true. LRT was instrumental in us winning the 2013 flag.

Nostradamus?

[goswannie14]

So true. LRT was instrumental in us winning the 2013 flag. A sensational game in defence against the Crows when we were hobbled down there, and then a really important pack busting contribution as a forward in the grand final. On top of his 2005 flag contribution. He's one of the guys you want to have fighting on your side in the trenches. Some egg-headed computer programmer can say he is below average, but my eyes tell me something very different.

I hope so.

[wolftone57]

Seriously, Jon Pierik is a dead set idiot...

Tiger six-pack rates a mention

Just shows how irrelevant stats can be at times. There is no point relying on stats as they only tell a smidgen of the story. For instance stats say Joey has only an 60% disposal efficiency but every touch is included even disposals in the middle of a pack which are often times negated. Most inside mids will have this problem including Brad Sewell. Stats are just one indicator no the be all and end all. For instance if a player is not playing well stats can indicate his numbers were down but if a player is given a negating role this can be deceptive.

[goswannie14]

I'm still puzzled as to how the OP titled the thread. We have not one player in the poor category. Below average does not mean you are the worst in the AFL. To draw that conslusion from those stats is drawing an extremely long bow IMO.

[wolftone57]

Just very interesting that Jared McVeigh, Kieren Jack and Dan Hanneberry are not seen as elite. I think all do fit into that elite category. Jared and Kieren both have more dream team points than Goodsie which is interesting. Comes back to stats again. LRT can have 8 possessions and have a huge impact on a game by taking out an attacking defender and kicking goals himself. Parker will burrow in and slip the ball out of a pack without picking up a stat because he didn't handball, mark or kick, he knocked the ball free to a player. The stats for inside mids are very deceiving as are stats for defensive forwards.

[Velour&Ruffles]

Just very interesting that Jared McVeigh, Kieren Jack and Dan Hanneberry are not seen as elite. I think all do fit into that elite category. Jared and Kieren both have more dream team points than Goodsie which is interesting. Comes back to stats again. LRT can have 8 possessions and have a huge impact on a game by taking out an attacking defender and kicking goals himself. Parker will burrow in and slip the ball out of a pack without picking up a stat because he didn't handball, mark or kick, he knocked the ball free to a player. The stats for inside mids are very deceiving as are stats for defensive forwards.

Shhhhhhh. There are some things that statistics can't measure. Dan Hannebery's 2012 Grand Final game, for example. Magnificent. I don't give a continental about the recognised measures, just watch him after his goal in the fourth quarter - talk about leadership. If he never gets another touch in the Red and White, he still belongs in the Pantheon. Kirky's 2006 effort may have been finer but it is touch and go. I don't want others waking up to what some of our boys are made of. Let's just keep it our little secret. And let's enjoy the fact that Captain Jack is made of the same stuff.