"Swans Statistical Stories": January

[neilfws]

Time for some more off-season stats exploration. This month, not so much a story as a collection of player trivia, extracted from the all-time player list.

Here is the complete document with gory how-to details for massive nerds. You can just look at the tables + charts and ignore the stuff in grey boxes, if you prefer.

Here are some highlights.

1. Adam Goodes

351 games and counting, we know he heads up the clubs most-games list. But consider that (a) only 3 of 1392 players have 300+ games, (b) 50% of all players played 13 games or less (the average is about 33), (c) almost 78% of players have not or did not make it to 50 games. The average AFL career is very short.

In addition, Adam is at number 5 on the goals list; 24 more will take him past Tony Lockett. He scored 30 last season. Will it happen in 2015?

2. Comeback kings

145 players have left the Swans, then returned for one or more subsequent seasons. The top 10 by total games played include Bob Skilton, Tadhg Kennelly and Ben Mathews.

10 players have left and returned twice. By total games played, they are:

Cap	#	Player	DOB	HT	WT	Games	Goals	Seasons	Debut	Last
506	14	Richards, Reg	1917-12-14	173	79	117	57	1936, 1938-1941, 1943-1947	18y 231d	29y 252d
886	30	Way, Fred	1944-02-09	196	92	81	14	1964, 1966, 1969-1971	20y 69d	27y 200d
272	8	Doherty, Jock	1894-10-03	166		67	37	1915, 1917-1920, 1922	20y 210d	27y 215d
603	32	Bywater, Ron	1919-01-08	183	83	58	39	1942, 1944, 1946-1950	23y 233d	31y 160d
451	30	McKenzie, Jock	1911-10-31	178	75	55	25	1931, 1933-1936, 1940	19y 225d	28y 256d
324	19	Sutton, Bert	1901-04-15	173	66	49	34	1921, 1923-1924, 1926-1927	20y 36d	26y 148d
270	26	Stewart, Jim	1889-08-13	180	75	29	15	1915, 1917, 1919-1920	25y 254d	30y 318d
573	15	Baxter, Archie	1921-08-04	180	78	23	25	1941, 1944, 1946	19y 286d	24y 322d
1298	18	James, Heath	1980-03-07	189	91	18	1	1999, 2001, 2003-2004	19y 153d	24y 146d
333	28	Russell, Bert	1899-06-07	160	61	6	5	1921, 1923, 1925	22y 102d	26y 1d

3. Taller, heavier, younger

Players debuting today are, on average, around 10 cm taller and 10 kg heavier than those who debuted in the 1890s.

unnamed-chunk-9-1.png unnamed-chunk-10-1.png

Tallest Swan - Sam Naismith, 205 cm.
Shortest (and lightest) - Paul Cameron, 158 cm and 57 kg, played in 1926 and 1928.
Heaviest - Brian Roberts (113 kg), who played just 15 games in 1975.

It's amusing to note that if we used Body Mass Index (BMI) as a fitness measure, many Swans would be classed as overweight or even obese. Of course they are not because unlike you and me, much of their mass is muscle not fat, which is why BMI is a poor measure. That said, it looks like the 1980s and 1990s was a "beefier" era for the Swans.

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Players today generally debut at a younger age than their 1890s counterparts. There's an interesting dip in debut age from the 1950s to the 1970s.

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Oldest player on debut - Billy Billett, 35 years and 5 days, played just 3 games in 1923.
Youngest - Harold Traynor, 16 years and 223 days, 37 games from 1939 - 1942.

4. Names and numbers

Franklin, Goodes, Tippett. All names that have occurred more than once in the history of the team.

Cap	#	Player	DOB	HT	WT	Games	Goals	Seasons	Debut	Last
180		Franklin, Bob	1886-10-05			5	1	1906	19y 233d	19y 324d
1385	23	Franklin, Lance	1987-01-30	198	102	22	79	2014	27y 44d	27y 240d
1019	14	Franklin, Tony	1950-12-18	185	84	32	11	1974-1975	23y 123d	24y 255d
1289	37	Goodes, Adam	1980-01-08	194	99	351	439	1999-2014	19y 79d	34y 262d
707	11	Goodes, Reg	1928-07-28	188	86	1		1950	22y 29d	22y 29d
1382	8	Tippett, Kurt	1987-05-08	202	104	26	69	2013-2014	26y 45d	27y 142d
638	21	Tippett, Peter	1926-10-06	183	78	29	2	1945-1947	18y 253d	20y 253d

Most used number - 16 (43 players).
Least used number - 54 and 56, each used only once.

Here's a chart of player numbers ordered by season in which they were last used.

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That'll do it for this post. One more to come in February.

[mcs]

Awesome stuff!

[Doctor J.]

A few points to note.

Bob Skilton never actually "left the club" he was out for a season with an achilles injury, then returned for one final year.
Heaviest player, Brian Roberts, there was a reason he was nicknamed "The Whale", and he almost won the Brownlow from those 15 games. Finished 4th if I recall.

[goswannies]

A few points to note.

Bob Skilton never actually "left the club" he was out for a season with an achilles injury, then returned for one final year.

Actually, quite a number of players who have a one year gap never left the club. If a player wasn't selected to play a senior game in a particular season of his career it is listed as though he left the club for that year.
Ben Matthews never left the club in 1998, he just didnt earn a senior game that year.

[neilfws]

Bob Skilton never actually "left the club" he was out for a season with an achilles injury, then returned for one final year.

Actually, quite a number of players who have a one year gap never left the club. If a player wasn't selected to play a senior game in a particular season of his career it is listed as though he left the club for that year.
Ben Matthews never left the club in 1998, he just didnt earn a senior game that year.

Interesting, thanks. I'll update the wording for that section. So I could improve that by extracting the "gap years" and searching to see if they were at another team or just "missing".

[penga]

Actually, quite a number of players who have a one year gap never left the club. If a player wasn't selected to play a senior game in a particular season of his career it is listed as though he left the club for that year.
Ben Matthews never left the club in 1998, he just didnt earn a senior game that year.

Mathews*

Have to keep consistent..

[goswannies]

Mathews*

Have to keep consistent..

My fingers have a ttttyping sttttamer witttth tttt's

[goswannies]

Interesting, thanks. I'll update the wording for that section. So I could improve that by extracting the "gap years" and searching to see if they were at another team or just "missing".

Yup but I think there were a couple, at least, that did go & coach country for a little bit & then returned. Often in the 40s, 50s & 60s from memory.

[goswannies]

Least used number:

I believe #54 has been used by 4 players in senior games: Huges (1984) Sneddon (1985) Page (1989) Athorn (1991)

#53, however, was only worn by one player (Robbie Neill in 1993)

& they cheated a bit with #55 ... it's besn worn by only 2 players, but both in the same season (John Favier & Tony Sinclair, in 1985)

The only wearer of #56 was Justin Clarkson, brother of the more renowned Alistair Clarkson.

[goswannies]

Players today generally debut at a younger age than their 1890s counterparts. There's an interesting dip in debut age from the 1950s to the 1970s.

unnamed-chunk-17-1.png

I suspect in 1897 when South helped form the VFL most players were established senior players in an established side (ie lesser need to debut young kids. With grand final wins 1909, 1918 and a flurry of grand final appearances in the 1930s, again, we might expect a relatively settled series of line-ups. With no grand final appearances from 1945-1996, I suspect the club would have been trying to unearth gems who could lift them ... playing young kids could have potentially helped the cause. Moreover, retaining senior players in an era yielding limited success would have been more difficult, giving young kids a better chance. That coupled with VFL sides having an U17 & U19 to draw from. If a young kid excelled during the season, he could be promoted. Now days young kids have to be recruited first. Also there are limits now as to how young a player can be to be eligible to be drafted. Thus there wasn't so much a dip in the 50s-70s as, as perhaps a rise in debut age the 90s-00s born out of AFL mandate

[satchmopugdog]

Even I enjoyed those statistics...my eyes didn't glaze over once...thank you

[SA Swan]

Maaaaate...You have way too much time on your hands. You could not possibly have a job, wife or children...But well phucking done!

[wolftone57]

A few points to note.

Bob Skilton never actually "left the club" he was out for a season with an achilles injury, then returned for one final year.
Heaviest player, Brian Roberts, there was a reason he was nicknamed "The Whale", and he almost won the Brownlow from those 15 games. Finished 4th if I recall.

He originally came from Woodville in SA. On Wikipedia I think they stuffed up as they say East Fremantle but I don't know too many players that went from Millicent to Freo. He played at Richmond and then Swans, a very good ruckman but fell out with Ian Stewart. I am only guessing but it may have had something to do with imbibing as Stewart was a fitness fanatic and a perfectionist and 'The Whale' loved a drink. Ended up owning a pub.

[goswannies]

He originally came from Woodville in SA. On Wikipedia I think they stuffed up as they say East Fremantle but I don't know too many players that went from Millicent to Freo. He played at Richmond and then Swans, a very good ruckman but fell out with Ian Stewart. I am only guessing but it may have had something to do with imbibing as Stewart was a fitness fanatic and a perfectionist and 'The Whale' loved a drink. Ended up owning a pub.

Have an ale with the Whale