Kegs15
Just a fan
So far as the curious case of Luke Edwards, I'm not even sure he's that slow. 31.3km/h isn't lighting but I'd say [having looked] in about 50% of AFL matches it's still top 5 on ground for speed recorded by the tracker. I'm assuming he recorded that speed early in the Essendon game. Considering he invariably leads our side for distance covered at speed and average speed, he's probably just always on the edge of being cooked and doesn't have it in the legs to be doing anything explosive.
No idea what the future looks like for him and copped the sub tonight but it does seem he's playing a role. Hasn't been dropped yet and gets low possession numbers week in week out regardless.
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Know it's probably a bit complicated for the tracker to put up publicly but would be curious to see acceleration (like km/h increase per second) stats.
It's probably a bit indicative that we see blokes like Waterman and Barrass up in the top 5 max speed, neither of whom you would say are quick players but when you consider it's probably after they've made (or defended) a 70m lead and had the time to get up to that pace it makes sense.
With a smaller player someone like Reid might have a run where he only hits 25km/h but he's reached that from standstill in the blink of an eye so he's quick in an AFL-relevant sense.
I feel like Edwards probably hits those speeds running unimpeded from the offensive to defensive 50 along the wing, which is commendable effort-wise but in actual in-play contexts for a mid where there's traffic and sometimes you're only running 10-15m he feels slow.
I'm probably in the camp of not seeing it with him but wouldn't question his effort - if he can bulk up considerably he might be a player but he'd probably be the one I'd drop for Yeo this week.